Obama, Wen Meet, Report 'Progress'

The two men who hold the fate of the Copenhagen climate talks in their hands met face-to-face for nearly an hour today. President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao discussed a possible accord, with the White House saying only that they "made progress." Earlier, Obama declared that the US would not accept the "hollow victory" of any agreement that did not include the monitoring of emissions, something China has balked at.

Today is the final day of the summit, and world leaders still seem far apart on other fundamental decisions such as how much to cut emissions, reports the Wall Street Journal. "These discussions have taken place for two decades, and we have very little to show for it other than an increase and an acceleration in the climate-change phenomenon," said Obama in his speech.
(More Copenhagen climate change conference stories.)