Top UN scientist urges binding climate pact

NEW DELHI — The head of the Nobel-winning UN panel of climate scientists has said the outcome of the Copenhagen summit was a start but urged countries to work quickly towards a legally binding pact.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), described the Copenhagen Accord, passed Saturday after two weeks of frantic talks as "an agreement that will really not be the final word.

"We will have build on it, we will have to make sure it moves quickly towards the status of a legally binding agreement and therefore I think the task for the global community is cut out," he told the NDTV news channel.

"In the next few weeks and months we will have to work very hard to see that, before the end of 2010 if not earlier, we get a binding agreement that really moves action in the direction we need," he said in the interview broadcast Sunday.

"We really have to move on rather quickly to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. There is growing evidence of the impacts of climate change and if we delay action these impacts are going to become much worse, far more serious," he warned.

The Copenhagen pact was reached at the last minute by a small group consisting of leaders of the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European nations, after it became clear the summit was in danger of failing.

It set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important stepping stones -- global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 -- for getting there.

Nor did it identify a year by which emissions should peak, and pledges were made voluntarily and without tough compliance provisions.

Pachauri said Mexican President Felipe Calderon had agreed to a proposal by former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore to host a summit in the middle of next year to finish the climate treaty.

"But I am not too sure whether the Parties to the Convention (countries) would be willing to advance it to such an extent," Pachauri said.

"However, irrespective of whether we have the COP (Conference of Parties) in June or July, the subsidiary bodies of COP, I think, can come into session and make sure that by the middle of the year we have something pretty close to a binding agreement," he said.

Despite the pact, doubts persisted among countries about possible conditions attached to climate change funds promised by developed nations to help them switch to low carbon technology, Pachauri said.

"I believe that there is a lot of negotiation that still needs to be carried out. Developing countries, certainly Africa, are very concerned and very suspicious of the developed countries on whether they are really genuine in making these offers," Pachauri said.

So far, the United States has promised to contribute 3.6 billion dollars in climate funds for the 2010-2012 period, with Japan contributing a total of 11 billion dollars over the same period, and the European Union 10.6 billion dollars.

Dog who led search crews to lost seven-year-old N.S. boy attends funeral

SYDNEY, N.S. — James Delorey's dog hung its head outside the window of a hearse at the boy's funeral service Monday, a moment that symbolized the loyalty the faithful family pet displayed for the seven-year-old boy.

Chance sat in the front passenger seat as the funeral procession arrived at a church in Cape Breton, where hundreds gathered to mourn a boy who captured hearts across the country.

James got lost after following Chance - a mixed-breed - into the woods near his home in South Bar, outside Sydney.

Chance returned two days later and searchers found James unconscious, curled up under a thick stand of spruce, after they traced the dog's paw prints in the snow.

Hopes that James would survive were dashed a day later after he died in hospital of hypothermia.

During his sermon Monday, Rev. Errol MacDonald said while the fervent hope that James would recover did not come to pass, the frantic efforts to find him brought people together.

"This is the busiest time of the year. Everyone is caught up with their own agendas," the priest said, standing before a casket draped in white.

"Yet in the past week, everyone stopped. And in that stopping they found the true meaning of Christmas - that a child would give us hope."

MacDonald also expressed hope during the service that the tragedy might create a broader understanding of autism.

The search for James was made more difficult because he was autistic and couldn't speak.

Searchers were told that he probably wouldn't respond to their calls.

They were told to shout words to which he might respond, including pizza, his favourite food, and "Come on, let's go see mummy."

James had run away before, usually showing up not far from his home at a neighbour's house.

Many of the police, paramedics and ground searchers who helped look for the boy formed an honour guard outside Holy Redeemer Church after the service and some placed spruce cuttings on top of the casket after it was carried out.

The service included a choir singing Christmas carols.

An emotional Paul Vienneau of Cape Breton search and rescue could barely speak as he described the funeral as "very sombre, very heartbreaking."

"I lost it when they started singing Silent Night," said Vienneau.

Cape Breton Liberal MP Mark Eyking was among the mourners but he too said he found it hard to talk once outside the church.

"This time of year, it's hard. Just a sad, sad situation," he said.

"But there was a lot of inspiration there too from the priest's word that we all stick together here in Cape Breton. It was a powerful message."

James wasn't wearing winter clothes when he was reported missing. A snowstorm hit Nova Scotia hours later, which hampered search efforts.

Rescue officials said James probably clung to life by seeking shelter in the thick underbrush and huddling with Chance.

He was suffering from extreme hypothermia when he was found and airlifted to a children's hospital in Halifax.

But the cold took its toll.

