A candidate who entered the Iranian election race to help his boss, President Hassan Rouhani, is emerging as a favourite of reformists for his bold and outspoken campaign, even though he is ultimately expected to step aside. Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice-president, made clear when he registered as a candidate for the top job that he was supplementing and not challenging the incumbent – indicating his campaign was a tactical move aimed at defending Rouhani’s achievements.

The presidential election on 19 May is the first since the 2015 nuclear deal with the west, when Tehran rolled back its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of sanctions. None of the candidates have spoken of scrapping that accord but two conservatives – Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, and the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi – have questioned whether Rouhani has achieved tangible economic benefits. Jahangiri’s strong appearance in the first of three televised debates boosted the reformists but Ghalibaf said it was a strange phenomenon that he was running alongside Rouhani.

Writers and stars of Veep have responded incredulously to the news an Australian politician required stitches after knocking himself unconscious while laughing at the new season. Graham Perrett, a federal Labor MP in Queensland, was eating sushi while watching the US political satire on Sunday night when some of the rice went down the wrong way, causing him to fall and knock himself unconscious. As reported in the Australian’s Strewth column on Thursday, he incurred a black eye and required three stitches as a result of his unfortunate intersection of comedy, dinner and a kitchen bench. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus responded to BuzzFeed journalist Mark Di Stefano’s tweet about the report: I mean, c’mon, I’m actually having a hard time believing it.

The presidential election on 19 May is the first since the 2015 nuclear deal with the west, when Tehran rolled back its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of sanctions. None of the candidates have spoken of scrapping that accord but two conservatives – Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, and the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi – have questioned whether Rouhani has achieved tangible economic benefits. Jahangiri’s strong appearance in the first of three televised debates boosted the reformists but Ghalibaf said it was a strange phenomenon that he was running alongside Rouhani.

Writers and stars of Veep have responded incredulously to the news an Australian politician required stitches after knocking himself unconscious while laughing at the new season. Graham Perrett, a federal Labor MP in Queensland, was eating sushi while watching the US political satire on Sunday night when some of the rice went down the wrong way, causing him to fall and knock himself unconscious. As reported in the Australian’s Strewth column on Thursday, he incurred a black eye and required three stitches as a result of his unfortunate intersection of comedy, dinner and a kitchen bench. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus responded to BuzzFeed journalist Mark Di Stefano’s tweet about the report: I mean, c’mon, I’m actually having a hard time believing it.