UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced this year’s round of climate negotiations in Madrid as a lost opportunity (NYT) after an overtime session ended with little progress on commitments to reduce emissions and no agreement on rules for international carbon trading.
 
Major carbon emitters including China, India, and the United States pushed back against language in the conference resolution that would require more ambitious reductions targets, and the United States led a push against (AP) a decision on rich countries’ responsibility to compensate poor countries for climate-related losses. A coalition of U.S. public officials and private sector representatives attended the summit, saying they remained committed (CNN) to reducing emissions despite Washington’s upcoming withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement.

State-run China Central Television reversed plans (NYT) to broadcast an English Premier League match after Arsenal Football Club player Mesut Ozil criticized China’s detention of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Province, state media reported.
 
Thailand: Thousands of people joined the country’s largest pro-democracy protests (Reuters) since a 2014 coup after Thai authorities disqualified opposition leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from parliament and threatened his Future Forward Party with dissolution.
 
CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick looks at the power balance between Thailand’s military and the opposition.

In cities across India, protestors entered their fifth day of demonstrations against a new law (BBC) that grants citizenship to non-Muslim migrants. In Delhi, more than fifty people were injured during clashes between protestors and police.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Kanchan Chandra looks at the roots of Hindu nationalism’s triumph in India.
 
Afghanistan: An infiltrator from the Taliban (NYT) killed at least twenty-three sleeping Afghan soldiers during an attack at a military base in the eastern Ghazni Province, according to officials.

Lebanon’s president announced that talks scheduled for today will be would be delayed (AP) after more than one hundred people were injured in violent clashes during anti-government protests in Beirut.
 
Qatar: The country’s foreign minister said Qatar has ended (Reuters) the “stalemate of non-communication” with Saudi Arabia after nearly three years of political and economic boycotts by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt.

Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who stepped down in April after nationwide protests, was sentenced to two years (NYT) in a detention center for corruption and money laundering.
 
Mali: President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita began nine days of reconciliation talks (Al Jazeera) between political and armed groups in response to months of attacks and ethnic violence.

An advance session for the first ever UN forum on refugees (UNHCR) begins in Geneva today, and will continue through Wednesday. The forum aims to secure new commitments from governments and the private sector to help refugees.
 
This CFR interactive discusses the current international aid system for the world’s swelling refugee population.
 
France: The country approved the extradition (BBC) of a former Argentine policeman with some five hundred criminal accusations related to actions committed under Argentina’s 1976–1983 military regime.

Mexico’s top trade negotiator is set to meet (Politico) with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today to object to language in the U.S. bill implementing the newly-negotiated trade pact with Canada and Mexico that would provide for U.S. labor inspectors inside Mexico.
 
Nicaragua: The legislature approved plans to nationalize (Reuters) a gas station chain two days after the U.S. government sanctioned the company over allegations that it is used for money laundering by President Daniel Ortega’s family.