Top 20: World's most powerful people (Full Details + Photos)

[welcomewiki]

10. Bill Gates
Bill Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during a health summit on November 9, 2010 in Washington, DC. Microsoft mogul, futurist and America's richest person has, with help from billionaire buddy Warren Buffett, convinced nearly 60 of the world's wealthiest to sign his "Giving Pledge," promising to donate the majority of their wealth to charity either during their lifetime or after death. He is no longer the planet's richest person, but that's because he's given away $ 30 billion to his foundation. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

[welcomewiki]

9. Sonia Gandhi
Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi poses at the Laeken Castle November 11, 2006 in Brussels, Belgium. Sonia Gandhi, at ninth place, has been described as a person who wields unequaled influence over 1.2 billion Indians and "after being elected as Congress President for the record fourth term she has cemented her status as true heiress to the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty." (Photo by Mark Renders/Getty Images)

[welcomewiki]

8. Ben Bernanke
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies during a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 2, 2011 in Washington, DC. Some argue Fed's influence is at all-time high, given size of its burgeoning balance sheet ($ 2.3 trillion) relative to the underlying economy ($ 14.3 trillion). But Bernanke's options have waned since peak of the financial crisis. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images)

[welcomewiki]

7. David Cameron
British Prime Minister David Cameron is shown around the new Rolls Royce Visitor Centre at the Rolls Royce engine production facilty on March 7, 2011 in Derby, England. Youngest British prime minister in 198 years is product of privilege: Eton, Brasenose College, Oxford; is descended (illegitimately) from King William IV. Hailed by some as the second coming of Margaret Thatcher, Cameron shares the Iron Lady's determination to slash government expenditures. (Photo by Christopher Furlong - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

[welcomewiki]

6. Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts during a statement after German Defense Minister Zu Guttenberg resigns earlier the day at the Chancellery on March 1, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. Most powerful woman on the planet. Chancellor of Germany oversees Europe's largest economy. Renowned free-market champion and favorite of big business, boasts nine public companies with annual sales in excess of $ 70 billion.(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)