Middle East Tensions Continue to Escalate

Zohran Kwame Mamdani is an American politician who has served as the 112th mayor of New York City since January 2026. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani served from 2021 to 2025 as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 36th district, representing Astoria, Queens.

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

The Iran national football team, recognised as IR Iran by FIFA since 2018, represents Iran in men's international senior football and is governed by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI).

Burj el-Shamali is a municipality located some 86 km south of Beirut and 3 km east of the Tyre/Sour peninsula, merging into its urban area. It is located in the Tyre District of the South Governorate of Lebanon.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donbas, and has continued to serve during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February 2022.

Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a German politician who has served as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag from February 2022 to May 2025.

Dirty Difficult Dangerous is a 2022 film directed by Wissam Charaf which premiered in the 2022 Venice Days, a sidebar of the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and won the 2022 Europa Cinemas Label award.

Zeid Hamdan is a Lebanese music producer. He was referred to as one of 8 leading lights in Lebanese culture by CNN. He has worked with many leading artists including, Soap Kills, The New Government, Katibe5, Shiftz, Hiba Mansouri, Kanjha Kora, Kazamada, Maryam Saleh, Maii Waleed, Dany Baladi, Zeid and the Wings and recently Marie Abou Khaled, Tanjaret Daghet, Muhammad Abdullah from EL MORRABA3 and Lynn Adib.

Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the 6th president of Egypt since 2014.

Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa is a French former politician and convicted criminal who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.

Lee Jae Myung is a South Korean politician and lawyer who is serving as the 14th president of South Korea since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), he served as the party's leader while representing Gyeyang B in the National Assembly from 2022 to 2025. Lee previously served as governor of Gyeonggi from 2018 to 2021 and as mayor of Seongnam from 2010 to 2018.

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is an Israeli politician and diplomat who has served as Prime Minister of Israel since 2022. Having previously held office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021, Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister.

Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician serving as European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, and Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification. He previously served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People (2019-2024), European Commissioner for Trade (2020-2024). European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (2016-2020) and Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014.

Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego is a Colombian politician, former guerrilla leader, and economist who has served as the 35th president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the first left-wing president in the recent history of Colombia.

Cellou Dalein Diallo is a Guinean economist and politician who was Prime Minister of Guinea from 2004 to 2006. Previously he held a succession of ministerial posts in the government from 1996 to 2004. Currently he is President of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), an opposition party. He was a candidate in the 2020 Guinean presidential election but lost to incumbent Alpha Condé.

Wang Yi is a Chinese diplomat and politician who is the Director of the Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

Penelope Ying-Yen Wong is an Australian politician who is serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate in the Albanese government since 2022. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), she has been a senator for South Australia since 2002. Wong previously served as Minister for Climate Change and Minister for Finance and Deregulation during the governments of prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 until 2013.