LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - The United States is blocking efforts to get next month's Group of Eight summit to agree mid-term targets for cutting climate warming carbon emissions, according to a draft of the declaration seen by Reuters. The draft, dated May 5, shows that Washington wants to make the Major Emitters grouping set up by U.S. President George W. Bush last year the main forum for climate action, taking the initiative away from the group of rich nations. "We would be prepared to address mid-term goals in the G8 only if the Major Economies Leaders Statement does not do so and only in a way that points to the need for commitments from major emerging economies," said a U.S. comment in the draft. In the draft for the July 7-9 summit in Japan, the U.S. endorses expansion of civil nuclear power as a low carbon technology and says biofuels are not the main cause of the recent surge in world food prices. The Major Economies Meeting -- also known as the Major Emitters Meeting -- will take place in Japan on the sidelines of the G8 summit. It groups the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, South Africa and Britain, as well as the European Union and the United Nations. (Reporting by Jeremy Lovell; editing by David Clarke)
A general view shows the site of a quake-triggered landslide at Weizhou town of Wenchuan county, Sichuan province May 31, 2008. Engineers have completed work to drain a lake formed by ...
