World’s Complete List of Most Powerful Women for 2008.

Forbe’s annual ranking of the most powerful women in the world measures “power” as a composite of public profile-calculated using press mentions- and financial heft. The economic component of the ranking considers job title and past career accomplishments, as well as the amount of money the woman controls.
1. Angela Merkel
Chancellor Germany
2. Sheila C. Bair
Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
U.S.
3. Indra K. Nooyi
Chairman, chief executive, PepsiCo
U.S.
4. Angela Braly
Chief executive, president, WellPoint
U.S.
5. Cynthia Carroll
Chief executive, Anglo American
U.K.
6. Irene B. Rosenfeld
Chairman, chief executive, Kraft Foods
U.S.
7. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of state
U.S.
8. Ho Ching
Chief executive, Temasek Holdings
Singapore
9. Anne Lauvergeon
Chief executive, Areva
France
10. Anne Mulcahy
Chairman, chief executive, Xerox Corp.
U.S.
11. Gail Kelly
Chief executive and managing director, Westpac Bank
Australia
12. Patricia A. Woertz
Chairman, chief executive, president, Archer Daniels Midland
U.S.
13. Cristina Fernandez
President Argentina
14. Christine Lagarde
Minister of economy, finance and employment
France
15. Safra A. Catz
President and chief financial officer, Oracle
U.S.
16. Carol B. Tome
Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Home Depot
U.S.
17. Yulia Tymoshenko
Prime minister Ukraine
18. Mary Sammons
Chairman, chief executive, president, Rite Aid
U.S.
19.  Andrea Jung
Chairman, chief executive, , Avon
U.S.
20.  Marjorie Scardino
Chief executive, Pearson PLC
U.K.
21.  Sonia Gandhi
President, Indian National Congress Party
India
22.  Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
Chief Executive and President, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
U.S.
23. Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Coordinating minister for economic affairs and finance minister
Indonesia
24.  Dr. Julie Gerberding
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
U.S.
25. Michelle Bachelet
President Chile
26. Ellen Alemany
Chief executive, Royal Bank of Scotland Americas
U.S.
27.  Carol Meyrowitz
Chief executive, president, The TJX Cos.
U.S.
28. Hillary Rodham Clinton
U.S. senator, New York
U.S.
29.  Hynd Bouhia
Director General, Casablanca Stock Exchange
Morocco
30. Anne Sweeney
President, Disney-ABC Television Group
U.S.
31. Valentina Matviyenko
Governor, St. Petersburg region
Russia
32. Nancy Tellem
President, CBS Paramount Television Entertainment Group
U.S.
33.  Ann Livermore
Executive vice president, Hewlett-Packard
U.S.
34. Marina Berlusconi
Chairman, Finivest Group and Mondador Group
Italy
35.  Nancy Pelosi
Speaker, House of Representatives
U.S.
36.  Oprah Winfrey
Chairman, Harpo
U.S.
37.  Gulzhan Moldazhanova
Chief Executive, Basic Element
Russia
38.  Aung San Suu Kyi
Deposed prime minister; Nobel peace laureate
Myanmar
39.  Lynn Laverty Elsenhans
Chief executive and president, Sunoco
U.S.
40.  Melinda Gates
Co-founder, co-chairman, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
U.S.
41. Gloria Arroyo
President
Philippines
42. Jane Mendillo
President and chief executive, Harvard Management Co.
U.S.
43. Linda Z. Cook
Executive director, gas and power, Royal Dutch Shell
Netherlands
44. Laura Bush
First lady
U.S.
45. Brenda Barnes
Chief executive, Sara Lee
U.S.
46. Christine Poon
Vice chairman, Johnson & Johnson
U.S.
47. Neelie Kroes
Competition commissioner, European Union
Netherlands
48. Amy Woods Brinkley
Global risk executive, Bank of America
U.S.
49.  Susan E. Arnold
President, global business units, Procter & Gamble
U.S.
50. Susan Decker
President, Yahoo!
U.S.
51.  Ana Patricia Botin
Chairman, Banesto
Spain
52.  Tzipora Livni
Vice prime minister and minister of foreign affairs
Israel
53. Dominique Senequier
Chief executive officer, AXA Private Equity
France
54. Amy Pascal
Co-chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment
U.S.
55. Ursula Burns
President, Xerox
U.S.
56.  Helen Clark
Prime minister
New Zealand
57.  Laura Desmond
Chief executive officer, Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide
U.S.
58.  Queen Elizabeth II
