The top 10: 1. US President Barack Obama 2. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin 3. Chinese President Hu Jintao 4. German Chancellor Angela Merkel 5. Bill Gates 6. King Abdullah 7. Pope Benedict XVI 8. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve 9. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook 10. British Prime Minister David CameronJEDDAH – Forbes magazine has once again listed King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, as one of the 70 most influential people in the world. The King ranks six in the Forbes list, topped by US President Barack Obama. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is ranked number two. “There are seven billion people on the planet. These are the 70 that matter,” wrote Forbes on its website. The ranking takes into account four factors. First, the magazine measures how many people a person has power over. Second comes the financial resources controlled by each candidate, whether that is revenues (for a company), GDP (for a country) or net worth (for a billionaire). Next comes the question: “Is a candidate influential in more than one arena, or sphere?” Finally, consideration is given to how actively the candidates wield their power. “King Abdullah has continued to pursue an agenda of moderate reform in the desert Kingdom that contains 20 percent of the world's known oil reserves and Islam's two holiest sites. He recently granted women the right to vote in local elections,” wrote Forbes magazine. Last year's winner, Chinese President Hu Jintao, slipped down to third. Among those dropping off the top 70 list were WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former IMF chief Dominique Strauss
