German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the Forbes list of the world’s most powerful women for the fifth straight year, but former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton is snapping at her heels, the magazine said on Tuesday.
Behind them came Melinda Gates, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her billionaire philanthropist husband, US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde was in sixth place and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff came in seventh.
The top 10 were rounded out by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (No. 8), Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube (No. 9), and US first lady Michelle Obama.
Newcomers include US pop star Taylor Swift, in at No. 64 and the youngest of the bunch at 25.
The annual list of the world’s 100 most powerful women includes leaders in eight categories — technology, politics, business, finance, media, entertainment, philanthropy and billionaires.
Clinton, who last month announced her second run for the White House, was listed at No. 6 last year, but as US secretary of state she also ranked No. 2 to Merkel in 2011 and 2012.
“Come next year’s US elections, she [Merkel] could lose her title for the first time since 2010 to the one person with a credible and mathematical chance of ‘leading’ the world,” Forbes wrote.
The US dominates the list. Fifty-nine on the list are American, including several immigrants.
There are 18 from the Asia-Pacific region, headed by South Korean President Park Geun-hye at No. 11, 12 from Europe, four each from Latin America and the Middle East, and three Africans.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese