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President Barack Obama's visit to China next month is not likely to yield a separate accord on countering global warming, though both countries are pushing for progress for upcoming global talks in Copenhagen, the top U.S. envoy on climate change said Wednesday."I don't think we're going to get an agreement per se," said Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change. However, he said Obama will work with Chinese President Hu Jintao toward facilitating an agreement at the international meeting.Obama will make his first visit to China on Nov. 15-18.The chief Chinese and U.S. negotiators played down differences over their commitments on reducing the heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming.Stern defended U.S. progress on reducing emissions and promoting renewable energy, noting the $80 billion pledged for clean energy in the U.S. economic stimulus package.The Senate bill, however, is proving more difficult. On Tuesday, the Obama administration warned a Senate panel that the U.S. could slip further behind China and other countries in clean energy development if Congress fails to pass climate legislation.Stern was upbeat about the prospects for Copenhagen, though experts say tough challenges remain.Wealthy nations say all countries, including growing polluters such as China and India, have to agree to broad cuts in emissions. Last week, however, the two Asian countries agreed to stand together in Copenhagen and resist making emissions limits binding and subject to international monitoring.The countries attending included China, the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, Japan and South Korea.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has for the first time conceded that disputed elections could enter a second round and pushed to hold the run-off quickly.Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said Thursday he has not personally spoken to election authorities who are expected to make an announcement within days.

Karzai has passionately rejected charges of widespread irregularities, testing the patience of Western nations that were his key backers after the US-led military operation in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime.European Union observers said a quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million ballots, were suspect.Afghan election authorities are reviewing disputed ballots. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, expected a final announcement on Sunday or Monday.Karzai's chief rival, urbane former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, said in Kabul that he was hopeful investigations into ballot-stuffing allegations would result in a run-off.But Abdullah warned that if a run-off were not called, "those who are behind the fraud and tolerate fraud will be responsible for the consequences."Fellow candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, said on a visit to Washington that Karzai and Abdullah so distrusted each other and election authorities that only a deal between the two could break the impasse.
The ambassador was unusually open about Karzai's disagreements with President Barack Obama, who has been cooler toward the Afghan leader than his predecessor, George W. Bush.Obama has made the fight against Islamic extremism a chief focus of his young presidency.He signed a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar development package for violence-torn neighbor Pakistan on Thursday as he weighs a decision on whether to send tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.