Obama makes 2016 Olympics sales pitch for Chicago

President Obama urged the International Olympic Committee on Friday to pick his hometown of Chicago as the host of the 2016 Games, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit. Obama’s address to the 106 IOC members gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was the highlight of the Chicago bid committee’s final presentation before the vote to choose the host city.

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Obama’s high-stakes Olympic gamble

If there was any question about whether President Obama would do anything to bring the Olympics to Chicago in 2016, he’s put those doubts to rest. He and first lady Michelle Obama have embarked on an unprecedented joint diplomatic mission to beat out Madrid, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Summer Games

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Michelle Obama vows to strike Olympic gold for Chicago

First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to “take no prisoners” as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. “It’s a battle — we’re going to win — take no prisoners,” the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.

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Obama warns global recession makes climate change fight harder

President Obama warned Tuesday that the global economic recession could hinder the ability of countries to take necessary steps to combat climate change. “We seek sweeping but necessary change in the midst of a global recession, where every nation’s most immediate priority is reviving their economy and putting their people back to work,” Obama told a U.N

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Report: Climate change crisis ‘catastrophic’

The first comprehensive report into the human cost of climate change warns the world is in the throes of a "silent crisis" that is killing 300,000 people each year. More than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth and that number is set to double by 2030, the report from the Global Humanitarian Forum warns. “Climate change is the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time, causing suffering to hundreds of millions of people worldwide,” said the forum’s president, former U.N.

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World faces ‘irreversible’ climate change, researchers warn

The world is facing an increasing risk of "irreversible" climate shifts because worst-case scenarios warned of two years ago are being realized, an international panel of scientists has warned. Temperatures, sea levels, acid levels in oceans and ice sheets were already moving “beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived,” scientists said in a report released Thursday. The findings came at the end of a three-day conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where nearly 2,000 researchers gathered to discuss climate change.

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