End of YEar ExErcisE
By Pablo FrĂas For Gilles Renault
Index http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/
Barack Obama Angela Merkel Vladimir Putin Bill Gates Pope Francis Ben Bernanke Adbullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Mario Draghi Xi Jinping David Cameron
Barack Obama President, United States Age: 51 Residence: Washington, DC Country of Citizenship: United States Marital Status: Married Children: 2 The decisive winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election on all counts: Obama took the popular vote, the electoral college and seven out of seven toss-up states. Now he gets four more years to push his agenda past weakened congressional Republicans. Still, he faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East. But Obama remains the commander in chief of the world's greatest military and head of the sole economic and cultural superpower--literally the leader of the free world. 2012. In June the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of ObamaCare's "individual mandate"--and a conservative Chief Justice cast the deciding vote.
Angela Merkel Chancellor, Germany Age: 58 Country of Citizenship: Germany Education: Master of Science, Leipzig University; Doctorate, Leipzig University Marital Status: Married The world's most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Merkel's hard-line austerity prescription for easing the European debt crisis has been challenged by both hard-hit southern countries and the more affluent north, most particularly French President Francois Hollande. Merkel has served as chancellor since 2005 , the first woman in the position, but her biggest challenge may still lie ahead: she is running for a third term this fall's general elections. Merkel has earned the top spot on the FORBES list of Most Powerful Women In The World for seven of the past 10 years.
Vladimir Putin President, Russia Age: 60 Residence: Moscow, Russia Country of Citizenship: Russia Education: Doctor of Jurisprudence, Saint Petersburg State University Marital Status: Married Reelected for a third 6-year term as president in March after a few years swapping posts with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, Putin officially regains the power that no one believes he truly gave up. This October the ex-KGB strongman--who controls a nuclear-tipped army, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves-turned 60. That's Russia's retirement age, but who's got the nerve to tell him to quit? Global condemnation after the March jailing of anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot.
Bill Gates Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Age: 57 Source of Wealth: Microsoft, self-made Residence: Medina, WA Country of Citizenship: United States Education: Drop Out, Harvard University Marital Status: Married Children: 3
Bill Gates, the world's most generous person, says that as long as he helps eradicate deadly diseases like polio and malaria, he doesn't care if he's forgotten after his death. Not that there's any chance of that: Gates has already given more than $28 billion, but said in his fifth annual letter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that the total amount invested is less important than precise measures of impact, like child mortality rates. Gates has been spreading his gospel to other billionaires near and far: he and good friend Warren Buffett recently added 12 non-Americans to their Giving Pledge, including the U.K.'s Richard Branson and India's Azim Premji, bumping the total to 105 high net worth individuals. He also partnered with Carlos Slim to build a new $25 million agricultural research center in Mexico. Gates' net worth increased $6 billion to $67 billion in the past year - with no help from the company he cofounded, Microsoft, in which he still has a 5% stock. Most of his fortune these days is spread across private equity, bonds, and stocks like hygiene tech firm Ecolab, Mexican TV broadcaster Televisa, and Latin America's
largest beverage company FEMSA. In February, Gates said the only thing left on his bucket list was, "Don't die."
Pope Francis Francis (Latin: Franciscus;[b] born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] born 17 December 1936) is the 266th pope of the Catholic Church,[2] a position that also includes being the Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City and the bishop of the Diocese of Rome. Born in Buenos Aires as the son of Italian parents, Bergoglio worked briefly as a chemical technician before entering seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1969. From 1973 to 1979 he was Argentina's Provincial superior of the Society of Jesus, became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, and cardinal in 2001. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, on 13 March 2013 the papal conclave elected Bergoglio, who chose the papal name Francis in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. [3] Throughout his life, both as an individual and a religious leader, he has been known for his humility, his concern for the poor, and his commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and faiths. Since his election to the papacy, he has displayed a simpler and less formal approach to the office, choosing to reside in the Vatican guesthouse rather than the papal residence.
Ben Bernanke Chairman, Federal Reserve, United States •Age: 59 •Residence: Washington, DC •Country of Citizenship: United States •Education: Doctorate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Harvard University •Marital Status: Married •Children: 2 Big Ben has been on a buying spree: In a third round of quantitative easing, the Fed is now snapping up $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion of Treasurys. Result: modest economic recovery and a nearrecord $2.9 trillion on the Fed's balance sheet. The American economy's "adult in the room" recently warned that there is only so much the Fed can do; politicians are the ones with the
power to keep us from going over that fiscal cliff. Recently admitted the financial crisis may have "reduced the potential growth rate of our economy."
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud King, Saudi Arabia •Age: 88 •Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia •Country of Citizenship: Saudi Arabia •Marital Status: Married The absolute monarch of the desert kingdom controls 20% of the world's known oil reserves and guards Islam's holiest cities. The Arab Spring couldn't shake al Saud's sovereignty, but out-of-control youth unemployment remains a threat. Aging Abdullah lost his second heir apparent in two years when his brother, Crown Prince Nayef, died in June; he's been replaced by another brother, 76-year-old Crown Prince Salman, the former governor of Riyadh.
Mario Draghi President, European Central Bank •Age: 65 •Residence: Rome, Italy •Country of Citizenship: Italy •Education: Doctorate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology •Marital Status: Married •Children: 2 With the euro lurching constantly from crisis to crisis, the European Central Bank is more important than ever. As chief banker of the world's largest currency area--the euro zone's collective GDP is now more than $17 trillion--Draghi faces the Herculean task of trying to maintain financial unity across 17 countries. But if anyone can wrangle the interests of nations as diverse as Germany and Greece, it might be the man who navigated the minefield of Italian politics so deftly that he earned himself a nickname: "Super Mario."
Xi Jinping General Secretary, Communist Party, China •Age: 60 •Residence: Beijing, China •Country of Citizenship: China •Marital Status: Married The man who is likely to lead China for the next decade was recently promoted to the Communist Party's top position; Xi also took over as chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission, putting him in control of the world's largest army. His rise to power will be complete in March, when he takes over for Hu Jintao as president and head of state. Xi's only half of a Chinese power couple: His wife, Peng Liyuan, is a superstar folk singer.
David Cameron Prime Minister, United Kingdom •Age: 46 •Residence: London, United Kingdom •Country of Citizenship: United Kingdom •Education: Master of Science, Oxford University •Marital Status: Married •Children: 4
Two years into office the Tory PM has gone from being called the second coming of Margaret Thatcher to standing in the shadow of Europe's new Iron Lady, Angela Merkel. Cameron has rejected the German Chancellor's call to increase the EU budget and threatened to veto anything but a spending freeze. At home he faces a sustained economic downturn, a disillusioned electorate and rumblings from his own party over Britain's future.