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Obama first, Netanyahu 23rd on Forbes most powerful list

President Obama for the second straight year was named the world\'s most powerful person by Forbes magazine, which placed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 23rd on the list.
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December 6, 2012

President Obama for the second straight year was named the world's most powerful person by Forbes magazine, which placed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 23rd on the list.

The list includes 71 individuals — one for every 100 million people on the planet.

Other notable Jews on the list included Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, at No. 6; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at 16; Google co-founder Sergey Brin, at 20; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, at 25; and Goldman-Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, at 36.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, which develops and manufactures space launch vehicles, at age 41 is among the youngest on the list and appears at No. 66.

Following Obama in the top 10 are German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Russian President Vladimir Putin; Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates; Pope Benedict XVI; King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi Arabia; European Central Bank President Mario Draghi; Xi Jinping, the secretary-general of China's Communist Party; and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Iran's Grand Ayatollah Khamenei finished two slots ahead of Netanyahu.

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