Fears summit will be talking shop

THERE were mounting fears last night that the Earth Summit in Johannesburg would fail to reach agreement before world leaders arrive for the climax of the meeting next week.

Exhausted negotiators have been racing to try and agree ways to enrich poor nations while protecting the planet but a series of rows between the EU and US over trade, energy and sanitation threatens to unravel the final agreement.

The European Union wants more timetables and targets for concrete action to be included in the final summit text.