US aid offer boosts deal at UN climate talks

COPENHAGEN — Large pieces of a climate deal fell into place Thursday with new offers from the U.S. and China, but other tough issues remained before President Barack Obama and other leaders can sign off on a political accord to contain the threat of an overheated world.

An announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would contribute to a climate change fund amounting to $100 billion a year by 2020 was quickly followed by an offer from China to open its books on carbon emissions to international review.

The U.S. delegation did not immediately react to the offer by Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei. But it went a long way toward the U.S. demand that China report on its actions to limit the growth of Beijing's carbon emissions and allow experts to go over its data.

The sudden concessions on the eve of Friday's final session lifted hopes that the 193-nation conference could reach a framework agreement that could be refined into a legal accord next year on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change.

Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were to join more than 110 world leaders for the last scheduled day of the conference, which for most of its two weeks was embroiled in angry exchanges, a partial boycott by African countries and another entire day wasted in procedural wrangling. It's also possible that once the world leaders depart, the talks could continue at the ministerial level and stretch late into the night and early Saturday.

A pair of Greenpeace activists crashed a Thursday night banquet hosted by Denmark's Queen Margrethe for the world leaders already in town. The couple, dressed in formal wear, unfurled two banners reading "Politicians Talk, Leaders Act" as they walked on the red carpet reception line, and were dragged from the hall by security guards.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and more than a dozen other leaders returned to work from the banquet to forge a political declaration, and were expected to meet into the early hours of Friday. They were seeking to include a range of emissions targets for rich and developing nations and outline financial commitments, said several European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity. It also may set deadlines for reaching a legal binding climate pact by the next U.N. conference in Mexico City next November, they said.

The conference seems likely to fall short of the goal set by many developing countries for a deal that would be legally binding on all parties and guarantee the kind of dramatic emissions reductions by the industrial world that threatened nations feel are necessary.

Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate official, said a political deal by the small group could be the key to unlocking the negotiating stalemate on a host of issues.

"Leaders came here to lead, and that's what they're doing. They're trying to reach an understanding on the key political components — and that's good," de Boer told The Associated Press well after midnight. "If they can advance on that, it can help unstick a lot of other things in the process as well."

But he cautioned that "people won't accept ... an endless process."

World leaders handed off the draft text around 3 a.m. local time to their ministers and they continued to work on it through the night. But by 5 a.m., negotiators from Mexico and the G-77 plus China said they were nowhere near agreement on the final document.

"It doesn't live up to the challenge we face," said Sudan's Lumumba Di-Aping, speaking for the Group of 77 developing nations and China. "Because of that, all we can do with this draft is work through it, correct it and make sense of it."

Fernando Tudela, Mexico's vice minister of environment, agreed negotiators have their work cut out for them.

"There is still a possibility that something can be rescued at the last minute," Tudela said. "But otherwise it will be very difficult. There are still issues to be solved."

Clinton's announcement on funding was widely welcomed. Yoshiko Kijima, a senior Japanese negotiator, said it sent a strong signal by Obama "that he will persuade his own people that we need to show something to developing countries. ... I really respect that."

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said Clinton added "political momentum," and India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh called it "a good step forward."

Independent agencies also praised the move. "I think we're closer now than we have been in two years," said Tom Brookes, an analyst for the European Climate Foundation.

"It shows that when the U.S. moves, China moves," said Kim Carstensen, the climate director for the World Wildlife Fund.

The White House was lowering expectations ahead of Obama's trip.

"Coming back with an empty agreement would be far worse than coming back empty-handed," presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Neither the U.S. nor China raised its commitment on emissions. Clinton repeated the U.S. would cut emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and China said its voluntary emissions target was nonnegotiable. It announced last month it would cut its "carbon intensity," or the amount of emissions in relation to production, by 40 to 45 percent.

An internal calculation by the United Nations, obtained by The Associated Press, said pledges made so far by both industrial and developing countries would mean a 3-degree Celsius (4.8-degree Fahrenheit) temperature rise. A panel of U.N. scientists has said that any rise above 2 degrees C (3.6-degree F) could lead to a catastrophic sea level rise threatening islands and coastal cities, kill off many species of animals and plants, and alter the agricultural economies of many countries.

