US alone as climate talks go to wire

Regardless of US resistance, the countries participating in Kyoto will be announcing an agreement to launch negotiations next year for the second phase of the protocol.

This would give members seven years to negotiate and ratify accords by the time the first phase ends in 2012.

Many had hoped that the United States’ resistance would be broken by this year’’s extreme weather events, particularly Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans. Scientific evidence suggests global warming might be behind recent devastating weather patterns. —Reuters