The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. How the mild-mannered man who runs the Federal Reserve prevented an economic catastrophe Christopher Morris / VII for TIMETIME's Managing Editor Richard Stengel talks with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke during an interview in Washington, DC Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sat down on Dec. 8, 2009 with TIM

In our annual TIME 100 issue, we do the impossible: name the people who most affect our world

By Michael Elliott and Coco Masters / Tokyo Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 Ichiro Ozawa says that he's fond of working at practical things, that he "doesn't like to be showy on the stage." He had better get used to the limelight. If current polling trends continue and if — a big if — he can avoid a fatal taint from the latest of Japan's money-politics scandals, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan

By Michael Elliott and Coco Masters / Tokyo Friday, Mar. 13, 2009 Ichiro Ozawa, president of Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), has been a behind-the-scenes political player for more than 20 years. But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan is losing its grip on power, and Ozawa might be stepping into the premiership after the next general election. At his of

Phillipe Marcou / AFP / GettyA technician prepares vials for DNA testing at a laboratory. When the human genome was decoded and the achievement breathlessly announced in 2003, a new race was launched: Who would be the first to make this trove of genetic information practically useful — and profitable? So far, at least 30 direct-to-consumer testing companies have answered the call, analyzing geneti