But the U.S.-China moves could prompt the European Union to raise its emissions commitment to a 30 percent reduction by 2020 from 1990 levels, and similarly inspire Japan and Australia to lock into the upper end of their previously announced targets — 25 percent each.

Clinton said the U.S. agreement to the annual transfer of $100 billion to developing countries was contingent on reaching a broader agreement that covers the "transparency" of China's measures to limit heat-trapping gases.

"We think this agreement has interlocking pieces, all of which must go together," Clinton said, accusing China of backsliding on deals reached in closed meetings earlier this year. "It would be hard to imagine, speaking for the United States, that there could be the level of financial commitment that I have just announced in the absence of transparency from the second-biggest emitter — and now I guess the first-biggest emitter."

He, the Chinese official who spoke in the same press room a few hours later, said Beijing had no legal obligation to verify its emissions actions, but was not afraid of supervision or responsibility.

"We will enhance and improve our national communication" to the U.N. on its emissions, He said. China also was willing to provide explanations and clarification on its reports.

"The purpose is to improve transparency," He said, adding that Beijing was ready to take part in "dialogue and cooperation that is not intrusive and doesn't infringe on China's sovereignty."

Negotiating committees worked through the day and were expected to continue late into the night on an agreement.

Yet to be decided was how the huge sums of money flowing from rich to poor countries would be handled, and whether a new multinational body should be created to distribute the funds. Dessima Williams of Grenada, who chairs an alliance of small island states, said Obama telephoned her prime minister Wednesday to discuss the governance of the bulging climate fund.

The White House officials said the biggest sticking point in the talks was the form of the final accord, and whether it will be legally binding on everyone.

Developing countries insist Kyoto be renewed and extended while a new pact is drawn up to include the U.S. and others. The U.S. does not want its emissions targets to be binding in an international treaty.

___

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein, John Heilprin, Charles J. Hanley, Michael Casey and Karl Ritter contributed to this report.

Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at http://www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AP_ClimatePool

Tiger Woods taking 'indefinite' leave from golf

Tiger Woods is shifting his focus from winning majors to saving his marriage.

Two weeks after Woods crashed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home, setting in motion a swift fall that featured reports of rampant extramarital affairs, golf's biggest star delivered a stunning development of his own. He temporarily is walking away from the game that made him the first $1 billion athlete.

"After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf," Woods said Friday evening on his Web site. "I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."

It will be the second straight year that the No. 1 player was on the sidelines.

A year ago, he missed eight months while recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee. This time, Woods is trying to repair a broken family, knowing this will be a far more difficult comeback.

"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children," Woods said. "I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try."

Woods and his wife, Elin, have been married five years. They have a 2-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son. The No. 1 player in golf has not been seen in public since the accident.

Woods gave no indication when he might return in what could be a pivotal year as he pursues the record 18 major championships won by Jack Nicklaus. Woods, who did not win a major this year, has 14.

The Masters, where Woods has won four times, is April 8-11. The U.S. Open is at Pebble Beach, where Woods won by a record 15 strokes in 2000, and the British Open returns to St. Andrews, where he has won twice by a combined 13 shots.

Opposition scores gains in Taiwan local elections

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's pro-independence opposition put in a strong showing in local elections, clawing its way back to respectability after two crushing defeats.

With all votes counted in Saturday's elections, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party held onto its three county magistracy positions — equivalent to governorships — and won back one other from the ruling Nationalists.

It also closed the gap in a number of other localities, including a traditional Nationalist stronghold in suburban Taipei. The Nationalists held onto 12 of their 14 county magistracies and mayoralties, losing one to the DPP and one to a Nationalist rebel disowned by the party because of corruption convictions.

The results give a big boost to DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, who took over the party last year after it lost badly in presidential and legislative elections. Tsai, a British- and U.S.-educated jurist, used the campaign to hit hard at the Nationalists' China-friendly policies and the perceived failure of the government to address the day-to-day concerns of ordinary Taiwanese.

