Recaps back at the most memorable World Cup quarter-finals

Now England are out we can actually relax and enjoy the rest of the World Cup.

Holland have already caused a quarter final shock by dumping Brazil out after Friday's 2-1 win.

And surely Uruguay's dramatic penalty shoot-out against Ghana last night will go down as one of the most memorable World Cup quarter finals ever?

But which other quarters have gone down in World Cup folkore?

Climate talks deadlocked as clashes erupt outside

A protestor with a green "peace" sign painted on his face takes part in a demonstration outside Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. climate change conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.




Members of NGO's stage a sit-in at the venue of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. Activists, upset with the fact that many NGO's were not granted access to the meeting center, hoped to disrupt a major plenary with world leaders.UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, (R), speaks with members of NGO's as they stage a sit in at the venue of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. Activists, upset with the fact that many NGO's were not granted access to the meeting center, hoped to disrupt a major plenary with world leaders.



Danish riot police detain a protestor during a demonstration outside the Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. Climate Conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming




A member of an NGO holds up his accreditation badge as he participates in a sit in at the venue of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. Activists, upset with the fact that many NGO's were not granted access to the meeting center, hoped to disrupt a major plenary with world leaders.A member of an NGO holds up his accreditation badge as he participates in a sit-in at the venue of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. Activists, upset with the fact that many NGO's were not granted access to the meeting center, hoped to disrupt a major plenary with world leaders.





UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, (L), meets with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the UN Climate Conference on Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The success of the U.N. climate conference hangs in the balance as China and the U.S. deadlock over whether Beijing will allow the world to check its books and verify promised cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.Delegates from Bahrain(R) talk during a plenary session at the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. The success of the U.N. climate conference is hanging in the balance as China and the U.S. deadlocked over whether Beijing will allow the world to check its books and verify promised cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.



Police use pepper spray(R) to push back protestors during a demonstration outside Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. climate change conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.Danish riot police(L) push back a demonstration outside Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. climate change conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.





Members of NGO's stage a walkout from the venue of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. Activists, upset with the fact that many NGO's were not granted access to the meeting center, hoped to disrupt a major plenary with world leaders.A demonstrator beats the drum(R) as activists stage a protest inside the Bella Center as delegates attend the plenary of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009.





A Danish riot policeman pushes a demonstrator off a police vehicle(L) during a demonstration outside Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. Climate Conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.Danish riot police scuffle with a group of demonstrators inside the secured area around the Bella Center(R), the venue of the U.N. Climate Conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.






American actress Darryl Hannah(L) speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. World leaders arrived in Copenhagen this week to forge the framework of a plan to limit the causes of global warming, seeking to prevent catastrophic changes to the climate.Bolivian President Juan Evo Morales (R)gestures during a press conference at the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. Danish police fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons outside the U.N. climate conference on Wednesday, as disputes inside left major issues unresolved just two days before world leaders hope to sign a historic agreement to fight global warming.






Danish riot police(L) use their batons to push back protestors during a demonstration outside Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. climate change conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.The helmets of Danish riot police fog up(R) as they push back demonstrators outside the Bella Center, the venue of the U.N. Climate Conference, in Copenhagen Wednesday Dec. 16, 2009. The largest and most important climate change conference is underway in Copenhagen, aiming to secure an agreement on how to protect the world from calamitous global warming.
Police gather outside the Bella Center in Copenhagen(middle), Wednesday, Dec. 16th, 2009 where they fired tear gas and swung batons to disperse crowds of protesters trying to disrupt the 193-nation climate conference. Demonstrators for days have taken to Copenhagen's streets to demand "climate justice," firm action to combat global warming. Police said 230 protesters were detained.




Police fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons outside the U.N. climate conference Wednesday, as disputes inside left major issues unresolved just two days before world leaders hope to sign a historic agreement to fight global warming.

Hundreds of protesters were trying to disrupt the 193-nation conference, the latest action in days of demonstrations to demand "climate justice" — firm steps to combat global warming. Police said 230 protesters were detained.

Inside the cavernous convention hall, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among the first leaders to address the assembly, echoed the protesters' sentiments: "If the climate was a bank, a capitalist bank, they would have saved it."

