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Is Obama going to repeat the fiasco of his last minute Olympic appeal with a similar attempt in Copenhagen to put climate negotiations "over the top?" Indeed, the White House reasoning is eerily similar as Dan Reihl points out in this post: "Obama continues to think this is all about him, somehow. Will he never learn? And he continues to believe that, all things considered, the American people are going to be fine with more of our tax dollars flowing overseas to bring this charade about? Obama has set himself on course for the most tragically failed presidency in recent...

Copenhagen climate change summit to produce as much CO2 as an African country By David Derbyshire Last updated at 2:04 AM on 07th December 2009 It is being hyped as the summit that will save the planet. But, according to critics, next week's climate change talks in Copenhagen are more likely to cost the earth. Researchers yesterday estimated that the bill for the 12-day jamboree will top £130million – and will generate as much greenhouse gas as an entire African country. More than 15,000 delegates and 45,000 green activists are due to descend on the Danish capital over the next...

Global warming culture has arrived. A motocross event through local forests and city streets and a fashion "summit" are among the myriad side events scheduled for the United Nations' Climate Change Conference 2009, which begins Monday. There's also a new Copenhagen cocktail for delegates perhaps weary of heavy discussion.

The White House Jobs Summit was Thursday, and in case you have any hope for it actually helping produce real jobs, keep in mind two things.

President Obama said at a much-anticipated jobs summit Thursday that chronic unemployment isn't merely academic...

When he announced a White House jobs summit last month, Mr. Obama said he was determined to meet the "great challenge" of unemployment. And what a challenge it is: the unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent -- a 26-year high and rising. Eight million jobs have been eliminated so far in two years of recession. And yet it's hard to know exactly what will come from today's summit. Critics have complained it's more a glorified public-relations stunt and they may have a point. While a slew of the country's best and brightest executives, financiers, small business owners and labor leaders...

President Obama took time Thursday -- before jetting off to Asia for a 10-day tour -- to announce a December jobs summit aimed at synching job growth with the massive government spending meant to "break the back" of the recession. The announcement came as the Labor Department reported another 502,000 new jobless claims, two high-tech mainstays announced big layoffs and the unemployment rate reached 10.2 percent. Obama said the White House forum will gather CEOs, small business owners, economists, financial experts and representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups "to talk about how we can work together to create jobs...

Report ignites speculation of possible inter-Korean summit SEOUL/PHNOM PENH, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- Officials of South and North Korea secretly met in Singapore to discuss a possible summit between their leaders, South Korea's state broadcaster KBS reported Thursday, quoting unidentified sources. However, Seoul's presidential office refused to give a definitive response when asked about the meeting. "There is nothing we can confirm as of now," a Cheong Wa Dae official accompanying President Lee Myung-bak on a trip to Cambodia told reporters. The KBS report suggested a ranking South Korean official recently visited Singapore for a meeting with Kim Yang-gon, Pyongyang's...

On October 2 and 3, Americans for Prosperity Foundation™ is hosting the Defending the American Dream™ Summit where Americans for Prosperity will sponsor a national Town Hall meeting at the Capitol – while Congress is actually in session – so your Senators and Representatives can hear directly from YOU! The Town Hall meeting on Friday afternoon, October 2 will take place on the Capitol steps and then we will go inside the Senate and House office buildings to visit YOUR Senators' offices along with your Congressman's office. Our goal is for these Senators to see a steady stream of grassroots...

The G20 comes to streets of Pittsburgh - 118 photos

Obama noted several steps have been taken to spur the U.S. economy, pointing to the stimulus package, efforts to unlock frozen credit markets and free more loans for people investing in homes, cars, education or financing small businesses. And he said other nations have been challenged to address underlying problems that caused a deep global recession. But Obama said his administration knows that "stopping the bleeding isn't nearly enough. We know we still have a lot to do here at home to build an economy that is producing good jobs for all those who are looking for work today. "And...

Here is video of Fox News' Reporter James Rosen being interrupted and told to stop broadcasting at the Values Voters Summit yesterday in Washington D.C. Rosen had just said a sister network had been told to stop broadcasting while speakers were speaking, and sure enough, a man came and told Rosen to stop while he was trying to give a report. Rosen told the man he and Fox News were trying to give the event exposure and that "you are interrupting my work." But the man persisted and Rosen threw it back to the Fox Anchor saying "I guess we...