Tsai called the results "an important step in the DPP's comeback," saying that the party took 45 to 46 percent of the total vote, compared to 38.2 percent in the magistrate and mayoral elections four years ago.

"The results show people are not happy with the government," she said. "Over the past year, (Taiwan's) sovereignty has been harmed, and senior government officials have ignored public needs."

The main loser is almost certain to be President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May 2008 with a 70 percent approval rating but has since fallen back by some 30 points amid the global economic recession and Taiwan's own economic tailspin.

After the results were in, Ma promised to improve the government's performance.

"We'll reflect on warnings sent by the elections," he said.

Ma has been on the defensive since August, when Typhoon Morakot took an estimated 700 lives. Many Taiwanese say he botched the government's rescue and relief effort and also appeared remote when trying to comfort survivors.

In recent weeks, he has come under renewed fire for a decision to remove a partial ban on imports of U.S. beef — a decision that critics charge was made without consulting a public fearful the beef could lead to an outbreak of mad cow disease.

Ma took over the Nationalist chairmanship at his own initiative in October, and campaigned tirelessly on behalf of party candidates ahead of Saturday's poll.

The DPP is particularly critical of Ma's push for a free trade pact with China, which it believes will undermine Taiwan's sovereignty and cost its workers thousands of jobs amid a flood of cheap Chinese imports.

Ma counters that the proposed trade pact would boost the island's competitiveness and prevent it from economic marginalization as countries around the world form regional trading blocs.

His presidency has built on efforts to dump the anti-China policies of predecessor Chen Shui-bian and seek rapprochement with the Communist-run mainland, from which the island split amid civil war in 1949.

Chen's support for formal independence for the island prompted Beijing to reassert its long-standing threats to invade across the 100-mile (160-kilometer) -wide Taiwan Strait.

2 girls, both 10, missing in Vancouver

Police with tracking dogs are searching a wooded area in the southeast Vancouver for two missing 10-year-old girls.

Deanna Lloyd and Chloe Zhu were last seen at 12:30 p.m. PT Monday on the grounds of Captain James Cook Elementary School, located in the Champlain Heights area of Vancouver, according to a police release.

It is believed that the girls may have gone into a wooded area that forms part of the neighbourhood, police said.

Deanna was last seen wearing white pants, a brown T-shirt, a light green jacket and dark brown boots. She has brown eyes and light brown, shoulder-length hair.

Chloe was last seen wearing blue jeans, a light green shirt, a blue winter jacket, and pink boots. She has long black hair and dark brown eyes.

Police asked that anyone spotting the girls to call 911 immediately.

Inability to compromise may delay Iraqi election

BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament failed Monday to produce an election law that pleased minority Sunni Arabs, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to say that nationwide balloting scheduled for January "might slip" to a later date.

The United States has linked the pace of its military drawdown to the elections, though the top U.S. commander in Iraq has said the schedule is on track for now. U.S. combat troops are supposed to be out of Iraq by August, and the rest of the forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

The dispute over an elections law highlights the ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq. While more secure than in past years of war, the country has yet to achieve the political reconciliation vital to long-term stability.

Both Sunnis and Kurds have criticized earlier versions of the legislation. The parliament amended the law Monday with a version that pleased the Kurds but failed to appease Sunnis, triggering a likely second veto by the Sunni vice president and a delay in the elections.

Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, initially vetoed the law because he wanted more seats for Iraqis living abroad, most of whom are Sunnis. The minority, dominant under Saddam Hussein, has seen its privileged status evaporate since the ouster of the dictator and the election of a government led by the Shiite majority.

After days of intense negotiations by political blocs, lawmakers voted Monday to change the basis for distributing seats, most likely giving more seats to the powerful Kurdish bloc rather than to the Sunnis.

The number of seats in parliament will be expanded from 275 to about 320 under the amended law to reflect population growth.

The pre-vote dealmaking appeared to focus mostly on efforts to address complaints about the electoral system from the Kurds in order to win their support for the law, causing dozens of Sunni lawmakers to walk out.

