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PARIS (AP) — President Barack Obama said Tuesday that parts of the global warming deal being negotiated in Paris should be legally binding on the participating countries, setting up a potential fight with Republicans at home.

Obama’s stand won praise at the U.N. climate conference from those who want a strong agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. But it could rile conservatives in Washington, especially if he tries to put the deal into effect without seeking congressional approval.

The Obama administration has pledged during the international talks to reduce U.S. emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025. But inscribing the emissions target in the Paris deal would probably require Obama to submit the pact to Congress, where it would be unlikely to win ratification. Many Republicans doubt global warming is real or fear that stringent pollution controls could kill jobs.

So the administration is looking to keep the targets out while including binding procedures on when and how countries should review their targets and raise them if possible.

“Although the targets themselves may not have the force of treaties, the process, the procedures that ensure transparency and periodic reviews, that needs to be legally binding,” Obama said in Paris, “and that’s going to be critical.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and a fierce critic of Obama’s policies, fired back immediately.

“The U.S. Senate will not be ignored. If the president wishes to sign the American people up to a legally binding agreement, the deal must go through the Senate,” he said in a statement. “There is no way around it.”

The White House previously said parts of the deal should be legally binding, but this is the first time Obama has said it himself and spelled out which ones.

Obama’s comments brought relief to the French hosts of the conference, who were worried about whether the U.S. wanted a binding deal at all after Secretary of State John Kerry told The Financial Times that the agreement was “definitely not going to be a treaty” and that there was “not going to be legally binding reduction targets.”

“The fact that the United States of America could commit to a binding agreement whilst before there was a doubt because of Congress, is really extraordinary news that comes at a good time,” French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders have warned other countries not to trust any deal Obama may strike. Other GOP politicians are working to nullify Obama’s emissions-cutting steps at home.

The Republican-led House was scheduled to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether to strike down federal rules reducing carbon emissions from power plants.

At a news conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan was asked whether Congress was out of step with public opinion on climate change.

“I don’t think we’re out of step with public opinion wanting jobs, wanting economic growth, weighing the costs and the benefits,” Ryan said. “I think when you weigh the costs and the benefits against these so-called legally binding obligations, they don’t add up. I think it’s very clear people want jobs.”

At the Paris talks, the European Union has called for a legally binding agreement with emissions targets, but observers said it is likely to drop that demand over the next two weeks of negotiations to make sure the U.S. can join the deal.

“I think at end of the day everyone knows that for the U.S. to be part of this, it can’t have the emissions target itself legally embedded in the treaty,” said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Nigel Purvis, a former U.S. climate negotiator and president of the non-governmental organization Climate Advisers, said Obama has all the legal authority he needs to enter an agreement where only some elements are binding.

Obama on Tuesday also announced a U.S. contribution of $30 million to help make insurance against climate-related damage available in the Pacific, Central America and Africa.

Earlier in the day, the president met with leaders of small island nations who fear their countries will be swallowed up by rising seas. The Hawaii-born Obama said he understands the beauty and fragility of island life and called their populations “among the most vulnerable to the ravages of climate change.”

Meanwhile, French President Hollande heard from 12 African leaders who described the Sahara Desert encroaching on farmland, forests disappearing from Congo to Madagascar and rising sea levels swallowing homes in West African river deltas. Hollande said France will invest billions of euros in the coming years for renewable energy in Africa and to increase Africans’ access to electricity.

“The world, and in particular the developed world, owes the African continent an environmental debt,” he said.

African leaders also stressed the need to do something about the Lake Chad region, where the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has been carrying out bloody attacks. The lake, surrounded by Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, has shrunk as much as 90 percent since 1960, changing the lives of farmers, fishermen and herders. Some say the increasing desperation is driving people into the extremists’ ranks.

The talks, which run through Dec. 11, are aimed at a broader, tougher replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. That treaty required only rich countries to cut their emissions, while this time the goal is for everyone to pitch in.

After protesters clashed with police earlier this week, Paris police on Tuesday extended a ban on public demonstrations around the climate conference until it is over.

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Nancy Benac, Angela Charlton, Greg Keller, and Seth Borenstein in Le Bourget contributed to this report.

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San Francisco (AFP) – Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced he had become a father — and pledged to give away his fortune to make the world a “better place” for baby daughter Max and others.

