Germany's Merkel tops female power list

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes magazine's rankings for the third year as the world's most powerful woman.

The annual compilation recognizes "women at the top of their fields: chief executives and their highest-ranked lieutenants, elected officials, non-profit leaders," Forbes said.

Forbes cited Merkel's work with the German economy, including cutting unemployment, and her actions such as meeting with the Dalai Lama and efforts to cut Germany's greenhouse gas emissions in putting her in its top spot.

The No. 2 spot went to Sheila Bair, head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the bank-deposit insurer, while Indra Nooyi, chief executive officer of PepsiCo is the highest-ranked woman in business in the No. 3 spot.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who ran a spirited campaign against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for their party's nomination for U.S. president, ranked No. 28.

The magazine said just less than half the women ranked are based outside of the United States. Among the other countries are Britain, with five, four from China and three each from France, India and the Netherlands.

The 100 women ranked on the list control $26 trillion, Forbes said.