Merkel calls for investigation into 'repugnant' attacks

German leaders expressed shock over dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women on New Year's Eve in the western city of Cologne blamed on "Arab-looking men," but warned against anti-migrant scapegoating.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a thorough investigation of the "repugnant" attacks, ranging from groping to at least one reported rape, allegedly committed in a large crowd of revellers during year-end festivities outside the city's main train station and its famed Gothic cathedral.

Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said she had called Cologne's mayor, Henriette Reker, to express her "outrage" over the violence, which she said required "a tough response from the state".

"Everything must be done to find as many of the perpetrators as possible as quickly as possible and bring them to justice, regardless of their origin or background," Seibert quoted Merkel as saying.

Police in Cologne said they had received 90 criminal complaints by Tuesday and quoted witnesses as saying that groups of 20-30 young men "who appeared to be of Arab or North African origin" had surrounded victims, assaulted them and in several cases robbed them.

Germany took in around one million asylum seekers in 2015, many of them fleeing war-ravaged Syria.

A plain-clothes policewoman was reportedly among those attacked.

"We assume more people will come forward," police chief Wolfgang Albers told reporters.

The northern port city of Hamburg also reported around 10 similar attacks.

On Tuesday evening 200-300 people, according to police estimates, gathered in front of Cologne cathedral calling for more respect for women.

One female demonstrator held a sign reading: "Mrs. Merkel, what are you doing? This is scary".

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere lashed out at Cologne police for failing to stop the assaults.

"The police cannot work in this way," de Maiziere told public TV channel ARD.

Police said they evacuated the area because of fears people could be injured by fireworks – and admitted the assaults then began without them realising what was happening.

"It is not acceptable that the square could be evacuated and then (the attacks) take place" in the same location, with officers "waiting for complaints" from victims before taking action, de Maiziere said.

"I am urgently demanding clarification."

'Exploitation' of refugee issue

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the assaults represented "a new dimension of crime that we will have to get to grips with," adding that they had appeared to be "coordinated".

Asked by a journalist whether refugees were behind the rampage, Maas said police were still working to identify the attackers.

"This is not about where someone is from but what they did," he said.

"Making an issue out of it, lumping it together with the refugee issue, is nothing but exploitation. Now is the time to determine the facts and then decide on the necessary consequences."

Meanwhile the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which hopes to gain seats in three regional elections in March, seized on the attacks as "a result of unchecked immigration".

"Here we see the appalling consequences of catastrophic asylum and migration policies on Germany's everyday reality," party leader Frauke Petry said.

The Cologne daily Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger said many of the suspects were already known to police due to a rash of pickpocketing and muggings near the railway station.

'It was terrible'

Victims described terrifying scenes in the marauding mob.

Katja L., 28, said she was with three friends outside the station when they encountered a group of "foreign-looking men".

"Suddenly I felt a hand on my bottom, then on my breasts, then I was groped everywhere," she told Cologne tabloid Express.

"It was horrible. Although we screamed and flailed about, the guys didn't stop. I was beside myself and think that I was touched about 100 times across around 200 metres (yards)."

A woman in her 30s interviewed on rolling news channel N24 said she was groped by a group of "Arab-looking men".

"They didn't look at me aggressively, they seemed more curious than anything, and a little drunk," she said.

"I was furious."

Cologne mayor Reker, who was stabbed in the neck in October in an attack apparently over her welcoming stance toward refugees, called a crisis meeting with political officials and police Tuesday after the case made national headlines.

She pledged to step up security and violence-prevention measures ahead of next month's raucous Carnival, which draws hundreds of thousands to party in the city's streets.

Albers said security cameras and better lighting would be installed for the February 4-10 event, including around the main rail station.

Merkel in her televised New Year's address called on Germans to continue to welcome refugees despite mounting criticism and to reject far-right ideologues whipping up anti-migrant sentiment.

(AFP)

EU chief warns Poland on new media law

EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger on Sunday threatened to put Poland on notice for infringing on common European values by passing legislation giving the government control of the state media.

The move would start a series of steps that, if the law remains in place, could eventually see Warsawlose its voting rights at the European Council, the organisation that groups the leaders of all 28 EU nations.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, Oettinger, who is commissioner for the digital economy and society, warned: "Many reasons exist for us to activate the 'Rule of Law mechanism' and for us to place Warsaw under monitoring."

