Escalating Warfare Threatens Regional Stability

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in 2026. He previously served as the president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East at the time of his death.

Diane Luckey, known professionally as Q Lazzarus, was an American singer. She is best known for her 1988 song "Goodbye Horses", which became a cult classic after being prominently featured in a scene from Jonathan Demme's 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. Several of her songs were featured in other films directed by Demme before she disappeared from the public eye in the mid-1990s.

The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the head of government of Iran. In the Iranian system of government established after the Islamic Revolution, the supreme leader is the de facto head of state of Iran.

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the 2nd supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination during the 2026 Iran conflict. He previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East at the time of his death. He held the title of Ayatollah and was considered one of the world's leading Shia marja'.

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Nigerian politician, who served as the federal minister of transportation of Nigeria from 2015 to 2022 under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He resigned to contest for Nigeria's presidency under the governing All Progressive Congress (APC). He had previously served as governor of oil-rich Rivers State, from 2007 to 2015 and earlier, as speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2007. On 9 April 2022, Amaechi declared interest to contest in the presidential election in 2023. He polled second position in the APC presidential primaries held in June 2022 behind eventual president Bola Tinubu with 316 delegate votes against Tinubu's 1271 votes. He is currently a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)

Yvette Cooper is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since September 2025, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, previously Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, since 1997.

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.

Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the country's longest-serving foreign minister since the Soviet era.

Viktor Mihály Orbán is a far-right Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000. He was re-elected as prime minister in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister.

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.

Gabriel Boric Font is a Chilean politician who has served as the 37th president of Chile since 2022. A socialist, he was previously a member of the Chamber of Deputies for two consecutive terms from 2014 to 2022.

Sugiono is an Indonesian politician and diplomat who has been serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in President Prabowo Subianto's Red and White Cabinet since 2024. A member of the Gerindra Party, he is also the party's secretary-general since 2025. Prior to his appointment as foreign minister, Sugiono served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2019 to 2024, holding the role of deputy chairperson of the House's First Commission which oversees the fields of defense, foreign affairs, and communications.

Arzu Geybulla gizi Geybullayeva, also known as Arzu Geybulla, is an Azerbaijani columnist, blogger, and journalist for several newspapers and media news outlets including Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Global Voices, and Agos. She has also worked with several non-profit organizations and think-tanks including the National Democratic Institute and European Stability Initiative. Geybullayeva was included in the BBC's list of top women in 2014. She advocates a peaceful resolution among Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, in recent years, she has received various threats mainly stemming from Azerbaijan due to her work with Agos, an Armenian newspaper. The threats were internationally condemned by various human rights organizations.

Local elections were held in Laguna on May 12, 2025, as part of the 2025 Philippine general election. Voters will elect candidates for all local positions: a town mayor, vice mayor and town council, as well as members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the vice governor, governor, and representatives for the four districts of Laguna, and the lone districts of Biñan, Calamba, and Santa Rosa.

Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi is an Indonesian diplomat who formerly served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Joko Widodo between 2014 and 2024. She is the first female minister appointed to the post. She was previously the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands from 2012 to 2014, as well as Ambassador to Iceland and Norway from 2005 to 2008.

Marco Antonio Rubio is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat serving as the 72nd United States secretary of state since 2025, also the acting national security advisor. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2025.

Yahaya Adoza Bello is a Nigerian businessman, politician. He served as the governor of Kogi State from 2016 to 2024. A member of the All Progressives Congress, Bello was the youngest governor in Nigeria throughout his term in office.

David Carl Janetzki is an Australian politician and since November 2024, the current Treasurer of Queensland. He was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Toowoomba South for the Liberal National Party at a Toowoomba South state by-election in July 2016.

Christopher Eyles Guy Bowen is an Australian politician who has been Minister for Climate Change and Energy in the Albanese government since June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was first elected to parliament at the 2004 federal election. He held ministerial office in the Rudd and Gillard governments from 2007 to 2013.

Mohammad Boroujerdi was an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander during the Iran–Iraq War. He played key roles in regaining control over the territories of Kurdistan by Iranian forces.

Ma näen su häält is an Estonian television mystery music game show based on the South Korean programme of the same title. It featured a group of "mystery singers", with the objective of guest artist and contestants to eliminate bad singers from the group assisted by clues and a celebrity panel, ending with the last remaining mystery singer through a duet by one of the guest artists.

The ninth season of the American television series El Señor de los Cielos was announced on 11 May 2023. The season is directed by Danny Gavidia, Mauricio Corredor, Mauricio Meneses and Bernardo Mota, with Karen Barroeta, Ximena Cantuarias, and Monica Vizzi serving as executive producers.

The Malawi national football team represents Malawi in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Malawi. Before 1966, it was known as the Nyasaland national football team.

Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo is an Indonesian politician, businessman, and retired military officer who has served as the eighth president of Indonesia since 2024. He previously served as the 26th minister of defence under President Joko Widodo from 2019 to 2024. Prabowo is Indonesia's third president to have a military background after Suharto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and is the oldest first-term president in Indonesian history.