Special Report: President Hu attends outreach session of G8 Summit, visits Sweden

    HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The tough negotiations over climate change have made some progress since the opening of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized nations' annual summit in the German Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, German media reported on Thursday.

    "It is going forward," German news agency DPA quoted sources close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying, referring to the G8 talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which put the United States and the host country Germany at odds.

    No further details were available at the moment, DPA said.

    Germany, which holds the rotating G8 presidency, has called for actions to limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius this century and to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

    The United States voiced "fundamental opposition" to the German proposal.

    U.S. President George W. Bush has announced a separate plan, calling on 15 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas producers to meet and agree on long-term goals by the end of 2008.

    The United States remains opposed to mandatory targets, citing that environmental protection cannot come at the price of hurting economic growth.

    Merkel said she expected "intensive debate" during the three-day summit which opened on Wednesday.

    The G8 club gathers Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.