Earlier, behind closed doors, negotiators dealing with core issues debated until just before dawn without setting new goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or for financing poorer countries' efforts to cope with coming climate change, key elements of any deal.

"I regret to report we have been unable to reach agreement," John Ashe of Antigua, chairman of one negotiating group, told the conference.

In those overnight talks, the American delegation apparently objected to a proposed text it felt might bind the United States prematurely to reducing greenhouse gas emissions before Congress acts on the required legislation. U.S. envoys insisted, for example, on replacing the word "shall" with the conditional "should."

"A lot of things are in play," said Fred Krupp of the U.S. Environmental Defense Fund. "This is the normal rhythm of international negotiations."

Hundreds of protesters marched on the suburban Bella Center, where lines of Danish riot police waited in protective cordons. Some demonstrators said they wanted to take over the global conference and turn it into a "people's assembly." As they approached police lines, they were hit with pepper spray, and TV pictures showed a man being pushed from a police van's roof and struck with a baton by an officer.

Tens of thousands rallied in the Danish capital last weekend, demonstrating growing public awareness of the worldwide danger of ever-rising temperatures. Scientists say global warming will lead to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal areas from rising seas, more extreme weather, more drought and diseases spreading more widely.

The Copenhagen talks so far have been marked by sharp disagreements between China and the United States, and between rich and poor nations. Still unresolved are the questions of emissions targets for industrial countries, billions of dollars a year in funding for poor countries to contend with global warming, and verifying the actions of emerging powers like China to ensure that promises are kept.

Addressing the full conference for the European Union, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, urged the U.S. and China to raise their emissions-reduction targets.

"The world needs more and we are confident that you have the ability to deliver more," he said of the two countries.

After nine days of largely unproductive talks, the lower-level delegates were to hand off the disputes to environment ministers in the two-week conference's critical second phase. Connie Hedegaard, a former Danish climate minister, resigned from the conference presidency to allow Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen to preside as a higher-ranking official at the formal Wednesday-Friday segment involving heads of state and government. She was to continue overseeing closed-door negotiations.

Organizers still hope to break deadlocks that threaten to leave the meeting with no major accomplishments to be presented to President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and more than 110 other world leaders arriving for Friday's finale.

The lack of progress disheartened many, including small island states threatened by rising seas.

"We are extremely disappointed," Ian Fry of the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu said on the conference floor. "I have the feeling of dread we are on the Titanic and sinking fast. It's time to launch the lifeboats."

Others were far from abandoning ship. "Obviously there are things we are concerned about, but that is what we have to discuss," Sergio Barbosa Serra, Brazil's climate ambassador, told The Associated Press. "I would like to think we can get a deal, a good and fair deal."

Governments had weeks ago given up hope of concluding a finished treaty at Copenhagen and aimed instead at establishing a framework, through decisions here, for negotiating more formal agreements next year.

Much of the uncertainty in the Copenhagen talks stems from how slowly the first U.S. legislation to cap carbon dioxide emissions is moving through Congress. Passage of a U.S. climate change bill is expected no earlier than next spring — and many other nations are unwilling to make their final commitments until the U.S. does.

A sponsor of that legislation, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., visiting the conference, sounded undiscouraged about the fitful negotiations. "My sense is we can get this done," he told the AP.

The draft texts being debated behind closed doors hinge on four key issues, with negotiating views generally divided between rich nations and developing ones:

_ Emissions. Industrialized nations are under pressure to cut back even more on emissions of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases, while major developing countries such as China and India are being pressed to rein in emissions growth. Environmentalists and poorer nations say richer countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent or more by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, to avoid serious climate damage. The European Union has pledged 20 percent, and possibly 30 percent. The U.S. has offered only a 3 percent to 4 percent cut.

_ Financing. Richer nations have discussed a "prompt-start" package of $10 billion a year for three years to help developing nations adjust to the impact of global warming and switch to clean energy. Developing nations want to see commitments by wealthy nations for years more of long-term climate aid financing. Expert studies say hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed each year, and the developing nations are trying to establish stable revenue sources, such as a global aviation tax.

