“Shah Rukh among 50 most powerful”

New York: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan have been ranked among the 50 most powerful people in the world by the Newsweek magazine. President-elect Barack Obama topped the list.

Placing Mrs. Gandhi at the 17th spot, the magazine said: "Although India's political scene is riven by factions, Congress remains the strongest national force, and the Italian-born wife of Rajiv Gandhi rules it unchallenged. In the world's largest democracy, she's queen." Shah Rukh Khan, ranked 41st, was described as the "King of Bollywood."

Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who controlled the country's nuclear weapons, was placed 20th on the list of the global "power elite" at the beginning of 2009 in the magazine's January issue.

Obama, who scripted history by becoming the first black-American to be voted to the White House, was followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Markel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.A surprise inclusion, which the magazine admitted was subjective, was Osama Bin Laden, termed a "global terrorist." North Korean dictator Jim Jong II also found a place.

About 47-year-old Obama, the magazine said the Democrat would be judged on how he handled the economic crisis that now enveloped the U.S.

Others on the list include the Dalai Lama, the former U.S. president, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, Iranian strongman Ayatollah Ali Khemenei, Saudi King Abdullah-bin-Abdul Aziz-al Saud, American General David Petraeus, Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pope Benedict XVI, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and popular show host Oprah Winfrey. — IANS