By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington: After winning a surprise Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama has been ranked by the Forbes magazine as the world’s most powerful person, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at No. 36 on the list.
The list also features Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at 37, the “boss of Mumbai-based organised crime syndicate D-Company” Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar – 50, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama – 39, and TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey – 45, as people wielding some influence over the world.
In compiling the inaugural ranking, Forbes said it had narrowed the list to 67 people, “a number based on the concept that one can reduce the world’s 6.7 billion people to the one in every 100 million that matter”.
“The goal in compiling this list is to expose power and not glorify it, and over time reveal how influence is as easily lost as it is hard to gain,” the magazine said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came in at number 29 while Queen Elizabeth failed to make the list.
Here are the top 10:
1. US President Barack Obama
2. Chinese President Hu Jintao
3. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
4. US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke
5. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
6. Carlos Slim, chief executive of Mexico’s Telmex
7. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of media group News Corp.
8. Michael T. Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart stores
9. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz
10. Bill Gates, co-chairman, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation