Negotiations at loggerheads

With the end of the UN Climate Change Conference looming countries have yet to seal a deal on emissions reduction.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was receiving "bad news" from Copenhagen, according to the Associated Press.

"At the moment, the negotiations do not look promising but I of course hope that the presence of more than 100 heads of state and government can give the necessary impetus to the event," Merkel said in Berlin.

Wealthy nations pledged around $22bn to help bankroll the war on global warming, with Japan leading the way by promising to stump up a whopping $19.5bn to developing nations on climate change if a comprehensive deal is reached at Copenhagen, said AP newswires.

China and the US, in particular, have been at loggerheads throughout the conference.

"It's proceeding at a snail's pace right now," Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, said AP. "But the nature of these negotiations is that they either run into a brick wall or you get a breakthrough towards the end."