Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to reign at the top of Forbes' World's Most Powerful People list for the second year in row.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March and Putin struck a deal with China for a giant pipeline that is due to ship $400 billion (240.78 billion pounds) worth of Russian gas to China in the three decades after flows begin in 2019 are a few reasons for Forbes' putting Putin at the top of the list.
US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel round out the list's top five.
The list's top 10 include Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Bill Gates, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Factors that were considered for the 72-person list were the amount of people, finances and influence they have power over out of the 7.2 billion people on earth.
For the full list, visit: www.forbes.com/power.
REUTERS