English/Nat

The South African yachtsman who became the first blind sailor to sail an ocean single handedly has arrived home after completing his gruelling trip.

Geoff Hilton-Barber rewrote the record books when he successfully navigated the Indian Ocean from Durban to Fremantle, Australia.

Geoff Hilton-Barber arrived safe and sound back to his family and friends in Durban this week after his daring voyage.

The 46-year-old blind sailor proved his critics wrong -- some of whom had described his trip as a suicide mission.

Hilton-Barber made his solo 50-day, six-thousand nautical mile voyage across the Indian Ocean on his yacht "Abacus".

The solo trip would stretch the capabilities of any sailor, let alone one who couldn't rely on the most fundamental of human senses.

SOUNDBITE:

"It had its ups and downs and scary times but the good times were much better and it was a tremendous adventure which I wanted to do for a long time."

SUPER CAPTION: Geoff Hilton-Barber, sailor

Hilton-Barber -- who before losing his sight as the age of 20 was an active runner and skydiver -- used braille charts and audio electrical equipment onboard to navigate.

The rest of his yacht was standard.

At a push of a button, an electronic voice would tell him where he was, what course he was doing and at what speed.

UPSOUND

There was mixed emotions at dockside when he set sail on December 1st last year.

Before his adventure, no blind person had ever sailed single-handedly crossed an ocean.

A blind American sailor had come closest after sailing from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Hilton-Barber kept close radio contact with his wife Carol at their home base in Durban.

But there were some scary moments.

Before he reached Australia his power generator failed and cut off his communications system.

SOUNDBITE:

"There was just one time when things were going wrong with the instruments that we were losing communication which was difficult. We had spoken every day so I was relaxed. So we had a few grey-hair moments but all is well that ends well."

SUPER CAPTION: Carol Hilton-Barber

After his record-setting sail, Hilton-Barber will have to get used to a more sedate life back on dry land.

Durban, South Africa, February 3rd 1998 and file where noted

February 3rd

00:00 Hilton-Barber being congratulated

00:10 Close-up sign congratulating him

December 1st

00:15 close shot Hilton-Barber

00:24 cut away `Abacus' sign

00:27 Hilton-Barber goes down below

February 3rd

00:35 SOUNDBITE: Hilton-Barber

December 1st

00:44 Hilton-Barber with navigation equipment

00:52 UPSOUND

01:01 various of Hilton-Barber casting off and friends waving goodbye

01:17 mid shot `Abacus'

01:25 long sho Hilton-Barber onboard `Abacus'

01:32 wide shot `Abacus' sailing away

February 3rd

01:36 SOUNDBITE: Mrs Hilton-Barber

01:50 Hilton-Barber and family walk from airport to car

SHOTLIST

Toyako

1. Wide of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President George W. Bush after bilateral meeting

2. Mid of Merkel and Bush, zoom in to Merkel, pan to Bush

3. SOUNDBITE (English) George W. Bush, US President ++soundbite starts on previous shot++

"Madame Chancellor, thanks for yet another visit. I value your friendship, I value your advise. We talked about a lot of common problems, a lot of common opportunities. We talked about the G8, we talked about the need to continue to work together on Iran. Angela Merkel is a constructive force for good."

4. SOUNDBITE (German) Angela Merkel, German Chancellor ++soundbite starts on previous shot++

++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN AP TRANSLATION++

"Thank you very much, as always we had a very interesting exchange, a very extensive exchange of view, and let me tell you that I'm really satisfied with the work that has gone on on the G8 documents, as regards progress on the issue of climate change, cooperation in the area of food and oil. We discussed here foreign political issues. We also discussed WTO (World Trade Organisation) and a possible conclusion to that negotiating process and let me say that we are hopeful that such a successful conclusion may be possible over the next few weeks to come."

5. Wide of G8 leaders sitting down for talks

6. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy taking seats

7. Pan from Sarkozy to Merkel

8. Close up of Bush, pan to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda

9. Mid of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

10. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pan to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

11. Pan of leaders

12. Wide of talks

13. Various of G8 leaders participating in a tree planting before family photo

14. Zoom out from Fukuda to wide of leaders in family photo

15. Pan of leaders

++NEW

(FIRST RUN 0430 NEWS UPDATE - 8 JULY 2008)

16. Wide of leaders walking, then waving hands at female hotel employees (off camera), Berlusconi blowing them kisses

17. Mid of employees

18. Leaders entering building

(FIRST RUN 0030 NEWS UPDATE - 8 JULY 2008)

Sapporo

19. Wide pan of plane landing, Japanese and Brazilian flags in the foreground

20. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva walking down stairs from plane

21. Lula being greeted, receiving flowers

22. Convoy leaving

STORYLINE

The leaders of top industrialised countries focused on two of the world's main concerns on Tuesday - the stumbling global economy and climate change - amid expectations they would act to calm international markets.

The Group of Eight held exclusive meetings throughout the day at the main venue in Toyako, northern Japan, as leading emerging economies such as China and India gathered separately in the city of Sapporo.

Oil prices have hit record highs, roiling world economies, while rising food costs have triggered shortages and social unrest in Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.

UN-led talks on a new climate pact, meanwhile, have stalled amid myriad disagreements.

Early in the day, US President George W Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to keep working together, but progress appeared slow on a climate change consensus at the summit, characterised by a split on the issue between Europe and the US.

"I'm very satisfied with the work that has gone on on the G8 documents, as regards progress on the issue of climate change, cooperation in the area of food and oil," Merkel said after a bilateral meeting with Bush.

She cited "a very interesting exchange of view, very intensive exchange of view."

Merkel also said she hoped international trade negotiators could make progress on restarting long-stalled trade liberalisation talks "over the next few weeks."

Bush was more terse after the meeting, not mentioning global warming but telling reporters: "We talked about a lot of common problems, and a lot of common opportunities. We talked about the G8. We talked about the need to work - continue to work together on Iran."

The two met just before G8 members plunged into a discussion about the major problems on the agenda: deciding whether to set new targets for reducing emissions that contribute to global warming, and deciding what to do about rising food and oil prices.

The summit partners appeared close to a deal for using international food reserves to help the poorest countries cope with soaring grain prices.

But divisions remain on climate change that pitted older, more established economies like those in the Group of Eight with fast rising economies like China and India.

Merkel is one of the G8's strongest advocates for tough reductions in the emissions that contribute to global warming.

She succeeded in winning Bush's backing last year, when the summit was held in Germany, to a statement pledging that the group would seriously consider a goal of halving greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 - while failing to persuade him to commit to more specific targets.

Environmentalists at the summit said they feared the most the group could achieve this year was a final statement saying they recognised the need to reach the 2050 target, falling short of demands that they also make commitments for short-term targets for 2020.

Bush is insisting that major emerging economies like China and India be included in any plan to cut emissions, but they insist wealthy nations make the first move.

The G8 - the US, Japan, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada - takes up the subject in earnest on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the leaders of these countries will be joined by eight other big-polluting "major economy" nations that are not members, including China and India, to see if a wider agreement is possible.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged the G8 to expand to take in growing powers China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, saying it was unwise to keep them on the sidelines.

Those countries will be holding their own meeting on Tuesday in Sapporo, the nearest big city, and their leaders are to meet with the G8 on Wednesday.

SHOTLIST:

1. Long shot of marathon runners, pulls to wide of mountain

2. Various of spectators waiting for runners to pass

3. Runner passing sign (English): "Mount Everest Golden Jubilee - Everest Marathon - Periche (4,252m)"

4. Supporters cheering passing runner

5. Various of marathon runners

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Claire Tew, Australian Trekker:

"They talk about altitude sickness (laughs), this is it. They're crazy. Good luck! (to passing runner)."

7.Various of marathon runners

8. Two marathon runners descending hill: Angie Morey, from North Carolina USA and Mara Larssen, from Salem Oregon

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Angie Morey (right) and Mara Larssen (left), US Marathon Runners:

Morey: "It's fun"

Larssen: "Well, we've been stuck up at base camp for about five weeks so we decided we needed a break, thought we'd try the marathon."

Morey: "We've been doing research up there so we have a lot of spare time to go on lots of hikes runs and so we thought we'd do the marathon."

9. Various of runners

STORYLINE:

Celebrations marking this month's 50th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest got off to a running start on Monday with a high-altitude marathon.

