Australia's new Labor government signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Monday within hours of being sworn into power, ending Australia's long-held opposition to the global climate pact. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who will attend the United Nations climate talks in Bali next week, said the move was the first official act of his new government, which won power after 11 years of conservative rule on November 24.

(By James Grubel, Reuters, 03/12/2007)