8) Dilma Rousseff

Dilma Rousseff was sworn-in to the Office of the President of Brazil on January 1 2011. She is the first woman to hold the office. On September 21 she became the first woman to open a session of the UN General Assembly. Currently she is embroiled in a bribery scandal.

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7) Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu has been serving Israel as its prime minister since March 31 2009. This year he led the biggest military engagement of his three terms in office during a 50-day war against Hamas in Gaza. This resulted in 2,000 deaths.

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