Montreal Massacre events mark 1989 shootings

Ceremonies were held in Montreal and across the country Sunday to mark the 20th anniversary of Canada's worst mass shooting.

Victims of the Montreal Massacre

Fourteen women died when shooter Marc Lépine staged his attack at Montreal's École Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989.

Armed with a rifle, he stormed into a classroom, separated the men from the women, and declared he hated feminists before opening fire on the women. Lépine turned the gun on himself after his 20-minute rampage, which wounded 13 others.

The shooting, which came to be known as the Montreal Massacre, sparked a national debate about gun control and violence against women.

In 1991, Parliament declared Dec. 6 the National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women.

Gun control laws toughened

On Sunday, the École Polytechnique hosted a private, secular ceremony at the Notre-Dame Basilica for victims' families, friends and survivors.

The post-secondary institution also invited members of the public to visit a commemorative plaque on campus honouring the 14 victims.

Quebec's Federation of Women hosted a larger event at Place Émilie-Gamelin near the Berri-UQÀM Metro station on Sunday afternoon, where several hundred Montrealers formed a human chain to protest violence.

The Quebec Council on the Status of Women also marked the 20th anniversary with a weekend conference on violence against women.

Women and campus groups in other parts of Canada also held events on Sunday.

About 250 people gathered for an hour at the Women's Monument in downtown Ottawa.

In Toronto, a candlelight vigil was held at 6 p.m. at the Philosopher's Walk, between the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium and Arena.

In Vancouver, people gathered to express their grief and to honour other women lost to violence.

The Montreal Massacre prompted a toughening of Canada's gun control laws.

But last month, Conservatives MPs, along with a handful of Liberals and New Democrats, voted in principle to kill the long-gun registry.

The move sparked an emotional response in Quebec as Montreal's police chief, survivors of the massacre and a gun victim's mother urged politicians to support the registry.

The head of the Coalition for Gun Control said Sunday the fight to preserve the registry will continue.

"We're down, we're not out," Wendy Cukier said as she took part in the human-chain ceremony in Montreal.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement Sunday it's important for Canadians to remain committed to eliminating violence against women.

"Today, on Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women, we should all take time to remember and reaffirm our commitment to continue working to protect the lives, dignity and equality of all women."

Australia's carbon-trading legislation fails

SYDNEY — Australia's Senate on Wednesday defeated the government's plan to implement a carbon pollution trading system to fight global warming, dashing hopes of setting an example for other nations at U.N. climate change talks next week.

The scuttled proposal would have placed Australia alongside the European Union and a handful of other places that have or are considering "cap-and-trade" systems to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and burnished Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's international reputation as a leader on the issue.

Instead, Rudd, a man who basked in a burst of applause from delegates at a U.N. conference two years ago for ending Australia's holdout status on the Kyoto Protocol, will attend the next one — in Copenhagen starting Monday — with a big setback on his hands.

The defeat does not have a direct bearing on the meetings in the Danish capital. But as a wealthy country with among the world's highest greenhouse pollution rates per person, Australia was being looked to for signs of how committed developed nations are to cutting emissions.

"It's not like the talks will stall because of the lack of an Australian emissions trading scheme," said Frank Jotzo, an Australian National University expert on international climate change negotiations. "But if the legislation had been passed, that would have sent a very positive signal internationally and, in particular, to developing countries."

The Senate, where Rudd's center-left government does not have a majority, voted 41-33 against a bill to install a system that would limit the amount of heat-trapping gases companies can pump into the air, and create pollution permits that could be bought and sold. The aim: Incentives for companies to lower emissions because they could sell excess permits for profit.

Wednesday's vote followed a tumultuous two-week debate, during which the main opposition party, the conservative Liberals, at first agreed to support a version of the government's bill, then on Tuesday dramatically dumped its leader and switched sides after bitter divisions erupted within the party.

"Today the climate change extremists and deniers in the Liberal party have stopped this nation from taking decisive action on climate change," acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in the capital, Canberra.

Rudd was on his way home from a White House visit at the time of the vote, and did not immediately comment. Before he met President Barack Obama, Rudd said he expected their talks would focus on efforts to get a "robust Copenhagen agreement." He did not elaborate after the meeting.

About 100 world leaders will gather in Copenhagen during the 12-day conference to try to hammer out a framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for industrialized countries to reduce carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the atmosphere. That treaty expires in 2012.

Scientists warn of potentially catastrophic climate change if average global temperatures rise more than 3.6 Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) from preindustrial levels. To prevent that, greenhouse gas emissions should peak within the next few years and then rapidly decline by mid-century, they say.

