An international campaign to force the financial sector to pay for saving the planet from global warming was boosted yesterday when France joined Britain in championing a new global regime of so-called Tobin taxes on financial market transactions. The billions in potential proceeds would be earmarked for long-term measures to tackle global warming.

Days before the Copenhagen climate change conference reaches its finale with the arrival of Barack Obama and more than 100 other world leaders, an EU summit in Brussels sought to boost the chances of a deal further by also pledging €2.4bn a year from January in "fast-track" funds to help the world's poor countries cope with rising seas, floods and famines.

Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference. Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

A Chinese diplomat told reporters Wednesday a substantial content is more important than the title of the outcome of the forthcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.