His remarks come after Poland's conservative government on Wednesday took control of state media after new legislation was passed giving it the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters, despite EU concern and condemnation from rights watchdogs.

According to FAZ, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has placed the issue on the agenda of the commission's next meeting on January 13.

The newspaper reported that Juncker was seeking to start a procedure in place since 2014 to protect against "systemic dangers to the rule of law".

Under that procedure, if the country in question does not accept changes to proposals put forward by the commission, the commission can initiate a "procedure over the violation of fundamental European values", FAZ said.

Though the procedure has not yet been initiated, the potential sanctions could include "the withdrawal of voting rights" for the country in question, according to FAZ.

Oettinger plans to call for the procedure to be initiated against Poland, FAZ wrote, citing him as saying: "A director (of public radio or television) cannot be dismissed without cause. It would be arbitrary."

Under the new law, senior figures in public radio and television will in future be appointed -- and sacked -- by the treasury minister, and no longer through contests by the National Broadcasting Council.

The new legislation will also see the current managers and supervisory board members of Poland's public broadcasters fired with immediate effect.

It has been met with sharp criticism from media rights organisations including Reporters Without Borders, the European Broadcasting Union and the Association of European Journalists.

Catalonia parliament elects new pro-independence leader

The majority secessionist lawmakers in Catalonia's parliament voted in a new leader Sunday, tasking him with overseeing the wealthy region's breakaway from Spain in a last-minute show of unity after months of bitter infighting.

Carles Puigdemont was elected regional president with 70 votes for, 63 against and two abstentions, giving Catalonia's high-profile independence movement a fresh lease of life and drawing a sharp rebuke from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who vowed to fight for his country's unity.

"The government won't allow a single act that could harm the unity and sovereignty of Spain," Rajoy warned in a live, televised appearance in Madrid.

After months of acrimony, Catalonia's pro-independence faction that won regional parliamentary elections in September finally came to an agreement this weekend over who should lead the new local government.

The focus of the squabble had been Artur Mas, the incumbent, separatist regional president whom the far-left CUP party – part of the secessionist faction that won the polls – rejected over his support for austerity and corruption scandals linked to his party.

And with Mas stubbornly refusing to step aside as a weekend deadline to form a government loomed,Catalonia seemed to be heading for fresh elections, which would have been the fourth since 2010.

But in a surprise move Mas agreed to step aside on Saturday, naming the relatively unknown politician Puigdemont as his successor.

The 53-year-old mayor of Girona – who comes from a fervently pro-independence family – will now appoint his cabinet.

"We need... to start the process to set up an independent state in Catalonia," Puigdemont said in a speech to the northeastern region's parliament ahead of the vote.

'Power vacuum in Madrid'

The last-ditch agreement to form a Catalan government stands in stark contrast to the situation in Madrid, where the national government is in limbo following inconclusive December polls.

Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) came top in the December 20 elections but lost its absolute majority, leaving him struggling to form a coalition government as other parties refuse to support him.

"The (separatist) coalition is profiting from the power vacuum in Madrid," headlined online daily El Espanol on Sunday.

So far the PP's traditional Socialist rivals (PSOE), who came second in the elections, have refused to back him.

But ironically, the newly reached separatist deal may put pressure on the PSOE to stand united with the PP over its opposition to Catalonia breaking away from Spain.

"We reiterate our support for the caretaker government to enforce the law and defend the Constitution," Socialist lower house parliamentary group spokesman Antonio Hernando told reporters earlier Sunday.

And Fernando Martinez-Maillo of the PP stressed that there was "no better way to confront secessionism than to see the Popular Party and the Socialist party join forces."

Swiss authorities arrest two Syrians with traces of explosives in car

Two Syrian nationals were arrested in Geneva on Friday and traces of explosives were found in their car, the local newspaper Tribune de Geneve and Swiss television said.

The newspaper gave no details on the identity of the two men or the circumstances of their arrest. It said it was unclear whether the arrests were linked to a heightened security alert Geneva authorities had declared last Thursday. It remained in effect at level 3 on a scale of 5.

"Two men of Syrian origin were arrested in Geneva on Friday," Swiss television said on its nightly news broadcast. "Traces of explosives were found in their car."