In a letter to Max posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and his wife said they were going to give away 99 percent of their company shares — with an estimated value of $45 billion — in an effort to make a happy and healthy world for her and all children.

“Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can’t wait to see what you bring to this world,” the letter said.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — South Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park has agreed to a $12 million, four-year contract with the Minnesota Twins.

The 29-year-old, who also is a designated hitter, gets $2.75 million in each of the next two seasons and $3 million each in 2018 and ’19. The Twins have a $6.5 million option for 2020 with a $500,000 buyout.

On Nov. 9, Minnesota won the right to negotiate with Park for 30 days by placing a high bid of $12.85 million after he was posted by the Nexen Heroes under Major League Baseball’s agreement with the Korea Baseball Organization. The money was due only if Park signed with the Twins.

Park hit .343 with 53 homers and 146 RBIs this year. He has a .281 average and 210 homers in parts of nine seasons in Korea.

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OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso took a step toward strengthening its democracy with the election on Tuesday of Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who will become the West African country’s second elected civilian president since it became independent from France in 1960.

Hundreds of Kabore’s supporters chanted “Presi, Presi” after preliminary results released Tuesday gave him an outright win with more than 53 percent of the vote. They cheered inside the Movement of the People for Progress party’s headquarters, where celebrations continued Tuesday, as streets remained calm with a thick layer of dust because of West Africa’s harmattan winds.

The election of Kabore, a former prime minister, is significant for Burkina Faso, because the country has been wracked by coups and nearly 30 years under a military ruler. It also marks a step forward in Africa’s sputtering drive toward democracy.

Kabore, who will replace a transitional government, dedicated his victory to those who died in the popular uprising that overthrew President Blaise Compaore last year and during resistance to a failed military coup in September.

“To all the victims of the tumultuous history of our country, the nation is grateful,” Kabore said.

More than 30 people were killed in the 2014 uprisings that led to a transitional government and more than 14 died resisting the week-long coup in September by Compaore’s former presidential guard.

“We owe to their sacrifice the opportunity to restore the constitutional order … for the promotion of democracy, national reconciliation, social cohesion, freedom, and justice for all,” he said.

Kabore, 58, was the prime minister and speaker of parliament under Compaore. In January 2014, Kabore and others broke with Compaore, who had taken power in a bloody coup in 1987, to oppose his effort to extend his rule.

The campaign was marked with the theme “change” by nearly all 14 candidates. A new electoral code barred Compaore’s party candidate from running, however the party could still also take many legislative seats.

“The Burkina Faso people have assumed its responsibility and have held elections they are proud of,” said Guy Herve Kam, leader of the civil society organization Balai Citoyen, which spearheaded the insurrection that ousted Compaore.

Six coups have highlighted the military’s dominance of Burkina Faso’s politics.

Sunday’s election is considered by many experts to be the most free because there was no incumbent candidate or ruling party to unfairly influence the results. Sixty percent of 5.5 million registered voters cast ballots, the electoral commission said.

“This election is a massive victory for all of those people who were involved in this much longer and wider struggle for change, and it could be seen as massively successful,” said Maggie Dwyer, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Center for African Studies. She said that these elections are the result of a much longer struggle by the people.

The West African nation’s civil society, active for decades, has played an important role in politics, she said.

Burkina Faso’s people have shown great maturity in the face of crisis, standing up against the change of a constitution, a coup d’etat and not letting ethnic or religious differences get in the way, said Philippe Hugon, Africa analyst for the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

“It’s an example to follow, but hasn’t exactly been followed,” he said. Countries like Burundi, Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo all have leaders who have tried to make changes to their constitutions, or are planning to do so, to extend their time in power.

Kabore has the experience needed to lead Burkina Faso, said Hugon.

“He’s capable of finding a political equilibrium,” if he guides the country toward reconciliation and not exclusion, Hugon said.

“The question of the economy is very important for Kabore since Burkina Faso is a very poor country,” Hugon said, adding that finding employment opportunities for the youth will be vital.

Youths make up 60 percent of the 17 million citizens and have among the lowest literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank.

The government must also work on guaranteeing the security of their citizens by fighting a growing extremist movement that is pushing across its borders, Hugon said.

