The election of a loyal acolyte of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian president could ease the West's dealings with the Islamic Republic due to a streamlined power structure in Tehran but Ebrahim Raisi's hardline stance could also spell trouble, analysts say.

Five years on from Britain's shock decision to quit the European Union, the wounds opened by Brexit have yet to heal, and analysts say its far-reaching changes are only just beginning.

With the second-biggest bloc in Iraq's parliament, powerful friends in Iran and vast financial assets, the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance has become the predominant force in Iraqi politics, experts say.

Biden administration officials are insisting that the election of a hard-liner as Iran's president won't affect prospects for reviving the faltering 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. But there are already signs that their goal of locking in a deal just got tougher.

Optimism that a deal was imminent faded as the latest talks ended Sunday without tangible indications of significant progress. And on Monday, in his first public comments since the vote, incoming Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi rejected a key Biden goal of expanding on the nuclear deal if negotiators are able to salvage the old one.

Abiy Ahmed promised a fresh start after years of iron-fisted rule in Ethiopia, where he became prime minister in 2018 following anti-government street protests in Africa's second-most populous nation.

Iran, an oil-rich country of 83 million people, is the world's largest Shiite nation, an arch-enemy of Israel and rival of Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Israel's fragile new government has shown little interest in addressing the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians, but it may not have a choice.

Jewish ultranationalists are already staging provocations aimed at splitting the coalition and bringing about a return to right-wing rule. In doing so, they risk escalating tensions with the Palestinians weeks after an 11-day Gaza war was halted by an informal cease-fire.

When Joe Biden entered the White House, he waited nearly a month to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu, fueling perceptions he was in no hurry to please the divisive Israeli leader.

Promising greater openness at home and outreach abroad when he was elected in 2013, Iran's outgoing moderate President Hassan Rouhani comfortably won a second term but leaves office as a deeply unpopular figure.

Rewaz Faiq is just one of two women serving as parliament speaker in the Middle East, where politics is a man's world, but the Iraqi Kurdish mother of two is unfazed.