The New York Times reports: "A crucial issue at the climate negotiations now taking place in Le Bourget, a northeast suburb of Paris, lies in who will foot the bill for $100 billion a year in long-promised assistance for developing countries, starting in 2020. Europe and the United States, still feeling the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, have been trying to pass the hat for contributions from increasingly affluent middle-income countries, particularly China. China has considered itself a developing country for purposes of climate negotiations for more than 20 years. And it is sticking to that position, even as locking in sources for the $100 billion annually for poorer countries is one of the biggest remaining hurdles for the talks, which are scheduled to end Friday."
The Financial Times reports: "The Asian Development Bank approved a $300m loan on Thursday to help clean Beijing's notoriously polluted air, as it pledged to support Chinese government efforts to reduce coal use in and around the capital. Beijing officials issued their first 'red alert' on Monday after particulate readings soared to hazardous levels...The loan aims to reduce coal use in Hebei province, which contributes much of the pollution that routinely blights both Beijing and the nearby port city of Tianjin."
The Wall Street Journal reports: "China said it would normalize the status of millions of people who had lived on the margins of society, a move intended to address social inequities and to spur population and economic growth...The registration system, known as hukou, has also been blamed for aggravating social inequality by cutting off unregistered citizens from social welfare and leaving rural migrants to live as second-class citizens in urban areas. 'This is a critical step for China to modernize China's political system as it now recognizes hukou as every citizen's basic right,' said Cai Yong, a demographer and sociologist professor at the University of North Carolina."