[JURIST] The US has rejected renewed calls to join the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, insisting that the pact, about to take effect in February 2005 in the wake of its recent ratification by Russia, is a "political agreements...not based on science." US climate change negotiator Harlan Watson told colleagues and media at the latest UN conference on climate change now underway in Buenos Aires that the United States did not intend to change its approach, but he did emphasize that the US was spending billions on new technology to cut the emissions that create so-called "greenhouse gases": "We match or exceed what any other country is doing to address the issue,” said Watson Tuesday. "I would challenge any of the Kyoto parties to match us both internationally and domestically." The Kyoto Protocol joins 39 industrial nations and territories - the US and Australia are the only major industrial countries not committed to the accord. MSNBC has more.