"What has happened today represents a setback to the policy of political accordance that the parliament has adopted," said Salim Abdullah, spokesman for the Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni bloc in the parliament.

Al-Hashemi is likely to veto the amended law now that it returns to the three-member presidential council, but parliament can override a second veto with a three-fifths majority. Shiite and Kurdish political blocs have enough votes for an override.

"We will wait for the answer from the presidential council before deciding future moves," said Faraj al-Haidari, chief of the election commission. "I think that it is very difficult to hold the elections in January. Most probably, it might be moved to February."

In Washington, Clinton said the dispute might delay the Iraqi election date but she expressed confidence that the voting eventually will be held.

"We believe on balance that there will be elections," Clinton said. "They might slip by some period of time until this is worked out, because at some point the law has to be in place for the planning to begin, and so there necessarily needs to be a period of time in which the planning can occur."

Clinton told reporters at the State Department that U.S. officials were trying to help Iraqi politicians sort out differences over the law.

Sunni Arabs boycotted the last national elections at the height of the insurgency in 2005, ceding any influence in the parliament to the Shiite and Kurdish blocs. They are unlikely to sit out the 2010 elections, a tactic that would deprive them again of political clout.

The amendment reshuffles the distribution of seats among Iraq's provinces, basing it on 2005 Trade Ministry statistics plus 2.8 percent annual population growth, instead of the 2009 Trade Ministry figures.

This solution would likely give Kurds more seats in the next parliament. The Kurds have threatened to boycott the elections if the three provinces they control in northern Iraq are not allocated more seats.

The amendment also says Iraqis living abroad will have their votes counted toward their home province, rather than allocating seats for voters outside Iraq, as al-Hashemi had requested.

Sunni lawmaker Osama al-Nujeifi said the amendment was a "grave constitutional violation" and would transfer seats from northern provinces where Sunnis have a strong presence to semiautonomous provinces controlled by Kurds.

"It is a way to steal seats from Mosul and Salahuddin provinces and give them to Kurdistan provinces in an illegitimate way," he said.

Fouad Massoum, a senior Kurdish lawmaker, said the amendment was fair.

The U.N. has estimated that there were about 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Jordan and Syria, and some 2.6 million people displaced within Iraq. The total population is at least 27 million.

Ex-crewmen: Company wouldn't rename targeted ship

PHILADELPHIA — Former crew members of the Maersk Alabama say they asked the company to rename, repaint or reroute the ship after it was first attacked by pirates off the coast of Africa last spring.

Former crew members John Cronan and Shane Murphy say that they feared and anticipated another attack and that the company didn't heed their request.

The ship was attacked by pirates again on Wednesday. Private security guards thwarted the attempt.

Cronan, of suburban Philadelphia, and other crew members are suing Maersk in Texas. They allege the company was negligent in sending the crew into known pirate territory with inadequate protection.

Maersk spokesman Kevin Speers says that the company instituted a defense system and that Wednesday's thwarted attack shows it works.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The company that owns the Maersk Alabama, a freighter targeted by pirates twice in seven months, did not heed a request to rename, repaint or reroute the ship after the first attack off the coast of Africa in the spring, former crew members say.

Ex-crewmen John Cronan and Shane Murphy said in separate interviews Wednesday that they feared and anticipated another attack after the ordeal in April when their captain was taken hostage but eventually freed by U.S. Navy SEALs.

The American-flagged ship was targeted again Wednesday, but private security guards thwarted the attempt by firing guns and blaring a high-decibel noise device. The ship is proceeding under American surveillance to its destination on the Kenyan coast.

"Obviously she's a hot target," said Cronan, of suburban Philadelphia. "The bad guys were laying in wait for her."

Cronan and several other crewmen have filed suit in Texas against Maersk Line Ltd. and Waterman Steamship Corp., alleging the companies were negligent in sending the ship into known pirate territory with inadequate protection.

The men are seeking compensation for physical and psychological damage they say they suffered during the spring hijacking, and for loss of income.

