U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (centre L) looks on as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks to the media, following their meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is pictured following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks to the media, following his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (L) speaks to the media, beside Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), following their meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (L) looks on as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks to the media, following their meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks to the media following his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013. Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) 

A petitioner, who claims that her house was forcibly demolished and her husband beaten up during the demolition, shows pictures as evidence as she talks to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau For Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) 

A petitioner, who claims that her house was forcibly demolished and her husband beaten up during the demolition, shows pictures as evidence as she talks to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau For Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) 

Jiang Dianlin (C) from Nanyang city cries as he shows his petitioning paper to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau for Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY HEALTH) 

Petitioners take a rest in an underway passage as they wait to enter the State Bureau for Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS) 

A man cries as he shows his petitioning paper to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau for Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS) 

A woman shows petitioning papers bearing petitioners' thumbprints to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau For Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China, in Beijing July 23, 2013. Petitioning the central government - part protest, part entreaty - is seen by many as the only chance of redress in a country where law courts can be manipulated by the very officials responsible for injustices. Only a tiny minority solve their problems through petitions, according to many studies, but some people still fight on, sometimes for years, abandoning families and livelihoods. Picture taken July 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (CHINA - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS) 

A woman walks past a man standing outside a closed door of the Church of Our Virgin of Charity in Havana March 14, 2012. Cuban dissidents occupied the Roman Catholic church in Havana on Wednesday in what a Church spokesman said was part of a broader orchestrated action to get Pope Benedict to press for change when he visits later this month. Thirteen men and women who said they were members of obscure political parties went into the church on Tuesday and refused entreaties from Church officials to leave, according to a statement from the archbishop's office in Havana. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA- Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) 

People walk near the Church of Our Virgin of Charity in Havana March 14, 2012. Cuban dissidents occupied the Roman Catholic church in Havana on Wednesday in what a Church spokesman said was part of a broader orchestrated action to get Pope Benedict to press for change when he visits later this month. Thirteen men and women who said they were members of obscure political parties went into the church on Tuesday and refused entreaties from Church officials to leave, according to a statement from the archbishop's office in Havana. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA- Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) 

People walk near the Church of Our Virgin of Charity in Havana March 14, 2012. Cuban dissidents occupied the Roman Catholic church in Havana on Wednesday in what a Church spokesman said was part of a broader orchestrated action to get Pope Benedict to press for change when he visits later this month. Thirteen men and women who said they were members of obscure political parties went into the church on Tuesday and refused entreaties from Church officials to leave, according to a statement from the archbishop's office in Havana. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA- Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) 

A woman walks beside a closed door at the Church of Our Virgin of Charity in Havana March 14, 2012. Cuban dissidents occupied the Roman Catholic church in Havana on Wednesday in what a Church spokesman said was part of a broader orchestrated action to get Pope Benedict to press for change when he visits later this month. Thirteen men and women who said they were members of obscure political parties went into the church on Tuesday and refused entreaties from Church officials to leave, according to a statement from the archbishop's office in Havana. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA- Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) 

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas stands in the living room of his home in Santa Clara in this March 5, 2010 file photo. Cuba warned on July 3, 2010 that dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas was in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck and may have reached the limits of medical treatment after more than four months without food. He has rejected entreaties that he eat to save his life and will not be force fed, because medical ethics forbid it, said his lead doctor, Armando Caballero, in an interview in Granma, the newspaper of Cuba's ruling Communist Party. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) 

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas sits at home in Santa Clara in this March 5, 2010 file photo. Cuba warned on July 3, 2010 that dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas was in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck and may have reached the limits of medical treatment after more than four months without food. He has rejected entreaties that he eat to save his life and will not be force fed, because medical ethics forbid it, said his lead doctor, Armando Caballero, in an interview in Granma, the newspaper of Cuba's ruling Communist Party. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan/Files (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) 

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas sits at home in Santa Clara in this March 5, 2010 file photo. Cuba warned on July 3, 2010 that dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas was in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck and may have reached the limits of medical treatment after more than four months without food. He has rejected entreaties that he eat to save his life and will not be force fed, because medical ethics forbid it, said his lead doctor, Armando Caballero, in an interview in Granma, the newspaper of Cuba's ruling Communist Party. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan/Files (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) 

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas sits at his home in Santa Clara in this March 4, 2010 file photo. Cuba warned on July 3, 2010 that dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas was in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck and may have reached the limits of medical treatment after more than four months without food. He has rejected entreaties that he eat to save his life and will not be force fed, because medical ethics forbid it, said his lead doctor, Armando Caballero, in an interview in Granma, the newspaper of Cuba's ruling Communist Party. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan/Files (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) 

U.S. President George W. Bush smiles during a European Union-United States joint press conference in Gothenburg, June 14, 2001. [ Bush gave his final thumbs-down on Thursday to the Kyoto climate treaty, ignoring entreaties by European leaders to throw America's weight behind the landmark agreement.] 

U.S. President George W. Bush smiles during a European Union-United States joint press conference in Gothenburg, June 14, 2001. Bush gave his final thumbs-down on Thursday to the Kyoto climate treaty, ignoring entreaties by European leaders to throw America's weight behind the landmark agreement..

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