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(Recast) Obama blasts Republicans for denying global warming

Xinhua, December 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday intensified his criticism of Republicans for refusing to admit global warming is occurring,

"Keep in mind that right now, the American Republican Party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change," Obama said at the year-end press conference. "I mean, it's an outlier."

"Even the far right parties in many of these countries ... may not like immigrants for example, but they admit, yes, the science tells us that we have to do something about climate change," Obama said.

Obama, a Democrat, intends to cement his climate legacy before leaving office in 2016, but he has acted mostly through executive power, including his push for emission cuts from power plants.

The Republicans who control the U.S. Congress, however, denied the reality of climate change and claimed that Obama's climate policies may produce significant damage to the American economy.

Such intense opposition sowed doubts about whether the U.S. will honor its climate promises in the future, if Obama is succeeded by a Republican in 2016. Enditem