23/04/2011 10:50
Lionel Messi among Time's 100 most influential people
New York based Time Magazine has named Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in the 2011 Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the most influential people in the world.
The Time 100 list, now in its eighth year, recognizes the innovation, activism and achievement of the world's most influential individuals.
This year list includes pop culture giants such as Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey plus the lesser known Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian Internet activist who helped topple President Hosni Mubarak, and Takeshi Kanno, a Japanese doctor who refused to leave behind victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
World leaders such as US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff populate the list for how they have wielded power.
Also included in the 100 people this year are Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton, and Kim Jong-Un, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's third son and heir apparent.