Burkina Faso has faced recent attacks at its border with Mali and has beefed up security following intelligence that jihadists are seeking refuge in the country after being tracked down in Mali and Niger.

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Kobe Bryant just announced that this will be his last season as an NBA player.

The famous basketballer has been playing for the LA Lakers since 1996, and has had an epic and lengthy career.

However, one game in particular stands out as his most iconic.

In 2006, he torched the Toronto Raptors for 81 points, making 28 shots that included seven three-pointers.

It is the second-most points ever scored in a game.

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Stocks had their best day in about two weeks on Tuesday, as the S&P 500 crossed above 2,100, after we got some ugly data on American manufacturing.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 17,891.76, +171.84, (0.97%)
• S&P 500: 2,102.86, +22.45, (1.08%)
• Nasdaq: 5,155.64, +46.98, (0.92%)

And now, Tuesday’s top stories:

1. American manufacturing is in recession. The Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell into contractionary territory in November for the first time since June 2009, to 48.6 (50.5 expected). And, Markit’s purchasing manager’s index was 52.8, the lowest level in 25 months. These numbers confirmed that the strong dollar, weak global demand, and cuts in energy-sector capital spending were still hurting the manufacturing sector.  
2. But economists quickly pointed out that manufacturing makes up just about 12% of the economy, and the other 88% is doing much better. “This is beginning to look very much like a repeat of the second half of the 1990s, when a sharp rise in the dollar also pushed the ISM manufacturing index well below the 50 mark on more than one occasion, yet headline GDP growth remained unusually strong,” wrote Capital Economics’ Steve Murphy to clients. 
3. Meanwhile, construction spending surged to an eight-year high in October. Spending rose 1% to a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.11 trillion, the highest since December 2007. It was a 10th straight month of gains that was boosted by robust private spending, which touched the highest level since January 2008.
4. Volkswagen America sales plunged 24.7% in November. The big automakers reported sales throughout the day, and VW reported the biggest decline. The company halted sales of vehicles with the types of diesel engines that were found to have emissions-cheating software installed. And in the fallout, analysts are keenly watching for the impact on sales. Year-on-year sales are down just 4.3%.
5. Societe Generale has marked its calendar for the end of the bull market: 2017. In its year-ahead outlook, the firm’s strategists said next year will be good for stocks, but the top isn’t far off after that. “We expect the global equity market to deliver a good performance in 2016, despite some volatility on the first Fed rate hikes, with an end to the bull market in H2 2017 ahead of the business cycle peak forecast for H2 2018,” SocGen wrote to clients. 
6. Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services company, will cut more jobs in 2016. In a regulatory filing, the company said it would take a $350 million pre-tax restructuring charge in Q4 related to the layoffs, and didn’t specify how many they would be. The company has laid off up to 20,000 workers this year to cope with low oil prices. In its third-quarter earnings statement, the company said it was positioning for a delayed oil recovery.

DON’T MISS: The world’s ‘economic canary in the coal mine’ offers no reason for optimism »

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Prompted by legendary businessman Andrew Carnegie, who turned a few nickels and dimes into a fortune, journalist Napoleon Hill researched more than 500 self-made millionaires over 20 years before releasing his 1937 best-seller “Think and Grow Rich.”

In addition to boiling down the “secret” to building wealth in 13 principles, he revealed 30 “major causes of failure” that hold many of us back from getting rich.

Here are 17 that are still relevant today.

SEE ALSO: 11 short books to read if you want to get rich

Not having a well-defined purpose.

“There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal, at which to aim,” Hill writes.

If you’re looking to build wealth, start with visualizing a savings goal with a specific price tag. Then form a financial plan and determine exactly where you want your money to go.

Lack of ambition.

You have to want to aim above mediocrity, Hill says: “We offer no hope for the person who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to pay the price.”

Wealth doesn’t simply appear. You have to work toward it with patience and persistence. A good starting point is to invest your money (the earlier the better), and let the power of compound interest build your wealth. It doesn’t take much time or effort, but it does require action on your part.

Not properly applying your education.

A college degree won’t cut it. Knowledge is only potential power, and it will not become useful or lead to great wealth unless it is organized and applied to life, Hill emphasizes:

“Education consists not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied. Men are paid not merely for what they know, but more particularly for what they do with that which they know.”

