The US weekly news magazine Time has placed Finnish President Tarja Halonen among the top ten female leaders of the world, Helsingin Sanomat reports.
      The first on the list is Australia’s first woman Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who rose to the country’s leadership in early June. The second-most important woman leader was Iceland’s Prime Minister Johanna Siguradottir.
     
President Halonen was ranked in eighth place. Ahead of her in the top ten were Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
      Concerning Halonen, Time wrote that Halonen was brought up in a working class family in Helsinki, and has constructed a "highly successful political career by building ties with trade unions and nongovernmental organizations.”
      The magazine also points out that the President’s hobbies, swimming and taking care of her two cats, “belie her powerful position”.
      The magazine also noted that “In 2006, TV host and comedian Conan O'Brien endorsed Halonen's re-election because of her strong resemblance to him”, though Time seems oblivious to the fact that it was all a good-humoured ratings stunt.
      It is a little hard to know what we are to make of the video of Finland that accompanies the short piece: it refers to the Air Guitar World Championships held in Oulu.