British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a confidence vote yesterday but a rebellion by 148 of his 359 Conservative Party lawmakers dealt a serious blow to his authority.

Negotiators from almost 200 countries yesterday met in Germany for climate talks tasked with reigniting momentum on tackling global warming, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overshadows the threat from rising emissions.

The Swiss descendent of one of Adolf Hitler’s doctors has released details of letters that show how he treated the Nazi dictator for voice problems, NZZ am Sonntag newspaper reported yesterday.

Officials in British prime minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party expect a challenge to his leadership this week and have pencilled in a vote for Wednesday, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is vital that Russia is not humiliated so that when the fighting stops in Ukraine a diplomatic solution can be found, adding that he believed Paris would play a mediating role to end the conflict.

Four people were killed and 30 injured when a busy regional train derailed near a popular ski resort and hiking destination in southern Germany on Friday, police said.

World food prices fell slightly for the second consecutive month in May but wheat prices rose again as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on and India banned exports of the commodity, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday.

A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades, according to findings released yesterday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Russian troops control about one-fifth of his country, including the annexed Crimean peninsula and territory in the east held by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has sent a letter to the United Nations formally requesting that his country be referred to as “Türkiye,” the state-run news agency reported. The move is seen as part of a push by Ankara to rebrand the country and dissociate its name from the bird, turkey, and some negative connotations that are associated with it.

The world is paying too little attention to a slew of mass displacements of people across Africa, risking starvation deaths and prolonging conflicts, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned in a report published yesterday.

The recent Russian advances in the Donbas lead to an inevitable question: whether the indiscriminate tactics the Kremlin deployed there will be a template for future offensives.

The tobacco industry is a far greater threat than many realise as it is one of the world’s biggest polluters, from leaving mountains of waste to driving global warming, the WHO said yesterday.

Russia widened its gas cuts to Europe on Tuesday with Gazprom (GAZP.MM) turning off supply to top Dutch trader GasTerra escalating the economic battle between Moscow and Brussels and pushing up European gas prices.

A 103-year-old Swedish woman on Sunday set the world record for the oldest person to complete a tandem parachute jump, saying she planned to celebrate “with a little cake”.

The World Health Organization does not believe the monkeypox outbreak outside Africa will lead to a pandemic, an official said yesterday, adding it remains unclear if infected people who are not displaying symptoms can transmit the disease.

Russia appears to have suffered devastating losses amongst mid- and junior-ranking officers in its conflict with Ukraine, raising the prospect of weaker military effectiveness in future, Britain’s defence ministry said yesterday.

Australia’s newly elected prime minister has said Pacific leaders have been “very positive” about his government’s renewed engagement, even as Beijing continues its diplomatic blitz across the increasingly contested region.

Japan yesterday for the first time joined fellow members of the Group of Seven industrialised nations in pledging to end public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of the year to help combat global warming.

Two lawmakers from Britain’s governing Conservative Party yesterday pulled their support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson over a damning report that detailed a series of alcohol-fuelled lockdown-breaking parties at his 10 Downing Street office.