_ Monitoring. The U.S. and developed nations want some kind of international verification of emissions actions by developing nations. China, India and others are resisting what they consider potential intrusions on their sovereignty.

_ Legal Form. For Europe, Japan and other developed nations, new, deeper emissions cuts will take the form of an extension of quotas under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The U.S., which rejected Kyoto and wants to remain outside it, likely to be included in a separate package that also deals with major developing countries. The level of legal obligation on each "track" may vary, particularly since the big developing countries — China and India — do not want to be bound by any international treaty to carry out their pledges of emission cuts. They prefer voluntary goals.

-------------

------------

-------------

----------------

----------------

----------------

RELATED POSTS:-

• UK: W. Bank produce must be marked 'settlement' or 'Palestinian'- Isreal Protest for branding.Thousands Isreal protest on 10months stop construction.
• Clashes at Greek demos to mark teen's police shooting-70 people arrested.Tear gas shot to control crowd.
• Muslims will empty their Swiss accounts: Turkish minister
• Iraq reporter who throw shoe at Bush , get back own medicine.
• University of Calif. approves big fee hikes,$2,500 student fee increase -Student protests,pepper sprayed
• Karzai needed convincing twice on new election
• World Leaders gather for G20 summit - Protests mayhem in hundreds.
• "If I could, I would take this . . . ball and . . . shove it down your throat."Selena said in US open tennis-Fined USD10,500..possible further ban.
• South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson yells 'You lie!' to the president
• Rep Joe Wilson In an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum shouted " You lie" at President of Americaa guest of the House and Senate.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel defends German mission in Afghanistan
• 5 Killed In China Protests Over Syringe Attacks
• Avalanche fears, clouds hamper search for climbers. 1 dead 2 missing Mt Hood
• EPA's Carbon Decision Gives Obama Copenhagen Tool-Official declared Co2 is dangerous to mankind.-Backlash fear of expensive energy and cut jobs
• World gathers for the largest climate summit in demark.
• 3 Hacker charged for hacking into leading Climate Research Unit university
• Obama, China vow urgent action on climate change,Clinton Climate conference New York.LEader gather to talk about reduce world pollution
• NightClub fire 112 dead due to firecracker inside clun.Anger rising.Bad management blamed.200 stampede cause deaths.
• Vatican and Muslims condemn Swiss minaret ban vote
• Afghan Election Officials Declare Karzai Winner

1000 detained as massive demostration in Copenhagen climate chance rally

Actress Helen Baxendale yesterday as she is about to board a train to Copenhagen

Arrests: Police detain a group of demonstrators


Danish model Helena Christensen addressing demonstrators in the centre of Copenhagen

Sit down protest: Demonstrators sit on the ground as police surround them near the conference hall

Climate activists carry a marionette in the shape of German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the demonstration

Confrontation: Violent protesters holding flares face police while wearing masks - illegal in Denmark

Crowds: Police said 25,000 people attended - but organisers believe 100,000 marched (above and below)

Police officers take cover guarding the Foreign Ministry as protesters shoot fireworks at them during the march in Copenhagen

Clash: Police make arrests amid a scuffle as the protest became more heated during the late afternoon

Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through the chilly Danish capital and nearly 1,000 were detained in a mass rally to demand an ambitious global climate pact, just as talks hit a snag over rich nations' demands on China and other emerging economies.

The mostly peaceful demonstrations in Copenhagen on Saturday provided the centerpiece of a day of global climate activism stretching from Europe to Asia. Police assigned extra officers to watch protesters marching toward the suburban conference center to demand that leaders act now to fight climate change.

Police estimated their numbers at 40,000, while organizers said as many as 100,000 had joined the march from downtown Copenhagen. It ended with protesters holding aloft candles and torches as they swarmed by night outside the Bella Center where the 192-nation U.N. climate conference is being held.

There have been a couple of minor protests over the past week, but Saturday's was by far the largest.

Police said they rounded up 968 people in a preventive action against a group of youth activists at the tail end of the demonstration. Officers in riot gear moved in when some of the activists, masking their faces, threw cobblestones through the windows of the former stock exchange and Foreign Ministry buildings.

A police officer received minor injuries when he was hit by a rock thrown from the group and one protester was injured by fireworks, police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said.

