Climate summit in Paris to proceed despite attacks

PARIS

The UN climate change conference (COP21) slated in Paris in a fortnight will go ahead as planned despite terror attacks that hit the French capital on Friday and left at least 129 dead, said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

"COP21 must go ahead. It will take place with reinforced security measures," Fabius told reporters in Vienna, where he participated in an international meeting on Syria.

He described the conference as "an absolutely essential measure against climate change".

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he still plans to participate in the talks.

More than 150 nations are expected to meet in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in a bid to strike a deal on carbon emissions regulations meant to keep the global average temperature within two degrees Celsius of what it was at the dawn of the industrial revolution.

The November 13th Paris attacks by Daesh are said to be the worst on European soils since the Madrid train bombings of 2004, in which 191 died.