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Another round of U.N. climate talks closed without resolving how to share the burden of curbing man-made global warming, mainly because countries don't agree on who is rich and who is poor. China wants to maintain a decades-old division between developed and developing countries, bearing in mind that, historically, the West has released most of the heat-trapping gases that scientists say could cause catastrophic changes in climate. But the U.S. and Europe insisted during the two-week talks that ended Friday in Bonn that the system doesn't reflect current economic realities and must change as work begins on a new global climate pact set to be completed in 2015. "The notion that a simple binary system is going to be applicable going forward is no longer one that has much relevance to the way the world currently works," U.S. chief negotiator Jonathan Pershing said. Countries like Qatar and Singapore are wealthier than the U.S. per capita but are still define...

Three climbers died and two others were missing while descending from the summit of Mount Everest — a toll that raised concerns about overcrowding in the "death zone" at the top of the world's tallest peak. The deadly weekend unfolded as an estimated 150 climbers tried to reach the top Friday and Saturday as they rushed to use a brief window of good weather in an otherwise troubled climbing season. Many had been waiting at a staging camp for several days for their chance to head to the summit. The three climbers who died Saturday were believed to have suffered exhaustion and altitude sickness, Nepali mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha said. Officials on Monday were still gathering details from descending climbers, he said. The victims were identified as German doctor Eberhard Schaaf, Nepal-born Canadian Shriya Shah, and South Korean mountaineer Song Won-bin. The missing climbers are a Chinese national and his Nepalese Sherpa guide. "There was ...

A dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for President Barack Obama at an international summit have been relieved of duty because of allegations of misconduct. A caller who said he had knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press the misconduct involved prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia , the site of the Summit of the Americas. A Secret Service spokesman did not dispute that. A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity, put the number of agents at 12. The agency was not releasing the number of personnel involved. The Washington Post reported that Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association , said the accusations related to at least one agent having involvement with prostitutes in Cartagena. The association represents federal law enforcement officers, including the Secret Service. Ronald Kessler, a former Post reporter and the author of a book about the S...