UPDATE 1-UN climate talks to take place in Madrid in December

The United Nations has confirmed that this year's climate change talks will take place in Madrid in December after Chile withdrew as host this week because of massive street protests in the South American country. The talks, known as COP25, will be held Dec. 2-13, as originally planned.

The conference is aimed at fleshing out details of the implementation of the landmark Paris Agreement climate pact, amid calls for urgent action from environmental groups and climate protesters. Chile will assume the presidency of the climate talks while in Madrid.

"We will continue to reinforce the work done with the understanding that social and environmental development go hand in hand," Chilean Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt said on Twitter on Friday. The so-called Conference of the Parties (COP) is the formal meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

On Wednesday, Chile withdrew as host of an APEC summit this month at which the United States and China had been expected to sign a deal to ease their trade war.

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