Putin Tops “Forbes” Most Powerful People List for Second Consecutive Year
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ABC NEWS(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin topped Forbes‘ sixth annual list of the most powerful people in the world, released Wednesday. It’s the second straight year Putin has topped the list.
The Russian president finished ahead of powerful individuals including President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, after a year in which his country annexed the Crimean Peninsula, created tensions with neighboring Ukraine and negotiated a deal to build a gas pipeline with China.
The top five on Forbes‘ list remained the same from last year — Putin, followed by Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and Merkel. Twelve new additions to the list include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Egyptian President Abdel el-Sisi, China’s richest man Jack Ma, and the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Forbes explained its selection of Putin over Obama by calling the former “the omnipotent head of a feisty former superpower” and the latter “the handcuffed head of the most dominant country in the world.”
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