Malls always have a numbing effect on me and the Eaton is no exception

Malls always have a numbing effect on me and the Eaton is no exception. So, when my body is moaning from too much celebration the night before, what is to be done to escape this feeling of suffocation? My mission of the day promises to provide the solution. I am going to a bar, also on Yonge Street, that can serve me what I need - not alcohol, not even a double-shot latte, but a cool blast of pure oxygen.You may laugh (the jogger passing the door as I arrived caught my eye and smirked knowingly), but oxygen really is the main offering of the O2 Spa Bar. He was speaking of a steel-and-glass ark on Yonge Street, the city's largest shopping mall. It may look like Canada's version of Chicago - a sweeping, ethnically mixed metropolis with impressive skyscrapers on a sparkling lakefront - but whereas the Windy City vibrates, this place, well, languishes Toronto is often described as a place that is rather dull.

"And then," proclaimed the kindly native who had ridden next to me on the train into town, "there is the Eaton Center That is the highlight" He had said it all. It was an American change of heart which allowed the declaration to be made, but instead of being fully accepted by the conference it was presented as a document of which delegates "took note" and was written into the official record.Bill Hare, chief climate campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace International, said: ''We're disappointed at the lack of timetables and targets, but even so this declaration is a significant step forward.''The document was rejected, however, by the fossil-fuel exporting countries of Opec, Russia and by Australia.. How can an objective be legally binding? ''We're not too excited about that, and we won't be putting it into our national legislation,'' said a member of the British delegation.And what might constitute a significant cut within a reasonably effective timescale? Britain, which, with Germany, is one of the strongest campaigners for action in the rich world, has suggested 10 per cent cuts in emissions between 2000 and 2010.But to the disappointment of the more progressive countries and environmental groups, the declaration proposed no percentage cuts and was vague on dates, suggesting 2005, 2010 and 2020.''You just can't get the Americans to propose anything now because of their presidential election,'' said the UK delegate.Even so, the progressives had worried that the US - the world's biggest single user of fossil fuels - would refuse to even consider binding itself to making cuts in the future. Only when the United States, the European Union and Japan demonstrated they were serious could the rising carbon giants like India and China be expected to follow suit.That continued to be the line at this week's United Nations talks in Geneva on strengthening the global climate treaty signed at the Rio Earth Summit four years ago. The 150 nations attending agreed, in a ministerial declaration, that the rich countries would commit themselves to ''legally- binding objectives for emission limitations and significant overall reductions within specified timeframes''.The statement raises many questions.

Coping with change in the future makes more sense than making sacrifices now, runs this argument from the Opec countries and the oil- and coal-industry lobby groups.Ever since climate change became the subject of serious diplomacy six years ago, it has been clear that the developed nations - who have produced most of the carbon dioxide to date - would have to lead the way. After Geneva, the world is not much wiser about what that something will be.What is needed, if the current change in climate is to be slowed down in the next century, is drastic cuts in the emissions of carbon dioxide which come mainly from burning coal, oil and gas.The alternative is to hope that the man-made rises in temperature and sea levels, and the shifts in rainfall and winds will too slight to worry about. Two weeks of ministerial negotiations on tackling global warming ended in Geneva yesterday with applause and hopeful statements, but no concrete commitments on cutting the level of emissions.The most painful decisions are scheduled for a meeting in Kyoto, Japan, 16 months away, when the developed nations have committed themselves to coming up with something definite. NICHOLAS SCHOON Environment Correspondent The world's largest and wealthiest polluters have promised to reform - but not just yet. Which is the second problem.Mr Le Floch-Prigent's success in obtaining more government money for the railways and persuading the trade unions to accept - albeit with reluctance - his restructuring plan, endeared him to the government, which wanted him to see the plan through.Now, someone else - according to the transport minister, Bernard Pons, "with a profile similar to that of Mr Le Floch-Prigent" - must be found, and fast.. He was head of the French state oil company, Elf Aquitaine, in the late 1980s, when large sums of Elf money were used in a vain attempt to shore up Bidermann.

Now, though, Mr Juppe is caught on a hook: although Mr Le Floch-Prigent has to be considered innocent until proven guilty, his detention means he cannot do his job, so the government has to find someone else anyway. The case against Mr Le Floch-Prigent, which was formally opened on 4 July, relates to charges of false accounting, misrepresentation, and misuse of public funds.Mr Juppe's response to the opening of the investigation was to express full confidence in Mr Le Floch-Prigent and insist on the principle of "innocent until proved guilty". The second is the problem of finding a replacement.According to reports circulating in Paris, the government of Alain Juppe, the Prime Minister, was well aware that Mr Le Floch-Prigent might face legal difficulties when it appointed him last December, but decided that his managerial skills and known left-wing leanings made him the ideal candidate to restore SNCF's ailing finances and ease reform past disgruntled railway staff.The earlier arrest of a close business associate and personal friend of his, however - the former head of the Bidermann textile company - made it likely that Mr Le Floch-Prigent, too, could face charges. The railway chief's replacement at SNCF is expected to be named after next Wednesday's cabinet meeting.While Mr Le Floch-Prigent's decision to resign means the government no longer has to agonise over whether to dismiss him, it leaves two major problems. The first is the tangle of practice and principle in which ministers have been caught up since Mr Le Floch-Prigent was first called in for questioning. Such an operation would be risky, however, as General Mladic and Mr Karadzic have more than half a dozen bodyguards each."There is of course a fifth option," an I-For military source said yesterday.

"He gives himself up, says 'I am innocent and I will prove it', and takes himself off to the Hague voluntarily" But nobody believes that is very likely.. MARY DEJEVSKY Paris The head of the French national railway company, Loik Le Floch-Prigent, resigned yesterday, two weeks after being remanded in custody in connection with a corruption case.Mr Le Floch-Prigent's resignation came less than 24 hours after a Paris judge had turned down his lawyer's latest application for his release, saying that it could prejudice the inquiry.The French government had earlier made known that Mr Le Floch-Prigent's continued detention would make it impossible for him to keep his job as chairman of the railway company, SNCF, although it also stressed that "everyone is innocent until proved guilty". An Aideed-style operation might appeal to the Americans but it probably would not to the Italians.A large-scale military attack on Pale would undoubtedly be resisted and could give rise to heavy loss of civilian life.The fourth option would minimise the risk to bystanders. Known as the "Israeli" option, it would involve a small snatch squad of elite special forces troops, probably provided by the British SAS and US Special Forces, kidnapping Mr Karadzic and General Mladic, possibly drugging them before spiriting them out.