Don’t settle with your degree. Make it a priority to constantly learn new things and challenge your mind. There’s a reason that many of today’s successful and wealthy people are voracious readers.

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The nation’s biggest pharmacy benefits manager is muscling back into the debate over soaring drug costs by promoting a less-expensive alternative to a life-saving medicine with a list price of $750 per pill.

Express Scripts Holding Co. said Tuesday that it will make a treatment for the rare infection toxoplasmosis that costs $1 per pill available on its biggest formulary, or list of covered drugs.

Daraprim, the drug that costs $750 per pill, comes from Turing Pharmaceuticals, which stirred outrage among doctors, patients and politicians when it bought rights to the pill earlier this year and then jacked up the price. The 62-year-old drug had been priced at $13.50 per pill before that.

Other drugmakers have also recently purchased the rights to old, cheap medicines that are the only treatment for serious diseases and then hiked prices. The cost of some newer medications has raised questions as well, and drug prices consistently rank among the top public concerns, according to opinion polls.

Express Scripts announced its decision the same day a bipartisan report from the Senate Finance Committee concluded that Gilead Sciences put profit ahead of patients in pricing its breakthrough hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi at $1,000 per pill.

The Express Scripts decision means that a cheaper alternative to Daraprim created by Imprimis Pharmaceuticals will now be available to about 25 million customers through its formulary. What those customers pay will depend on their insurance coverage. That could mean prescriptions that come with a co-payment as low as $10 or $20 for the whole bottle of pills.

Express Scripts manages pharmacy benefits for customers like insurers and employers. It makes recommendations on drug coverage, and those customers can then customize the guidelines.

Leaders of the HIV Medicine Association and The Infectious Diseases Society of America said in an email that they are urging other pharmacy benefits managers and health insurers to make the Imprimis option available as well. They noted that care providers have faced “significant challenges” in obtaining the treatment for patients since Turing raised the price in August.

A Turing representative said in an email that the company is “committed to ensuring access to patients who need Daraprim and has implemented a number of patient assistance programs” that can limit out-of-pocket payment to $10 per prescription. The company also said it supplies state-based AIDS drug assistance programs at a price of $1 per 100-count bottles.

Kathie Hiers, CEO of AIDS Alabama, said that’s the rate assistance programs in her state pay for Daraprim. Her nonprofit organization helps patients with HIV and AIDs obtain treatment, medication and other services.

“Those high prices that they’re charging for that medication is really for the commercial payers, basically,” she said.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that mainly threatens people with weak immune systems, such as HIV and organ transplant patients, and pregnant women, because it can kill their baby. Express Scripts says only a few hundred of its customers were treated last year for the infection, but the company is always looking to remove wasteful spending from the health care system.

“We believe we now have a safe, high-quality and extremely cost-effective way to provide access to a Daraprim alternative,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Miller said in a statement from the company.

Imprimis, a 3 ½-year-old drug-compounding firm based in San Diego, had said in October that it will supply capsules containing the ingredients pyrimethamine and leucovorin as an alternative to Daraprim.

Mass-produced drugs must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Imprimis, like other compounding pharmacies, instead makes up individual prescriptions using drug ingredients already approved. In this case, that involves combining pyrimethamine, Daraprim’s active ingredient, with leucovorin to limit pyrimethamine’s side effects.

Express Scripts and Imprimis said Tuesday that prescriptions for the Imprimis compound will be processed starting later this week.

Express Scripts, which manages prescription drug benefits for about 85 million people, has long been a vocal critic of rising drug prices.

Last year, the St. Louis company threw its weight into the debate over those hepatitis C drugs by choosing AbbVie Inc.’s Viekira Pak as its preferred treatment for patients with the most common form of the condition over alternatives like Sovaldi. That exclusive deal brought Express Scripts a huge price discount.

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AP Business Writer Linda A. Johnson contributed to this report from Trenton, New Jersey. Murphy reported from Indianapolis.

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Tiger Woods painted a bleak picture Tuesday on when he can return to golf or even get back to doing anything more than just walking.

Woods had two back surgeries in a span of 18 months followed by what he described only as another “procedure” in the same area last month. He has not started rehabilitation and does not know when his back will allow for that.

“The hardest part for me is there’s really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build toward,” Woods said. “It’s just taking it literally just day by day and week by week and time by time.”