Over 30 competitors were cheered on by trekkers at Periche as they raced down from Everest base camp, 5634 metres above sea level, to the Sherpa capital of Namche Bazaar.

The runners spent the last few days acclimatising to the high altitude and low oxygen levels.

The very fittest will be hoping to beat the record of three hours 50 minutes, which has stood for several years.

Two American researchers who have been living and working at Everest's base camp for the past five months said they decided to run the marathon for a change of scenery.

Most the competitors were local Sherpa athletes, although some runners traveled from as far as the US, South Korea, South Africa and Canada.

The 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) mountain was first scaled by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on May 29,1953.

The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has just announced the successful hatching of an endangered African blackfooted penguin chick named Chicory.

Hatched on April 23, the chick has been nesting with first-time parents, Millicent and Puddles in the penguin exhibit at the aquarium. Officials are just now making Chicory available for viewing by interested media and the public.

As a Species Survival Plan (SSP) breeding facility, Audubon works to build genetically-diverse captive populations to ensure the survival of threatened or endangered species. As part of the SSP, the Aquarium is provided with breeding recommendations that take into account the animals' genetic make-up to facilitate the growth of a healthy and genetically diverse population.

The aquarium has raised 52 chicks since the opening 25 years ago in 1990 and is currently home to 40 African blackfooted penguins and 3 southern rockhopper penguins.

A record-setting eleven penguin chicks were successfully hand-reared by Audubon staff in 2013. To give the pair of penguins experience at raising offspring, Chicory is being parent-reared inside the penguin exhibit.

Visitors can catch a glimpse of the parents caring for their new chick, which has already begun molting its brown fuzzy feathers. Soon it will take on a more blue-gray appearance, and 18 months from now, it will be entirely black and white.

Aquarium officials are awaiting the results of some genetic testing to determine the gender of the chick.

Penguin enthusiasts across the country can view the colony on Animal Planet L!VE's PENGUIN CAM, where they can tune-in for live feedings twice a day at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET and join the Aquarium's weekly penguin chats on Thursdays at 4 p.m. ET.

Animal Planet L!VE has worked with the Aquarium for more than two years, providing access to the animal kingdom through live cameras and with behind-the-scenes facts about the endangered species and the Aquarium's preservation efforts.

To learn more about Animal Planet L!VE, please visit www.apl.tv.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus032613

New Orleans - June 5, 2015

1. A penguin making a honking sound at the African blackfooted penguin exhibit inside the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans

2. Various of the new African blackfooted penguin chick, named Chicory

++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOTS 1-2++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Darwin Long, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:

"We have a new penguin chick named Chicory. We chose that name because, well, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. So the name, with our New Orleans-themed coffee and chicory, kind of stuck because of "chick"ory, so it works for a guy or a girl."

4. Darwin Long handling the new chick, which is already beginning to molt

++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOTS 4-7++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Darwin Long, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:

"After 18 months, he's going to shed all those juvenile feathers and then become a black and white penguin with that black and white tuxedo we're all familiar with."

6. Visitors looking at the penguins in the penguin exhibit

7. Various of the African blackfooted penguins in the penguin exhibit

++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOT 9++

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Darwin Long, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:

"There's a major problem right now with overfishing of their primary food source. Eighty percent of the food source of the African blackfooted penguin currently is the Cape anchovy. In the mid-1960s, it used to be sardines, herring, all these other different species of fish. A lot of these were fished to extinction in or around South Africa. By the mid-1980s, it was primarily Cape anchovy."

9. Various of the African blackfooted penguin colony at the aquarium

++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOT 11++

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Darwin Long, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:

"We don't want to just let the colony breed and produce all the chicks that they want because you're going to eventually wind up with cousins breeding with cousins, inbreeding. You're going to have way too many of one family lineage, and not enough of another."

11. Various of the African blackfooted penguin colony at the aquarium

++SOT PARTIALLY COVERED WITH SHOTS 13-16++

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Darwin Long, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:

"The adults are starving to death at 8 to 10 years. That's a big dent in the African penguin breeding population. There used to be over three million of these guys in the wild in 1900. As of last year, the latest census brought back about 48,500. That's almost a 99 percent decrease in a little over a century, so it's not sustainable, and most scientists say within a decade or so, extinction is a near certainty unless something's done to protect the Cape anchovy and try to allow it to re-spawn and come back."

13. Girls playing with penguins through the glass

14. Little boy playing with the penguin through the glass

15. Penguins swimming underwater as aquarium visitors look on from behind glass enclosure

16. Closing shot of the new chick resting in its nest in the penguin enclosure

LEAD-IN:

Big waves, small waves - Portugal is branding itself as a surfers' paradise all year round.

And the country's tourism industry - and fragile economy - are hoping to ride the surfing waves.

STORYLINE:

Portugal is making waves in the surfing world.

Its beautiful coastline is of no news to most, but its unique surf spots might still be unknown to those more used to dreaming of Hawaii, Indonesia or South Africa in the search for good waves.

From the giant waves in Nazare in western Portugal where Garrett McNamara broke a world record in 2011 - to Peniche in central Portugal with the ASP World Championship - surfers are putting Portugal on the map.

The waves keep coming and the money flowing.

In 2009 Supertubos beach in Peniche hosted one of the key stops of the Professional Surfing Championship, and this has bolstered the area's fortunes bringing thousands of surfers to its sand and surf.

The mayor of Peniche, Antonio Jose Correia says to be included alongside Hawaii as a surf destination is a huge honour:

"To be included in this elite of world surf - it is the 'formula one' of surf - to be on this circuit, and be one of the (Supertubos) two stops in Europe and to precede Hawaii, which is such a reference, we all dream about going one day to Hawaii - even if now some already say 'one day I will go to Supertubos' - so to be part of all this is very positive for us."

Peniche authorities conducted a joint-study with the local College of Tourism and Maritime technologies and found that surfing is bringing millions of euros of revenue to the area.

"I can say that the total and direct (economical) impact (of the event) has been within the range of the 7 million -8 million (euros) (USD $85.5 - 97 million)," explains Professor Joao Paulo Jorge, in charge of the study.

Professor Jorge says he expects much more to come in the long-term as new surfing businesses are flourishing.

And it's not just the Portuguese who say that the waves are a big hit.

Surfers are coming from across Europe, and further afield.

Oscar Araus is from Spain, "It's a great place. Look, I'm Spanish and lately we prefer to come to Portugal for surfing, rather then to stay in Spain. This says it all, I think."

And surfing has attracted the attention of the Portuguese government too.

Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State of Tourism says he wants Portugal to become a world class destination.

"Today we are already known and renowned as a surf destination, but we need to achieve the level in which the first thing that comes up in the mind of a surfer who is starting out or of one that is already established to be - 'we need to go to Portugal to surf!'"

Legendary big waves surfer, Garrett McNamara has newly discovered Portugal's waves.

"I'm very blessed and lucky to have ventured all around the world and Portugal was not a destination, because I didn't know. And now that I know, I just feel it is my duty to let the world know how amazing it is, just because of my experience finding out how amazing it is. And it is literally the California of Europe, without the sharks," he says.

After the American professional surfer broke a world record for the biggest wave ever surfed in North Beach, Nazare in 2011 he stayed around, becoming almost a local.

Recently, McNamara was chosen by the Portuguese government to become the face of an international tourism campaign promoting Portugal as a year-round premium destination for surfers.

50 kilometres (31 miles) from the capital, Lisbon is another surfing hotspot, Ericeira.

It was named as a world-class surfing reserve by the World Surfing Reserves organisation in 2011.

Ericeira joined Santa Cruz and Malibu in the United States, Manly in Australia and Huanchaco in Peru as a top surfing destination.

Ericeira was named for its high density of surf breaks, and the quality and consistency of the waves, and unique environment.

Surf schools, and surfboard shops are flourishing in the area thanks to the big waves.

Californian surfboard shaper Nick Uricchio is the founder of Semente, a Portuguese brand of surfboards.

He established himself in the area back in 1982 but he says that he is riding better economic waves these days:

"There's more cash flowing through the area on a more annual basis as apposed to what it used to be."

"Tourism generated towards surfers has made a big difference in our business, because there's a lot of people around a lot longer, whereas there were very long winters here, back in the day. Where you had a very short summer period, sales were only during summer periods, and then it was just one long winter. We had to kind of guard your chestnuts like a squirrel for the next coming summer."

