"World leaders launched an ambitious attempt on Monday to hold back rising temperatures, with the United States and China leading calls for the climate summit in Paris to mark a decisive turn in the fight against global warming."

"LE BOURGET, France — From deserts encroaching on African farmland to rising sea levels shrinking islands of the South Pacific, leaders of poor nations most affected by climate change shared their stories of global warming with leaders of some of the richest on Tuesday."

"As the Paris climate change summit kicks off, China, the world’s leading carbon-emitting country, is choked in pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said Sunday that heavy smog had covered China’s north, including Beijing, for three days in a row."

"In recent remarks Robert E. Murray, the chief executive officer of Murray Energy, the largest privately held coal mining company in America, enthusiastically praised Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, for leading an investigation into prominent climate scientists and environmental officials."

"Some 180 countries have already presented plans to cut or rein in their climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. That's a huge step forward for the U.N. climate talks but a host of difficult issues remain to be resolved before a new climate agreement can be adopted in Paris."

"France has put 24 green activists under house arrest ahead of the United Nations climate talks, using emergency laws put in place following the Paris shootings, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Saturday."

"Getting the world’s governments to reach a global agreement at the United Nations’ climate conference in Paris is going to require careful politics, but the effort may be up against an even tougher challenge: mathematics."

"This time, it's a hotter, waterier, wilder Earth that world leaders are trying to save."

"As world leaders converge on Paris for historic climate talks, a coalition of governments and private investors is preparing to launch major research initiatives that seek to pour billions of dollars into an urgent search for solutions to global warming."