Geneva officials were not immediately available to comment, but a source close to the case told Reuters that two men had been arrested, without giving any details.

Swiss media and Reuters have reported that authorities are looking for four men believed to have been in Geneva this week. A van with Belgian plates and two men entered Switzerland from France via the Jura mountains on Tuesday and went back to France after a few hours, Swiss television said.

Earlier on Friday, Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga said that Swiss federal authorities had putGeneva on a high security alert this week after getting a tip from foreign authorities about a suspected Islamic State cell in the region.

Two sources confirmed to Reuters that the Central Intelligence Agency had provided a photo of four men to Swiss authorities on Wednesday, saying they could be on Swiss territory.

The photo, published in Swiss newspapers, showed four bearded men seated, with their faces blurred and index fingers raised in the air. A CIA spokesman in Washington declined to comment on Thursday.

Scientists hopeful but cautious on Paris climate deal

While global leaders hailed Saturday’s Paris agreement as historic some scientists have warned that the cap on warming, and the deal’s timetable for phasing in greenhouse gas reductions, may yet fail to avert catastrophic climate change.

US President Barack Obama said the Paris deal is ‘the best chance we have to help save the planet’.

"We came together around the strong agreement the world needed. We met the moment," he said.

One of the crucial points of the accord was to place a cap on warming to ‘well below’ two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, and to "pursue efforts" to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

But findings from the UN's own climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclude that to have a two-thirds chance of limiting warming to two degrees, emissions would have to fall by 40-70 percent by mid-century.

And to reach the 1.5°C target also embraced in the new pact, those mid-century cuts would have to be even deeper: 70 to 95 percent.

"This is an historic agreement," said Steffen Kallbekken, director of the Centre for International Climate and Energy Policy.

"But this ambitious temperature goal is not matched by an equally ambitious mitigation goal," he said, using the scientific term for the drawing-down of heat-trapping gases.

Without these hard numbers -- dropped from an earlier draft -- the climate pact "does not send a clear signal about the level and timing of emissions cuts," Kallbekken cautioned.

Some scientists also voiced concern about the fact the new deal allows several years to pass before ramping up emissions reduction efforts.

"For all that is encouraging in the agreement, the time scales -- or the lack thereof -- are worrying," said Ilan Kelman of University College London. "Little substantive will happen until 2020 whilst clear deadlines for specific targets are generally absent."

Jean Jouzel, a leading French climate scientist and contributor to the UN's Nobel-winning climate panel, questioned the feasibility of hitting at 1.5°C target, saying it could only be achieved by overshooting the mark and then pulling back, which could take decades or longer.

Doom fossil fuel industry
However, some environmentalists said the Paris agreement was a turning point, predicting the 1.5°C goal would help to doom the fossil-fuel industry.

"That single number, and the new goal of net zero emissions by the second half of this century, will cause consternation in the boardrooms of coal companies and the palaces of oil-exporting states," Greenpeace International chief Kumi Naidoo said.

On the crucial financing issue, developed countries agreed to muster at least $100 billion (92 billion euros) a year from 2020 to help developing nations.

However, following US objections, it was not included in the legally binding section of the deal.

While nations most vulnerable to climate change lobbied hard for the wording to limit warming to 1.5°C, big polluters, such as China, India and oil-producing giant Saudi Arabia, preferred a ceiling of 2°C, which would have enabled them to burn fossil fuels for longer.

China's chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua said the pact was not perfect.

"However, this does not prevent us from marching historical steps forward," he said.

The crux of the climate change deal is the elimination of fossils fuels such as coal, oil and gas, to be replaced with renewable energy options and the creation of carbon markets to enable countries to trade emissions.

In an effort to get countries to scale up their commitments, the agreement will have five-yearly reviews of their pledges starting from 2023.

But scientists say that, even if the pledges were fully honoured, the Earth will still be on track for warming far above safe limits.

"This agreement is a turning point for a world transformation within a 1.5-2°C safe operating space on Earth," said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Stockholm Resilience Center.

"But now we need action consistent with science to reach decarbonisation by 2050," he said.

