Wang Guangya
Beijing's top official for Hong Kong and Macau was an unexpected hit as he toured the two special administrative regions for the first time. He strolled through markets, answered questions at press conferences and seemed altogether approachable, while making pointed comments on the need in both places to improve housing for the poor, lest tensions erupt as political problems. He capped the charm offensive with conspicuous samplings of egg tarts- and took the undiplomatic, but refreshingly candid, step of declaring Macau's the tastier.
Lawrence Ho Yau-lung
The son of casino magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun became a bigger player in the gambling world by striking a deal, along with his partner Australian billionaire James Packer, for a key property in Macau's Cotai strip. The two already own the Casino of Dreams casino resort and the Altira casino hotel on Taipa Island. Their US$360 million acquisition of the aborted Studio City project would 'meaningfully increase [their] footprint' in Macau, Ho said in a statement filed to the stock exchange.
The Dallas Mavericks
Led by dogged veterans Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, the upstarts from Texas humbled the heavily hyped Miami Heat to clinch their first NBA title in the sixth game of the 2011 championship series. From the moment last summer when LeBron James left Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, basketball fans either rejoiced or recoiled at the assembling of a ready-made all-star team. The unheralded Mavericks turned the Heat's presumptions of greatness to ashes.