He says surfing could have a major influence on Portugal's economy:

"Surfing and the organisation of the whole 'what we do with surfing' in the future is gonna make a big difference, it's gonna have a huge impact. I think it's having a huge impact already on the economy and the tourism part of it, the economy of Portugal. And I think it can do a lot more."

For Portugal, surf is not just about good waves anymore, it's about good business.

AP Television

Peniche, Portugal - 19 October 2014

1. Surfer competing at Supertubos beach in Peniche - the stop of the Professional Surfing Championship in Portugal

2. Wide of Supertubos beach

3. American surfer Kelly Slater leaving the water after competing

AP Television

Peniche, Portugal - 20 October 2014

4. Antonio Jose Correia, Mayor of the city of Peniche at Supertubos beach

5. Antonio Jose Correia, Mayor of the city of Peniche on stage with others

6. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Antonio Jose Correia, Mayor of the city of Peniche:

"To be included in this elite of world surf - it is the 'formula one' of surf - to be on this circuit, and be one of the (Supertubos) two stops in Europe and to precede Hawaii, which is such a reference, we all dream about going one day to Hawaii - even if now some already say 'one day I will go to Supertubos' - so to be part of all this is very positive for us."

7. Surfer competing at Supertubos beach

8. Mid of Joao Paulo Jorge, Professor, College of Tourism and Maritime Technologies in Peniche

9. Logo of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), which is responsible for the organisation of the World Championship Tour

10. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Joao Paulo Jorge, College of Tourism and Maritime Technologies of Peniche:

"The numbers we have been collecting since the first study conducted have been consistent. I can say that the total and direct (economical) impact (of the event) is within the range of the 7 million -8 million (euros)."

11. Surfer competing

12. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Joao Paulo Jorge, Professor, College of Tourism and Maritime Technologies of Peniche:

"The most important thing is (to see) what it will be translated into in the long-term. With momentum - what this can bring in terms of development at the local level, regional, with new businesses flourishing. Not only in terms of hotels and restaurants, but also many other small business connected to the surf industry and to tourism in general."

13. Pan left to right of crowd at Supertubos beach

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Oscar Araus, Surfer from Spain:

"It's a great place. Look, I'm Spanish and lately we prefer to come to Portugal for surfing, rather then to stay in Spain. This says it all, I think."

15. Wide of Supertubos beach

AP Television

26th November, Lisbon, Portugal

16. Establishing shots for Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State of Tourism

17. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State of Tourism:

"Today we are already known and renowned as a surf destination, but we need to achieve the level in which the first thing that comes up in the mind of a surfer who is starting out or of one that is already established to be - 'we need to go to Portugal to surf!'"

AP Television

20th November, Nazare, Portugal

18. Various of surfers in North Beach, in Nazare - renowned as a big waves haven for surfers worldwide

19. Various of Garrett McNamara, American surfer at Nazare's dock getting prepared for another surfing session

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Garrett McNamara, American big waves professional surfer:

"I'm very blessed and lucky to have ventured everywhere around the world and Portugal was not a destination, because I didn't know. And now that I know, I'm so honoured to be part of this country and so proud of Portugal and I just feel it is my duty to let the world know how amazing it is, just because of my experience finding out how amazing it is. And it is literally the California of Europe. Everything is better in Portugal and you know what? California has sharks, here there's no sharks, or at least no sharks attacks."

21. Garrett McNamara and another fellow surfer riding a big wave at North Beach.

AP Television

21st November, Ericeira, Portugal

22. Various of surfboard factory in Ericeira, near Lisbon

23. Nick Uricchio, owner of a surfboard factory in Ericeira and surfboard shaper, checking a board with one of his workers

24. Various of surfboards requests from all over the world

25. SOUNDBITE (English) Nick Uricchio, Semente's (brand) Head Shaper:

"Tourism generated towards surfers has made a big difference in our business, because there's a lot of people around a lot longer, whereas there were very long winters here, back in the day. Where you had a very short summer period, sales were only during summer periods, and then it was just a long winter. We had to kind of guard your chestnuts like a squirrel for the next coming summer. And that has changed a lot, there's more cash flowing through the area on a more annual basis as opposed to what it used to be."

26. Close of brand symbol on surfboards

27. SOUNDBITE (English) Nick Uricchio, Semente's (brand) Head Shaper:

"Surfing and the organisation of the whole 'what we do with surfing' in the future is gonna make a big difference, it's gonna have a huge impact. I think it's having a huge impact already on the economy and the tourism part of it, the economy of Portugal. And I think it can do a lot more."

28. Various of surfboard signalling Ericeira as a World Surfing Reserve at Ribeira d'Ilha Beach.

29. Various of Ribeira d'Ilha Beach with surfers and sunset.

SHOTLIST

Pool

Toyako

1. Various of G8 leaders walking

AP Television

Rusutsu

2. Wide of NGO press conference on climate change

3. Mid of reporters

4. Wide of Philip Clapp of Pew Environment group talking

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Philip Clapp, Pew Environment Group:

"I think that it's unrealistic to think that serious numbers could be negotiated here on what those targets would be, but a clear commitment on the part of the United States to engage in negotiations on a binding treaty with a clear mid-term target of 2020 would bring developing countries into the position where they can agree to a long-term global goal. So it is really all up to President Bush, and the two countries, the two leaders who have been supporting him in refusing to agree to binding targets during that period - Prime Minister Fukuda (Japan) and Prime Minister Harper (Canada)."

Pool

Toyako

6. Various of G8 leaders using shovels to plant trees

AP Television

Rusutsu

7. Wide of press conference

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Wikler, Campaign Director, AVAAZ, an international civic organisation that promotes activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, and religious conflicts:

"The failure to act on 2020 targets is a failure to take responsibility, and our members around the world feel that there is a childishness to not taking responsibility."

Pool

Toyako

9. Wide of G8 leaders family photo

10. Pan of G8 leaders posing for family photo

STORYLINE

The leaders of top industrialised countries focused on two of the world's main concerns on Tuesday; the stumbling global economy and climate change, amid expectations they would act to calm international markets.

The Group of Eight held exclusive meetings throughout the day at the main venue in Toyako, northern Japan, as leading emerging economies such as China and India gathered separately in the city of Sapporo.

Oil prices have hit record highs, roiling world economies, while rising food costs have triggered shortages and social unrest in Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.

UN-led talks on a new climate pact, meanwhile, have stalled amid myriad disagreements.

Early in the day, US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to keep working together, but progress appeared slow on a climate change consensus at the summit, characterised by a split on the issue between Europe and the US.

The two met just before G8 members plunged into a discussion about the major problems on the agenda; deciding whether to set new targets for reducing emissions that contribute to global warming, and deciding what to do about rising food and oil prices.

The summit partners appeared close to a deal for using international food reserves to help the poorest countries cope with soaring grain prices.

But divisions remain on climate change that pitted older, more established economies like those in the Group of Eight with fast rising economies like China and India.

Merkel is one of the G-8's strongest advocates for tough reductions in the emissions that contribute to global warming.

She succeeded in winning Bush's backing last year, when the summit was held in Germany, to a statement pledging that the group would seriously consider a goal of halving greenhouse-gas emissions of 2050 - while failing to persuade him to commit to more specific targets.

Environmentalists at the summit said they feared the most the group could achieve this year was a final statement saying they "recognised the need" to reach the 2050 target, falling short of demands that they also make commitments for short-term targets for 2020.

Bush is insisting that major emerging economies like China and India be included in any plan to cut emissions, but they insist wealthy nations make the first move.

Philip Clapp, deputy managing director of Pew Environment Group, said a promise from the G8 on the 2020 target would trigger action by developing nations.

"A clear commitment on the part of the United States to engage in negotiations on a binding treaty with a clear midterm target of 2020 would bring developing countries into a position where they can agree to a long-term global goal," he said.

The G8 - the US, Japan, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada - takes up the subject in earnest on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the leaders of these countries will be joined by eight other big-polluting "major economy" nations that are not members, including China and India, to see if a wider agreement is possible.

SHOTLIST

Pool

Toyako

1. Wide of G8 leaders walking

Pool

Toyako

2. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda walking to podium

3. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese Prime Minister:

"After today's G8 summit we agreed to set the aim for a reduction of the entire global emissions of gasses to 50 percent by 2050 as a target to be taken up by the entire world."

