Editor's Notes: Last week, a number of global conferences successfully ended. COP26 concluded with the Glasgow Climate. President Xi Jinping called for efforts to build an Asia-Pacific community on APEC. The sixth plenary session guides China's development and inspires world. In today's "Global Focus", let's review these historical events and see other events in progress.

1. COP26 concludes with new global deal on climate

The United Nations climate change conference concluded on Saturday, Nov 13 after a one-day extension, with negotiators agreeing on a new global pact to tackle climate change. Nearly 200 participating countries adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact at the end of 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Some encouraging progress was made as the agreement was finally reached on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which relates to carbon market mechanisms, paving the way for effective implementation of the Paris deal to cut emissions through market-based approaches.

Negotiators also agreed to phase down coal, the dominant source of carbon dioxide emissions in the process of electricity generation. It is the first explicit mention of fossil fuels in a COP agreement. During COP26, more than 100 countries have promised to end deforestation by 2030.

2. U.S. business groups urge reducing tariffs on Chinese goods amid rising inflation pressures

About two dozen U.S. business associations have urged the Biden administration to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods to provide relief to Americans amid rising inflation pressures.

"Tariffs put in place over the last several years continue to disproportionately cause economic harm to U.S. businesses, farmers, workers, and families," the business associations, led by the U.S.-China Business Council, said Friday in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

3. Wang Yi says China to continue offering COVID-19 vaccines to ASEAN countries

China will continue to strengthen its efforts in offering COVID-19 vaccines to the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), until the ultimate win of the pandemic, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Nov 14.

They added they will deepen cooperation with China in fields including trade, green economy, climate change, people-to-people exchanges, and sustainable development.

4. Man charged with murder of Chinese graduate

Chicago police announced on Nov 12 that an 18-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in Tuesday's death of a 24-year-old Chinese student who just graduated from the University of Chicago (UChicago).

The victim was on a sidewalk at around 1:54 pm (1954 GMT) Tuesday when a man took out a gun, demanded property, and shot him in the chest before he was taken to the UChicago Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

5. China's 'star' jet trainer L-15 appears at Dubai Airshow 2021

China's locally-built jet trainer L-15, dubbed by the media as a "star model," appeared at the Dubai Airshow 2021 which began on Nov 14.

The L-15 is a two-seat, twin-engine supersonic model designed to satisfy the need of training the best pilots.

The Dubai Airshow, held every two years, is considered the most influential airshow in the Middle East. More than 160 types of commercial, military, and consumer aircraft from more than 20 countries will be demonstrated during this year's show.

6. Key CPC session guides China's development, inspires the world

The last 100 years in China is "a marvelous history full of dedication, sincerity, hardworking, selflessness with vision by a single party -- the Communist Party of China," said Ali Sarwar Naqvi, executive director of the Center for International Strategic Studies in Islamabad.

Foreign political party officials and experts have spoken highly of the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), hailing it as a significant meeting guiding China's development at an important historical juncture.

They said the CPC's major achievements and historical experience during a hundred years of endeavor have provided important inspirations and a valuable reference for other countries and political parties.

7. Xi calls for openness in Asia-Pacific cooperation

President Xi Jinping on Nov 12 called for efforts to build an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future featuring openness, inclusiveness, innovation-driven growth, connectivity, and win-win cooperation.

"This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's joining of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It has been three decades of deepening reform and opening-up for China, and of broadening economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific," Xi said while addressing the 28th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing via video link.

8. Beijing Stock Exchange starts trading

The newly-established Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) started trading on Monday morning, with the first batch of 81 companies debuting on the bourse. The companies listed include 10 that were newly approved and 71 that were transferred from the selected tier of China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations, also known as the "new third board."

As of 10:20 am, shares of all the 10 newly-listed companies had triggered temporary suspension twice as their prices jumped over 60 percent. These shares continued rallying after trading resumed, with the highest surging by over 500 percent at some point.

9. China's retail sales rise 4.9%, industrial output up 3.5% in October

China's retail sales of consumer goods rose by 4.9 percent in October from a year earlier, while value-added industrial output went up by 3.5 percent year on year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

10. 'Father of hybrid rice' Yuan Longping laid to rest in central China

The remains of Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, known as the "father of hybrid rice," was laid to rest Monday in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. 

The academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who cultivated the first high-yield hybrid rice strain, died of organ failure at 91 in Changsha on May 22. 

Editor: Jin Weiduo