Obama, Putin top Forbes list of world’s most powerful people

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)-U.S. President Barack Obama has topped Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful people in 2011 with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking second.

In 2010, Putin was ranked number 4 on the Forbes list of most powerful people.

Chinese President Hu Jintao closes the “top three," with German Chancellor Angela Merkel remaining the most powerful woman at No. 4 on the list, followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Pope Benedict XVI, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was ranked at 59.

One of the most notorious criminals of the world, Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, also made the list and was rated in 55th place.