Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

‘We need to act now’ – UK’s Johnson sends climate alert to COP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell a climate summit on Monday that “it’s one minute to midnight and we need to act now” as he calls on leaders to go beyond their pledges to developing nations and act on “coal, cars, cash and trees”. Hosting the United Nations’ COP26 summit, Johnson is hoping to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – the limit scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences.

Australia reopens international borders for first time in pandemic

Australia eased its international border restrictions on Monday for the first time during the pandemic, allowing some of its vaccinated public to travel freely and many families to reunite, sparking emotional embraces at Sydney’s airport. After 18 months of some of the world’s strictest coronavirus border policies that banned citizens from either returning to the country or leaving it, unless granted an exemption, millions of Australians in Victoria, New South Wales and Canberra are now free to travel.

COP26: World will try again to avert climate disaster

The United Nations COP26 summit that starts in Glasgow this week has been billed as a make-or-break chance to save the planet from the most calamitous effects of climate change. Delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 aims to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – the limit scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences.

Emotional Biden praises Pope Francis’ style of Catholicism

An emotional U.S. President Joe Biden, who has come away from his visit with papal backing in his conflict with conservative U.S. bishops, on Sunday praised Pope Francis for being “everything I admire about Catholicism.” Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, choked up as he spoke about his late son Beau and his own feelings about the pope and Catholicism at a final news conference in Rome at the end of the G20 summit of leaders of the world’s richest nations.

U.S. says it is in talks with allies on getting Iran to agree to nuclear deal

The United States was “absolutely in lock step” with Britain, Germany and France on getting Iran back into a nuclear deal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, but he added it was unclear if Tehran was willing to rejoin the talks in a “meaningful way.” Blinken’s remarks in an interview with CNN on Sunday come a day after the United States, Germany, France and Britain urged Iran to resume compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal in order to “avoid a dangerous escalation.”

Deadlock over fish as UK and France spar over Brexit deal

Britain and France clashed again in a post-Brexit fishing row on Sunday, with London denying it had shifted its position and Paris insisting it was now up to Britain to resolve a dispute that could ultimately hurt trade. The two sides painted different pictures of a meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Rome.

G20 offers little new on climate, leaving uphill task for COP26

Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies agreed on a final statement on Sunday that urged “meaningful and effective” action to limit global warming, but angering climate activists by offering few concrete commitments. The result of days of tough negotiation among diplomats leaves huge work to be done at the broader United Nations COP26 climate summit in Scotland, which starts this week.

France’s Macron says Australia PM lied to him on submarine deal

French President Emmanuel Macron said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him over the cancellation of a submarine building contract in September, and indicated more was needed to be done to rebuild trust between the two allies. Macron and Morrison were in Rome for the G20 summit, the first time they had met since Australia scrapped a multi-billion dollar submarine deal with France as part of a new security alliance with the United States and Britain announced in September.

Bolsonaro’s security in press altercation as Brazil leader isolated at G20

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s security detail allegedly used violence against Brazilian reporters covering his trip to Rome for the Group of 20 major economies meeting, local media reported on Sunday. The alleged attacks against Brazilian reporters, who Bolsonaro has long accused of treating him unfairly and publishing fake news, capped a grim weekend for the far-right president. Videos from G20 events showed him as an isolated figure, who was not part of the photo taken at the Trevi fountain with world leaders. Out on the streets of Rome, he was loudly criticized for his handling of the country’s brutal pandemic, with critics calling him “genocidal.”

N. Macedonia’s prime minister resigns -media

North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev resigned on Sunday after his party lost the second round of mayoral elections in several towns in the country, including the capital Skopje. “I take responsibility for these developments. I resign from the post of prime minister and party president,” Zaev, whose Social Democrats are leading the ruling coalition, said in a press conference broadcast by local media.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)