Earlier, police said they had detained 19 people, mainly for breaking Denmark's strict laws against carrying pocket knives or wearing masks during demonstrations.

At the talks, the European Union, Japan and Australia joined the U.S. in criticizing a draft global warming pact that says major developing nations must rein in greenhouse gases, but only if they have outside financing. Rich nations want to require developing nations to limit emissions, with or without financial help.

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, representing the 27-nation EU, told The Associated Press that "there has been a growing understanding that there must be commitments to actions by emerging economies as well."

He said those commitments "must be binding, in the sense that states are standing behind their commitments."

Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said his country — the world's No. 5 greenhouse gas polluter — will not offer more than its current pledge to slow its growth rate of emissions. It has offered to cut greenhouse gases measured against production by 20 to 25 percent by 2020.

"National interest trumps everything else," Ramesh told the AP. "Whatever I have to do, I've said in my Parliament. We'll engage them (the U.S. and China). I'm not here to make new offers."

China has made voluntary commitments to rein in its carbon emissions but doesn't want to be bound by international law to do so. In China's view, the U.S. and other rich countries have a heavy historical responsibility to cut emissions and any climate deal in Copenhagen should take into account a country's level of development.

Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists told the AP that rich nations are trying to re-negotiate the deal they reached two years ago on the island of Bali, calling on developing nations to limit emissions with financial help.

"It's going to blow up in their faces," he said. "The rich countries are trying to move the goal posts. And developing countries are not going to agree to that, no matter how loudly the rich countries demand it."

The tightly focused negotiating text was meant to lay out the crunch themes for environment ministers to wrestle with as they prepare for a summit of some 110 heads of state and government at the end of next week.

U.S. delegate Jonathan Pershing said the draft failed to address the contentious issue of carbon emissions by emerging economies.

"The current draft didn't work in terms of where it is headed," Pershing said in the plenary, supported by the European Union, Japan and Norway.

But the EU also directed criticism at the U.S., insisting it could make greater commitments to push the talks forward without stretching the legislation pending in Congress. Both the U.S. and China should be legally bound to keep whatever promises they make, Carlgren said.

Thousands also marched in a "Walk Against Warming" in major cities across Australia and about 200 Filipino activists staged a festive rally in Manila to mark the Global Day of Action on climate change. Dozens of Indonesian environmental activists rallied in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

Environmentalists staged stunts and protests in 100 piazzas across Italy, from Venice's St. Mark's Square to a historical piazza in downtown Rome. They carried banners that read "Stop the Planet's Fever" and asked passers-by to sign a petition calling on world leaders to reach a deal to reduce emissions.

In Copenhagen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace laureate, and Greenpeace leader Kumi Naidoo were among those ratcheting up the pressure for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty.

Naidoo exhorted politicians to act bravely by crafting a fair, ambitious and binding treaty, so they can later "look their children and grandchildren in the eyes" and tell them they did the right thing. "Failure to do so will be the worst political crime that they would have committed," he said.

At a candlelight vigil on the conference grounds, Tutu compared the mass demonstrations outside to other popular movements that made a mark in history.

"We want to remind you that they marched in Berlin and the wall fell," Tutu said. "They marched in Cape Town and apartheid fell. They marched in Copenhagen and we are going to get a real deal."

Demonstrators chanted and carried banners reading "Demand Climate Justice," "The World Wants a Real Deal" and "There is No Planet B," navigating for miles along city streets and over bridges past officers in riot gear, police dogs and the flashing lights of dozens of police vans.

Inside the Bella Center, delegates gathered around flat-screen TVs showing both the larger peaceful rally and the police crackdown on the young activists. Riot police tied them up with plastic cuffs and made them sit down on a closed-off street before busing them to a detention center set up for the climate conference.

Britain's Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, said dealmakers have a long ways to go. "There are difficult issues to overcome," he said, "around emissions, around finance, and around transparency and they are all issues we need to tackle in the coming days."

But the climate conference president, Connie Hedegaard, sought to reassure people that world leaders have come to seriously confront climate change.

"It has taken years to build up the pressure ... that we're also seeing unfolding today in many capitals around the world," Hedegaard said. "And I believe that that has contributed to making the political price for not delivering in Copenhagen so high."