EU set to unveil controversial border force plan

The EU is set to reveal on Tuesday controversial proposals for a new border force which will be sent to trouble spots along the 28-nation bloc’s frontiers, even in cases where member states do not ask for its presence.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, wants to be able to deploy personnel from a new European Border and Coastguard Agency without, as currently required, the consent of the state concerned, EU officials told Reuters in early December, reflecting frustration with Greek reluctance to seek help with migrants.

European Union officials call it a largely theoretical “nuclear option” and stress that any infringement of national sovereignty would be balanced by the power of a majority of member states to block Commission intervention – similar to checks agreed during the euro debt crisis.

The Commission will set out the plans on Tuesday, following a commitment to an EU border guard in September by President Jean-Claude Juncker, but is likely to face stiff opposition from some EU members who feel their sovereignty could be threatened.

“This idea will face opposition from most member states,” one EU diplomat told Reuters. “We believe such a solution would interfere too deeply in member states’ internal competences.”

“The Commission is testing our limits,” said another.

He compared it to the Commission’s push to oblige states to take in mandatory quotas of asylum seekers, which set furious east Europeans against German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A Polish source told AFP that "Poland is pretty much objecting to the very idea of such a border guard".

"It would remove responsibility for protecting borders from a member state and might serve as an alibi for inaction,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

"The proposal seems to be an excessive intervention in the internal competences of a state," he added.

Defending the EU’s borders

However, failure to strengthen the EU’s external borders, senior officials argue, will see more states re-impose frontier controls inside the bloc as the continent struggles to cope with a vast influx of refugees and migrants mostly from the Middle East and Africa.

They fear this could wreck the EU’s cherished free movement area, known as the Schengen zone, and foster the rise of anti-EU nationalists like France’s National Front.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Commissioner in charge of migration policy, told a Mediterranean security conference in Rome last week that national authorities had been overwhelmed by the unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers and other migrants arriving in Europe, creating the need for a pan-European solution.

"National authorities manage to do their best but they were not prepared," Avramopoulos said. "We need something more comprehensive and better structured."

He said the new agency's tasks would include defending and protecting EU borders, providing migrants with support and carrying out search and rescue operations.

It would have a staff of around 1,000 and be authorised to intervene whenever national authorities could not meet their responsibilites for border security, Avramopolous added.

In comparison, the EU’s current border agency, Frontex, has just 400 staff and around half the budget that would be granted to the envisioned new border force.

A new Returns Office that would be charged with deporting those who fail to qualify for asylum will also form part of the proposals.

In addition, the border guard force would be able to draw on a pool of around 1,500 personnel placed on standby while still working for national border forces in the Schengen area. These would form a rapid reaction force, able to deploy within days.

Unlike Frontex, the new agency would be able also to operate outside the EU - for example, in Balkan states such as Serbia - and organise joint patrols with non-EU forces, such as Turkey.

Intervention would typically be triggered by a member state asking for help but the Commission could also initiate action. At that point, it could be blocked by a majority of member states. However, another senior EU diplomat said his government would prefer that full unanimity be required in such a case.

“With unanimity, it might be possible,” he said. “But I don’t think member states will give a mandate to the Commission on this.”

Paris attacks guns 'traced to German arms dealer'

German prosecutors said Friday they were investigating whether an illegal arms dealer had sold four assault rifles to a person in the French capital and whether there were "possible links to the attacks in Paris".

Police had found several handguns during a search of his home, said prosecutors in the nearby city of Stuttgart.

"Investigations so far suggest that the accused could have sold four assault rifles to a buyer in Paris in November," said the prosecutors' statement.

"Possible links to the attacks in Paris are being checked," it added, referring to the series of gun and explosive assaults that claimed 130 lives on November 13.

Earlier Friday, the mass-circulation Bild daily reported that the arms dealer, whom it identified as Sascha W., had sold two AK47s and two Zastava M70s on November 7 to an Arab customer in Paris.

"French investigators believe that the weapons were allegedly used in the attacks in Paris," said Bild.

Bild said the suspect was accused of having hawked the weapons on the Darknet -- a hidden network used for both legal and illicit ends -- using the name "DW Guns".

Four emails on his smartphone had shown that he sold "four Kalashnikov assault rifles to an Arab in Paris", added the newspaper.

The prosecutor's office said the man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of converting starter guns into deadly weapons and selling them on the Darknet.

"He is believed to have built the parts for this himself," the spokesman said, adding that only pistols had been found.

