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Russia
Federation
President Vladimir Putin

• his family was so poor, he hunted rats in his house as a youth
• served as an intelligence officer in the infamous KGB
• holds a black belt in judo
• passed stricter anti-gay laws in 2014

China

Communist state

President Xi Jinping

• Xi's father held the position of Vice Chairman of the People's Congress, but was jailed in 1963 during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution
• he studied Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University; received an advanced law degree after submitting a questionable PhD thesis
• he holds the top positions in the government, military, and the Communist party

Israel 

Parliamentary democracy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

• Netanyahu's nickname is "Bibi"
• he was a member of the Special Forces Unit of the Israeli Defense Forces
• his brother was killed attempting to rescue kidnapped Israelis during Operation Entebbe

Brazil
federal republic
President Dilma Rousseff

• she was a left-wing political activist, arrested and tortured for opposing the military dictatorship
• she is a cancer survivor (lymphoma)
• she studied economics at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University

Syria
republic under an authoritarian regime
President Bashar al-Assad

his brother Bassel died in an auto accident, opening the way for Bashad to become Syria's leader

has been proved to use chemical weapons on his own country's civilians, including children

he has been personally implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity by the United Nations

United Kingdom
constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm
Prime Minister David Cameron

• he is a descendant of King William IV
• his first child was born profoundly disabled, and died at the age of 6 of cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy
• he attended Oxford, studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE)

Mexico
federal republic
President Enrique Peña Nieto

• at age 15, he began delivering propaganda in favor of his relative, a memory Peña Nieto still recalls as the turning point and start of his deep interest in politics
• he has had two children with two different women while married to his first wife
• his present wife is a Televisa soap opera actress
• he has had difficulty fulfilling his promise to reduce the influence of drug cartels in Mexico

Canada
a parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy
Prime Minister Stephen Harper

• he has a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Economics
• he voted against restricting the definition of marriage to that of "one man and one woman" way back in 1994
• he joined the Young Liberals Club in high school, but is now a member of Canada's Conservative Party

Japan
a parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy
Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

• Abe comes from a politically prominent family
• he is Japan's youngest post-war Prime Minister
• he studied Public Policy at the University of Southern California
• Emperor Akihito is the fifth son of Emperor Hirohito

Germany

federal republic

President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel

• Merkel learned Russian at an early age, and is quite fluent
• Forbes Magazine has named her the 5th most powerful person in the world
• she is the de facto leader of the European Union

India

federal republic

President Pranab Mukherjee

• his father spent several years in prison for opposing British rule
• he has advanced degrees in history, political science, and law
• he served as editor of a monthly magazine

France

republic

President François Hollande

• his father was a doctor whose politics were "far right;" while his mother was a liberal social worker
• he was raised Catholic but is now an athiest