Merkel Ousts Rice As Forbes' Top Woman

If Hillary Clinton returns to the White House, debates over the identity of the world's most powerful woman will become very predictable. Meanwhile, though, the balance has swung across the Atlantic from the US to Europe: the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has knocked Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, from the top of Forbes magazine's list of the 100 most powerful women.

Ms Rice held first place for two years running. She and Germany's first female chancellor are followed by the Chinese vice-premier Wu Yi, known to the Chinese media as the "iron lady", who came second to Ms Rice in both 2004 and 2005.

But after the top three, political power takes a back seat to corporate clout on the Forbes list, which is based on measures of both public visibility and economic impact. Indra Nooyi, the soon-to-be chief executive of PepsiCo, is at number four, followed by representatives of Xerox, Citibank and other multinationals.

Although monarchical power, as might be expected, languishes far below, Queen Elizabeth II seems to have experienced a rapid recent increase in her influence, up to 46th place, which may be well below Melinda Gates at number 16, but is a much better showing than her 75th place last year. Last year the highest-ranking Briton was JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter, at 40. But the appointment of Margaret Beckett as foreign secretary has shot Britain up the chart to 29th. Cherie Blair has dropped from 62nd place right out of the top 100.

Ms Clinton has risen from 26th last year to 18th this year, with the American election campaign on the horizon and her eye on the presidency in 2008.