Definitely no or maybe yes: what tipped the Icelandic referendum | Miranda Bryant

• Author Abdillahi Jama Ali-Qurus warns that the Horn of Africa is reaching a "melting point" as diverse geopolitical conflicts converge in the region. • The instability is driven by the competing ambitions of Türkiye, Gulf powers, Israel, and Western nations, alongside the spillover from the Houthi conflict in Yemen.

More than 100 undercover officers spied on tens of thousands of mainly leftwing activists over decadesProsecutors are examining whether to bring criminal charges against 12 former police officers who were involved in spying on political groups.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is examining a file of evidence that the officers may have committed wrongdoing while working in controversial undercover operations. Continue reading...

City firms tapped for case studies to try to convince global watchdog that London has cleaned up its actThe government is asking bankers and lawyers to provide feelgood stories about how they blocked dirty money from entering the UK, as ministers try to prove the UK’s money-laundering controls are working.The Treasury’s call for evidence is meant to illustrate that the UK has upped its game when it comes to preventing financial crime, particularly since its last dismal assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global crime watchdog in 2018, which fuelled allegations that London had become a hub for “dirty money”. Continue reading...

Deal agreed between Avanti West Coast and Aslef is first to be approved by Burnham governmentTrain drivers have secured a significant pay rise after the threat of strike action was floated on busy routes across the UK, including those on the busy London-Manchester line.The deal, which was agreed on Saturday between Avanti West Coast and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) union, is the first to be approved by Andy Burnham in his premiership. Continue reading...

Inside the US state department, critics are still attacking a shuttered office established to counter foreign propaganda. Now, some of its work is also being resumedA botched leak of purportedly explosive government files to a prominent conservative online personality was supposed to offer proof of what the Trump administration and its allies have long alleged: that a little-known office inside the US state department, created to fight foreign propaganda, had secretly become a tool for domestic censorship.Two former high-ranking officials at the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a target of Republican ire that lost its funding in 2024 and was disbanded after Donald Trump’s return to office in 2025, say the documents show nothing of the kind. Continue reading...

Breakdown recovery group’s private equity owners reportedly in talks with various suitors to sell companyGermany-based financial services company ⁠Allianz is considering a £5bn takeover swoop for AA, ⁠the breakdown ⁠recovery ​group, Sky News has reported.Allianz is ‌one of a small number of parties holding talks with advisers to the AA about a deal, Sky News said, adding that ‌the private equity outfit EQT was another bidder. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research says sector is fixated with young talent, with most women experiencing unconscious bias or sexismWomen working in the arts believe they do not have equal opportunities for roles, especially as they get older, according to a report saying that the industry is fixated with “young and emerging” talent.Nearly all (95%) women working in the arts thought gender inequality persisted, while three-quarters (75%) reported experiencing unconscious bias or sexism, according to a survey of 76 arts professionals. More than two-thirds (69%) felt that age negatively affected their career success – a figure that rose to 100% among those working in artistic rather than managerial roles. Continue reading...

Critics say changes by CMA will allow multinationals to obscure their ownership of vet practicesPet owners have been warned that they could be unknowingly ripped off by private equity firms who have bought local vet clinics, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) removed requirements for multinational companies to disclose which practices they own.The CMA recently ran an investigation into the monopolisation of vet practices, and found that the lack of competition and transparency of ownership had led to high prices and a lack of information for customers. Pet owners were often unaware their local vet practice could be owned by an international private equity company. Continue reading...

No camp looks to have prevailed, holding 52.5% of votes with only a few left to be counted, says public broadcasterIceland appears to have ⁠rejected ⁠the government’s proposal ​to hold ⁠accession talks with ⁠the ​European Union, ‌the public ‌broadcaster RUV has ‌reported, with only a small ‌number of votes ​left to count.The no camp had 52.5% of votes and the yes camp 47.5%, with only a few ballots left to be counted in one of Iceland’s six voting districts, which was already leaning toward no, online ballot counting on RUV showed on Sunday.Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this story. Continue reading...

Solomon Islands prime minister cancels his appearance, along with leaders from Fiji, Vanuatu and SamoaSeveral leaders have pulled out of a the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Palau at the eleventh hour.Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, has cancelled his appearance after a no-confidence motion was lodged against him at home by the Solomon Islands home affairs minister, Manasseh Maelanga. Continue reading...

Protester Tess Asplund on the photo that made headlines, and why she sees it as a sign of the change in Sweden todayThe striking photograph showed a lone Black woman, her fist raised, standing in the path of hundreds of uniformed neo-Nazis on parade in 2016, and it made headlines across the globe.At the time, it was held up as a symbol of the resistance to the far right. But 10 years on, as Sweden gears up for elections in which the far right is expected to emerge as the second most-voted-for party, the woman in the photo sees it as a sign of the bewildering change that has gripped the Scandinavian country. Continue reading...