The UN climate change conference opened Monday in an atmosphere of hope for a deal in Copenhagen within the next two weeks. “A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister Lars L?kke Rasmussen said in his opening speech, stressing that the talks will have to overcome deep distrust between rich and poor nations on how to share the burden of curbing emissions. The presence of more than a hundred world leaders meant “an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss,” Lars L?kke Rasmussen said.

Obama surprised the US troops in Iraq this morning with a visit and a speech. He arrived at Camp Victory this morning, seemingly out of the blue, near the Baghdad International Airport and spoke with top US commander of Iraq, General Raymond Odierno. He’s also set to meet with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki later today. Reuters reports that the trip was not publicized before Air Force One landed due to security reasons.

President Obama on Friday praised the latest jobs figures that show a drop in the U.S. unemployment rate from 10.2 percent to 10 percent in November.

Wall Street has finally gotten the piece of economic news it has been waiting for: the battered labor market may be starting to heal. But with major stock gauges at their highest levels in more than a year, recovery bets could already be baked into the cake. The week ahead brings a modest array of economic reports. Highlights include readings on retail sales, consumer sentiment and the trade gap. President Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are among the speakers on tap. But none of these events are likely to change the markets' direction much.

Citigroup is racing against the clock to convince US authorities that it be allowed to repay $20bn of bail-out funds, with insiders and regulators arguing that unless the bank acts in the next 10 days it will have to wait for more than a month.

When you purchase goods using either a credit card or with a credit agreement that the trader has arranged with a separate finance company and the total cost of the transaction is in excess of ?100, you will have an equal claim against the finance company. This applies even though you may only have paid the deposit by credit. These rights provided by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Carolina's DeAngelo Williams missed his second straight practice with a sprained ankle, which could leave replacement quarterback Matt Moore without the Panthers' top running threat against Tampa Bay. With Jake Delhomme sitting out again Thursday with a broken finger on his throwing hand, Moore is expected to get his first start since 2007. Williams was injured in last Sunday's loss to the New York Jets and hasn't practiced this week. Receivers Muhsin Muhammad (knee) and Dwayne Jarrett (ankle) also missed practice, leaving Steve Smith as Carolina's only healthy regular receiver. Running back Jonathan Stewart (Achilles' tendon) and fullback Brad Hoover (ankle) practiced after sitting out Wednesday.

After missing his first six shots, Deron Williams had more than half the game to regain his confidence. It didn’t take that long. Williams recovered from his early shooting slump with 15 of his 17 points in the second half, including a go-ahead jumper with 22 seconds left, and the Utah Jazz held on for a 104-101 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. Williams made eight of his last 10 shots and also had 11 assists while leading the Jazz to their third straight win over the Spurs. For the first time since 1997-98, Utah will claim the season series against San Antonio.

Federer lost his home tournament on Sunday, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to Novak Djokovic in the Swiss Indoors final. Djokovic earned his fourth tournament win of the season with a victory that ended Federer’s run of three straight titles at the tournament. “It’s disappointing to lose at home in the finals, no doubt,” Federer said. “I thought I missed plenty of opportunities. I’m not looking for excuses. He played tough and he played well when he had to, and saved a ton of break points that were crucial.”

German top model Heidi Klum (2R) and models Hana (L), Barbara and Anni (R), finalists of "Germany's Next Top Model" television show pose during a media presentation in Cologne.

With fabric sales on an upswing, exhibitors left the semiannual Showtime fabric show here this week with the feeling that the upholstery industry has stabilized and is heading for better times. Fabric is the proverbial canary in the mineshaft, a harbinger of how the industry will do in the months ahead. According to several fabric executives, the gradual increase in orders has led upholstered furniture manufacturers to be more confident in projecting their fabric needs and some are even launching new programs. Several mill execs said traffic was strong in their showrooms, ahead of the past few Showtimes.

Visiting London is a modern day pilgrimage for followers of popular culture. In fact millions if not billions of people have an ambition to one day visit London and perhaps as many already have. It is the best time in decades for many to make the voyage, with the Pound (?) struggling against the Euro(?) and Dollar($) on the currency exchange, and spend some.

After much talk about Google Music, rumors and the like, Google shows us that it is to enter the field of music, but in this case it does best ... research. From now on, up to now could only proxies in the U.S., you can get a "listening" to music while a search as the music began to be displayed at the top of search results as has happened with the videos.

Satellite navigation programs and the National Rail Enquiries service were among the most popular applications, or apps, downloaded on to iPhones and iPods in the UK this year. Unveiling the year's top downloads, Oliver Schusser, senior director of iTunes Europe, said 2009 had been "the biggest year ever for us in terms of the number of songs downloaded", while apps had a "sensational" year, ahead of Apple's own...

Sony refuses to call its latest 8-inch mini note — the Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC — a netbook. Why? It’s a far more capable device than most netbooks, which justifies its price (twice that of most netbooks), Sony officials say. And boy, are they wrong.

People are still wanting to know how is the game which is named to be the best FPS game ever. Modern Warfare 2 gained first-day income at $310 millions with 4.7 millions copies sold which breaks the record of Batman: The Dark Knight. We got one another review from PlanetXBOX360.com by Eric Bush, who gives 9.8 out of 10 for this title.

Alicia Keys will unveil a full stream of her new LP The Element of Freedom on her Facebook page thanks to a partnership between her label, RCA, and social media firm Involver.

James Cameron’s new movie, Avatar, has this very interesting but still kinda obscure trailer running at cinemas. And it really is at James Cameron’s level (Aliens, Terminator II, Titanic).