What Caught My Eye Today

Global Warming - This is sort of a good/news bad news deal. Delegates at the U.N. climate conference in Bali extended closed-door talks into an extra day Saturday, nearing resolution of a dispute over how far future negotiations should go in trying to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The negotiating agenda set at Bali, and the results of two years of negotiations to follow, will help determine for decades to come how well the world can hold down its rising temperatures. Delegates had sparred for days over the wording of the conference's main decision document. The most contentious point was the European Union's push to set a goal of reducing industrial nations' emissions 25 percent to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Trying to break the deadlock, the conference president, Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, proposed revised language dropping explicit mention of numbers while substituting a reference to a U.N. scientific report suggested the 25-40 percent range of cuts. Witoelar's proposal provided a basis for a long-expected compromise, producing a relatively vague mandate for the two years of negotiations. As worded, his draft "Bali Roadmap" would not guarantee any level of binding commitment by any nation. On developing countries, including such big emitters as China and India, the draft would instruct negotiators to consider incentives and other means to encourage poorer nations to voluntarily curb growth in their emissions. Okay, so the good news is that it would appear that despite their best efforts to remain deadlocked, that the delegates have found some common ground from which they can build a plan for the future. The bad news is that compromise is in the form of an accord that contains almost no meaningful language nor accountability for countries to commit to anything. Oh and one more thing. Because the conference was extended for another day, you all will probably be subjected to at least one more of my rants on this subject. Hey don't blame me, blame them for not finishing on schedule.

North Korea - Just when you think you have seen and heard everything... President Bush said that he got North Korea's attention by writing Pyongyang a letter and that Kim Jong Il can get his attention by fully disclosing his nuclear programs and proliferation activities. The letter, the president's first to the leader of the communist regime, was viewed as a personal gesture from the president, who once branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." Senior U.S. officials aid North Korea's response contained what appeared to be a pledge from Pyongyang to follow through on its denuclearization deal as long as the United States held to its end of the bargain. Setting aside the fact that I'm stunned by these development, I have to offer up my kudos to Kim Il Jong and President Bush. Seriously, did like hell freeze over and someone forget to tell me?

Golf - Tiger Woods shrugged off any hint of rust after a two-and-a-half month break to charge four shots clear in the second round of the Target World Challenge second.
Hunting his eighth victory of the year, the world number one fired a sparkling 10-under-par 62 to equal the course record at Sherwood Country Club where he is the tournament host and defending champion. That gave Woods a 13-under total of 131 and ideally placed to win his fourth title in the elite 16-man event. Tell me, is anyone actually surprised by this? For most guys, taking a two and a half month break might result in a couple of sub-par rounds as they shake of the rust. For Tiger that lasted all of one hole--a double bogey on the 18th hole yesterday. Dude is wicked good.

Britney Spears - Where have you been, Britney? It's been ages since you last made an appearance. So like, what up, girlfriend? Running out of patience with Britney Spears, Kevin Federline's attorney said he plans to ask for sanctions against the pop star for calling in sick to her court-ordered deposition. Spears didn't show up to testify on Wednesday as scheduled, and said later that she wasn't feeling well. Spears was photographed later that day driving with a friend. Spears had missed at least three previously scheduled depositions for various reasons. Spears and Federline have been wrangling for months over custody of their sons. Federline has temporary custody of the children because Spears, who has limited visitation rights, has defied court orders. Attorneys for Spears and Federline, married in October 2004, have repeatedly been in court about custody since they split. Their divorce was final in July. Oh, so you have been busy. And what about those darned paparazzi? Can't a girl get a minute's peace? Clearly, your friend was driving you someplace because you were too ill to drive yourself. As for the rest of us living in the real world, I never thought I would say this, but those children are so much better off with K-Fed than they would ever be with Ms. Spears.