Developing countries and environmental groups accused the World Bank on Friday of trying to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades. "The World Bank's foray into climate change has gone down like a lead balloon," Friends of the Earth campaigner Tom Picken said.

The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming. "The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable," said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

From empty sun loungers at luxury hotels to vacant bar stools in dingy fleshpots, tourism in Thailand is going through its worst slump in decades.

Europe's debt crisis has led banks there to refuse to lend money to firms trading with Africa, threatening growth on the continent.

The ANC will fracture before the decade is out, pulled apart by tension between big business and labour, opposition leader Helen Zille said.

It takes a lot to get communists, unions and businessmen fighting from the same corner, especially in South Africa.

The government has taken direct control of several provincial administrations in a clampdown on profligate spending and terrible service delivery.

Swaziland's King Mswati III will fund a bailout of his government in a manoeuvre to acquire control of the local firms at knock-down prices.