Mr. Bush will almost certainly not sign the other major treaty, designed to protect biodiversity.

Several European leaders have warned that they may not be able to push a new treaty designed to bind the economies more closely through their parliaments.

Russia also failed to inform other European countries of its troop movements into Chechnya, in violation of a treaty designed to promote security.

Over the course of two decades and three administrations, the United States has led the world in developing a comprehensive treaty designed to outlaw chemical weapons.

Pakistan and India have made tentative steps towards a fresh treaty designed to stop an accident triggering nuclear war between the two atomic rivals.

Mrs Lagarde spoke out after other European countries indicated that they were unlikely to back a new treaty designed to shore up the single currency.

Despite colonists and Cherokees' agreeing on a treaty designed to settle these disputes, war was declared.

The vice president helped negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty designed to reduce the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Nations that have signed an international treaty designed to protect the marine environment voted last week to prohibit the practice of incinerating toxic wastes at sea.

He helped broker the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions.