Agence France-Presse: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Brazil Thursday for a one-day meeting on climate change and Amazon forest conservation, hailed new US and Chinese proposals on combating global warming as “extremely encouraging.” At a press conference, Sarkozy praised US President Barack Obama’s “courage” for setting goals that would reduce US carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020, while also offering positive words for China’s proposed moves to reduce carbon emissions. “The latest …