Pool

Toyako

4. Various of G8 leaders walking

AP Television

Rusutsu

5. Wide of NGO news conference on climate change

6. Mid of reporters

7. Wide of Philip Clapp of Pew Environment group talking

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Philip Clapp, Pew Environment Group:

"I think that it's unrealistic to think that serious numbers could be negotiated here on what those targets would be, but a clear commitment on the part of the United States to engage in negotiations on a binding treaty with a clear mid-term target of 2020 would bring developing countries into the position where they could agree to a long-term global goal. So it is really all up to President Bush, and the two countries, the two leaders, who have been supporting him in refusing to agree to binding targets during that period - Prime Minister Fukuda (Japan) and Prime Minister Harper (Canada)."

Pool

Toyako

9. Various of G8 leaders using shovels to plant trees

AP Television

Rusutsu

10. Wide of press conference

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ben Wikler, Campaign Director, AVAAZ non governmental organisation:

"The failure to act on 2020 targets is a failure to take responsibility, and our members around the world feel that there is a childishness to not taking responsibility."

Pool

Toyako

12. Wide of G8 leaders family photo

13. Pan of G8 leaders posing for family photo

STORYLINE:

The Group of Eight industrialised nations on Tuesday endorsed halving global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and called on individual countries to set goals reducing their own emissions much earlier, Japan's prime minister said.

"After today's G8 summit we agreed to set the aim for a reduction of the entire global emissions of gasses to 50 percent by 2050 as a target to be taken up by the entire world," Yasuo Fukuda said.

Oil prices have hit record highs, roiling world economies, while rising food costs have triggered shortages and social unrest in Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.

The G-8 has also been under pressure to secure commitments by wealthy nations to push forward stalled UN-led talks on forging a new accord to battle global warming by the end of next year.

The G-8 countries; the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy, pledged last year at a summit in Germany to seriously consider the same target.

The Japanese hosts of this year's summit had hoped to solidify that commitment at the meeting in Toyako, northern Japan.

Environmentalists have argued the 50 percent reduction target was insufficient, and have clamoured for ambitious midterm targets for countries to cut emissions by 2020.

Such shorter-term targets, however, have been much more difficult to reach consensus on.

The United States, for instance, has argued that meeting an oft-cited goal of reducing emissions by between 25 percent and 40 percent by 2020 is unrealistic.

In a nod to such disagreements, Fukuda said the G-8 countries would set individual targets.

Philip Clapp, deputy managing director of Pew Environment Group, said a promise from the G8 on the 2020 target would trigger action by developing nations.

"A clear commitment on the part of the United States to engage in negotiations on a binding treaty with a clear midterm target of 2020 would bring developing countries into a position where they can agree to a long-term global goal," he said.

On Wednesday, the leaders of these countries will be joined by eight other big-polluting "major economy" nations that are not members, including China and India, to see if a wider agreement is possible.

Another international non-governmental organisation focussing on climate change was more critical.

"The failure to act on 2020 targets is a failure to take responsibility, and our members around the world feel that there is a childishness to not taking responsibility," Ben Wikler, the Campaign Director of AVAAZ said.

LEADIN

They say that diamonds are a girl's best friend - and there was no shortage of them on show in 2013.

The precious stones sparkled at a number of events, alongside a range of other luxurious jewellery, some belonging to Hollywood legends.

STORYLINE

If you're flush with at least a million dollars, then how about these coloured diamonds?

The stones, which come in all shades of the rainbow, sparkled in Israel in 2013.

They shine and glisten like the sun, but they are formed at the bottom of the earth in conditions from Dante's inferno.

Fancy coloured diamonds are an anomaly of nature, and extremely rare.

A one carat coloured diamond weighing at five grams can fetch as much as a million US dollars.

This makes them one of the most concentrated forms of wealth on the earth.

According to Leibish Polnauer President and founder of the Leibish & Co., international dealers specialising in coloured diamonds, sales of these fancy baubles have increased dramatically in recent years.

In New York, this emerald and diamond brooch - once part of the estate of Sarah Cantine Shrady Gould - was up for sale as part of he Sotheby's spring auction.

This diamond and platinum panther was also on the prowl for a new owner.

But the most important item to come under the hammer was this white diamond, which is the largest ever to appear at auction in the Americas.

The exceptional pear-shaped diamond of nearly 75 carats, fetched 14.2 million US dollars.

The stone is one of very few pear-shaped diamonds of D colour - which means it is colourless - over 50 carats to be offered in recent decades

"It is not only something wonderful to wear but there is a certain investment quality to it," said Lisa Hubbard, Chairman, North & South America, at Sotheby's International Jewellery Division.

In Asia, South Korea was also putting on the glitz in 2013.

Business remained brisk, with the Korean jewellery market attracting solid sales.

At the World Trade Centre in Seoul, exhibitors from around the world were showing off their gems.

It was a chance for jewellers to meet, mingle, make contacts and learn new ideas and techniques while seeking out new business.

In Geneva, a pair of diamond and pearl pendant earrings set an auction record.

They belonged to sixties screen icon and sex symbol Gina Lollobrigida.

The earrings doubled their original estimate at the Sotheby's auction, selling for nearly 2.4 million US dollars.

They were part of a selection of jewellery that Lollobrigida wore at premieres, including at The Taming of the Shrew in London.

Back in Asia, China's growing rich were seemingly seeking out precious stones and metals as well as cars and property.

A jewellery fair in Beijing provided plenty for them to feast their eyes on.

In Iceland, a designer came up with a unique way to combine living, green moss with silver and steel to produce "living jewellery."

Hafsteinn Juliusson first had the idea to put a living plant in a silver sing in 2008.

He experimented with a variety of plants and grass before deciding the native Icelandic moss would be best suited for what he envisaged as a "return to nature" jewellery design.

There is no shortage of moss in Iceland.

The volcanic rocks on the Island are covered in it.

India's biggest jewellery show provided a platform for over 850 companies from India and around the world.

In 2013, the 30th annual International Jewellery Show held in Mumbai attracted jewellery designers from Belgium, Israel, Thailand, the UAE, Italy and Turkey.

On display were expensive pieces of art carved in precious metals.

They included an idol of the Hindu Elephant-God Ganesha made of cubic zirconia costing 2,000 US dollars and a "Coral Reef" ring made of the semi-precious stone blue tourmaline, diamonds and rubies set in 18 carat gold.

Dealers said the European jewellery market was falling rapidly behind Asia.

Exhibitors and buyers were up eyeing up a golden opportunity for a high return at the Hong Kong Jewellery Fair.

On show were golden, diamond earrings, necklaces, bangles and rings - some of the most dazzling gems and exclusive jewellery pieces.

It's said to be the largest event of its kind in the world.

This year, more than 3,633 exhibitors from 48 countries and regions took part.

Also in Hong Kong, a 118-carat oval white diamond set an auction world record.

The stone, the size of an egg, went under the hammer for 30.6 million US dollars.

It was the largest D colour, flawless diamond ever to be sold at auction.

The stone was discovered in 2011 as a 299-carat rough diamond in a southern African country whose name Sotheby's declined to disclose.

In 2013, the annual Goldsmiths' Fair was held in the British capital - a magnet for those in search of the ultimate in luxury bling.

UK-based designers came together to show off and sell their hand-made creations.

This ring was one of the most expensive items on sale at the fair.

Made of 18 carat white gold and set with blue sapphire and diamonds, it's priced 480,000 US dollars - the ultimate head-turner.

The ultimate in writing instruments was also on offer.

This fountain pen has been hand-made using 18 carat yellow gold and is priced at 46,000 US dollars.

Elsewhere at the fair, what would normally be viewed as rubbish inspired a unique collection of silver items lined with 22 carat gold plate.

Silversmith Rebecca Joselyn, from Sheffield, creates luxury goods in the shape of food containers.

Also in London, a unique and priceless collection of nearly 500 late-16th and early-17th century jewels and gemstones went on display at the Museum of London.

The Cheapside Hoard was discovered in 1912 by workmen who were demolishing a building put up just after the great fire.

It was the first time in a hundred years that the collection had gone on show in its entirety.

"The Cheapside Hoard is the world's largest collection of Elizabethan and early-Stewart jewellery, almost five hundred pieces in total," said Hazel Forsyth, The Cheapside Hoard exhibit curator.

Also in the capital, an exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum explored the history of one of nature's most beautiful by-products - pearls.

Pieces, such as these Kokichi Mikimoto necklaces from China were part of the exhibition, 'Pearls,' which explores the history of the jewels from the early Roman Empire right up to modern day designs.

