Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is now ahead of Pope Benedict XVI.
The American magazine Forbes is known for generating all kinds of rankings. It has just come up with a new list of the world's most powerful people. The authors of the list wrote: "These rankings are not meant to justify or glorify... They simply reflect reality." They defined the power of these persons by the number of people they rule, the amount of money at their disposal, and their active projection of power.
Having polled 35,000 respondents, the editors of Forbes compiled a list of the 69 most powerful people on earth. Hu Jintao ranked first (no one could compete with the number of people he rules – 1.3 billion, a fifth of the world's population; China also has the world's biggest army, and its economy is second to that of the United States).
US President Barack Obama comes second. The editors believe that he and his Democrats suffered a considerable blow in the U.S. midterm elections.
King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud (86 years of age) occupies third place. His country has a vast influence on the Muslim world and is home to many Muslim sacred sites. Saudi Arabia also has one-fifth of oil reserves in the world.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is fourth, and Pope Benedict XVI is fifth.
The top ten include: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (6th), British Prime Minister David Cameron (7th), US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (8th), Indian politician Sonia Gandhi (9th), and Microsoft founder Bill Gates (10th).
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon occupies 41st place. The world's wealthiest man – Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu – is in 21st.
Apart from politicians and business people, the list also includes outlaws. Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaida, who is on the world's most wanted list, comes in at 57th, Mexican drug lord Joaquinn Guzman Loera is 60th, and Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, the head of a criminal syndicate in India, is 63rd.
Forbes has also given credit to prominent software experts. Twenty-six year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ranks 40th, while 68th place belongs to 39 year-old Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.
See kp.ru site for the full rankings
By Larisa Kaftan