In a sarcasm-laced letter, Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday brusquely rebuffed DFL legislative leaders' invitation to a summit meeting that would address the state's ongoing financial crisis. Late last month, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher invited former governors, speakers and majority leaders to a "Minnesota Leadership Summit." In Tuesday's letter to Pogemiller and Kelliher, Pawlenty declined the invitation. "The state already has a 'Minnesota Leadership Summit,'" he wrote. "It's called the legislative session and it lasts approximately five months."

About 100 people turned out this morning to protest at the National Clean Energy Summit. They waved flags and carried homemade signs denouncing everything from carbon cap and trade proposals to reform for the nation's health care policy to the presidency of Barack Obama in general. Read more.......... http://www.ask.com/bar?q=lvrj&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lvrj.com%2F

Personally, I believe what will drive North Korea-U.S. relations as well as with the other four parties from the six party framework, is how each party comes to accept the fact that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons. This stands in stark and direct conflict with the fact that the United States will never accept North Korea as a legitimate nuclear power along the lines that the U.S. has with India -- and rightly so. But, I do believe the U.S. would be content to see a steady-state where North Korea has nuclear weapons, but doesn't share/sell...

TOP TEN THINGS OVERHEARD AT THE BEER SUMMIT 10. “Can I tell you guys a secret? I have no idea what Cap & Trade is.” 9. “Why the non-alcoholic beer, Joe? If you get a little drunk, do you get reserved and coherent?” 8. “Quiet! Don’t say that with the cops around!”

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) take their places with junior G8 delegates for a family photo at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 9, 2009.

Ex-Topless Model To Host Leaders’ Partners At Berlusconi’s Summit By NICK PISA 04th July 2009 Not topless now: Mara Carfagna, Italy's Equal Opportunities Minister [Pic in URL] Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has solved the problem of not having a First Lady by his side for this week’s G8 Summit – a former topless model turned minister will look after the spouses of world leaders. Dark-haired former calendar girl Mara Carfagna, – now Italy’s Equal Opportunities Minister – will guide the partners of the prime ministers and presidents at the conference. The idea might put a smile on the face of...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009 – When four of the seven-member Team Denali, which included four wounded veterans, reached the top of Mount McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park, what should have been celebratory whoops and hollers was instead a quiet, tempered satisfaction, the team’s leaders said. Though the weather was perfect when Army Lt. Col. Marc Hoffmeister and Army Spc. Dave Shebib approached the highest point in North America, they enjoyed it without three of their team members. "The summit was almost anti-climactic to be honest," Hoffmeister said. "It was great, but it was bittersweet that we could only have...

A summit of Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani presidents was held in Tehran Sunday to discuss ways to promote regional security and combat terrorism and drug smuggling.

President Barack Obama wrapped up a summit with other leaders in the Western Hemisphere on Sunday the same way he began it: Pledging to reshape the image of the U.S. as an equal partner in addressing problems throughout the region. "I look forward to hearing more about how the United States can be an effective partner," Obama said before discussing the economic crisis, trade, security and immigration with leaders from Central American nations. At the Summit of the Americas on the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the president was hopeful that he'd boosted the image of the U.S....

PORT OF SPAIN, April 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Venezuela's anti-U.S. leader President Hugo Chavez shook hands on Friday at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, the Venezuelan government said. Photographs released by Venezuela's presidential office showed Chavez, a fierce adversary of Washington policies, smiling and clasping hands with Obama at the start of the summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders. (Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Eric Walsh)

PRAGUE (AFP) – Barack Obama flew into Prague on Saturday for a summit with EU leaders, making his first venture behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain on the third leg of his maiden European tour as US president. Obama will be using his visit to the Czech Republic -- current holder of the rotating EU presidency -- to deliver a keynote speech on nuclear proliferation, as the world awaits a threatened North Korean missile launch. Together with Poland, the Czech Republic is to host elements of a nuclear missile defence shield, initiated by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, that Russia regards...

LONDON – Concluding his first international summit, President Barack Obama hailed agreements at the emergency meeting of world powers Thursday as a "turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery." ... He spoke shortly after G-20 leaders pledged an additional $1.1 trillion in financing to the International Monetary Fund and other global institutions and declared a crackdown on tax havens and hedge funds. The leaders announced the creation of a supervisory body to flag problems in the global financial system — but did not satisfy calls from the U.S. and others for new stimulus measures.

Naomi Campbell, who has a criminal record in the United States, will be seated just a few yards from President Obama and the First Lady at a special Downing Street dinner for the G20 leaders. British model Naomi Campbell invited to Downing Street dinner with Michelle Obama. Photo: Getty Images The model is one of a dozen high powered women from the arts, business, fashion and sport who have been invited to tonight's banquet at 10 Downing Street which is being created by the television chef Jamie Oliver. In 2007 Miss Campbell was ordered to wear an orange jacket during...

