UK PM Johnson warns world leaders as climate summit begins

Glasgow, Nov 1: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has opened a global climate summit, saying the world is strapped to a "doomsday device." Johnson likened the Earth's position to that of fictional secret agent James Bond - strapped to a bomb that will destroy the planet and trying to work out how to defuse it.

He told leaders Monday that "we are in roughly the same position" - only now the "ticking doomsday device" is real and not fiction. He was kicking off the world leaders' summit portion of a UN climate conference, which is aimed at getting agreement to curb carbon emissions fast enough to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) below pre-industrial levels.

Britain's leader struck a gloomy note on the eve of the conference, after Group of 20 leaders made only modest climate commitments at their summit in Rome. (AP)