'We have to show ... '
| 'We have to show ... that democracy is still the best way'  At any other time in the last 80 years, it wouldn't have needed to be said.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned fellow world leaders that democracies must fight climate change not just to save the planet — but also to prove that their political systems actually work. "We have to show — and I think we will show — that democracy is still the best way for delivering results," he said at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland.
We're seeing in the United States, where Biden is struggling to pass his agenda through minuscule congressional minorities that democracy isn't always a guarantee of getting things done. But it's the second time that Biden has been abroad and beaten the drum for democracy. And it's still staggering that an American president feels the need to defend the principle of people choosing their own leaders.
Then again, democracy is under siege in the United States. Biden himself is a president whose predecessor tried to stage a coup to overturn legitimate election results, amid an insurrection targeting the elected Congress. Former President Donald Trump's allies are now passing restrictive voting laws and seeking to install tame election officials in what looks like potential preparation to sway the 2024 presidential vote.
The pernicious activity of election-denying extremists in the US has offered ammunition for leaders in China and Russia, who argue American democracy is a bust and that their authoritarian systems represent a better bet. Chinese Communist Party rule especially relies on the idea that suppressing individual rights offers the most stable platform for economic growth.
Washington fears China could export its model through its "Belt and Road" infrastructure projects -- which Biden attacked on Tuesday, saying such funding for development often brings a plague of corruption and national debt. The President is pushing a rival development finance initiative called "Build Back Better World" and has called for fellow democracies to step up. "By assisting and responding to the needs of developing countries, rather than dictating projects from afar, we can deliver the greatest impact for those who need it the most," he said.
Biden's comments reveal how the administration views so many foreign policy challenges through the prism of competition with China -- and underscore the President's anxiety for democratic traditions in which he spent decades immersed. The world and America Voices are calling for help under the rubble of a collapsed luxury development in Lagos.
Meanwhile, in America, voters took part in state and local elections that will take the country's political temperature, one year after Biden's victory.
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 Commercial satellite images from Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs analyzed by the Federation of American Scientists have offered some of the greatest detail yet known about three suspected missile silo fields in China. Beijing appears to be constructing roughly 300 new silos as it ramps up its military capability.  'History will judge you' Climate activists of all ages have descended on Glasgow to demand that world leaders act quickly to combat the climate crisis -- but not all are hopeful that COP26 will lead to concrete pledges, CNN's Ivana Kottasová reports from Glasgow.
Azeri Abunakar, from Nigeria, and Inez Yabar, from Peru, tell CNN they came to Glasgow to represent the silent majority who cannot attend. They want to amplify the voices of young people who are already feeling the devastating impact of climate change.
"Me being here is a good opportunity to make sure that the voices of those not being here are being heard," said Abunakar, who lives in Lagos, a low-lying city on Nigeria's Atlantic coast that is increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding. Home to more than 24 million people, Lagos may become uninhabitable by the end of this century as sea levels rise due to climate change, scientific projections suggest.
"To me it's all about bringing here the voices of the missing majority. The people who cannot come to COP," Yabar said of her desire to be at the summit. Both Abunakar and Yabar have access to the main venue and say they will make sure to speak to delegates about the people they represent and experiences with climate change.
Gill Phillips, 66, from Bristol, England, came to Glasgow carrying a homemade banner that reads: "History will judge you." And she's not optimistic that history will judge world leaders at COP26 very well at all. Thanks for reading. On Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission are due to release a joint report into alleged rights violations committed in Tigray. The US Supreme Court hears a challenge (backed by the National Rifle Association) to New York state's restrictions on people carrying concealed handguns in public. Shanghai Disneyland and Disneytown reopen after a Covid-19 scare. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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