LONDON – He talked nuclear threats with Russia's president and gave an iPod to the queen. And that was only the beginning. It was an eventful first day on the world stage for President Barack Obama, launching new arms control talks, placing China ties on fresh footing and calming fears about the ailing U.S. economy — seemingly everywhere, relaxed and smiling all the while. While wife Michelle attracted breathless attention with every stop, fashionable outfit and sip of tea. The new U.S. president, in London for Thursday's high-stakes global summit on the financial meltdown, seemed to be everywhere on Wednesday....

Oh to have been a fly on the wall during today's video conference between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama. Miffed at not meeting Obama in the flesh (despite several desperate attempts), Sarko finally got his half hour with his "friend" Barack, albeit via interpreters. You can just imagine the impulsively tactile Sarko trying to back slap Obama and knocking the video screen over. One popular radio impersonator, Nicolas Canteloup, imagined the call: "Hello Barack, this is Nicolas ... you know, Little Big Man. You know me, the husband of Carla Bruni, you know, the bombshell." Sarkozy had hoped his much-touted...

Health summit kicks off overhaul bidPosted: March 5, 2009 07:02 AM EST WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama launches his bid to overhaul health care Thursday with a White House summit on how to proceed. The summit of lawmakers, doctors and drug and insurance executives seeks to get the ball rolling. Obama's budget makes a $634 billion reform down payment. But in a sign of how tough it'll be getting agreement, the upper-income tax hikes and cuts in Medicare and Medicaid he wants to help pay for reform are drawing objections from Republicans and insurers. The president campaigned on a plan...

It's really that the Republican participants at Obama's "fiscal sustainability summit" all had nothing but gushing praise for the lip service paid to responsibility only days after passing the most irresponsible spending act in the history of mankind.

Barack Obama on Monday launched what he promised would be an enduring bipartisan process to bring down the fiscal deficits that have started to explode under his watch. Mr Obama, who called 130 lawmakers and members of think-tanks to the White House for what he described as a “fiscal sustainability summit”, added that by the end of his first term, he would halve the budget deficit he inherited from George W. Bush. He also promised to deliver a more transparent budget that would factor in the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, natural disasters and the likelihood that...

So much for keeping the special interests at bay. For all the talk about reforming government, the bulk of the guests at Monday's Fiscal Responsibility Summit are from groups with clear investments in the Obama administration. Aside from the 64 representatives from the Obama administration and Congress, a sampling of the 56 "community leaders and stakeholders" shows that no less than seven union chiefs, 10 organizations advancing racial and ethnic concerns, 10 progressive think tanks and advocacy groups, three universities, three health care associations and at least six interests groups for women, seniors, disabled and gay rights groups were in...

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – The world is entering an era of big government with only state muscle powerful enough to fight the economic crisis, top leaders signalled at the Davos summit. News of mass job losses and fears of social unrest and protectionism reverberated around the gloomy halls of the World Economic Forum. But the absence of any senior member of President Barack Obama's US administration in the Swiss resort and nationalist rumblings in Washington left doubts about how closely the major powers will take up the battle together. The "go-go years" are over, admitted HSBC chairman Stephen Green talking...

BEVERLY HILLS – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened his international climate change summit yesterday by upstaging himself with an even bigger political star – President-elect Barack Obama. Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose efforts to combat global warming in California have generated worldwide acclaim, wants to show that governments can balance environmental protection and economic growth. He hopes his summit will influence negotiations over a new climate treaty during a U.N. gathering in Poland next month. In a taped message to participants, Obama said his administration is committed to a cause that has all but languished at the federal level during the administration...

WASHINGTON – World leaders battling a dire and deepening economic crisis vowed Saturday to cooperate more closely, keep a sharper eye out for red-flag problems and give bigger roles to fast-rising nations — but kicked many hard details down the road for their next summit after President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Perhaps as important as the modest concrete steps they took, the leaders of the planet's richest nations — and some of the fastest-developing — made clear their recognition of the world's increasingly interconnected financial architecture and the responsibilities that go along with it. "There shall be no blind spots,"...

