November 15, Monday, 2021 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

1. World leaders have reached an agreement at the COP 26 UN climate conference in Scotland. The pact includes a commitment to limiting increases in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But the wording on cutting coal use was changed from “phase out” to “phase down.”
2. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu says the country will work hard to reduce coal-fired power generation as much as possible. Matsuno was speaking to reporters on Monday about the agreement at the COP 26 UN climate conference in Britain.
3. Japan’s latest GDP figures show that the country’s economy shrank in the July-September period. It was the first downturn in two quarters as the pandemic weighed on consumer spending.