CNN

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is engaged! Chelsea Clinton will marry longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, the son of former Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. We’ve put together a photo gallery of Chelsea through the years. Enjoy!

1992 – Dem. presidential cand. Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea at airport, seeing off her dad.

1993 – U.S. President Bill Clinton (L) and his daughter Chelsea (R) are accompanied by security personnel as they walk back to the White House after shopping at a dowtown book store.

1993 – Chelsea Clinton concentrates on a ball during soccer practice in Washington, DC.

1995 – Chelsea Clinton taking guided camel ride, framed by pyramid during sightseeing jaunt while on refueling stop in Cairo, accompanying her US First Lady mother on Asia goodwill tour.

1999 – Chelsea Clinton looks on with an unidentified friend from Stanford University at America's Millennium Opening Ceremony in Washington, DC.

2004 – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton smiles during the official opening ceremony of the Clinton Presidential Library November 18, 2004 in Little Rock, Arkansas. An estimated 30,000 spectators gathered on the grounds of the library to view the dedication of the $165 million facility.

2008 – Chelsea Clinton speaks at a rally in support of her mother, Hillary Clinton, in Clinton, North Carolina.

2009 – Chelsea Clinton attends the 3rd Annual DKMS Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

Chelsea Clinton is engaged.

CNN

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is engaged, a spokesman for the former president confirms to CNN.

Chelsea Clinton will marry longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, said the spokesman, who added that reports earlier this summer about the engagement and wedding had been "completely false."

The couple sent a message to friends and famiy announcing the decision. "We're sorry for the mass email but we wanted to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving! We also wanted to share that we are engaged! We didn't get married this past summer despite the stories to the contrary, but we are looking toward next summer and hope you all will be there to celebrate with us. Happy Holidays! Chelsea & Marc"

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for Anderson's interview with Bill Clinton on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Photos by Chuck Hadad
AC360° Producer

Former President Clinton took a break from his annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City to sit down with Anderson Cooper. Watch the interview tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Program Note: Tune in tonight for more of Anderson’s interview with Former President Bill Clinton. AC360° 10 p.m. ET.

Former President Bill Clinton.

Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

Anderson Cooper: You are focusing this year on women and girls and you are saying it’s not only a social issues but it’s also a business issue.

Bill Clinton: Absolutely, if you look in developing countries, there is a huge disconnect between work women do and the money they earn and the wealth they have. In general, women do two thirds of the work, earn ten percent of the income and own one percent of the property.

Bill Clinton: The more you put the girls of the world in school and give the young women access to the labor market, and then involve them in the business and political life of the country, the more stable the society is going to be, the more prosperous the society is going to be. And the less human trafficking you are going to have. So what we are trying to do is to address these issues in a way that people can see everyone benefits.

Bill Clinton: Last night, the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, talked about how in the last ten years after the genocide, fourteen or fifteen years now but in the last ten years they have almost quadrupled their per capita income.

Anderson Cooper: Their whole parliament is women.

Bill Clinton: Well it’s a majority, it’s the first country in the world to have the majority of the parliament as women, half the governors are women, half the mayors are women.

Anderson Cooper: But you are saying it also makes sense for business because these are future customers.

Bill Clinton: Absolutely, it’s half of the talent pool of the country at least, and they cut them out like crazy. So you see Kagame who was in exile, the leader of a military insurrection in the bush you know not the sort of guy who you think is out there promoting women’s rights, you know.

Bill Clinton: And he made the practical argument and I think that we want to see that. Now I’m working in Haiti now with the UN, I had a meeting the other day with the leaders of women’s organizations there, including business organizations.

Bill Clinton: And it’s obvious if we are going to try to reconstruct the education system of the country we have got to get the girls as well as the boys in there. There is a historically a system called the “restavec” system in Haiti.

Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

America’s preeminent political power couple made a rare joint appearance Friday, when Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton took the stage at the former President’s Clinton Global Initiative.

“I want to begin by expressing my extreme indebtedness to the Clinton global initiative, to all of you who participated, for giving me the first chance I have had in a week to see Hillary,” the former president told the audience of social activists and business leaders at the closing session of CGI, a week long conference designed to find solutions to global problems through public and private partnerships.

Secretary of State Hilly Clinton was at the session to unveil a new State Department initiative on food security.