On display were over 200 pieces of jewellery and works of art showcasing the variety of colour, shape and design of natural and cultured pearls.

A Nigeria's economy grows, the appetite for luxury brands was increasing among the wealthy elite and the burgeoning middle class in 2013.

This new purchasing power is starting to draw more and more international brands into Africa's most populous nation.

Glittering Piaget, Hublot and Rolex watches, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are on display at a luxury goods store in Lagos' Victoria Island.

The wealthy elite in Nigeria have a healthy appetite for top-shelf brands, but have previously had to shop for them in Dubai, London and Paris.

Now though, sellers of luxury goods are opening stores in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rings in the shape of sunflowers, frogs and other flora and fauna were the major design trends at an international jewellery fair in Ho Chi Minh city.

Rounding off the year in luxurious style was a Paris exhibition dedicated to Cartier.

More than 600 pieces of jewellery, including some items worn by Elizabeth Taylor, went on display at the Grand Palais.

According to curators, it was the largest ever exhibition dedicated to the famous jeweller.

"You say 'It's Cartier' like you say 'it's Picasso', you can recognise it from far away," said Stanislas de Quercize, Cartier President and CEO.

Most of the jewellery came from the Cartier Collection, but there were also items on loan from public institutions and private collections including the Prince of Monaco and the UK's Queen Elizabeth II.

AP Television

Ramat Gan, central Israel - 4 February 2013

1. Close up shot of coloured diamonds on a rotating mirror at the Leibish and Co office

2. Close up shot of pink ring, centre stone 3.30 carats from the Leibish and Co. collection

3. Close-up shot of a yellow diamond from the Leibish and Co. collection

4. Close-up shot of pink ring being placed on finger

5. Close up shot of 1.68-carat, a vivid purple-pink Argyle Tender Diamond which was named the 'Leibish Prosperity Pink' from the Leibish and Co. collection

AP Television

New York - 12 April 2013

6. Wide of Sotheby's showroom

7. Close-up of sign

8. Close-up emerald and diamond brooch, formerly from the Estate of Sarah Cantine Shrady Gould being prepared for display

9. Mid jewellery on display

10. Rack focus of diamond, onyx and emerald panther brooch, made by Cartier in Paris

11. Close-up pear-shaped diamond of nearly 75 carats on spinner for display, which sold for 14.2 million US dollars

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lisa Hubbard, Chairman, North & South America, Sotheby's International Jewellery Division:

"It is not only something wonderful to wear but there is a certain investment quality to it."

AP Television

Seoul, South Korea - 18 April 2013

13. Pan across exhibition hall at World Trade Centre in Seoul

14. Soft pull focus of a flat and yellow diamond necklace (50,824 US Dollars)

15. Close-up of butterfly-shaped diamond brooch (22,603 US Dollars)

16. Soft pull focus of diamond flower-shaped brooch (19,616 US Dollars)

17. Wide of a collection of yellow diamond accessories

AP Television

FILE: London, UK - 27 February 1967 +++MUTE++

++4:3++

18. Various of sixties screen icon and sex symbol Gina Lollobrigida at premiere of The Taming of the Shrew film in London wearing pearl and diamond earrings

++16:9++

AP Television

London, UK - 9 April 2013

19. Close of pearl and diamond earrings from 1964

20. Mid of model wearing earrings with photo of Lollobrigida in the background wearing the same earrings

21. Close pull of model wearing earrings

AP Television

Beijing, China - 19 July 2013

22. Close-up of two emerald pendants on show at jewellery fair

23. Close-up of a red coral brooch in the shape of a bird

24. Zoom in of an emerald pendant

25. Wide of jewellery in exhibition boxes at Sino Gem

AP Television

Reykjavik - 30 May 2013

26. Close of "growing jewellery" ring, designed and produced by Icelandic designer Hafsteinn Juliusson

27. Woman looking at ring

28. Close of ring

29. Close of rings on display

AP Television

Mumbai, India - 9 August 2013

30. Idol of Hindu Elephant-God Ganesha made of cubic zirconia, European machine cut jewellery costing 2,000 US dollars, on show at International Jewellery Show

31. Ring called "Coral Reef" made of blue tourmaline, diamonds and rubies set in 18 carat gold, cost approx. 4,250 US dollars

32. De focus to focus shot of the snake

33. Tilt up shot of the snake, cost 2,200 US dollars

34. Mid of decorative Elephant, cost 1,500 US dollars

AP Television

Hong Kong - 13 September 2013

35. Mid of models wearing jewellery on catwalk, UPSOUND: music, at Hong Kong Jewellery Fair

36. Mid of a "Dancing On Butterfly" necklace with multi-colour diamonds

37. Close of a "Dancing on Butterfly" brooch made with multi-colour diamonds

38. Wide of diamond collections on display

39. Mid of a "Fancy Yellow Diamond Collection" on display, cost USD 60,000

40. Close of a ring from "Fancy Yellow Diamond Collection"

AP Television

Hong Kong - 19 September 2013

41. Close of a model holding the 118.28-carat D-colour diamond

42. Cutaway to camera crews

43. Mid of model holding the 118.28-carat D-colour diamond

AP Television

London, UK - 24 September 2013

44. Pan across visitors looking at stands at Goldsmiths' Fair

45. Close-up of ring, made of 18 carat white gold and set with blue sapphire and diamonds, priced 480,000 US dollars

46. Mid of woman wearing ring next to jeweller

47. Mid of Jack Row, Jack Row company, removing luxury fountain pens from display case and placing on top

48. Close-up of fountain pen, made of 18 carat yellow gold and set with almost two carats of blue diamonds, priced 49,000 US dollars

50. Mid of Rebecca Joselyn, silversmith, placing food container-inspired silver items, lined with 22 carat gold plate, on display case

51. Tilt up of item in shape of sardine tin, priced 1,200 US dollars

AP Television

London, UK - 7 October 2013

52. Wide of pendant earrings on display at Museum of London

53. Pull focus of amethyst pendant

54. Pull focus from painting of Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton, c 1620 (artist unknown) to pendant earring set with red almandine garnets

55. Close of pendant earring set with red almandine garnets

56. Mid of red pendant earrings with painting in background

57. Mid of security bars outside exhibit

58. Mid of exhibition writing with bars in foreground

59. Tilt down of security bars

60. Wide plan left across exhibit

61. Close of pendant earring

62. SOUNDBITE (English) Hazel Forsyth, The Cheapside Hoard exhibit curator:

"The Cheapside Hoard is the world's largest collection of Elizabethan and early-Stewart jewellery, almost five hundred pieces in total."

AP Television

London, UK - 9 October 2013

63. Mid of Mikimoto pearl necklaces on show at Victoria and Albert Museum

64. Mid pull focus of 'Gothic Choker' necklace made by Mikimoto

65. Mid of 'Flowing Tide' necklace made by Mikimoto

66. Mid of 'Yagurama Obi Sash' made by Mikimoto

67. Close of 'Gothic Choker'

AP Television

Lagos - 30 October 2013

68. Tilt up of luxury watches on display at Polo luxury shop in Lagos

69. Mid of sales assistant with customer browsing watches

70. Close tilt up of bejewelled Rolex

71. Wide of sales assistant handing customer a purchase receipt

AP Television

Ho Chi Minh city - 7 November 2013

72. Mid of jewellery designer Nguyen Thanh Huy showing one of his designs at international jewellery fair

73. Close of butterfly inspired necklace pedant, studded with emerald and diamonds

74. Close of frog shaped ring, studded with diamonds, ruby and sapphire

75. Pull focus of golden sunflower shaped ring on model's hand

76. Close of bird shaped and snail shaped ring

77. Close of swan inspired ring

AP Television

Paris - 2 December 2013

78. Close up of diadem 'Rinceaux' (1902), Cartier collection

79. Wide of exhibition hall and diadems in display case

80. Mid of diadems, including diadem of Marie Bonaparte (1907) from the collection of Qatar Museums Authority, Doha (left)

81. Wide of display, and video screen showing the actress Elisabeth Taylor trying Cartier jewellery

82. Mid of Drapery necklace (1947), Cartier collection, presented in Duchess of Windsor display

83. SOUNDBITE: (English) Stanislas de Quercize, Cartier President and CEO:

"You say 'It's Cartier' like you say 'it's Picasso', you can recognise it from far away.

