North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister dismissed the idea of talks with the United States as “a daydream” yesterday, the eve of the first US-South Korean meeting on nuclear deterrence.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol yesterday blamed authorities’ failure to follow disaster response rules as the death toll from days of torrential rain rose to 40, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.

Russia yesterday halted participation in the year-old UN-brokered deal that lets Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea, spreading a sense of dread in poorer countries where people fear price rises will put food out of reach.

An Australian sailor and his dog have been rescued after two months adrift in the Pacific Ocean, surviving the ordeal by drinking rainwater and snacking on raw fish.

The United States would not be surprised if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, following the regime’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile this past week, a senior White House official said Sunday.

Iranian authorities have shuttered an educational centre accused of “inciting riots” during last year’s mass demonstrations triggered by the death in custody of a young woman, state media reported yesterday.

Mexican authorities on Sunday said they intercepted over 500 migrants in two days in the eastern state of Veracruz as authorities crack down on the transportation of migrants toward the United States in unsafe conditions.

US climate envoy John Kerry held four hours of talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing yesterday, calling for “urgent action” as the two countries revived stalled diplomacy on reducing planet-warming emissions.

An eight-party alliance seeking to form Thailand’s next government reaffirmed its backing for Pita Limjaroenrat to become premier, Pita said yesterday, despite his defeat last week in a parliamentary vote.

Singapore’s parliament Speaker and a woman MP yesterday resigned over an “inappropriate” affair, plunging the ruling party into further turmoil following a rare high-level corruption probe involving a cabinet minister.

Air strikes pummelled Khartoum yesterday and fighting raged in Sudan’s western Darfur region, witnesses said, as a three-month war between the army and rival paramilitaries showed no signs of abating.

The great-great-granddaughter of a police officer who investigated the “Jack the Ripper” murders in 19th century London believes she has uncovered the killer’s true identity, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The US, South Korea and Japan held a joint naval missile defence exercise yesterday to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, the South’s navy said, days after the North launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

US climate envoy John Kerry arrived in China yesterday, state media reported, to restart stalled talks between the world’s two biggest emitters of planet-warming gases.

Japan yesterday issued heatstroke alerts to tens of millions of people as near-record high temperatures scorched swathes of the country, while torrential rain pummelled other regions.

Iranian police yesterday relaunched patrols to catch the increasing number of women leaving their hair uncovered in public in defiance of a strict dress code, state media reported.

Italy issued hot weather red alerts for 16 cities yesterday, with meteorologists warning that temperatures will hit record highs across southern Europe in the coming days.

Rescuers yesterday battled to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel in South Korea, where at least 37 people have died and 9 are missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and reserved the right to use them if such munitions, the use of which he said he regarded as a crime, were deployed against Russian forces in Ukraine.

Czech Marketa Vondrousova stunned Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to become the first unseeded player in the professional era to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title.