From the BBC:

UN-hosted talks on climate change have ended in deadlock.

They were aimed at paving the way for the climate summit taking place in Bali in December which will focus on how to take forward the Kyoto Protocol.

However, the US said it was unlikely to take part in negotiations at the end of this year on a global agreement to cut emissions of carbon dioxide.

I saw a reference to Newsmap here, wedged between Daily Hillier^TM and pretty much daily Jean Chretien posts. 

Essentially, it's a visualization of headlines generated by the Google News aggregator (more here).

However, if you want prominent treatment of up-to-the-minute, Canadian-specific news, good luck to you. Here's why:

See that that dark orange area in the bottom-right corner? That's how much prominence newsmap gave Canadian news -- in the Canadian tab.

Robert Niles of Online Journalism Review thinks all news organizations should use the blog format for breaking news:

It's been a smoky spring here in the Los Angeles area. Last week, wildfires burned both the city's Griffith Park (one of my favorite places on Earth, by the way) as well as the resort island of Catalina. In both incidents, I watched TV coverage, listened to radio reports and hit up news websites. But I kept finding myself coming back to the breaking news blog on latimes.com.

How many acres have burnt now? How much of the fire is contained? Where's the worst threat at this hour? For those essential questions, which readers wanted immediate answers, the Times' breaking news blog delivered.

Newspaper.com managers, take a lesson. If you do not have a breaking news blog ready to go on your website, get started on building one. Today. The blog is the ideal format to deliver information in a breaking news situation. There's no reason to continue relying on traditional newspaper narrative formats online when editors could better serve their readers with the far more online-friendly blog format.

A few plot holes might gnaw at you afterwards, but while you're in the theatre, 28 Weeks Later compels your attention even as you find it hard to look.

CLARKSDALE, MS – Ida Mae Dobbs, longtime woman of Willie "Skipbone" Jackson, called a press conference Tuesday to respond to charges levied against her by the legendary Delta blues singer.

Ida Mae Dobbs, woman of blues singer Willie "Skipbone" Jackson (inset).

"Despite what Mr. Jackson would have you believe, I am not an evil-hearted woman who will not let him be," Dobbs told reporters. "I repeat: I am not an evil-hearted woman who will not let him be. To the contrary, my lovin' is so sweet, it tastes just like the apple off the tree."

Dobbs, accused of causing Jackson pain and breaking his heart by calling out another man's name, categorically denied treating him in a low-down manner.

"He says he sends for his baby, but I don't come around," Dobbs, a brownskin woman, said. "He says he sends for his baby, but I don't come around. Well, the truth is, I do come, but he is out messing with every gal in town."

From where else but The Onion.

Oh dear, what a crisis.

I was watching a newscast out of Vancouver. Some guy was complaining he had to drive a lot, and that the current high prices there meant he was paying $120 per week at the pump.

However, guess what vehicle he was driving? If you said a Jeep Liberty, give yourself a metropass!

That particular SUV is a notorious fuel pig.