Powell jeered at Summit speech

REPEATEDLY interrupted by activists' jeers, Secretary of State Colin Powell defended the United States' environmental record and its efforts to help the poor in the developing world at the World Summit on Wednesday.

"The United States is taking action to meet environmental challenges, including global climate change," he said to loud booing from the rear of a hall filled with government leaders and delegates ranging from youth activists to environmentalists.

The United States has been strongly criticized by leaders and activists here for President Bush's decision last year to reject the Kyoto Protocol, which many countries view as crucial for reversing a global warming trend blamed for cataclysmic storms and droughts.