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REUTERS... Partly due to popular pressure, the world's industrialized nations agreed in July to double aid to poor countries by 2010, adding $50 billion a year, and to cancel poor countries' debt.
'Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world's richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest,' Time said.
Kelly said he expected the choice to surprise some people, but the unlikely alliance of the richest man in the world and a 'hell-raiser' like Bono was an inspiring example of how different approaches could be effective.
Kelly said the 'odd couple' of former Presidents Bush and Clinton had been among the contenders for 'Person of the Year,' which ranged from talk show host Oprah Winfrey, for her influential campaigning for hurricane relief, to Mother Nature, encompassing the tsunami, hurricanes and earthquakes.
Time has been naming its person of the year since 1927 and the tradition has become the source of speculation every year, as well as controversy over unpopular choices such as Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
The aim is to pick 'the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse.'
Time's 2004 Person of the Year was U.S. President George W. Bush while 'The American Soldier' graced the 2003 cover in the year when U.S. troops invaded Iraq.
'You want to make a choice for the history books as well as one which is fresh and interesting,' Kelly said.
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