Your Tuesday Briefing

A pledge to scale back methane emissions

Thirty-two countries have joined the U.S. in a pact developed with the E.U. to scale back methane emissions 30 p.c by 2030. It’s a part of an effort to set new targets to gradual international warming earlier than a significant U.N. local weather summit in Glasgow subsequent month.

Methane is the second-most prevalent greenhouse fuel after carbon dioxide, however is way more potent within the quick time period in its capacity to warmth the planet. It’s the essential element of pure fuel, and can also be launched into the environment from landfills, livestock and thawing permafrost.

The convention goals to influence nations to gradual international warming in order that temperatures rise not more than 1.5 levels Celsius in contrast with ranges earlier than the Industrial Revolution — the edge past which scientists say the hazards of worldwide warming develop immensely.

Particulars: Whereas the 4 heaviest emitters of methane — China, India, Russia and Brazil — haven’t joined the pledge, 9 of the world’s high 20 methane polluters have signed on, amongst them Canada, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, Argentina and Iraq, along with the U.S. and the E.U.

Pleas for pregnant ladies to be vaccinated

Unvaccinated pregnant ladies made up practically 20 p.c of essentially the most critically sick Covid-19 sufferers in England, in line with information launched by the nation’s Nationwide Well being Service. The N.H.S. is pleading with pregnant people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Covid-19 poses a considerably larger danger to ladies who’re pregnant and outweighs the dangers of vaccination, in line with the C.D.C. Within the U.S., vaccination charges amongst pregnant people are far decrease than in the remainder of the inhabitants. As of Sept. 18, solely 31 p.c of pregnant ladies had obtained each photographs earlier than or throughout being pregnant.

Fears that the vaccine poses extreme dangers to the well being of pregnant individuals are not borne out by the information. Greater than 100,000 vaccinations have been administered to pregnant individuals in England and Scotland, with “no subsequent hurt to the fetus or toddler,” in line with N.H.S. information.

Quotable: “The disproportionate variety of unvaccinated pregnant ladies in intensive care demonstrates that there’s a vital danger of extreme sickness from Covid-19 in being pregnant,” stated Dr. Edward Morris, president of the Royal Faculty of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Listed below are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In different developments:

Syria’s unsure future

Syria remains to be shattered, with its individuals mired in poverty and thousands and thousands of refugees in neighboring states nonetheless afraid to go dwelling. However throughout the Center East, there’s a sense that Bashar al-Assad, the nation’s president, is being brought in from the cold, reflecting a resignation together with his survival.

In latest months, he and his authorities have been in communication with officers and leaders from Lebanon, the U.A.E., the U.S. and Jordan. Worldwide powers have largely given up on searching for peace by way of diplomacy, and lots of acknowledge that 10 years of warfare, sanctions and peace talks have did not safe concessions from al-Assad.

Regardless of these bridge-building workouts, and his obvious victory within the civil warfare, al-Assad’s grip on energy is commonly tenuous even in areas he controls. Swaths of Syria are run by jihadists and rebels, whereas the northeast is run by Kurdish-led forces backed by the U.S.

Shifting on: With the Syrian financial system in tatters, the homeowners of native companies are closing up store and relocating to Egypt, Turkey, Iraq or Gulf international locations. “The Syrian authorities has no cash and needs to gather its staff’, troopers’ and militiamen’s salaries from the merchants and industrialists,” the proprietor of an ice cream firm stated.

A bottle of fragrance; a Persian silk carpet; a porcelain bowl from Vietnam; three robes apparently made from white tiger and cheetah fur.

Present exchanges between U.S. and overseas leaders are usually extremely regulated. In the course of the Trump administration, they generally devolved into shambles.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Superman comes out

DC Comics is ushering in a brand new Superman, the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Jonathan Kent is worried in regards to the setting, doesn’t shrink back from politics and can quickly start a romantic relationship with a male pal.

“The thought of changing Clark Kent with one other straight white savior felt like a missed alternative,” Tom Taylor, who writes the collection, stated. “A brand new Superman needed to have new fights — actual world issues — that he might stand as much as as one of the crucial highly effective individuals on the planet.”

Although Superman is just not the primary L.G.B.T.Q. hero, and won’t be the final, comics specialists stated that there was one thing significantly momentous about the truth that this hero was Superman, fairly than a minor character.

“That counts for one thing,” stated Glen Weldon, the creator of “Superman: The Unauthorized Biography.” “Simply by way of visibility, simply by way of the truth that that is going to draw consideration.”

Learn extra about the next chapter of Superman.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook dinner

That’s it for at present’s briefing. See you subsequent time. — Natasha

P.S. The New York Instances E-book Assessment simply turned 125. That obtained us questioning: What’s the greatest guide that was printed throughout that point? Let us know here.

The newest episode of “The Daily” is on the way forward for cities most affected by the local weather disaster.

You’ll be able to attain Natasha and the group at briefing@nytimes.com.