The world's richest man, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, is not finding an easy go of it when he makes public appearances in the United States. Last week, at an event at the New York Public Library along with Salman Khan, the head of Khan Academy, a number of activists in the audience interrupted the event with loud laughing. This Forbes posting cites one activist saying it was a protest against Slim's "monopolistic and predatory practices."

Slim faced protests a year ago when George Washington University gave him an honorary degree.

The Forbes story said Slim's son-in-law, Arturo Elias, believes some of the protesters were paid $35 and a Metro ticket to get to last year's events.

Slim's America Movil offers cellular services in 17 countries. A recent monopoly-busting telecom reform in Mexico, Slim's home base, will make it harder for him to hang on to some 70 percent of the cellular market there and 80 percent of the land lines.

If you want to know more about Carlos Slim in 90 seconds, take a look at this video. Forbes Magazine this week listed Slim for a fourth year in a row as the world's richest man, with a fortune estimated at $73 billion. Trailing slightly is Bill Gates, the Microsoft found, at $67 billion. The two men, who were recently together here in Mexico, have some differences when it comes to philanthropy. Click here to see my story on the issue.

A Mexican mountaineer, Leonardo Fernandez, recently reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the world's highest mountain at 29,035 feet in elevation. Fernandez does more than just gaze out at the stunning panorama from the rooftop of the world. He records a video endorsing the presidential campaign of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

What interested me more about the video (in Spanish), though, was how deeply out of breath Fernandez appears to be. It's for logical reasons. At the top of Everest, there is only a third of the level of oxygen in the air as at sea level. Even at base camp on the Tibetan side, at a little more than 15,000 feet in elevation, oxygen levels are only half what they are at sea level.

I can attest to this personally. Click here for a video I did in 2007 of the scene at base camp as climbers prepare for the ascent. That's me about half way through the video, gasping for air and complaining how I woke up every half hour during the night.

So Sr. Fernandez, my advice is to forget about Lopez Obrador for the moment. Take some long oxygen-deprived breaths and get off the mountain. Otherwise, you'll be one more victim of the Everest "death zone" (that I wrote about here) littered with corpses.

The world’s richest man is touring the Balkans. Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom tycoon, has been in Skopje and Ohrid, Macedonia, pronouncing that he was “delighted at the beauties of the region.”

Which beauties he was talking about, I don’t know. Perhaps investment opportunities.

“I didn't have much time for more sightseeing,” Slim was quoted as saying on this website. “I knew very little about Macedonia, I knew something about Alexander the Great and the history of the country, but you have to excuse me for my modest knowledge. Only two days ago I found out that Mother Teresa was born here.”

In the AP photo at left, Slim walks with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

During his stay in Macedonia, Slim co-chaired a meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which was convened for the first time outside of its headquarters in Geneva, New York and Paris.

Macedonians interpreted Slim's visit, however, as a sign that their country is an attractive investment destination.

Forbes says Slim is worth $69 billion.

Item: Postings will be light until I return to Mexico April 15th.