Sonia and Shah Rukh on 50 most powerful list

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 prestigious Newsweek magazine. President-elect Barack Obama topped the list.

Placing Sonia 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 widow of late former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi rules it unchallenged. In the world's largest democracy, she's queen".

Bollywood reigns

Shah Rukh Khan, who occupies 41st spot in the magazine's 50 most powerful people, was described as the "King of Bollywood".

"It's not just that his [Shah Rukh Khan's] romantic flicks make gazillions, it's where those gazillions come from. Khan is huge in the Muslim world, even in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the clerics ban his films. The movies thrive on the black market." the newsweekly said.

"Their main appeal is certainly the song-and-dance numbers, but Khan [a Muslim married to a Hindu] makes devoutly secular films where love trounces bigotry."

Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who controls the country's nuclear weapons, is 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, is followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and powerful Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

A surprise inclusion in the list, which the magazine admits is subjective, is Osama Bin Laden, whom the Newsweek describes as "global terrorist". North Korean dictator Jim Jong II also finds a place in the list.

About 47-year-old Obama, it says the presidency of the Democrat, will be judged on how he handles the economic crisis.