Pacific Islands Forum meeting in turmoil after several leaders pull out of Palau summit

• 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.

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...

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...

Missing woman’s partner and daughters fundraise to join search in one of the hardest-hit areas of Nepal Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastClair Spry says her sister would hate the attention. She would want it focused on the Nepali people, who have been displaced or are in need of aid. She would want it to be on the impact of the climate crisis, especially on the world’s most economically vulnerable populations.“Her focus right now would not be on her; it would be on the families,” Spry said. “So many people, the Nepalese people, that have been horribly displaced and traumatised. She would want the attention on them and how we are going to help them. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Friends of the Earth finds greatest sewage discharge in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset‘Tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes’: Brighton swimmers vent fury at sea pollutionSouth West Water is doing more harm to the environment than any other water company in England, according to new analysis, with more sewage discharged in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset than anywhere else.Friends of the Earth analysed water companies’ environmental performance in six categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents or warnings at bathing sites, severity of sewage pollution at bathing sites, the percentage of rivers rated below the standard for good ecological health, and the affordability of bills. Continue reading...

Checking for sewage spills has become as normal as checking the weather forecast, say swimmers on East Sussex beachesSouth West Water has worst environmental record in England, analysis shows“I’m furious,” says Jo Armstrong, 75, sitting on Brighton beach with her daughter and granddaughter.Armstrong lives in Lewes, a town 8 miles from Brighton, and usually goes swimming in nearby Seaford in East Sussex every day. But over the past week the water there has been too polluted to swim. “Brighton beach was the only place that stayed clean,” she says. Continue reading...

Conditions are deteriorating in city of El Obeid and camps on its outskirts, with more people arriving every dayHumanitarian conditions in the Sudanese city of El Obeid and two camps on its outskirts are dire and deteriorating, according to people on the ground, as civilians displaced by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia continue to pour in from the surrounding countryside.The UN says more than 15,000 families have arrived since mid-July, joining more than 200,000 people who arrived in the first half of the year, according to government figures cited by Save the Children. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham says ‘hundreds’ of people will remain in prison as part of changes to scheme designed to ease overcrowdingPC Andrew Harper’s killers will be excluded from the early release scheme after the prime minister said anyone convicted of unlawful killing would be exempt.Andy Burnham said “hundreds” of people will remain in prison as part of changes to the scheme designed to ease overcrowding in prisons. Continue reading...