Following are comments at a news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

OBAMA

"While we don't expect to solve this problem in one meeting or one summit. I believe we made some important strides forward as we move toward Copenhagen.

When the government is shouting for compensation or negotiating with international community over impact of climate change in Bangladesh, it has no specific data how much the country had already been affected by the menace especially due to the sea level rise.

A failure of major economies to set a target for halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at a summit in Italy is a setback to any agreement at a December climate change conference in Copenhagen.

IT

The world's seagrass meadows, a critical habitat for marine life and profit-maker for the fishing industry, are in decline due to coastal development and the losses are accelerating, according to a new study.

The amount of carbon locked away in frozen soils in the far Northern Hemisphere is double previous estimates and rapid melting could accelerate global warming, a study released on Wednesday says.

Large areas of northern Russia, Canada, Nordic countries and the U.S. state of Alaska have deep layers of frozen soil near the surface called permafrost.