Turkey to hand over body of downed pilot to Russia

The body of the pilot killed when Turkey shot down a Russian jet was taken to Turkey late on Saturday to be handed over to Russia, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

The body is being treated in accordance with the Orthodox tradition, Davutoglu said in a news conference in Ankara on Sunday before going to Brussels for a meeting with EU leaders on migration.

He did not say how the body was delivered to Hatay in southern Turkey but said Russia’s military attache was going there on Sunday as part of procedures to recover the remains.

Relations between Turkey and Russia have sharply deteriorated since Tuesday’s incident, with Russia imposing economic sanctions and revoking a visa-free agreement, while Turkey has sought to cool tensions, seeing the Paris climate change talks that start this week as a chance to mend ties.

Davutoglu said that with different coalitions operating in Syria with differing objectives, similar incidents to that of the downing of the Russian jet could happen unless there was information sharing and coordination.

Both United States along with other allies, including Turkey, as well as Russia are carrying out air campaigns against Islamic State and other groups.

Russia and Turkey have accused each other of aiding Islamic State, but both say they are battling the militants who have taken swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

However, Russia sides with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has been accused by the West of using its bombing campaign to help him instead of targeting Islamic State.

Turkey meanwhile wants Assad gone and has been supporting rebels fighting him.

EU, Turkey agree €3bn aid deal to stem migrant crisis

The European Union and Turkey agreed on a deal to stem the migrant crisis, including a three-billion-euro ($3.2-billion) aid package for Syrian refugees in Turkey, EU president Donald Tusk said after a summit in Brussels on Sunday.

"Our agreement sets out a clear plan for the timely re-establishment of order at our shared frontier. We will also step up our assistance to Syrian refugees in Turkey through a new refugee facility of three billion euros," Tusk told a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The EU also agreed to open a new chapter in Turkey's stalled bid for membership of the bloc in exchange for Turkey's cooperation in reducing the flow of refugees and migrants, Tusk said.

Visa requirements for Turkish citizens visiting the EU's passport-free Schengen area would also be relaxed by October 2016, he said.

Brussels would "monitor closely at least once a month" the progress being made by Turkey, Tusk added.

Davutoglu said the deal would "re-energise" Turkey's EU accession process, which has made little headway since it started in 2005.

"This is a historic day and a historic meeting, the first meeting of this kind since 11 years," the Turkish premier added.

"No one can guarantee anything on the Syrian issue, we don't know what will go on in Syria, but I can assure that Turkey will be fulfilling all the promises of the joint plan. Our purpose with the EU is to prevent new waves of refugees from Syria and to manage the existing refugee crisis," he said.

"This three billion euros is to be spent for refugees in Turkey, it's not for Turkey."

(AFP)

Germany restricts migrant entry to five points on Austrian border

Germany said Friday that asylum seekers would only be able to enter the country at five points along its border with Austria to better control a mass influx.

"We would like to have a more orderly procedure," a spokeswoman for the interior ministry told AFP, saying Germany had reached agreement on the new policy with the Austrian government.

"The rule will go into effect immediately," she added.

Tempers flared between Berlin and Vienna this week when Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday hit out at Austria for sending asylum seekers to its 800-kilometre-long (500-mile-long) border without any warning.

Authorities in the southern German state of Bavaria, already struggling to cope with the record numbers, complained that the lack of coordination was leaving them scrambling to find resources to assist the new arrivals.

But Austrian authorities hit back, with a police spokesman calling it "a joke" that Bavaria was unable to process the new arrivals.

Three million more migrants expected to reach EU by 2017

The European Union is predicting that three million migrants could arrive in the 28-nation bloc by the end of next year, with the refugee emergency already proving a stern test of EU border and reception capacities.

More than 700,000 people have come to Europe seeking sanctuary or jobs so far this year.

The arrivals are imposing costs for shelter, rescue operations and border security, but the EUestimates that the refugees are likely to bring economic benefits within a few years, notably in Germany, one of the preferred destinations for many people.

EU autumn economic forecasts released on Thursday show that based on current migrant entries and a "technical assumption" about future flows, arrival rates for migrants are unlikely to slow before 2017.

The EU's executive Commission said that "overall, an additional 3 million persons is assumed to arrive in the EU over the forecast period."