The suit was filed by one crew member last month in Houston, with other plaintiffs added this month, because it is the nation's second-biggest port and judges there have a sophisticated understanding of maritime law, said attorney Brian Beckcom, who represents six crew members.

Dennis McElwee, a lawyer for Cronan, said crewmen shared their safety concerns in meetings with Maersk before the ship was attacked in April, but the company did not take sufficient security measures.

Officials for Maersk Line Ltd., which has offices in Madison, N.J., Norfolk, Va., and Houston, did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the allegations. Officials at Waterman Steamship, a company based in Mobile, Ala., that supplies crew members to Maersk, declined to comment.

Cronan and Murphy were on the Maersk Alabama when pirates hijacked it the first time and took Capt. Richard Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., hostage. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.

"Maersk made a conscious decision, despite going into pirate-infested waters, not to provide any meaningful security for its workers," Beckcom said. "Instead they'd just rely on the taxpayers and U.S. military to bail them out after the fact."

Murphy, speaking Wednesday at a news conference at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, said he told Maersk officials that the Alabama should be renamed, repainted or sent to ply another route because pirates would continue to target it.

"It was my recommendation to take that ship off the run or change the name or do something," said Murphy, of Seekonk, Mass. "Because, honestly, we have to realize that American seamen are not going to be treated like the rest of the world if they're caught."

Cronan recalled that Maersk officials said such changes would require too much paperwork.

After arriving back home in Merion, Pa., Cronan said he turned down an offer to return to the ship with a promotion.

"What about the next crew? We got lucky and we were able to — all 20 of us — get home safely," Cronan said. "The next guys might not be so lucky. It's not a matter of if, but when."

On Wednesday, four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship, firing on it with automatic weapons from about 300 yards out before being repelled.

Amy Rochford, sister of current Alabama Capt. Paul Rochford, told The Associated Press from a family home in Barrington, R.I., that relatives are not worried because they know from media reports that the crew is unharmed.

"They're sea dogs. This is what they do," Rochford said. "This is his life."

Associated Press writers Michelle R. Smith in Barrington, R.I., and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

Tears as PM apologises to 'Forgotten Australians'

CANBERRA — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an emotional apology on Monday to half-a-million "Forgotten Australians" who faced sexual abuse, violence and forced labour in childcare homes over a period of decades.

Victims among the 1,000 people who packed Parliament House for the address burst into tears as Rudd detailed heart-rending cases of neglect in Australia's orphanages and institutions from 1930 to 1970.

"We come together today to offer our nation's apology. To say to you, the Forgotten Australians, and those who were sent to our shores as children without their consent, that we are sorry," he said.

"Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care.

"Sorry for the tragedy, the absolute tragedy, of childhoods lost. Childhoods spent instead in austere and authoritarian places where names were replaced by numbers, spontaneous play by regimented routine, the joy of learning by the repetitive drudgery of menial work."

Hundreds of thousands of poor children, including some 7,000 child migrants from Britain, were ripped from their homes to live in poorly monitored state and church-run homes where many were abused, ignored or forced to do unpaid menial work.

The statement has already made waves in Britain where Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to apologise to more than 130,000 disadvantaged children who were shipped to Australia and other former colonies.

The comments also echo Rudd's historic February 2008 apology to Australia's downtrodden Aboriginal population for their mistreatment since white settlement in 1788.

A 2004 Senate inquiry recommended the apology after unearthing hundreds of disturbing stories from children placed in care after their families broke down, their mothers were unmarried or they were considered uncontrollable.

The probe found widespread assault and emotional, physical and sexual abuse, as well as neglect, humiliation and the deprivation of food, education and medical care.

Many never knew their parents or siblings, or even their own names, which could change each time they moved accommodation. Sometimes they were referred to simply by a number.

"The truth is, this is an ugly story. The truth is great evil has been done," Rudd said.

Many of the children were not told the truth about what happened to their parents, while their families were lied to as well, the inquiry found.

It said the legacy of these experiences had left many people emotionally scarred, with many resorting to drug and alcohol abuse and an "abnormally large" percentage committing suicide.

