Fight over aid for climate losses divides UN talks

By FRANK JORDANS, SAMY MAGDY and SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — With an end-of-the-week deadline rushing at them faster than agreements are coming out of them, negotiators at the U.N. climate summit were in a difficult spot Wednesday. Talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh got off to a plodding start and are behind the pace of previous meetings with three days left before the scheduled close Friday. Demands for rich nations to provide additional aid for vulnerable countries suffering devastating impacts from climate change have become a major point of division at the two-week meeting. Developed countries such as the United States have long resisted the idea of “loss and damage” for fear of being held financially liable for the carbon dioxide they’ve pumped into the atmosphere for decades.