Queen U.K.
59. Mayawati Kumari
Chief minister, Uttar Pradesh
India
60.  Judy McGrath
Chairman and chief executive officer, MTV Networks
U.S.
61. Meredith Vieira
Co-anchor, Today show, NBC News
U.S.
62.  Katie Couric
Anchor, CBS Evening News, CBS News
U.S.
63. Barbara Walters
Correspondent, ABC News
U.S.
64. Sallie Krawcheck
Chairman and chief executive, Global Wealth Management, Citigroup
U.S.
65.  Diane Sawyer
Anchor, Good Good Morning America, ABC News
U.S.
66. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President Liberia
67.  Janice Fields
Chief operating officer and executive vice president, McDonald’s
U.S.
68.  Zhang Xin
Chief executive officer, co- founder, Soho
China
69.  Zaha Hadid
Founder, Zaha Hadid Architects
U.K.
70. Yang Mian Mian
President, Haier
China
71. Tarja Halonen
President
Finland
72. Ruth Bader
Ginsburg
Justice, Supreme Court
U.S.
73. Hyun Jeong-Eun
Chairman, Hyundai Group
South Korea
74. Mary McAleese
President
Ireland
75. Guler Sabanci
Chairman, Sabanci Holding
Turkey
76. Drew Gilpin Faust
President, Harvard University
U.S.
77. Lisa M. Weber
President, Individual Business, MetLife
U.S.
78. Dora Bakoyannis
Foreign minister
Greece
79. Beth Brooke
Global vice chairman, Ernst & Young
U.S.
80. Lee Myung-Hee
Chairman, Shinsegae Group
South Korea
81. Susan M. Ivey
Chief executive, Reynolds American
U.S.
82. Nancy McKinstry
CEO, Wolters Kluwer
Netherlands
83. Janet L. Robinson
President and chief executive, The New York Times Co.
U.S.
84. Margaret Chan
Director-general, World Health executive, Reynolds American
U.S.
85 Clara Furse
Chief executive, London Stock Exchange
U.K.
86. Ellen J. Kullman
Executive vice president, DuPont
U.S.
87. Susan Desmond-Hellmann
President, product development, Genentech
U.S.
88. Eva Cheng
Chief executive, Greater China and Southeast Asia, Amway
China
89. Maha Al-Ghunaim
Chairman, managing director, Global Investment House
Kuwait
90. Christina Gold
Chief executive, Western Union
U.S.
91. Christiane Amanpour
Chief international correspondent, CNN
U.S.
92. Pamela Nicholson
President, Enterprise Rent-a-Car
U.S.
93. Ann Moore
Chairman, chief executive, Time Inc.
U.S.
94. Sharon Allen
Chair, Deloitte
U.S.
95. Jing Ulrich
Chairman and managing director, JPMorgan Chase China Equities
China
96. Queen Rania Al-Abdullah
Queen Jordan
97. Virginia Rometty
Senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services
U.S.
98. Georgina Rinehart
Owner, chairman, Hancock Prospecting
Australia
99. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Chairman and managing director, Biocon
India
100. Paula Rosput
Reynolds
Chief Executive, Safeco
U.S.

-Forbes

Oprah school abuse trial starts

Oprah Winfrey set up the school after a request from Nelson Mandela

A former matron at Oprah Winfrey’s school in South Africa has pleaded not guilty at the start of her trial for allegedly abusing students.

The six teenage alleged victims will testify in private, as the prosecutor said they were “very scared”.

Virginia Mokgobo, 28, who worked at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy near Johannesburg, was arrested last year.

The US talk-show host has said she was herself abused as a child and has campaigned against abuse in the US.

The school was opened in 2007 at a cost of $40m (£20m).

Ms Winfrey pledged to build the academy after a meeting with former South African President Nelson Mandela six years ago, and personally interviewed many of the South African girls from low-income families who applied for the initial 150 places at the school.

Ms Mokgobo was arrested last year on charges including assault, indecent assault and soliciting under-age girls to perform indecent acts.

Ms Winfrey has described the charges as one of the most devastating experiences in her life, and said she had not renewed the head mistress’s contract.

She praised the students who reported the alleged abuse.

“My experience with child predators is that no-one ever, ever abuses just one child,” she said last November.

She said that because of the high rates of rape and sexual abuse in South Africa, she had tried to ensure predators would not be able to reach students at the school.