| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Tuesday, November 2, 2021 by Linda Noakes and Mark John | Hello Here's what you need to know. Queen Elizabeth urges world leaders to rise above politics, the Virginia governor's race is too close to call, and 'cash machine' BP sees its profits surge | | | | | Today's biggest stories  A person walks past a sign during the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble COP26 After big global polluters from India to the United States took center stage at COP26 yesterday, it is the turn of Big Money today.
TOP STORIES
- Nearly 90 countries join pact to slash planet-warming methane emissions
- Over 100 global leaders pledge to end deforestation by 2030
- Biden tells leaders U.S. will meet climate goals
- 'Time for action', Queen Elizabeth tells summit
Investment giants from BlackRock to Standard Chartered and Fidelity International are due at the ‘Green Horizon’ side-event to set out how they see their role in raising the trillions of dollars of investment needed to make the global shift away from fossil fuels.
COP26 host Britain and others see private finance as critical to making that transition, not least because of the stretch on public budgets after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Events scheduled with Japan may shine a light on the role of highly polluting coal in its energy mix, which the International Energy Agency last year put at a still-high 26% share of total energy consumption.
However, while G20 nations like Japan this weekend pledged to stop financing coal power overseas, it was noticeable that their communique set no timetable for phasing it out at home.
And after a last burst of high-level meetings – among them with U.S. President Joe Biden and India’s Narendra Modi – summit host Boris Johnson will head back to London as negotiators knuckle down to the technical work involved in notching up climate pledges.
Anticipating what is likely to be a chorus of criticism for his choice of transport, Johnson’s office has already been insisting that his airplane will be using sustainable fuel.
Asked further about how the leader could justify travelling by plane when he could use a train, the spokesman said he was flying in "one of the most carbon efficient planes of its size in the world".
See our full coverage of COP26
|  Democratic gubernatorial nominee and former governor Terry McAuliffe takes the stage during a campaign event at Caboose Commons in Fairfax, Virginia, November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz U.S.
Virginia voters will elect their next governor today in an unexpectedly close race that carries national implications for both Republicans and Democrats ahead of next year's congressional elections.
Biden's domestic agenda suffered a major setback when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he would not commit to supporting a $1.75 trillion framework on social spending and climate change unveiled last week.
Two months after letting a near-total ban on abortion in Texas take effect, conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled they are reconsidering their positions and could let abortion providers pursue a bid to invalidate the law.
Minneapolis voters may decide today to scrap their police force for a reimagined department that takes a holistic approach to crime and its causes, 18 months after the murder of George Floyd sparked global protests for racial justice.
The prosecution and the defense will make opening arguments in the trial of a U.S. teenager charged with fatally shooting protesters in Wisconsin last year, launching the most high-profile civilian self-defense case in nearly a decade.
WORLD
Authorities in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa urged residents to prepare to defend their neighborhoods after rebellious forces from Tigray region, who have been fighting the central government for a year, indicated they might advance on the city.
At least 15 people were killed and 34 wounded when two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan's biggest military hospital in Kabul, a Taliban security official said.
Favourable weather conditions led to a rare drop in pollution in India's capital New Delhi, with residents last month breathing the cleanest air in at least four years but the authorities are warning that air quality is set to drop sharply this month.
The Chinese government has told families to keep daily necessities in stock in case of emergencies, after COVID-19 outbreaks and unusually heavy rains that caused a surge in vegetable prices raised concerns about supply shortages.
Russia's Black Sea naval forces practised destroying enemy targets as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area.
| BUSINESS BP added more than a billion dollars to its share buyback program as it likened itself to a "cash machine" benefiting from higher oil and gas prices and a strong trading performance in the third quarter.
The Sandbox, a Hong Kong-based gaming platform that allows users to build a virtual world using non-fungible tokens, has raised $93 million from investors led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, the company told Reuters.
Chinese stock market investors are swapping big tech names for "small giants" and luxury brands for mass market companies, aiming to cash in on President Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" plan for the economy.
The end of Britain's furlough program has not led to a surge in new job-seekers, according to data that suggests unemployment is unlikely to rise sharply and could bolster the case for a Bank of England interest rate hike.
Tesla is recalling nearly 12,000 U.S. vehicles sold since 2017 because a communication error may cause a false forward-collision warning or unexpected activation of the automatic emergency braking system, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
| | | | | | | | | Quote of the day "If working apart we are a force powerful enough to destabilise our planet, surely working together we are a force powerful enough to save it" David Attenborough British broadcaster and environmentalist What they're saying at U.N. climate talks | | | | Video of the day  New giant telescope in Chile’s desert to search for life beyond Earth The Giant Magellan Telescope will have a resolution 10 times higher than the Hubble space telescope. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