84. Mid right pan from magazine clipping showing a model to ruby necklace, Cartier collection, unknown year; presented in Liz Taylor display

85. Mid rack focus of Snake necklace (1968), Cartier collection, presented in Maria Felix display

86. Close up, rack focus of headband (1923)

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of Rom Whitaker, crocodile expert, at Nechisar National Park headquarters

2. Crocodile skulls

3. Various of Whitaker measuring largest Nile crocodile skull on record

4. Whitaker holding skull

5. Close up Rom Whitaker's necklace

6. Wide of entrance to Nechisar National Park

7. Close up sign of Nechisar National Park

8. Whitaker walking to boat on Lake Chamo

9. Whitaker boarding boat

10. Whitaker looking through binoculars on boat

11. Wide of very long crocodile on lake

12. Crocodile on lake

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rom Whitaker, Crocodile expert :

" we measured them and they ended up, they turned out to be the largest Nile crocodile skulls on record anywhere, in any museum in the world. And this bolstered and reinforced my idea that, well not only my idea, the general impression that these are amongst the largest crocodiles in the world ."

14. Wide of 'Crocodile Market' area on Lake Chamo where crocodiles sun themselves

15. Various of crocodiles

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rom Whitaker, Crocodile expert :

"The Lake Chamo crocodiles are very special by the fact they've been allowed to grow since 1973. There's been no shooting, no selecting those big animals and taking them out of the lake system here. They're still here and they're still growing, so we've got some of the oldest and largest crocodiles on Earth, right around us right now, maybe right under that boat over there just a few feet away could be lurking a 6 metre crocodile. I believe that Nile crocodiles can grow to 20ft long and if anywhere in Africa - probably right here in Lake Chamo."

17. Wide of entrance to African Parks Foundation in Arba Minch

18. Close up sign

19. Whitaker and Mateos Ersado, Project Coordinator for Nechisar Park, African Parks Foundation talking

20. Close up Mateos Ersado

21. Close up Mateos Ersado hands

22. SOUNDBITE: (Amharic) Matheos Ersado, Project Coordinator for Nechisar Park, African Parks Foundation :

"Rom told us that the crocodiles we have in Lake Chamo are the biggest in the world, so they are unique. He said to us that instead of hunting - which obviously kills off the biggest crocodiles and depletes the genetic material - we should help the local communities start tourism projects based on the fish and crocodiles resources in the lake. By doing so it will be possible to generate income for the people living around here at the same time as saving the species."

23. Wide of Rom Whitaker hunting for crocodile nests

24. Wide of Rom Whitaker crouching on ground digging

25. Zoom in to nest with eggs

26. Various of Whitaker weighing and measuring egg

27. Man holding discarded fishing net

28. Close up fishing net

29. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rom Whitaker, Crocodile expert :

"The crocodile population in Lake Chamo is probably over a thousand adults and if close to 500 females are laying 40 eggs each you've got 20,000 eggs being produced here. These could be harvested, otherwise the babies would probably, 90% die anyway. And by harvesting these eggs and rearing the babies on ranches - these skins produced can be exported and great foreign exchange earned for the local people."

30. Various of farmed crocodiles being fed

31. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rom Whitaker, Crocodile expert :

"Right now, the market value for a crocodile after growing it up for three or four years is anywhere from perhaps US$120 to US$170 for a skin. And when you consider that the labour costs and feed costs here are very low you're looking at a very, very profitable animal - much more so than the fishing industry and much more so than goats and cattle, the whole works. So the potential is very, very big."

34. Various of crocodiles in lake

33. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rom Whitaker, Crocodile expert :

"If we let things continue the way it is, the over-fishing will reduce the fish catch to almost nothing but in the meantime it will also kill off a good percentage of the big adult egg layers here. So this really is what strong conservation is and it has to be based on strong science and that's the reason for this study right now: finding out the population structure - how many females there are, how many eggs they lay and how much we can take away from population without threatening it and, of course, sustaining it forever."

34. Various of crocodiles in lake

LEAD IN:

One of the world's leading reptile experts has discovered what he thinks is the largest Nile Crocodile on the planet - in the middle of an Ethiopian lake.

Hidden in a remote area in the south of the country, the gigantic creatures have been able to develop their colossal genes for centuries.

But now, under increasing threat from hunters and from dangerous fishing methods, conservationist's are trying to find ways to safeguard the crocodiles' future while at the same time as protecting the crocodiles most dangerous predator - the local communities.

STORYLINE :

Rom Whitaker has worked with crocodiles for 35 years and says he's made some incredible discoveries in his career.

But this find in Nechisar National Park in Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa, has got him rather excited.

Whittaker says that this, when it was alive just a few months ago, was the largest Nile crocodile in the world, on record.

The skull measures 69 centimetres (27 inches) long which he estimates would have made the crocodile at least six metres (20 feet) in length.

The reptile died after being entangled in a fishing net and he says he is now on the hunt for a live one.

The Nile crocodile is the largest in Africa weighing in at between 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) to 1200 kilos (2, 465pounds).

This area on Lake Chamo is called the 'crocodile market' where the reptiles like to bask in the sun. It's ideal for getting close to the crocodiles, especially for the slow trickle of tourists who also visit the area for its breathtaking surroundings.

Whittaker estimates there are up to one thousand crocodiles in Lake Chamo and, thanks to a ban on illegal hunting, the majority of them are enormous.

He says he thinks a record-breaker is lurking somewhere close by.

Whittaker was invited to the area by the 'African Parks Foundation'.

The Dutch charity took over the management of the National Park in February 2005 with a view to securing its environmental, economic and social viability.

One of the major problems at present is over-fishing and the use of 'gill-nets'.

On top of that there's illegal hunting.

Only 8% of the 350 square kilometre (135 square mile) Lake Chamo is inside the national park and the crocodiles outside of that area are unprotected.

African Parks wants the local communities to understand that there are more lucrative ways to make money from the crocodiles.

Matheos Ersado, is a project coordinator for Nechisar Park, African Parks Foundation.

He says locals must be educated to protect the crocodiles and help to make their livings in other ways.

As part of Rom's research he's monitoring population trends: finding out if they're increasing or decreasing, and how to mitigate any negative factors that could cause their decline.

He's also searching for crocodile nests and counting and measuring the number of eggs being laid.

Once he's completed his month-long research, his task will be to recommend ways in which the crocodiles can be utilised - using an approach that preserves them at the same time as benefiting the local population.

Whittaker says one way is through selling their skins.

It's a good idea in theory but Rom's biggest challenge will be to convince the fishermen to try something new. Also, he'll have to dissuade them from using 'gill-nets' which the crocodiles, and usually the largest ones, get tangled in.

The government established this crocodile ranch in 1984.

Eggs are collected, legally, from the national park and brought to the ranch to be reared and their skins sold.

Ethiopia is a signatory to 'CITES' - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - and has been given a quota of 9-12,000 crocodile skins that it can export every year.

But the ranch has been criticised for its inefficiency, and the skins' poor quality due to disease. Not enough money is being invested and a lack of knowledge in the rearing of crocodiles is losing it business.

Whittaker says crocodiles are more profitable to rear in the long run than many other animals.

But he adds this is not a new idea - it's been tried and tested successfully in many other countries, including Papa New Guinea where the crocodile industry is worth between US$5-6 million.

Whittaker is a conservationist and says in an ideal world the crocodiles wouldn't have to be killed - but here he believes that the only way to preserve them is to find a way for humans to use them - otherwise they'll just die-off anyway.

Crocodiles are one of the oldest species on the planet, dating back 150 (m)million years.

They outlived the dinosaurs and Whittaker says he wants to ensure that humans don't outlive them.

Keyword-animals

STORYLINE:

On July 29th 2019 climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group blocked main roads in Chile's capital and projected their logo onto the side of a skyscraper to demand government action on climate change.

The group, which was established in the UK in 2018, wants to put pressure on delegates from over 190 countries who will be descending on Santiago later this year to participate in the United Nations climate change summit.

Chile's President Sebastián Piñera announced in June a programme to withdraw eight coal-fired power plants in the next five years and the total decarbonization of the national energy grid by 2040.

There are currently 28 coal-fired power plants that produce 40% of the nations energy demands.

***

This is where Earth's refrigerator door is left open, where glaciers dwindle and seas begin to rise.

New York University air and ocean scientist David Holland, who is tracking what's happening in Greenland from both above and below, calls it the end of the planet.

He is referring to geography more than the future.

