This year’s UN climate change conference, known as COP25, begins in Madrid today (Guardian). Countries will aim over the next ten days to finalize roadmaps to reduce their emissions through measures such as carbon trading.

The talks open soon after the release of a UN report that details a wide gap between emissions targets laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement and countries’ current emissions levels. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned ahead of the conference (UN) that a “point of no return” on global temperature rise is “hurtling towards us,” and announced a new UN special envoy for climate action. The Donald J. Trump administration is not sending any senior officials (AFP) to COP25, but U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to attend alongside more than a dozen other lawmakers.

Beijing announced it will suspend visits (FT) to Hong Kong by U.S. military ships and aircraft and levy sanctions on U.S.-based human rights organizations after the United States passed laws in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters. 
 
On CFR’s Strength Through Peace blog, the RAND Corporation’s Scott W. Harold looks at additional U.S. policy options to reduce violence in Hong Kong.
 
Samoa: The government has closed schools and restricted travel after more than fifty people died of measles (Reuters) in just over two weeks.
 
This CFR In Brief looks at the spike in measles outbreaks around the world.

The two countries held their first joint security talks (Kyodo) with foreign and defense ministers to increase cooperation and counter China’s growing military presence in the Indian Ocean. The countries plan to conduct a joint fighter aircraft drill in Japan next year.
 
Afghanistan: A U.S. drone strike on a car in the country’s southeast killed five people (NYT) on Friday, according to Afghan officials and family members. The U.S. military said that a Thursday strike in the area killed several Taliban fighters and that it is investigating allegations of civilian casualties.

Iraq’s parliament has approved the resignation (WaPo) of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Abdul-Mahdi announced his departure on Friday following renewed violence in which security forces reportedly killed at least forty-five protesters.
 
Israel: The country plans to build a new settlement (Haaretz) in the West Bank city of Hebron, the defense minister announced. A top Palestinian diplomat called the move “the first tangible result of the U.S. decision to legitimize colonization.”
 
CFR’s Philip H. Gordon discusses Washington’s policy shift on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The transitional government abolished a law (AP) against drinking alcohol and wearing revealing clothing and announced that it is moving to also abolish the political party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir. Both measures were demands of pro-democracy protesters.
 
DRC: One-third of World Health Organization personnel responding to the Ebola outbreak in the city of Beni have been relocated due to violence (UN) in the area. A WHO spokesperson warned that new chains of virus transmission are likely amid the unrest.

The country’s Social Democratic Party elected new leaders (Guardian), who called on the party’s coalition partner, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, to raise the minimum wage and loosen fiscal policy. Merkel’s party signaled that it is unlikely to agree to the changes.
 
Malta: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that he will resign in the new year (BBC) following protests over his government’s handling of investigations into the 2017 murder of a journalist. 

President Trump announced on Twitter that Washington will raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Argentina and Brazil, accusing the countries of seeking to devalue their currencies.
 
On the special Election 2020 series of The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR’s Jennifer Hillman and Economic Policy Institute’s Thea M. Lee discuss U.S. trade policy.
 
Mexico: At least nineteen people were killed in a weekend gun battle (WaPo) between cartels and security forces around forty miles southwest of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to authorities.