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was a first-hand witness to the arrivals on Thursday, as migrants and refugees reached the island of Lesbos by dinghy while his motorcade traveled from Lesbos airport to a new registration facility.

"We realized that is a criminal process being carried out by the smugglers who cram refugees onto vessels that are not boats, but makeshift inflatables," he said. "What's happening in the Aegean Sea is a crime."

The flow of migrants into Greece's mainland and beyond was turning to a trickle on Thursday, however, as a ferry strike entered its fourth day and trapped thousands of people on the eastern Aegean islands.

Police in the Idomeni border area said 850 people had crossed into Macedonia between Wednesday and Thursday morning. Numbers usually range from 4,000 to 8,000 people per day. The strike is set to end Friday.

Despite the figures of refugee increases, the European Commission predicted that the population across the 28 EU nations would only rise by about 0.4 percent. No obvious impact on employments levels is likely, it said.

"You cannot say that this influx of refugees is likely to have a negative impact, or some kind of a shift of kicking other people out of the labor market," the EU's top economics and finance official, Pierre Moscovici, said.

However, the EU said the real impact on national budgets is difficult to predict, given a lack of complete and reliable data about exactly who is arriving in the bloc and whether they are staying.

Most people are arriving in Europe through Italy and Greece, while Hungary and Austria have been affected by heavy migrant flows. Germany and Sweden are also feeling the impact.

Those nations, among others, want the EU to apply its budget rules with flexibility, taking into account Europe's biggest refugee emergency in well over half a century, and avoid reprimanding member states for excessive spending and deficits.

The Commission said Thursday that Sweden, which has the highest share of refugees per capita and wants its EU partners to host some of the refugees arriving on its territory, is likely to feel the economic impact most, perhaps 0.5 percent of its gross domestic product this year.

Other hard-hit migrant transit and destination countries are likely to see an impact of 0.2 percent of their GDPs in 2015, but Brussels pointed out that Germany and others would benefit in coming years from a boost in spending and the creation of more jobs.

While acknowledging the potential short-term impact, the Commission did not clearly state whether it would be lenient on any country with budget problems.

However, a senior EU official said on Wednesday that some flexibility might be allowed "taking into account well-specified costs and for a limited period of time."

"This has been an asymmetrical shock for some member states," said the official, briefing reporters on condition that he not be named.

As long as any help is "one-off, shortish-term," members of the euro single currency bloc would agree to it, he said.

Forbes names Putin world’s most powerful person

Barack Obama on Wednesday became the first sitting US president to slide out of the top two power rankings as published by Forbes, beaten not just by Vladimir Putin but also Angela Merkel.

The magazine published its seventh annual ranking just weeks after Putin opened a new front in the Syria war by conducting air strikes, then Putin hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow.

"As Obama enters the final year of his presidency, it's clear his influence is shrinking, and it's a bigger struggle than ever to get things done," Forbes wrote.

"At home, his approval ratings are perpetually stuck under 50 percent; abroad, he's outshined by Merkel in Europe, and outmaneuvered by Putin in the Middle East."

In August, Putin's domestic approval rating soared to 87 percent, the highest level in six years, according to an independent polling center.

His intervention in Syria has seen Putin seek to muscle his way back to global influence after months of Western isolation over Ukraine.

"Putin continues to prove he's one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants – and get away with it," said Forbes.

Despite international sanctions imposed after Moscow annexed Crimea and over the conflict in Ukraine, Putin has made the US and NATO look weak, and helped rebuild Russian influence abroad, Forbes said.

The German chancellor, jumped up three places to grab the second spot, last year occupied by Obama.

"Merkel is the backbone of the 28-member European Union, and her decisive actions dealing with the Syrian refugee problem and the Greek credit crisis helped bump her up the list," Forbes said.

Pope Francis was number four and Chinese leader Xi Jinping number five, falling two spots from last year. The 2015 list ranks 73 powerbrokers among 7.3 billion people on the planet.

Among the eight newcomers were Saudi Arabia's new monarch, King Salman, number 14, and US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at number 58 and 72 respectively.

Thirty on the list come from the United States, eight come from China, and four each from Japan andRussia.

Nine women made the cut.

The youngest on the list are 31-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at number 19, and North Korea's 32-year-old leader Kim Jong-un at number 46.