Copenhagen, Dec 19, 2009

Talks resumed after a lengthy morning adjournment after a near collapse of negotiations, and then, in a surprise turnaround a cheerful Secretary General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon announced today that a climate deal had been approved.

As Ban Ki-moon left the press conference to announce the deal to the assembly, Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary General for Policy Planning, took over and reported that Ban Ki-moon talked personally to some of those leaders of nations with the strongest objections. The parties can optionally associate themselves with the accord, called “taking note” of the accord, but they are not required to do so, and presumably, those nations with the greatest objections earlier this morning, Sudan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, will not “take note” to be associated with the accord.

Report by James George