The White House proposed rules (NYT) that would reduce U.S. emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, by an estimated forty-one million tons between 2023 and 2035. About eighty countries have now joined a U.S.- and European Union-led pledge (Bloomberg) to try to cut global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. China and Russia, two of the world’s largest methane emitters, have not yet signed the pledge.  

Also during the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26), leaders of more than one hundred countries, including Brazil, China, and Russia, set a joint target (NYT) of ending deforestation by 2030. Governments and private companies said that together they would commit $19 billion to the effort. In addition, India committed to reaching net-zero emissions (Hindustan Times) by 2070, its first such pledge. 

Yukio Edano of the Constitutional Democratic Party said he will step down (Kyodo) after his party lost thirteen seats in the lower house during last weekend’s election.

North Korea: China and Russia are preparing (Reuters) a draft UN Security Council resolution that would ease sanctions on North Korea. They made a similar attempt in 2019, which was unsuccessful.

At least nineteen people were killed and forty-three wounded in two explosions, which were followed by gunfire, at a military hospital in Kabul, a spokesperson for the Taliban interior ministry told Al Jazeera. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Pakistan: At least twenty-three journalists have been targeted (Al Jazeera) with a cybercrime law in the last two years, Pakistan-based media watchdog Freedom Network said.

Kuwait stated that it does not support (Bloomberg) accelerating a planned increase in oil output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producer nations, collectively known as OPEC+, to push down global prices, despite calls from the United States to do so. It followed similar statements from Algeria, Angola, Iraq, and Nigeria. The bloc will meet Thursday.

This Backgrounder looks at OPEC in a changing world.

Lebanon: The country’s oldest English-language newspaper, the Daily Star, will shut down (AFP) due to financial difficulties. It is the latest blow to the country’s once-flourishing press.

Ethiopian authorities allegedly tried to limit a recent probe of human rights abuses in the Tigray region that was conducted by a UN commission and a government-created body, the Associated Press reported. The investigation’s findings are due to be released tomorrow.

For Foreign Affairs, Nic Cheeseman and Yohannes Woldemariam discuss Ethiopia’s attempts to control information.

Sudan: Mediators are working to begin a political transition (UN News) following a military takeover last month, a UN envoy said. He added that deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is physically well but remains under house arrest.  

For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s Michelle Gavin explains the recent coup in Sudan.

France said it will delay sanctioning (FT) the United Kingdom (UK) after the European Union held talks yesterday to diffuse a disagreement over post-Brexit fishing rights. Discussions are expected to continue this week.

Poland: Protesters paid tribute (AP) to a pregnant woman who activists said was among the first people to die as a result of a restriction on abortions in cases of congenital defects.

The company, whose new corporate name is Meta, said it closed (AFP) 937 accounts, 100 pages, and 24 groups that were run by President Daniel Ortega's government and the ruling party and spreading pro-government and anti-opposition messages ahead of Nicaragua’s presidential election this weekend.

United States: Americans will vote in local elections across the country today, including in Virginia, where the contest for governor is particularly close (NBC).