Woods is at the Hero World Challenge as the tournament host, not one of the 18 players at Albany Golf Club. The only time he touched a club was to pose for a photo, and he leaned on it while talking to Justin Rose and Zach Johnson on the putting green.

A month away from turning 40, the smile did come as easily for Woods.

He has not competed since Aug. 23 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he attracted record crowds in his first appearance and played his best golf of a bad year. He went into the final round two shots behind and tied for 10th.

He didn’t realize that would be his last event of the year, and last tournament for longer than he knows.

“Was it a surprise? Yeah,” Woods said. “Because as I was alluding to that week and subsequent weeks, I felt my hip was killing me and I didn’t think it was coming from my back. We worked out in the trailer each and every day and just tried to loosen up my hip. And OK, fine, we went out and played. But I didn’t feel any back discomfort.

“Come to find out it wasn’t my hip, it was coming from my back.”

He had another microdiscectomy Sept. 16 and then he revealed Oct. 30 another “procedure,” which he said was in the same spot. Asked the degree to which he can function, Woods said, “I walk. I walk and I walk some more.”

Woods, who has spent 683 weeks at No. 1 in the world ranking, is now at No. 400, his lowest as a professional. He has not won since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2013, when he was the PGA Tour player of the year.

And now he can’t even begin to imagine when he might play again.

“I have no answer for that, and neither does my surgeon or my physios,” he said. “There is no timetable.”

Woods said this was different from his four knee surgeries, even the worst one in 2008 after he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines for his 14th major. He had a reconstruction of his left knee and was told it would be about nine months before he could get back. Woods returned eight months later and won in his third start.

“For nerves, there are really no timetables and therein lies the tricky part of it because you can come back earlier or you can come back later. It just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles,” he said.

Would he be surprised if he was nothing more than a host at the Hero World Challenge a year from now? He couldn’t answer it.

“So where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t know, so that’s been hard,” Woods said. “I had to reset the clock each and every day and OK, here we go. This is a new day and this is taken for what it is. I listen to my surgeon. I listen to my physios and we just take it day by day. Hopefully, the day-by-day adds up to something positive here soon.”

He agreed to be a vice captain under Davis Love III at the Ryder Cup next year, though Woods still wants to play in the matches. He says it has been two months since he hit a golf ball — “a chip shot left handed” — and that he passes most his time playing video games.

Woods said he wants to play again and that anything he accomplishes the rest of his career “will be gravy.”

But he sounded at peace with what he already has done — 79 career victories on the PGA Tour (second only to the 82 by Sam Snead), 14 majors (second to 18 by Jack Nicklaus), PGA Tour player of the year a record 11 times.

“I’ve had a pretty good career for my 20s and 30s,” he said. “For my 20 years out here, I think I’ve achieved a lot, and if that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it. I’m hoping that I can get back out here and compete against these guys. I really do miss it.”

The first step? Getting healthy enough to play soccer with his two children.

“If I can get to that, then we can start talking about golf,” he said. “But let me get to where I can pass the time and really be a part of my kids’ life in the way that I want to be part of it physically, not just as a cheerleader.”

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The number of adults diagnosed with diabetes is finally decreasing in the US.

Just 10 years ago, Mary Bassett, now the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health, warned that “the prevalence of diabetes is rising at an alarming rate.” In 2009, the number of diagnosed cases hit a record high of 1.73 million people aged 18-79.

But that number has since decreased to 1.4 million, according to new data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dec. 1.

Here’s the full chart showing adults diagnosed with diabetes since 1980, with a clear downward trend after 2009:

It’s not yet clear why this drop has occurred. But obesity has leveled off among adults, and Americans are eating less fast food and drinking less soda.

There are also many more medications available today that can help people manage Type 2 diabetes, which may be contributing to the significant decrease in cases. (Medication can’t treat Type 1 diabetes, which has to be managed with constant blood sugar monitoring and insulin injections).

The authors of the CDC report note that the official numbers counting people with diabetes could be low, since about one in four people who have diabetes haven’t actually been diagnosed with the disease.

Dr. David M. Nathan, the director of the Diabetes Center and Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told The New York Times that “it’s not yet time to have a parade.” The more than 1 million adults with diabetes make it clear that we still have a ways to go to get healthier as a nation.

But we have to start somewhere.

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