The new report by the International Energy Agency showing high emissions from fossil fuels is one of several pieces of bad news facing delegates from about 180 countries heading to Bonn, Germany, for two weeks of talks beginning Monday.

Another: The tsunami-triggered nuclear disaster in March apparently has sidelined Japan's aggressive policies to combat climate change and prompted countries like Germany to hasten the decommissioning of nuclear power stations which, regardless of other drawbacks, have nearly zero carbon emissions.

"Japan's energy future is in limbo," says analyst Endre Tvinnereim of the consultancy firm Point Carbon. The fallout from the catastrophe has "put climate policy further down the priority list," and the short-term effect in Japan -- one of the world's most carbon-efficient countries -- will be more burning of fossil fuels, he said.

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A report by the nonprofit organization documented cases of arbitrary arrests, invasions of homes, mistreatment of detainees and the denial of due legal process to people suspected of nonconformist sexual activity.

Thousands of people are believed to have been condemned to death for homosexual activity since the 1979 Iranian revolution, and the public hanging of two men -- one of them a minor -- in 2005 for having consensual sex drew international attention.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was jeered when he said in a speech at Colombia University that homosexuality did not exist in Iran.

Human Rights Watch said the number of executions for same-sex intercourse was difficult to determine, since most cases are conducted in closed court and often the defendant is accused of other capital crimes as well as "sodomy."

But several gays are among an estimated 130 people awaiting execution for offenses committed as juveniles, a violation of international law, it said.

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"The atmosphere is indifferent to the sovereignty of states," President Felipe Calderon said in the keynote speech opening the conference in this well-guarded coastal resort.

"It would be a tragedy if our inability to see beyond our personal interests, our group or national interests makes us fail," Calderon said in a speech to 15,000 delegates, business leaders, activists and journalists.

Three years of talks have been stymied by a sometimes acrimonious divide among industrial and developing countries about their responsibilities in fighting climate change and accepting legal limits on how much they can continue to pollute.

The Cancun conference is the first full U.N. meeting since the letdown last December of the Copenhagen summit, which brought 120 world leaders to the Danish capital in an abortive attempt to adopt an overarching accord governing emissions of made-made greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

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The breakdown put diplomatic efforts on ice for at least a year, raised the possibility that South Korea might join the whaling nations and raised questions about the global drive to prevent the extinction of the most endangered whale species.

It also revived doubts about the effectiveness and future of the International Whaling Commission. The agency was created after World War II to oversee the hunting of tens of thousands of whales a year but gradually evolved into a body at least partly dedicated to keeping whales from vanishing from the Earth's oceans.

"I think ultimately if we don't make some changes to this organization in the next few years it may be very serious, possibly fatal for the organization -- and the whales will be worse off," said former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer.

Japanese officials and environmentalists traded charges of blame after two days of intense, closed-door talks failed to break a deadlock in which the three whaling nations offered to limit their catch but refused to phase it out completely.

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His departure takes effect July 1, five months before 193 nations are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt to reach a binding worldwide accord on controlling greenhouse gases. De Boer's resignation adds to the uncertainty that a full treaty can be finalized there.

De Boer is known to be deeply disappointed with the outcome of the last summit in Copenhagen, which drew 120 world leaders but failed to reach more than a vague promise by several countries to limit carbon emissions -- and even that deal fell short of consensus.

But he denied to the AP that his decision to quit was a result of frustration with Copenhagen.

"Copenhagen wasn't what I had hoped it would be," he acknowledged, but the summit nonetheless prompted governments to submit plans and targets for reigning in the emissions primarily blamed for global warming. "I think that's a pretty solid foundation for the global response that many are looking for," he said.

De Boer told the AP he believes talks "are on track."

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U.S.-bound travelers were undergoing body searches at Amsterdam's airport, where authorities say Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and tried to set off an incendiary device as the plane was descending to its destination.

"The extra measures apply worldwide on all flights to the U.S. as of now and for an indefinite period," says Judith Sluiter, spokeswoman for the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism.

Passengers flying to the United States from London's Heathrow said they received text messages informing them that the hand baggage allowance had been reduced to one item. Airport officials also said security had been heightened.

"We got a text message this morning at about 11 a.m. to say that new rules meant we could only take one piece of hand luggage," said Karen Ward, 44, from Reading, Berkshire. "I think they've handled it very well."

Italy's civil aviation authority, ENAC, said it had tightened security at airports for passengers leaving for the United States, with measures including increased manual body and baggage searches.

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