In Tokyo, Japan's Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa said Wednesday that recent emission reduction targets announced by the U.S. and China, the two biggest polluters, would add momentum to the negotiations because, "any framework that the U.S. and China won't join is meaningless."

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Ozawa also said Japan's Cabinet is discussing a proposal to impose a "green tax" on fossil fuels to combat global warming, but he did not give details.

In Canberra, the conservatives' new leader, Tony Abbott, said Australia should not adopt an emissions trading system before the rest of the world.

"The right time, if ever, to have an ETS is if and when it becomes part of the international trading system and that is not going to happen prior to its adoption in America," he told reporters.

Because the bill's defeat reflects a deadlock between Australia's two chambers of parliament, the constitution allows Rudd to call general elections on the issue at any time from Wednesday. But he has consistently said he does not want early elections, and opinion polls suggest his government is under no threat if it waits until later in the year when elections are due.

Gillard said the government would reintroduce the bill to Parliament in February to give the opposition one more chance to change its mind — signaling no elections would come before then at the earliest.

Australia is a small greenhouse gas polluter in global terms, but one of the worst per capita because it relies heavily for its electricity on its abundant reserves of coal. As the driest continent after Antarctica, it is also considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.

The European Union has a carbon trading system, as do some U.S. states. Canada and New Zealand are among countries considering or in the process of implementing them. A Democratic cap-and-trade bill is before a committee in the U.S. Senate.

Associated Press writer Malcolm J. Foster contributed to this report from Tokyo.

Honduras vote to sideline president, enshrine coup

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Sunday's election will likely accomplish what the plotters of a coup set out to do five months ago: end the political career of leftist President Manuel Zelaya and replace him with a more moderate leader from Honduras' establishment.

And Washington, which had vowed not to recognize the elections unless Zelaya was reinstated, now appears to have decided it has few options but to do exactly that.

"In the end, the coup won," said Heather Beckman, a Latin America analyst with the New York-based Eurasia Group. "It was a bad thing and it shouldn't have happened, but in the end there wasn't anything anyone could do."

Millions of poor Hondurans drew hope from Zelaya's left-leaning policies in a nation long ruled by a wealthy elite. But they now have no presidential candidate to represent them; the only one who backed Zelaya dropped out of the race last month with little support, saying his participation would condone the coup.

The leading candidates belong to the two main parties that voted overwhelmingly in Congress to support Zelaya's ouster — including the one that got him elected before turning against him.

Zelaya, flown into exile by soldiers on June 28, slipped back into the country three months later and has since been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy. His term ends in January, and the constitution bars him from running again.

At first, President Barack Obama strongly condemned the coup, the first in Central America in more than two decades, and said the United States wouldn't recognize any elections conducted under the coup-installed government.

But his administration, eager to restore development aid and anti-drug cooperation with its old ally, has more recently signaled it will support the new government. Arturo Valenzuela, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said Monday that the United States would "turn to international observers from civil society, and our own observations to determine whether or not these elections meet international standards."

"This is an electoral process that follows the normal electoral calendar under the Honduran constitution, and it had been under way for several months prior to the coup," he said, adding: "This was not an election invented by a de facto government in search of an exit strategy or as a means to whitewash a coup d'etat."

Valenzuela did not promise recognition of the vote, but his statement constituted a victory for interim President Roberto Micheletti, who has endured months of diplomatic isolation and sanctions since taking office. Micheletti has argued that the elections would show the world that democracy is intact in Honduras.

Zelaya wrote to Obama asking why Washington appeared to be changing its position, and called on Latin America's leaders "not to adopt ambiguous or imprecise positions like the one shown now by the United States." Many left-led governments in Latin America insist recognizing the vote is tantamount to legitimizing the coup.

"We find it regrettable anyone would want to cleanse a coup d'etat with an election process conducted in a country that has virtually been in a state of siege these past months," Marco Aurelio Garcia, chief international adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said Tuesday of the U.S. stance.

Many Hondurans simply want to go to the polls and put the crisis behind them. About 2,000 Zelaya opponents marched in the capital Wednesday to encourage people to vote, waving blue-and-white Honduras flags.

"I have faith that the elections will be the end of the problem that Zelaya got us into," said Ana Castellanos, 26.

But others are boycotting to protest the months of strife, which saw the jailing of pro-Zelaya protesters and the occasional shutdown of anti-government radio and television stations.

"I have no intention of voting," said shop owner German Lagos, 36. "The elections will serve only to legitimize this coup."

Two explosions in Tegucigalpa added to tensions early Wednesday: An unknown artifact went off at the place where the Zelaya opponents gathered to march hours later, and police said a grenade explosion shattered a window of at the Supreme Court, which ordered Zelaya's arrest before the coup. Nobody was hurt.

