A woman in her early 20s, who was part of an Irish group taking part in protests at the G8 summit in Genoa, has been charged with possession of a deadly weapon by Italian police. The woman was detained after police found a Swiss Army knife in her bag. Thousands of anti-globalisation activists gathered in the city, where the G8 leaders are due to begin their meeting tomorrow.
Earlier, the United States' chief negotiator at UN climate talks in Bonn told fellow delegates that Washington will not ratify the Kyoto accord on global warming, whatever the result of the meeting. Under-secretary of State, Paula Dobriansky, said that, at an open negotiating session involving delegates from 185 countries, while the United States did not believe the protocol was in its interests it would not prevent others from going ahead with the Treaty so long as they did not harm legitimate US interests.
Environment Ministers from 180 countries began talks today to try to rescue the Kyoto Agreement. The Treaty was thrown into disarray last March when US President George W Bush said that his country would no longer support it.
Some progress was reported, in preliminary discussions over the past three days, in finding ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions without Washington's co-operation. Mr Bush has promised to present an alternative plan, but it is thought still to be months away.
European and Japanese leaders are expected to lobby the President directly on the issue at this weekend's G8 summit of leading industrial nations in Genoa. Pressure is also growing on the Bush administration from within the United States for movement on global warming. One of the President's most outspoken critics on the issue is the Hollywood actor and director, Robert Redford.
