GOTTA BEAT THE SNOWSTORMS:

Leaders start to quit climate summit: Major players in the world climate summit began to leave the Danish capital on Friday. (Javno, 12/18/09)

Major players in the world climate summit began to leave the Danish capital on Friday, sapping the crisis-wracked negotiations of top-level political firepower.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev left to make a scheduled visit to Kazakhstan, a Kremlin spokeswoman told AFP, while a Brazilian source said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had also departed.

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama would also leave later Friday, sources in their delegations said.