Leaders begin talks in Paris to fight climate change; Obama visits attack site

PARIS — Senior negotiators from almost 200 nations on Sunday began thrashing out a new global deal to curb climate change as the president of China, the world's biggest polluter, landed in Paris.

The United Nations conference begins at summit level on Monday, when more than 150 heads of state and government — including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping — will attend talks at a sprawling complex north of the French capital. Xi arrived on Sunday.

To signal determination to resolve the most intractable issues, expert negotiators sat down on Sunday rather than after Monday's high-level speeches, as originally planned.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the aim was to give the world the means to cap global warming at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times or even 1.5 degrees.

That would avoid the most devastating consequences of global warming, such as rising sea-levels and desertification.

Referring to previous U.N. conferences that have dragged on days beyond the official close, Fabius said relying on "a last-night miracle" could risk failure. Progress must be made every day.

"The process cannot be chaotic. We owe it to ourselves and to the world to conclude the process in an orderly and respectful manner," he said.

France, as well as hosting the Paris talks, formally takes on leadership of the U.N. process for a year from Monday.

Governments hope the Paris summit will end on Dec. 11 in a deal that will herald a shift from rising dependence on fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution to cleaner energies such as wind or solar power.

Hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday joined rallies across the globe, telling leaders gathering for the summit there is "No Planet B" in the fight against global warming.

There is a tough task ahead. Weeks of preparatory talks this year have struggled to whittle down a negotiating text, which is still more than 50 pages long.

The most difficult issues include working out how to share the burden of taking action between rich and poor nations, how to finance the cost of adapting to global warming and the legal format of any final text, as U.S. politicians are likely to block a legally binding treaty.

"Some countries have concerns about all of the targets being binding," Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters. "The idea is to have a binding agreement. There may be elements that are not binding."

Canada, home to reserves of oil sands, one of the most polluting forms of fossil fuel, withdrew from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which any new Paris deal will replace.

It is re-engaging with U.N. talks following the election of a Liberal government in October.

While big carbon burner China has been reluctant to submit to any outside oversight of its carbon pledges made at a climate summit in Copenhagen six years ago, it has promised to steer its coal-powered economy to a greener path.

The Paris summit is being held in tight security after attacks in Paris by Islamic State two weeks ago that killed 130 people.

Obama visits attack site, pays tribute to victims

President Barack Obama laid a single rose at a memorial for the victims of the Paris attacks on Monday shortly after arriving in the city, visiting the Bataclan, the concert hall where the deadliest attacks took place during the onslaught some two weeks ago.

Obama, who is in town for international talks to curb climate change, was joined at the site by French President Francois Hollande not long after Air Force One touched down around midnight local time.

After solemnly placing the rose among the flowers and candles at the makeshift memorial, Obama stood silently in tribute, his head bowed and his hands clasped in front of him.

Afterwards he walked away with his arms around Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who was also present.

He did not make remarks.

Obama has made a concerted effort to show U.S. solidarity with France after the Nov. 13 attacks, which killed 130 people. He and Hollande agreed during a meeting in Washington last week to ramp up military operations against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and coordinate intelligence on domestic threats.

By visiting the memorial so soon after his arrival in Paris, Obama signaled the importance he placed on continuing to show support to the people of France.

His motorcade snaked through the city past several of its key landmarks before arriving at the memorial.

The surprise nighttime visit did not appear on Obama's public schedule.

Obama is scheduled to stay in Paris until Tuesday for talks to hash out an agreement with world leaders to fight global warming.

Senior negotiators from almost 200 nations on Sunday began thrashing out a new global deal to curb climate change as the president of China, the world's biggest polluter, landed in Paris.

The United Nations conference begins at summit level on Monday, when more than 150 heads of state and government - including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping - will attend talks at a sprawling complex north of the French capital. Xi arrived on Sunday.