Novartis yesterday underlined its determination to expand beyond its core drugs business, but denied that spending $50bn on Alcon put it in the same category as other pharmaceuticals groups diversifying to counter falling drug discovery rates or looming patent expiries.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was at the centre of a political storm after health authorities admitted they had a huge oversupply of vaccines for the H1N1 swine flu virus and were trying to sell them on to other countries.

World leaders are racing against the clock in an attempt to forge a deal on climate change in Copenhagen that hinges on resolving sharp differences between rich and poorer nations over emissions cuts and their monitoring.

The longest-running trade dispute of the modern era came to a close last night when parties from Europe, Latin America, the US, the Caribbean and Africa initialled a treaty in Geneva to end the so-called banana wars.

The chief of the United Nations has conceded that a deal in Copenhagen on climate change might not include promised financial aid for developing countries, an admission that will infuriate poorer nations and potentially scupper a broad-based agreement.

Energy prices will have to rise if companies are to make the investments needed to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the head of the world's largest wind power company has said.

Rifts deepened between rich and poor countries at the UN's Copenhagen climate conference yesterday as world leaders prepared to converge on the Danish capital in a bid to break the deadlock.

Several leaders, including Angela Merkel of Germany and Gordon Brown of Britain, voiced doubt over the chances of reaching a deal before talks are due to end on Friday.

China hit back at the US yesterday for belittling its commitment to tackling climate change as negotiations in Copenhagen on reaching a new agreement on global warming moved into a higher gear.

On the fifth day of talks, the United Nations published an official draft text from which countries are expected to produce an agreement next week.

Unilever and Coca-Cola, two of the world

George Soros, the billionaire financier, unveiled a plan yesterday to lend poor countries $100bn to deal with the threat of climate change.

The money would come from the International Monetary Fund, from financial instruments known as special drawing rights.