The two leading contenders — Porfirio Lobo of the National Party and Elvin Santos of Zelaya's own Liberal Party — fought against Zelaya's campaign to change the constitution, fearing he planned to follow in the footsteps of his close ally Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and lift a ban on presidential re-election. Zelaya has said repeatedly that was not his intention.

Lobo, who lost to Zelaya in 2005, is benefiting from the Liberal Party's divisions over Zelaya's ouster. A wealthy businessman who favors jeans and cowboy boots on the campaign trail, Lobo campaigned as a hard-line conservative in favor of the death penalty in 2005 in this country beset by gang violence.

This time around, he has softened his tone, saying at a recent rally: "If we want foreign investment and tourists, then let's walk in peace."

Santos, a civil engineer who was Zelaya's vice president until resigning last year to run for president, has criticized the military's decision to exile Zelaya but not called for his restoration. Zelaya supporters consider Santos a traitor.

A U.S.-brokered pact signed by Zelaya and Micheletti last month left Zelaya's reinstatement up to the Honduran Congress. Zelaya predicted he would be back in power in a week. But Congress remained quiet until last week, when leaders said they would take up the matter Dec. 2.

"It was slap in the face of the international community, to the United States," said Manuel Orozco, a Central America expert with the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue.

But in the end, the United States "allowed the pragmatic approach to prevail," he said. "They wanted a swift resolution in order to prevent greater instability in Honduras."

Associated Press writers Olga R. Rodriguez and Kathia Martinez contributed to this story from Tegucigalpa.

Festival of mass animal sacrifice begins in Nepal

BARIYAPUR, Nepal — The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.

Over two days, 200,000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons will be killed as part of a blood-soaked festival held every five years to honor Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

While cows are sacred and protected by law in Nepal, animal sacrifice has a long history in this overwhelmingly Hindu country and parts of neighboring India. The Bariyapur festival has become so big, in part, because such ceremonies have been banned in many areas in the neighboring Indian state of Bihar.

And while it is criticized by animal-rights protesters, the festival is defended as a centuries-old tradition.

Many Nepalis believe that sacrifices in Gadhimai's honor will bring them prosperity. They also believe that by eating the meat, which is taken back to their villages and consumed during feasts, they will be protected from evil.

Taranath Gautam, the top government official in the area, estimated that more than 200,000 people had come for the ceremony in Bariyapur, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Katmandu. Some brought their own animals to sacrifice.

"I am here with my mother who had promised the goddess she would sacrifice a goat. It was her wish and promise and I am glad we were able to fulfill it," said Pramod Das, a farmer from the nearby village of Sarlahi. "I believe now my mother's wishes will come true."

Animal rights groups don't have much power in Nepal, but they have staged repeated protests in recent weeks. Local news reports say some activists set up stands in towns on the way to the Bariyapur temple, offering Hindu pilgrims coconuts and other fruits to sacrifice instead of animals.

There was no sign of them Tuesday.

"We were unable to stop the animal sacrifices this year but we will continue our campaign to stop killings during this festival," said Pramada Shah of the group Animals Nepal.

The ceremony, which goes back for generations, has enormous resonance in a country where per capital income is about $25 a month, illiteracy is widespread and vast social divides have left millions working as tenant farmers for feudal landlords.

Even many educated Nepalis see value in the tradition.

Om Prasad, a banker from the nearby city of Birgunj, brought offerings of fruit and flowers to the festival, but said he believed people should be able to sacrifice animals if they want.

"It is their tradition and it is fine if they continue to follow it. No one should try to tell them they can't follow what their ancestors did," he said.

Experts say it will take many more years before there are changes in these deeply rooted traditions.

"They continue these animal sacrifice rituals because they believe it is a tradition that can't be broken," said Ram Bahadur Chetri, an anthropology professor at Katmandu's Tribhuwan University. "The people who follow these traditions believe that if they discontinue, then the gods will get angry and there could be catastrophe in the country."

Buffaloes, goats, chicken and ducks are sacrificed at most Hindu homes in Nepal during the Dasain festivals, which fell in September this year.

Obama, Lee to seek 'grand bargain' with NKorea

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's president says he and President Barack Obama have agreed to offer North Korea a "grand bargain" aimed at ending the North's nuclear program.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Obama, President Lee Myung-bak (lee myuhng bahk) said the deal would be similar to his proposal for a package of political and economic incentives in exchange for the one-step, irreversible dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program.

Lee's grand bargain proposal stems from concerns that North Korea would continue to backtrack on promises after winning concessions in negotiations.

The Lee and Obama meeting comes as Washington prepares to send an envoy for the first U.S.-North Korea bilateral talks since Obama took office.