'Forbes' Most Powerful: Obama, Merkel, Putin
U.S. President Barack Obama leads "Forbes" magazine's list of the world's most powerful people for the second year in a row, followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The list contains 71 names, a figure "Forbes" said it chose because there are an estimated 7.1 billion people in the world and thus the ranking works out to one very heavy hitter for every 100 million people.
Also among the top spots are Microsoft founder and philantropist Bill Gates and Pope Benedict XVI, and two bankers -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Bank President Mario Draghi.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and two politicians, British premier David Cameron and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, complete the top 10.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev placed 61st on the list, down from 47th in 2011, when he was president and Putin was prime minister.
The list contains 71 names, a figure "Forbes" said it chose because there are an estimated 7.1 billion people in the world and thus the ranking works out to one very heavy hitter for every 100 million people.
Also among the top spots are Microsoft founder and philantropist Bill Gates and Pope Benedict XVI, and two bankers -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Bank President Mario Draghi.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and two politicians, British premier David Cameron and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, complete the top 10.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev placed 61st on the list, down from 47th in 2011, when he was president and Putin was prime minister.
