Global climate change summit going ahead, French PM says

France plans to go ahead with a global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the month, despite the attacks on Friday night that left scores dead.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on television the conference "will be held because it's an essential meeting for humanity".

He said the summit would also be an opportunity for world leaders to show their solidarity with France after the attacks.

A total of 118 world leaders are due to attend the opening day of the conference, which is being held from Nov 30 to Dec 11 and is expected to attract between 20,000 and 40,000 delegates. The summit is likely to reach a global deal on limiting rising greenhouse gas emissions.

In Washington, officials confirmed that US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry still plan to attend.

Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany, said, "Security at UN climate conferences is always tight, but understandably it will be even tighter for Paris."

The United Nations has the main responsibility for security inside the conference venue at Le Bourget, north of Paris.

Organizers of a march to press for climate action planned for Paris on Nov 29 said they would meet on Monday "to discuss ways forward", according to Alice Jay, director of the citizens' campaign group Avaaz and one of the organizers.

The organizers have been hoping to imitate a march against global warming staged in New York City last year that attracted hundreds of thousands of people.

Reuters