GERMANY: Over three million people bought the new Germany Ticket on its launch day today, allowing unlimited travel on local trains, buses and metros for €49 (£43) a month.

The ticket follows last summer’s successful €9 (£7.90) monthly tickets, which reduced carbon emissions in the country by an estimated 1.8 million tonnes.

The new ticket is meant to be permanent and to promote public transport use over cars.

TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed today that Turkish forces have killed the top Isis commander in Syria.

Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi was killed in a strike on Saturday, he said.

Turkey maintains a heavy military presence in northern Syria, launching regular offensives against Kurdish groups and propping up a puppet regime dominated by former al-Qaida grouplets.

HOLY SEE: The Pope said a secret mission to end the Russia-Ukraine war was under way as he travelled back from Hungary on Sunday night.

Reports have circulated of a Franco-Chinese peace initiative since Emmanuel Macron’s Beijing visit last month, but Pope Francis did not clarify if he meant the same thing.

“There’s a mission that’s not public; when it’s public I’ll talk about it,” he said.

UZBEKISTAN: Voters backed constitutional reforms today including the abolition of the death penalty.

Over 90 per cent of voters backed the reforms, which also extend presidential terms, allowing current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to stay in office till 2040.

Critics say the reforms increase the president’s powers while abolishing capital punishment was window-dressing as it has not been used since 2005 and was already abolished in 2008.