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The climate change target of 1.5 degrees is projected on the Eiffel Tower during the UN’s 2015 Paris climate summit.
The climate change target of 1.5 degrees is projected on the Eiffel Tower during the UN’s 2015 Paris climate summit. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP
The climate change target of 1.5 degrees is projected on the Eiffel Tower during the UN’s 2015 Paris climate summit. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP

Monday US briefing: ‘The last generation that can stop climate change’

This article is more than 5 years old

French PM to meet protest groups amid Paris unrest ... Markets rally after US-China trade war truce ... George HW Bush to be flown to Washington on Air Force One

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s headlines. If you’d like to receive this briefing by email, sign up here.

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Top story: UN climate change summit starts in Poland

Representatives from almost 200 countries are arriving in Poland for the start of the two-week UN climate summit on Monday, hoping to reach a consensus on how to implement the ambitious carbon cutting targets set out in the 2015 Paris deal. Kristalina Georgieva, the chief executive of the World Bank, said before the meeting, “We are clearly the last generation that can change the course of climate change, but we are also the first generation with its consequences.”

  • Climate diaspora. The summit must grapple with the potential impact of powerful climate change deniers such as Donald Trump and Brazil’s president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro. Karl Mathiesen reports on the “climate diaspora” trying to save the Paris agreement from the White House.

French PM to meet protest groups amid Paris unrest

Paris cleanup begins after gilets jaunes riots – video

Facing his biggest crisis since he took office in 2017, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has instructed his prime minister to hold talks with protest groups – including the gilets jaunes, who were involved in the worst riots in central Paris in a decade. More than 100 people have been injured and almost 400 arrested in the violent anti-government demonstrations, sparked by fuel tax hikes.

  • Nationwide protests. The protests were not confined to Paris. Over the weekend more than 130,000 people demonstrated with the gilets jaunes movement across France. In Toulouse on Saturday, 48 police were injured in clashes with protesters.

Markets rally after US-China trade war truce

Trump and Xi meet with their officials in Buenos Aires. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Global markets jumped on Monday after the US and China agreed a truce in their trade war at the G20 summit in Argentina. After a dinner meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, Washington deferred a tariff hike on $200bn of Chinese imports for 90 days to allow for further negotiations. And China agreed to purchase a “substantial” amount of US goods to narrow the trade gap between the countries. But experts urged caution, noting the US and China had yet to release a joint statement on exactly what was agreed.

  • Yuan rises. The truce also strengthened China’s currency, with the yuan rising 1% against the US dollar.

George HW Bush to be flown to Washington on Air Force One

George HW Bush, 41st US president, dies aged 94 – video obituary

The casket of President George HW Bush is to be flown on Air Force One from his home in Texas to Washington DC, where he will lie in state at the US Capitol from Monday evening to Wednesday morning. The 41st president, who died on Friday aged 94, will have a state funeral at the National Cathedral on Wednesday. Donald Trump, who will attend the funeral, has proclaimed Wednesday a day of national mourning.

  • 41 v 45 On Sunday, Trump described the late president as “a very fine man”. In a recent book, Bush called Trump “a blowhard”.

  • Bush honored. Bush received a standing ovation in his memory at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on Sunday, while Trump was absent from the annual arts celebration for the second year in a row.

Crib sheet

  • Qatar is to pull out of Opec to focus on natural gas production, after 60 years as a member of the oil cartel. The Qatari energy minister claimed the move was unrelated to tensions with Saudi Arabia.

  • The Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, has denied a social media rumour that he had died and been replaced by a Sudanese doppelganger, insisting: “It’s the real me.”

  • The Chinese ministry of civil affairs has called for an end tovulgar wedding practices” including extravagant ceremonies and costly gifts, to “better reflect” the country’s core values.

  • The NYPD will reunite a British couple with the engagement ring they dropped through a subway grate in New York’s Times Square during a proposal.

Listen to Today in Focus: an activist’s murder in Honduras

In 2016, the environmental activist and women’s rights campaigner Berta Cáceres was shot dead at home in Honduras. Last week, seven men were convicted of her murder. Nina Lakhani explores what the controversial case says about the country.

Must-reads

Track of the year, video of the century: Donald Glover’s This is America. Photograph: Childish Gambino/YouTube

The top 100 tracks of 2018

The Guardian’s music writers have picked their favourite songs of the year, a chart topped by Donald Glover’s satirical sensation, This is America. Read the list here, and listen to all the tracks here.

Trump defenders’ unsparing critique of his enemies

Trump’s sometime campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and David Bossie, the president of Citizens United, have published a full-throated defence of the president, Trump’s Enemies: How the Deep State is Undermining the Presidency. Lloyd Green reviews a book that rehearses Trump’s arguments for 2020.

Lars von Trier: ‘I’m easily scared’

Lars von Trier’s new film, The House that Jack Built, is the story of a psychopath who kills repeatedly, relentlessly and brutally, without consequence. But depression, alcoholism and infamy have taken their toll on the Danish controversialist, he tells Xan Brooks.

How to spot a populist

The “P-word” is much misunderstood, say Mark Rice-Oxley and Ammar Kalia, as they present a fresh definition of populism, a handy guide to identifying populists, and an explanation for their popularity.

Opinion

Since 1976, the Hyde amendment has prohibited federal money from paying for abortions. Moira Donegan argues it’s time to end a law that victimises those with the fewest resources to fund an abortion by other means.

A growing awareness of the Hyde amendment has galvanized pro-choice Americans, and when the new congress is sworn in in January, 183 members will support opposing Hyde and passing a clean appropriations bill.

Sport

Liverpool’s bizarre late winner left Everton bereft at the end of the Merseyside derby on Sunday, while in north London Arsenal came from behind to beat Tottenham 4-2 in a thrilling but controversial clash. Those are two of 10 talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action.

The Green Bay Packers have fired head coach Mike McCarthy after 13 years, following their home defeat to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

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