Yet in many ways, this place is where the planet's warmer and watery future is being written.

It is so warm here, just inside the Arctic Circle, that on an August day, coats are left on the ground and Holland and colleagues work on the watery melting ice without gloves.

In one of the closest towns, Kulusuk, the morning temperature reached a 52 degrees Fahrenheit (10.7 degrees Celsius).

The ice Holland is standing on is thousands of years old.

And in the next year or two, this could be gone, adding yet more water to rising seas worldwide.

Summer this year has hit Greenland hard with record-shattering heat and extreme melt.

By the end of the summer, around 440 billion US tons (400 billion metric tonnes) of ice - maybe more - will have melted or calved off Greenland's giant ice sheet, scientists estimate.

That's enough water to flood Pennsylvania or the country of Greece about a foot (31 centimetres) deep.

Greenland had its biggest single-day loss of ice on August 1, where 12.5 billion tons of ice melted from the surface, scientists report.

That's over 40 billion tons more than the average for this time of year.

And one of the places hit hardest this hot Greenland summer is here on the southeastern edge of the giant frozen island: Helheim, one of Greenland's fastest-retreating glaciers, has shrunk about 6 miles (10 kilometres) since scientists came here in 2005.

According to several scientists, also studying melting ice in Greenland, what's happening is a combination of man-made climate change and natural but weird weather patterns.

Glaciers here do shrink in the summer and grow in the winter, but nothing like this year.

Summit Station, a research camp nearly 2 miles high (3,200 metres) and far north, warmed to above freezing twice this year for a record total of 16.5 hours.

Before this year, that station was above zero for only 6.5 hours in 2012 and once in 1889.

This year is coming near but not quite passing the extreme summer of 2012 - Greenland's worst year in modern history for melting, scientists report.

A NASA satellite found that Greenland's ice sheet lost about 255 billion metric tons of ice a year between 2003 and 2016, with the loss rate generally getting worse over that period.

At Helheim, the ice, snow and water seem to go on and on, sandwiched between bare mountains.

The only thing that gives a sense of scale is the helicopter carrying Holland and his team.

The ice cliffs are somewhere between 225 feet (70 metres) and 328 feet (100 metres) high.

Just next to them are Helheim's remnants - sea ice, snow and icebergs - forming a mostly white expanse, with a mishmash of shapes and textures.

As pilot Martin Norregaard tries to land his helicopter on the broken-up part of what used to be glacier - a mush called a melange - he looks for ice specked with dirt, a sign that it's firm enough for the chopper to set down on.

Pure white ice could conceal a deep crevasse that could lead to a cold and deadly plunge.

Holland and team climb out to install radar and GPS to track the ice movement and help explain why salty, warm, once-tropical water attacking the glacier's "underbelly" has been bubbling to the surface.

"We are moving to the medium, understanding of substance of glacier and ice that is far more difficult than the atmosphere and the ocean, it's far more complex material. It's a fluid, it's a solid, it breaks, so it does things we observe but we don't understand," Holland said.

Holland suspects that the warm, salty water that comes in part from the Gulf Stream in North America is playing a bigger role than previously thought in melting Greenland's ice.

And if that's the case, that's probably bad news for the planet, because it means faster and more melting and higher sea-level rise.

According to NASA scientists, by the year 2100, Greenland alone could cause 3 or 4 feet (more than 1 metre) of sea-level rise.

So it's crucial to know how much of a role the air above and the water below play.

"It's very important to get this work done if we are going to deliver a forecast, if you will, on sea level," said Holland.

***

German highways were temporarily closed to accomodate a cycling rally decending on Frankfurt to join thousands of protesters demanding more action against climate change as the city's auto show opens.

Demands raised by the organizers of September 14th's protests include an end to the combustion engine, climate-neutral transport by 2035, a speed limit on the autobahn and a strong German climate policy package.

Environmental groups say the trend toward bigger and more powerful cars, particularly SUVs, is eating into the fuel efficiency gains of recent decades.

The protesters say they plan to continue their demonstration tomorrow where they hope to occupy the exhibition grounds of the motor show.

***

On September 20th dozens of students and environmental activists rallied in India's capital urging immediate action to combat climate change.

The demonstrators included primary school students as they assembled outside India's Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and chanted slogans demanding government action on climate change.

The protest is part of a day of worldwide demonstrations ahead of a United Nations climate summit in New York.

They carried banners with some displaying messages like "There is no Earth B" and "Eco, not ego!" and rolled out an effigy of Ravana, a Hindu mythological demon, to represent climate change as evil.

Asees Kandhari, a basketball player, said her tournaments have been cancelled for the last two years due to high air pollution in New Delhi.

She urged the government to "listen to science, if not to us."

***

Over a thousand people in Kenya's capital Nairobi took the streets to demand climate justice.

Banners in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, ranged from angry to playful, with one reading: "The seas are rising and so must we."

Around the world protests are taking place in what is being called a "climate strike".

Other climate protests - part of a global strike on Friday ahead of a United Nations climate summit - are taking place in Johannesburg and the South African capital, Pretoria.

The protests are partly inspired by the activism of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has staged weekly demonstrations under the heading "Fridays for Future" over the past year, calling on world leaders to step up their efforts against climate change.

Experts say Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change and the least equipped to deal with it.

Governments have pleaded for more support from the international community.

***

Around 15,000 people took the streets of Brussels on September 20th, just three days before a United Nations summit to pressure governments to tackle the climate crisis.

"We really need to act before it is actually too late," said one of the activists, Wouter Mouton.

The demonstrators marched past the headquarters of the European Union, which is based in the Belgian capital.

It was one of hundreds of coordinated rallies across the world, and this gave extra strength to the protest movement, said Brussels resident Anne Gottignies.

"These demonstrations are useful, especially since they are now international," she said.

***

Swedish climate change activist teenager Greta Thunberg spoke to thousands of young people in New York who skipped school to attend the rally and a march on September 20th.

In New York City public schools excused students with parental permission, and tens of thousands of mostly young people marched through lower Manhattan.

It was part of a wave of climate change protests that swept the globe, with hundreds of thousands of young people sending a message to leaders headed for a U.N. summit: The warming world can't wait for action.

The demonstrations were partly inspired by Thunberg, who has staged weekly "Fridays for Future" demonstrations for a year, urging world leaders to step up efforts against climate change.

The world has warmed about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since before the Industrial Revolution, and scientists have attributed more than 90 percent of the increase to emissions of heat-trapping gases from fuel-burning and other human activity.

Scientists have warned that global warming will subject Earth to rising seas and more heat waves, droughts, powerful storms, flooding and other problems, and that some have already started manifesting themselves.

Climate change has made record-breaking heat temperature records twice as likely as record-setting cold temperatures over the past two decades in the contiguous U.S., according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.

***

US President Donald Trump arrived at the United Nations on September 23rd and suggested that he raised former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden's son in a summer phone call with Ukraine's new leader.

Democrats are pressing for investigations into whether Trump improperly used his office to try to dig up damaging information about a political rival.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg was escorted to the side by U.N. security personnel as Trump arrived for the UN headquarters.

02:31:00

00:00:00

Climate protesters block principal avenues in Santiago

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Santiago - 27 July 2019

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Various of Extinction Rebellion logo projected onto large Costanera Centre high-rise building

2. Members of group holding placards and banners with text reading (Spanish) 'climate and ecological

00:07:04

One of Greenland's glaciers shrinks 6 miles in 14yrs

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Helheim Glacier - 14 August 2019

3. One of the New York University base camps, Helheim Glacier in the background ++DRONE SHOT++

4. Helicopter on the ice field ++ DRONE SHOT++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) David Holland, NYU Air and ocean scientist:

"So this is Helheim Glacier far off to my right, in front the melange is the Helheim Fjord. And this glacier has retreated more than 10 kilometres or so in the last decade or so from that position far off from my left to where you see it today."

6. David Holland points to the edge of glacier, UPSOUND (English) "So that's where the ice is grounded on the sea floor down about 800 metres."

00:39:12

Climate protest at Frankfurt Motor Show

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Frankfurt - 14 September 2019

7. Various of protesters cycling on motorway to the Frankfurt Motor Show IAA chanting, using whistles and bicycle bells

00:46:23

Activists demand action on climate change in India

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20 September 2019 - New Delhi

8. Students and activists holding banners and chanting slogans, UPSOUND (English): "What do we want? Climate action. When do we want it? Now."