---

--
RELATED POSTS:-

• Afghan Election Officials Declare Karzai Winner
• Report: Health bills show some price gaps
• Senior black Democrats have claimed the intensity of the anger shown by opponents of Barack Obama is largely rooted in racism
• President Barack Obama said he is confident Congress will pass "a good health care bill,"
• Obama speech to school children , white house posted copy online.
• Planned Obama speech to students sparks protest
• Syringe attacks spark new protest in XinJiang Chinese city
• President Obama speaking directly to school children.Parents protests for indoctrining politic policy to children and creating cult personalities.
• British PM repulsed by the Hero welcome of Lockiber Convict at Libya.
• 1000 detained as massive demostration in Copenhagen climate chance rally
• UK: W. Bank produce must be marked 'settlement' or 'Palestinian'- Isreal Protest for branding.Thousands Isreal protest on 10months stop construction.
• Clashes at Greek demos to mark teen's police shooting-70 people arrested.Tear gas shot to control crowd.
• Muslims will empty their Swiss accounts: Turkish minister
• Iraq reporter who throw shoe at Bush , get back own medicine.
• University of Calif. approves big fee hikes,$2,500 student fee increase -Student protests,pepper sprayed
• Karzai needed convincing twice on new election
• World Leaders gather for G20 summit - Protests mayhem in hundreds.
• "If I could, I would take this . . . ball and . . . shove it down your throat."Selena said in US open tennis-Fined USD10,500..possible further ban.
• South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson yells 'You lie!' to the president
• Rep Joe Wilson In an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum shouted " You lie" at President of Americaa guest of the House and Senate.

Muslims will empty their Swiss accounts: Turkish minister

Minarets in Swiss.


Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki




A Turkish minister said he expected Muslims to withdraw their money from Swiss banks in response to a referendum vote that banned the construction of minarets in the country, in remarks published Wednesday.

"I am certain this (the vote) will prompt our brothers from Muslim countries who keep their money and investments in Swiss banks to review their decision," State Minister Egemen Bagis, who is also Turkey's chief negotiator in EU accession talks, was quoted as saying in the mass-selling Hurriyet daily.

"The doors of the Turkish banking sector... are always open to them," he added.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-president of the Greens in the European Parliament, has also called on rich Muslims to empty their bank accounts in Switzerland in retaliation for Sunday's referendum.

Turkish leaders on Tuesday harshly denounced the ban, calling it a reflection of growing Islamophobia in Europe and urging Switzerland to "come back from this mistake as soon as possible."

Sunday's vote saw more than 57 percent back a proposition by a right wing party for a constitutional ban on the construction of new minarets, overriding opposition from the government and the bulk of Switzerland's political parties.

The outcome was welcomed by right wing parties across Europe, with some calling for similar votes in their countries.

Iran gives warning.

Iran warned Switzerland on Saturday of "consequences" over a referendum banning the building of new mosque minarets and urged Bern not to enforce the ban, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The vote went "against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey in a telephone call, quoted by IRNA.

Mottaki said last week's referendum would "damage Switzerland?s image as a pioneer of respecting human rights among Muslims' public opinion."

"Values such as tolerance, dialogue and respecting others' religions should never be put to referendum," he argued, warning Switzerland of the "consequences" of anti-Islamic acts, IRNA reported.

The foreign minister hoped the Bern government would soon "take necessary steps and find a constitutional way to prevent imposition of the ban."

IRNA said Switzerland's ambassador in Tehran was summoned on Saturday before the foreign ministry, which protested against the minaret ban which was backed by more than 57 percent of voters who cast their ballot on November 29.

Calmy-Rey said the referendum was carried out against the will of the Swiss government, which would "use all its means to support Muslims rights," the IRNA report added.

The referendum on a constitutional ban on minarets was proposed by a rightwing Swiss party and had not been expected to succeed.

Besides the government, the ban was opposed by the bulk of Switzerland's political parties as well as the economic establishment.

It drew widespread criticism from the United Nations, Muslim states, fellow European countries and the Vatican.

-----------

-----------

----------

----------