Hopes for a new global climate pact have risen after rich nations at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago offered to help poorer countries bear the costs of implementing any deal.

Hopes rose that a new global climate pact was within reach after rich nations at a Commonwealth summit offered to help poorer countries bear the costs.

The two aspiring reality TV stars who gatecrashed a state dinner this week met US President Barack Obama at the event, a new White House photograph shows.

PM Kevin Rudd says "political will" exists to approve a climate change deal at the Copenhagen UN summit, despite his own legislation being bogged in the Senate.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The two aspiring reality TV stars who gatecrashed a state dinner this week met President Barack Obama at the event, a White House photograph showed.

MINSK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Russia are unlikely to finish a pact to cut Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons by a December 5 deadline but still aim to close the deal by year-end, Russian and U.S. sources said Friday.

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuban President Raul Castro ordered his troops to "never give up" on Friday as his Caribbean island nation carried out war games designed to train for the possibility of a US attack.

US President Barack Obama will host Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday, a day before announcing his revamped Afghanistan war strategy.

MINSK (Reuters) - The United States and Russia will sign a deal this year to cut vast Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons but may miss an early December deadline, a Kremlin source told Reuters on Friday.

ROME (AFP) - Opportunities are emerging for a breakthrough in the political stalemate in military-ruled Myanmar, including the possibility of talks with the junta, and they must not be missed, an EU envoy said Friday.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province survived a bomb strike on his motorcade while heading to prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on Friday, a spokesman said.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached out to the Taliban on Friday, part of a call for reconciliation that the palace says will be the main focus of his second term that began last week.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will fire early shots in the global climate debate at the Commonwealth summit opening in Trinidad.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba began its biggest military Manoeuvres in five years on Thursday, saying they were needed to prepare for a possible invasion by the United States.

The couple who crashed a White House dinner for the visiting Indian PM shouldn't need legal help, a lawyer who knows them said.

The Commonwealth is trying to shape the direction of upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen by inviting top outside leaders to a weekend summit in Trinidad.

MANAUS, Brazil (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Brazil Thursday for a one-day meeting on climate change and Amazon forest conservation, hailed new US and Chinese proposals on combating global warming as "extremely encouraging."

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba began its biggest military manoeuvres in five years on Thursday, saying they were needed to prepare for a possible invasion by the United States.