LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—In addition to sending a letter to Iran's supreme leader seeking the release of two American hikers, Muhammad Ali's wife says the boxing champ is also willing to go there to help make it happen.

But Lonnie Ali says such a visit would depend on her husband's health. Parkinson's Disease has limited his speech and physical activity.

APPEALS TO KHAMENEI—In this Sept. 19, 2009, photo, boxing great Muhammad Ali looks to the field prior to an NCAA college football game between Louisville and Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. Ali has pleaded with the government of Iran to release two American hikers arrested in 2009 and charged with spying.  (AP Photo/Ed Reinke, File)

by Boubacar Diallo

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP)—Even as a dictator plundered the country’s mineral wealth for years, Karim Conte still could afford to buy medicine for his sick relatives and a new outfit for his wife to wear during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

CRISIS IN GUINEA—In this March 4, photo, food vendors serve up rice dishes at a street restaurant in Conakry, Guinea. (AP Photo/Idrissa Soumare)

So when Guineans chose their first democratically elected leader ever last year, Conte thought life could only improve. Instead prices have since spiraled out of control, adding to the misery in this West African country where people have long suffered through colonialism, despotic rule and coups.

“I’ve banished meat, fish and chicken from my diet because these staples have now become luxuries for Guineans,” the 62-year-old father of 14 said. “When my wife asks me if I feel like eating meat, I pretend like I didn’t hear her. If she insists, I pretend to be sick because I don’t want her to know that I can’t afford it.”

by Mark Stevenson

MEXICO CITY (AP)—Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim widened his lead over other billionaires on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s richest people March 9—the same day his flagship company said he is a victim of monopolistic practices.

WORLD’S RICHEST MAN—Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, left, and British financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, right, help Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the inauguration of the Soumaya Museum’s new home in Mexico City, March 1. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Slim’s fortune was estimated to have risen to $74 billion well ahead of Bill Gates’ $56 billion and investor Warren Buffett’s $50 billion. French luxury-goods magnate Bernard Arnault was fourth with $41 billion.

Slim gained the most in the past year. His wealth increased $20.5 billion from last year’s estimate of $53.5 billion by Forbes, which attributed the increase to a rise in Mexican stock prices as well as successful mining and real estate projects carried out through his Grupo Carso conglomerate.

by Andrea Rodriguez

HAVANA (AP)—Debora Garcia sat at a table in a room choked with smoke, gently rolling an unbanded cigar between her delicate fingers. She used her thumb to measure its width and length, then held it up to her nose to get a sense of its scent. Finally she wrote down her answer and moved on to the next cigar.

LIGHTING UP—Ariadna Gomez smokes a cigar next to an image of Cuba’s leader Fidel Castro during the 13th annual Cigar Festival in Havana, Cuba, Feb. 21. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)

Garcia was one of 27 cigar sommeliers and other experts who took part last week in a blind “tasting” of Cuba’s world-famous smokes—part of the island’s glitzy and glamorous Cigar Festival, which draws many of the biggest vendors from around the world each year.

There were also black-tie dinners, trips to lush tobacco fields, cigar factory tours and lots and lots of schmoozing. The exclusive soirees and jet-set crowd made a strange juxtaposition in a communist country that spends the other 51 weeks of the year proclaiming its egalitarianism and denouncing the excesses of capitalism.