Angela Merkel is Time’s Person of the Year 2015

Time magazine on Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its “Person of the Year 2015”, saying her deft leadership has helped preserve and promote an open, borderless Europe in the face of economic turmoil and ongoing refugee crisis.

61-year-old Merkel, one of the most powerful women in the world, is the first female Person of the Year in almost three decades. She beat some of the world’s best-known politicians and leaders including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin, ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump for the annual honour. “At a moment when much of the world is once more engaged in a furious debate about the balance between safety and freedom, the Chancellor is asking a great deal of the German people, and by their example, the rest of us as well,” Time said.