The Next Big Things

In January 2005, hardly anyone had heard of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Cindy Sheehan. Now, he's the president of Iran, and she's U.S. President George W. Bush's loudest critic. Who will catapult into the public consciousness this year? FP picks four to watch.

Yusuf K. Hamied
Indian chemist

Yusuf K. Hamied
Indian chemist

Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied’s company, Cipla, will introduce a generic version of the avian flu drug Tamiflu in 2006. Cipla has already reverse engineered its own formula of the drug and will sell it at a "humanitarian price" if bird flu strikes. Even if the virus only amounts to a hot zone and not a global pandemic, chances are Hamied’s work will be in high demand.

Jacob Zuma
South African politician

Normally, a corruption trial means a politician is on his way out — not up. But not if you are Jacob Zuma, the former deputy president of South Africa. Guilty or innocent, he plans to turn the tables and convert his trial into a launching pad for a bid for the presidency. His opponents fear that the leftist politician, if successful, could turn South Africa into yet another African basket case.

Ali Daei
Iranian soccer star

The first footballer to score 100 goals at the international level, Ali Daei will lead the Iranian team at this summer’s World Cup in Germany. Daei may be 36 years old, but he was still sharp enough to be the top scorer in the Asian qualifying rounds. His goals and patriotic rhetoric could become symbolic of Iran’s defiance of the world.

Lily Cole
British eco-model

With supermodel Kate Moss on the outs for her cocaine-abuse scandal, British teenager Lily Cole is set to become 2006’s fashion icon. But she’s more than just a pretty face — she recently dumped De Beers over its eviction of Kalahari bushmen to free up land for diamond mining. Ethical consuming has never looked so good.

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