In brief: Disputes extend climate change talks

LIMA, Peru – U.N. talks on a new global warming pact spilled into the weekend as negotiators quarreled over what kind of information to include when countries unveil their contributions before a key summit in Paris next year.

The yearly climate meetings rarely close on time and the two-week session in Lima was no exception as disputes that arose in the opening days remained unresolved by Friday’s scheduled close of the conference.

One of the most problematic issues was getting the more than 190 countries participating to agree on what information should go into the pledges that governments are supposed to put on the table for the planned Paris agreement.

Rich countries insisted the pledges should focus on efforts to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases and were resisting demands that they include promises of financing to help poor countries absorb the effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, top carbon polluter China and other major developing countries opposed plans for a review process that would allow the pledges to be compared against one another before Paris. Their reluctance angered some delegates from countries on the front lines of climate change.

Eight dead, scores missing in mudslide

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Torrential rains set off a mudslide down the hills into a village in central Indonesia, killing eight people and leaving more than 100 missing, officials said today.

About 105 houses were swept away by the landslide late Friday in Jemblung village in Banjarnegara district of Central Java province, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains near rivers.