MEDIA LEAD SHEET/DECEMBER 29, 2008-JANUARY 5, 2009 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, December 22). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com— or Katherine Barna at 212-445-4859—Katherine.Barna@Newsweek.com—or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831—Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Read the issue and Web exclusives at www.Newsweek.com. *This is a special double issue and will remain on newsstands for two weeks.  

COVER: “The New Global Elite” (p. 32). Newsweek’s first ever list of the world’s 50 most powerful people lays out a roadmap for how the world works today. Editor Jon Meacham opens with an essay looking at the history of power, how it is earned and how it transforms those who have it. Although the list is highly subjective, “the choices are well-considered, and each, we believe, represents a thread in the new global tapestry,” writes Meacham. “Some are utterly surprising; others are not. Perhaps most important, each meets the test of power as we have just defined it: they are men and women who are either in the business of bending others to their will or who are seeking to rearrange reality in ways they find more congenial. They are in command, or they seek control.” The list includes:
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Barack Obama. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria breaks down what the newly elected 44th president of the United States will need to do to become a truly influential figure. There’s no doubt that Obama is intensely charismatic and that it provides him with unusual political capital. But very soon—say on Jan. 20, 2009—his powers will start to mutate, and they will derive less from his persona and more from his office. For all its problems, for all the battering it has taken, the United States remains the single most important country in the world—able to exercise influence in every realm and on every continent in a way that no other major power can. It remains, in the words of the German writer Josef Joffe, “the default superpower.” Add to this Obama’s special qualities, and the relief much of the rest of the world feels at seeing the end of the Bush administration, and you have a heady combination.
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Ben Bernanke, Jean-Claude Trichet and Masaaki Shirakawa. Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson explores why central bankers Bernanke, Trichet and Shirakawa will likely decide the fate of the global economy next year.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176288

Vladimir Putin. Russia’s leader talks a big game and has the military to back it up, but faces a softening economy as oil prices plummet.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176291

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s Supreme Leader is the real force to be reckoned with in Tehran.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176293

Hillary and Bill Clinton. Senior Editor Jonathan Alter looks at how the most powerful couple in politics may find the times suited to their unmatched skills. Like major movie stars, they may find second acts in high-quality supporting roles that might just display their talents better than when their names had top billing on the marquee. Of course, we don’t know yet how comfortably Hillary will work in harness as secretary of state under President Barack Obama. But certainly this Featured Return Engagement offers them both a huge opportunity. The couple are already so popular abroad that when they land at a foreign airport, they can hit the tarmac running on all the bilateral and multilateral issues they know so well.

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Timothy Geithner. Senior Editor Daniel Gross writes about why Obama’s Treasury secretary will help define the new global financial system. “Geithner will be responsible not just for putting out fires, but for rebuilding from the ashes of the world financial system,” Gross writes. “Geithner is neither a household name nor a typical pick for a Treasury secretary. He’s a career technocrat, with stints at Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the New York Fed…He’ll also have substantially more institutional authority than any of his predecessors.”

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Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi’s ruler has something everyone wants right now—cash with which to invest in ailing blue-chip companies. 

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176310

John Lasseter. Assistant Editor Jennie Yabroff explains why Pixar’s animation chief has immense soft power and why escapist fare does well in recessions. Cartoons now are taken so seriously by audiences and critics alike that they’re now mostly known by a more lofty term: animation. And Lasseter himself has played perhaps the biggest role in the elevation of the lowly cartoon. Pixar which was formed 22 years ago, has become a dominating force in global moviemaking since 1995 when it released “Toy Story.” Pixar films have grossed a collective $4.5 billion worldwide, with the average film earning about $200 million. When it comes to soft power, no single studio has more clout.

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Shahrukh Khan. Bollywood’s biggest star spreads a message of openness and tolerance to some of the world’s most closed societies.

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Osama bin Laden. Despite having kept a low profile recently, and lost many of his top lieutenants, his ideology continues to inflict monstrous harm.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/176326

E.A. Adeboye. Senior Editor Lisa Miller looks Nigeria’s most successful preacher and the wildfire spread of Pentecostalism, the world’s fastest growing religion. Adeboye, the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He boasts that his church has outposts in 110 countries. He has 14,000 branches—claiming 5 million members—in his home country of Nigeria alone. There are 360 RCCG churches in Britain, and about the same number in the U.S. Adeboye’s aspirations are outsize. He wants to save souls, and he wants to do so by planting churches the way Starbucks used to build coffee shops: everywhere.

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PERSPECTIVES 2008: (p. 80). Newsweek recaps 2008 with cartoons, quips and quotes.

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TRANSITION: “Remember Them Well”  (p. 84). Newsweek looks back at the significant figures who died this year, including Tim Russert, Jesse Helms, William F. Buckley, Bobby Fisher, Bernie Mac, Estelle Getty, Heath Ledger, Charlton Heston, Yves Saint Laurent, George Carlin, Bo Diddley, Paul Newman and Randy Pausch.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/172082

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