Some victims are still in prisons and mental health hospitals, while others suffer depression and feelings of worthlessness. Just days before the apology, one man who campaigned all his life for forgotten Australians killed himself.

"You have that insecurity and lack of self-esteem and all of that with you forever," Caroline Carroll, who chairs the Alliance for Forgotten Australians, told AFP ahead of the apology.

"That feeling of never being good enough doesn't go away."

Oil fire in southwestern Manitoba under control

WASKADA, Manitoba — Officials say an oil fire in southwestern Manitoba, near the North Dakota border, is under control.

The blaze was reported at a storage structure owned by Calgary-based EOG Resources Canada near the community of Waskada, about 20 miles north of Bottineau, N.D. Police closed nearby roads and evacuated the facility.

Authorities said they had no reports of injuries. They said the fire, which at one point could be seen from more than a half-mile away, did not threaten any homes.

A spokesman for Manitoba's Emergency Measures Organization said the direction of the wind kept the oily smoke from blowing over populated areas.

Abused father's story told in son's book

The son of a boy from Saskatoon who was an unwilling accomplice and victim in the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders in California in the 1920s is telling his father's story in a book.

The Road Out of Hell, written by Anthony Flacco with Jerry Clark, tells the story of Jerry's father Sanford Clark, who was sent from his home in Saskatoon at the age of 13 to live and work on his uncle's chicken ranch in Wineville, Calif.

However, the plan to have the boy help raise chickens was a cruel ruse. The book recounts the long months of his imprisonment, torture and enslavement as his uncle, Gordon Stewart Northcott, went on a murderous rampage.

"All before his 15th birthday," Jerry Clark told CBC News. "My father was abused, sexually and physically, almost from the time he was there. He was also put into a pit and chained up."

In 1928, Northcott abducted, raped, tortured and killed some 20 boys, forcing Sanford to help him.

It all came to an end when Sanford's sister came to check on him and the authorities moved in.

Northcott was arrested, convicted of murder and executed. Sarah Louise Northcott, Gordon's mother, pleaded guilty to the murder of a nine-year-old boy and spent 12 years behind bars.

Sanford Clark spent two years in a progressive-style reformatory in California.

What followed was a story of evil replaced by love and devotion and a life reclaimed. Sanford went on to be a model citizen back home in Saskatoon right up until his death in 1991.

The astonishing story, which formed the basis of the Clint Eastwood movie Changeling was one Jerry Clark said he had been meaning to write for decades.

"I thought, "Well, you know, I've got to get his side out there in case there's some people that say, 'Oh yeah, why did he do it, or this and that? Why didn't he get more time, or something?' And I wanted them to see the kind of guy he was," Jerry Clark said.

Clark was a teenager, on his way to a hockey game with his father, when Sanford Clark told him about his terrible past.

Although he led a productive life, served during the Second World War and returned to work as a postal worker for many years, his depression and sense of guilt never completely left him, Jerry Clark said.

"He kept saying to me, 'I should have done something,'" he said.

New Broadway Billy from North Bay, Ont.

A 14-year-old student from Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto will be making his Broadway debut as Billy Elliot.

Liam Redhead of North Bay, Ont., is one of two young dancers who were announced for the lead role in the hit Broadway production on Thursday.

The other is Dayton Tavares, 13, who has played the character in the musical's Sydney and Melbourne casts.

Both Tavares and Redhead are expected to begin performances in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical in December, according to Playbill.

Billy Elliot the Musical, featuring music by Elton John, is the story of a miner's son who wants to dance, set amid Margaret Thatcher's battle to tame Britain's miners' unions.

Former Montrealer David Alvarez is one of the boys who debuted the role on Broadway and won a Tony Award for his performance. Alvarez continues to dance in the role.

There are four boys prepped for the demanding job of playing Billy, which involves being on stage for most of the performance.

One of the Billys, Tommy Batchelor, is leaving the Broadway production to play Billy in Chicago.

Cesar Corrales, also a student at the National Ballet School, is also to play Billy in the upcoming Chicago production.