Friday evening, President Bush welcomed leaders from the G20 nations, along with the heads of key international organizations, to the White House for a working dinner on the eve of the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy. LINK Today, the President attended the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy at the National Museum Building in Washington, D.C. REMARKS The President delivered his Weekly Radio Address from Washington. In Focus: The Economy LINK

White House calls summit of world's key economies Gary Duncan, Economics Editor The White House yesterday called an emergency summit of the world's key economies for November 15 as fallout from the global financial crisis hit emerging market nations, causing havoc from Budapest to Buenos Aires. Stock markets around the world succumbed to a new wave of severe losses as the mayhem gripping emerging market countries, which had hoped to stay at least partly insulated from the financial convulsions, fuelled fear of global recession. Panicky investors failed to find any solace in signs that radical action by Western central banks...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What's a lame-duck U.S. president to do between Election Day and his successor's inauguration 77 days later? If you are George W. Bush, with the global financial system in its worst crisis since the Great Depression and allies clamoring for action, you host a summit of world leaders. He may not have the clout to achieve much at the gathering on November 15, 11 days after the election, and the new president-elect -- be it fellow Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama -- will certainly have plans of his own. But the meeting could give Bush,...

President George W. Bush offered to host a summit on the global financial crisis and met Saturday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was expected to press the US leader for a bold relaunching of the international financial system. "I look forward to hosting this meeting in the near future ... so we can insure that this crisis does not happen again," Bush said after he welcomed Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso here for talks on the economic crisis. Just before the scheduled three-hour meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he backed the idea of a...

President Bush, who is being pressed by European leaders to sign on to global financial market reform, will host a summit of nations in the near future to discuss the economic crisis that has shaken markets around the world, a senior administration official said Saturday. Word of the impending announcement came at Camp David where European leaders are lobbying Bush to hold a summit by year's end. The summit will focus on ideas to prevent a crisis from recurring and to preserve the free market system, said the Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement...

WASHINGTON — President Bush has agreed to host a summit of world leaders soon to discuss the global response to the financial crisis.

Bush to Call World Summit to Address Economic Crisis

WARSAW (AFP) – Ecologists raised the alarm Monday over global warming as environment ministers from more than 30 states met in Warsaw ahead of December's UN Climate summit focused on slashing greenhouse gases. "We're ringing alarm bells -- the UN summit in Poznan must deliver a deal that will keep global warming below two degrees Celsius to the end of this century," Kaisa Kosonen from the global environmental group Greenpeace told reporters. "Five years from now will be too late," she said as activists rang bells outside of the Warsaw hotel where ministers were gathered. "We are currently on a...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday proposed a pan-European summit to review a proposal to create a "reliable collective" security system in Europe. Saying that the existing architecture of European security "did not pass the strength test in recent events," referring to the Georgia conflict, he told the UN General Assembly that a "pan-European summit" should take "a comprehensive look at security problems." Lavrov did not say when or where this summit would be held but said its task would be to weigh a proposal made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Berlin last June...

Full text of joint statement of South Korea-U.S. summit SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- The following is the full text of a joint statement released after the summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President George W. Bush in Seoul on Wednesday. President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea and President George W. Bush of the United States of America held a summit meeting in Seoul on August 6, 2008. The two Presidents recalled that their first summit meeting at Camp David on April 19 was a milestone in the development of a ROK-U.S. strategic alliance for...

rising prices and a global shortage of provisions. But yesterday the Prime Minister and other world leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis. The dinner, and a six-course lunch, at the summit of leading industrialised nations on the island of Hokkaido, included delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S.

Why Saudi Arabia's King Wants to Dampen Oil Prices By Bernhard Zand Consumers aren't the only ones being hit by high oil prices. Now that the oil shock has reached producing countries, Saudi Arabia has called a crisis summit this weekend in an effort to find concerted solutions that could push barrel prices down. Others would be overjoyed to be earning a $1 billion a day, and to have good reason to expect that number to climb to $2 billion a day next year. But Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud seems less than thrilled these days, and the newly tense atmosphere...

McCain Delivers Remarks at the National Small Business SummitCQ Transcriptswire Tuesday, June 10, 2008; 12:50 PM **SNIP** If that authority is entrusted to me, I will use the veto as needed. I will veto every single beer -- bill with earmarks.

Summit to combat fuel poverty a 'disaster', campaigners sayMiles Brignall The Guardian Thursday April 24 2008 One of Britain's biggest charities has condemned yesterday's energy industry summit as a "disaster" for the 4.5m households living in fuel poverty. Mervyn Kohler, special adviser to Help the Aged, described the lack of concrete measures to come out of the summit as a slap in the face to the poorest consumers - those who are forced to spend at least 10% of their income to heat and light their home. Seven government ministers and representatives from each of the big power companies attended...