Rishi Sunak

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered four staff defections on Thursday as pressure intensified on the embattled leader over lockdown parties and his loose-lipped style of politics.

One of the departures was linked to an inflammatory remark made by Johnson, attacking opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer over a notorious paedophile.

Britain's government has claimed that the "end of coal is in sight" after 18 countries including Poland, Vietnam and Chile committed for the first time to phase out and not build or invest in new coal power.

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed on June 5 to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak told the Bank of England on Monday to look at the case for a new "Britcoin", or central bank-backed digital currency, aimed at tackling some of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Scotland on Nov. 24 made sanitary products free to all women, becoming the first nation in the world to take such a step against "period poverty."

The measure makes tampons and sanitary pads available at designated public places such as community centres, youth clubs and pharmacies, at an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of 24 million pounds ($32 million U.S.).

Andrea Leadsom, Julian Smith, Geoffrey Cox and Theresa Villiers have all been sacked from the cabinet in what is likely to be a relatively modest reshuffle by Boris Johnson, The Guardian reported.

The housing minister and the universities minister were also dismissed.