9. Close of a student shouting UPSOUND (English): "There is no Earth B"

00:54:16

Kenyans join global climate protests

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20 Septmeber 2019 - Nairobi

10. Various of demonstrators in the streets of Nairobi

01:02:09

15,000 join Brussels climate protest march

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20 September 2019 - Brussels

11. Various wide shots of protesters filling up completely Rue de la Loi, a major Brussels street near EU institutions)

12. Various of protesters marching, holding banners, placards and flags

13. Demonstrators marching near the European Commission building

01:16:00

Thunberg leads massive NYC rally

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20 September 2019 - New York

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist:

"It is an honour for me to be here with all of you today on this historical day. Thank you all so much for coming. I heard there were, in New York, they are still counting but at least 250,000 people. And around the world today about 4 million people have been striking, we are still counting."

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist:

"Why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us? That is being stolen for profit? And some people say we should study to become climate scientists or politicians so that we can in the future solve the climate crisis but by then it will be too late. We need to do this now."

02:25:19

Greta Thunberg eyes Trump as he enters the U.N.

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23 September 2019 - New York

16. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg being escorted by security as President Donald Trump arrives at the United Nations, pull-out as President Trump arrives

SHOTLIST

Mount Mulanje - 13 July, 2008

1. Zoom into Mount Mulanje

12 July, 2008

2. Pan down from Porter's Race signage to waiting participants

3. Marathon runner prepares for race

4. Marathon runner collects his race number

5. Culister Chimombo, Malawi's Minister of Tourism at start of race

UPSOUND (English) Culister Chimombo, Malawi's Minister of Tourism :

"Please don't force yourself. If you don't feel well just stop. Somebody will be there to help you. With these few remarks, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a successful race."

6. Race start

7. Back shot of runners heading up hill

11 July, 2008

8. Trees and flora on mountainside

12 July, 2008

9. Runners heading up steep hill

11 July, 2008

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Carl Bruessow, Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust Executive Director:

"We are globally responsible for trying to maintain that biodiversity on the mountain against a number of threats such as deforestation for fuelwood, timber, invasive plants slowly taking over the habitats and wildfire damage caused by all sorts of different means."

12 July, 2008

11. Runners passing some bushes

12. Runners on steep descent

11 July, 2008

13. Mountain and tree

12 July, 2008

14. Pan of runner crossing river

15. Runners passing a tree stump

11 July, 2008

16. Tree stump

17. Firewood piled next to roadside

18. Pan up Mount Mulanje

12 July, 2008

19. Pan of winner arriving

20. Winner taking his place on the podium

21. SOUNDBITE (Chichewa) Francis Khanje, Race winner:

"I'd like to run better than I am running this year. I'd like to run at the level of (former Olympic athlete) Heile Gebre Selassie. My ambition is to reach that point, but my problem is lack of sponsorship. To better myself I need the right training attire, shoes and coaching."

22. Pan of runner Takehiro Hirose finishing the race

23. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takehiro Hirose, Race participant:

"This is the first time I ran this race. The race was very tough because at the top it's very windy, foggy and cold. All the same it's very exciting and I really enjoyed it."

24. Runners finishing the race

25. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Moxon, Race participant:

"I had these ambitions of running a large portion of it, but in fact on the way up it's so steep that you end up walking most of the way. And I can't imagine even the very fastest people running the whole way up because it's extremely steep. But they're a lot quicker than me. The Malawians are very sprightly and seem to make it look very easy."

26. Participants with no shoes on

27. Race participant running past a tree

11 July, 2008

28. Tree and steep mountainside

29. Mountain peak seen through tree foliage

30. Leaf lying in stream

LEAD IN:

There are a number of extreme mountain marathons such as the Pike's Peak marathon in the American Rockies.

There is a less known mountain marathon in Africa which is slowly gaining acclaim.

And this tough run has a serious message behind it.

STORYLINE:

The south east African nation of Malawi's only extreme sport takes place annually on Mount Mulanje.

The competition started as a race up and down the mountain for the porters and guides who escort tourists up the mountain.

Now in its 12th year, the 26 kilometre (16 mile) mountain marathon is open to anyone over the age of 16.

Opening this year's marathon, Culister Chimombo, Malawi's tourism minister advises participants not to over-extend themselves.

But the Mount Mulanje Porter's Race is more than an extreme sport.

Race organiser, the Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust, is an environmental endowment trust working to safeguard the rich biodiversity on Mount Mulanje.

They organise the race as a platform to raise awareness of conservation issues on the mountain, as Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust Executive Director Carl Bruessow explains.

Indeed, this year's 272 participants, representing six nations, make their way through a United Nations Global Biosphere Reserve.

This UN status is in recognition of the region's over 250 endemic (indigenous) plants and wildlife species.

The natural diversity ranges from rainforest to Afro-alpine zone, woodland to grassland.

The mountain is also the source of nine major rivers, providing water to one million Malawians living around the mountain.

All of this rich biodiversity is under threat, most significantly because of deforestation.

A recent study by one environmental economist estimates that the miombo (tropical trees) woodlands will disappear by 2011, and the pine forests and Mulanje Cedar will be wiped out by 2016, at the current rates of logging.

An average hiker will take about 15 hours to complete the race's route, which reaches an altitude of 2500 metres (8202 feet) above sea level before returning to the mountain's base.

Today's winner, Mulanje local and national athletics squad member is Francis Khanje.

He takes first prize in a record-breaking two hours and nine minutes.

Khanje says he wants to run at the top African athletics level, but is hampered by financial constraints.

Japanese contestant Takehiro Hirose says the weather is very different at the top compared to the start and finish point at the base.

While Englishman Chris Moxon says the Malawians make it look easy.

Indeed the majority of Malawian participants run the race barefoot.

The hope is that as the race gains popularity there will be a growing awareness of both the natural beauty of Mount Mulanje, and of the importance of conserving this valuable ecosystem.

The Mountain is under consideration for full UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

This, together with Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust's work - in liaison with the local forestry department - might yet help to save the mountain's natural riches.

SHOTLIST

1. Samantha Larson coming out of the airport Katmandu airport on arrival from Mount Everest

2. Larson with other team mates walking towards the bus waiting to take them to hotel

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Larson:

"When I got to the summit, emotionally I was feeling pretty tired but it was amazing to be there. I could not really believe it. It didn't really sink in until I got back to base camp."

4. Cutaway of Larson

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Larson:

"There were lots of difficult moments. I mean it was a long trip and it was hard"

6. Larson at the hotel

7. Larson and her team mates in van

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Larson:

"When I started climbing seven summits, it hadn't really been my goal to climb all of them. My dad and I climbed Kilimanjaro first and then were looking for something kind of bigger so we climbed Aconcagua and after that I guess we started making our goals to climb all seven."

9. Larson packing bags

10. Larson at the hotel in Katmandu, Nepal

STORYLINE

An 18-year-old American woman, flew from Mount Everest to Katmandu on Wednesday on her way home, after becoming the youngest climber to scale the highest mountains on all seven continents.

Samantha Larson of Long Beach, California, had been accompanied on the challenge by her father David Larson, a 51-year-old anaesthesiologist.

"When I got to the summit, emotionally I was feeling pretty tired but it was amazing to be there. I could not really believe it. It didn't really sink in until I got back to the base camp.," Larson told AP Television about the moment that she reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit of Mount Everest on May 17.

She became the youngest foreign woman to scale Everest, according to the Nepalese Mountaineering Department.

A 15-year-old Sherpa girl from Nepal was the youngest ever to climb the peak.

"There were lots of difficult moments. I mean it was a long trip and it was hard," Larson said about climbing Everest.

She said she was 12 when she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Since then she has scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents, also called the "Seven Summits."

"When I started climbing seven summits, it hadn't really been my goal to climb all of them. My dad and I climbed Kilimanjaro first and then were looking for something kind of bigger so we climbed Aconcagua (in south America)and after that I guess we started making our goals to climb all seven."

Larson is set to start classes at Stanford University in the fall.

She graduated from high school in 2006, but put off attending college for a year so she could scale some of the world's tallest peaks with her father.

Completing the climb in Nepal makes Larson the youngest person to have completed the "Seven Summits" challenge, breaking a 2006 record set by then 20-year-old British climber Rhys Miles Jones.

Since New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first conquered Everest on May 29, 1953, about 2-thousand climbers have scaled the mountain.