The climate conference in Kyoto has broken up with provisional targets set for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions but with the United States and the European Union still some way apart from reaching agreement. American and European negotiators disagree about how far emissions should be reduced from 1990 levels but there are signs that differences over which gases should be included have been resolved. Reporting from Kyoto, here is our Environment correspondent, Robert Piggott:

The session, the last before the conference is due to close, ended without the industrialised countries agreeing a package to present to the developing world. The Japanese Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, was so concerned that the meeting might collapse that he telephoned the leaders of European countries to appeal to them to persuade the European Union to show flexibility in the discussions.

Consensus does seem closer on one important issue - which greenhouse gases should be included in the treaty. The European Union wants the treaty to cover only the three main gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- but the United States wants to include three others whose effects are at the moment less important.