Climate talks resume but Copenhagen hopes fade

Climate talks in Barcelona resumed on Wednesday after an angry spat but negotiators admitted chances for sealing a hoped-for UN treaty on global warming by year's end had almost vanished. "The impasse that we had yesterday seems to have been overcome and we are indeed content with that," said Anders Turesson, chief negotiator for Sweden, which holds the European Union (EU) presidency. Work on one of the twin tracks under negotiation slammed to a halt on Tuesday after African countries staged a boycott. The bloc of some 50 nations accused rich counterparts of backsliding on promises to curb man-made carbon emissions blamed for global warming.