Explainer-Why are world leaders at the UN next week and what will they talk about? - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

• President Trump will meet with Persian Gulf leaders in New York next week during the United Nations General Assembly to discuss postwar strategy for the region. • U.S. officials also met over the weekend with representatives of Yemen's Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a report on September 16, 2026, detailing reprisals against human rights activists across 32 countries. • The International Maritime Organization chief called for an immediate end to attacks targeting seafarers and merchant ships.

• World leaders will gather in New York starting Tuesday for several days of high-level debate at the United Nations General Assembly. • Diplomats indicate there will likely be a high-level meeting on the sidelines regarding the conflict in Sudan.

• A Saudi-led coalition shot down a Houthi drone near Mecca on Tuesday amid ongoing regional instability. • The United States embassy issued a travel advisory urging citizens to reconsider traveling to Saudi Arabia following alerts in Mecca and other areas.

Efra committee calls for emergency legislation enabling government to take public control of the company Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company.Adding their voices to demands that the prime minister takes public control of the company, which has debts of £20bn and is being controlled by a group of 100 hedge funds and distressed-debt investors, the MPs said in a report that ministers should consider emergency legislation to take control of its financial affairs to stabilise the company. Continue reading...

Switch to ‘business attire’ is a sign of the times, but formal neckwear still has its place, say some of Savile Row’s finest-dressedThe House of Lords has long been derided as a stuffy relic of the past. But now its benches, usually filled with haughtily dressed men, could soon resemble something more akin to “dress-down Friday”.One of the nation’s most storied chambers of power has enacted a rule change: men are no longer required to wear a tie in the House of Lords. Instead, they should opt for “business attire”. Continue reading...

Former prime minister says US would ‘scuttle itself back to San Diego’, leaving Australia to deal with retribution from ChinaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastAukus critic Paul Keating has said the submarine deal is locking Australia in to any future US conflict with China – “a war America would certainly lose” – and making Australia a target for retribution.The former prime minister seized on comments reported out of Washington this week from Republican congressman Michael McCaul – a China hawk and co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Australia caucus – who said “Australia is a target” for enemies of the US already. However, McCaul argued that greater integration with the US military would better protect Australia rather than leaving it more vulnerable. Continue reading...

The gift from Italy has sparked fierce debate among defence analysts and opposition politicians who question its true cost and purposeIndonesia has received its first aircraft carrier, a former Italian warship that the government says will strengthen the archipelagic nation’s maritime security and disaster response capabilities.The 41-year-old former ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, with capacity for short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft and helicopters, arrived Friday morning at a naval base in North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port, where it was welcomed with a military ceremony. Continue reading...

Tech bosses have called for a slowdown in artificial intelligence and the creation of formal guardrails from the US government. But why is President Trump unmoved by the doomsday predictions, dismissing them as a ‘hoax’? What lies behind his embrace of the AI industry? Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian US tech editor, Blake MontgomeryWatch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channelSend your questions and feedback to [email protected] to the latest season of Black Box Continue reading...

‘Disposal of the body in this case was as thorough as it was brutal,’ justice Peter Hamill said when sentencing 55-year-old Nirmeen NouflFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA woman who lied to police multiple times to cover up killing and dismembering her abusive husband will spend a further 12 months in jail.Nirmeen Noufl was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty in August to killing her husband Mamdouh in excessive self-defence while she was being choked and assaulted in their Sydney home. Continue reading...

President’s United Russia party faces no meaningful opposition after liberal anti-war party barred from ballotRussians are going to the polls to elect a new State Duma in a tightly controlled vote stripped of meaningful competition and with little doubt about the result.Vladimir Putin’s United Russia is expected to extend the grip on parliament it has held for 23 years, alongside a handful of nominal opposition parties that reliably vote with the Kremlin on the issues that matter. The three-day vote begins on Friday, with results expected after polls close on Sunday. Continue reading...