World Eco-conference ends in failure

After overnight negotiations, a world conference on ways to implement the Kyoto agreement on global warming collapsed Saturday. "We didn't make it," said British Environment Secretary John Prescott, adding he was disappointed "for all those people who wanted to see change." Asked if he was leaving, Prescott answered: "I certainly am." "I'm gutted," he added. The Hague conference aimed to find consensus on ways to implement the 1997 protocol, drawn up in Kyoto, Japan, as an international blueprint for countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. The treaty - still not ratified by most countries - calls for industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent or more below their 1990s levels, UPI and other Western news agencies report.