"Extreme weather is the new normal and poses a threat to the human race, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, as he sought to revive deadlocked global climate change talks."

"Ban's intervention came as efforts to agree a symbolic extension of the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that obliges about 35 developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, looked to be faltering.

In a speech to almost 200 nations meeting in Doha to try to get a breakthrough, Ban said a thaw in Arctic sea ice to record lows this year, superstorms and rising sea levels were all signs of a crisis.

'The abnormal is the new normal,' he told delegates at the November 26-December 7 talks. He said signs of change were apparent everywhere and 'from the United States to India, from Ukraine to Brazil, drought (has) decimated essential global crops'."

Barbara Lewis and Alister Doyle report for Reuters December 5, 2012. [2]

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"Doha Climate Talks in a 'Race Against Time'" (ENS) [3]