The hopes of small island nations to get support for stronger action on climate change have been dashed. A meeting of Pacific leaders in Tuvalu went late into the night. Small island states wanted support from all Pacific nations, but in the end, Australia's concerns led to a weaker communique. New zealand also expressed some reservations.
Wall Street has recovered some of yesterday's losses, but the turmoil on overseas markets looks far from over. The Dow Jones Industrial index has closed up point-four of one percent after a slide in US government bond yields eased yesterday. However markets remain concerned about weaker consumer spending, particularly in the United States. The Australian share market shed more than 60 billion dollars in value yesterday.
And nervous flyers, you'd better look away, because a Russian plane had to make an emergency landing after it struck a flock of birds while taking off near Moscow. Passengers captured the moment the engines started to seize up. The pilots who are now being hailed as heroes landed the plane in a cornfield with the engines shutdown and the landing gear retracted. Incredibly no one was killed in the incident and just 23 people suffered minor injuries. The Ural Airlines A321 was carrying 226 passengers and 7 crew members.