As he introduced her President Clinton was effusive in his praise for his wife, saying that Hillary’s approach to food security, helping farmers around the world grow their own food to earn income and alleviate poverty, was much smarter than the decades-long policy of simply giving humanitarian aid and food to countries.

“It was a wrong headed policy. It persisted through Democratic and Republican policies alike, including mine. We were all wrong and she is determined to reverse it,” Clinton said, adding that while he was busy engaging in politics, Hillary had “become her own NGO.”

“Most of what I know about what I do today, I learned from her and she has become the best public servant our family has produced, he said. “I am very proud of her and honored that she came here."

Secretary Clinton, who received a standing ovation, had equally kind words for her husband.

“It won't surprise you to hear that I am very proud of my husband and I think what he has invented and brought to life here is extraordinary,” she said, adding the new State Department food initiative in part was an idea she developed by seeing the kinds of partnerships the Clinton Global Initiative produced.

The Clinton’s book-ended a photo op with State Department officials and executives from General Mills and other organizations, who pledged at the conference to start a program to help farmers around the world.

And then, for Bill and Hillary fans, a rare treat. As she walked off the stage, Hillary’s proud husband drew some more cheers when he gave his wife a kiss.

Bill continued to read million dollar commitments he received at the conference for additional social programs. And Hillary left to meet with 15 ministers from the Caribbean.

Former President Clinton receives flowers from a girl Tuesday upon landing in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor

Much has been made of the involvement of former President Bill Clinton in the freeing of two Current TV journalists held in North Korea and facing 12 years of hard labor.

But considering that American taxpayers continue to pay for their office space, security detail and other perks of the office of a former president, why not put Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush to work for the good of the country?

There seems to be a tradition in this country of former presidents spending their time giving speeches, raising money for their presidential libraries, writing their memoirs and staying out of the way of the current occupant of the White House.

I get that. You had your shot and you want the new person to have their day in the sun and do it that way. Yet letting that experience and solid relationships go to waste makes no sense to me.

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Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore greets freed U.S. journalist Laura Ling.

Joseph Cirincione
Special to CNN

President Clinton did more than free two unjustly jailed journalists. He jump-started the successful diplomacy he had begun 15 years earlier.

In October 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang. During Bill Clinton's presidency, the administration had locked down North Korea's plutonium production program, which had created enough deadly material for two bombs during the Reagan years. They had stopped all missile tests. They were a few details away from concluding a deal to end these programs completely.

But Clinton ran out of time. Enmeshed in Middle East peace talks, Clinton could not get assurances that a presidential visit to North Korea would seal the deal. He passed off the almost completed process to the incoming George W. Bush administration.

On March 6, 2001, new Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We do plan to engage with North Korea to pick up where President Clinton and his administration left off." But Bush had different ideas. On March 7, Bush kneecapped Powell.

With South Korean President Kim Dae-jung sitting next to him in embarrassed silence, Bush said, "We look forward to, at some point in the future, having a dialogue with the North Koreans, but any negotiation would require complete verification of the terms of a potential agreement."

Keep reading...

Joseph Cirincione
Special to CNN

President Clinton did more than free two unjustly jailed journalists. He jump-started the successful diplomacy he had begun 15 years earlier.

In October 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang. During Bill Clinton's presidency, the administration had locked down North Korea's plutonium production program, which had created enough deadly material for two bombs during the Reagan years. They had stopped all missile tests. They were a few details away from concluding a deal to end these programs completely.

But Clinton ran out of time. Enmeshed in Middle East peace talks, Clinton could not get assurances that a presidential visit to North Korea would seal the deal. He passed off the almost completed process to the incoming George W. Bush administration.

On March 6, 2001, new Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We do plan to engage with North Korea to pick up where President Clinton and his administration left off." But Bush had different ideas. On March 7, Bush kneecapped Powell.

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Freed journalist Euna Lee is followed by Laura Ling as they step off their plane Wednesday in California.

Dan Lothian
CNN White House Correspondent

Two senior Obama administration officials described on background how former President Bill Clinton's mission to Pyongyang to secure the release of two U.S. journalists imprisoned by North Korea evolved:

• President Obama never spoke directly with former President Clinton about this issue, the officials said.

• During a phone call with their families in mid-July, the journalists told their relatives that they had been informed by the North Koreans that they would be willing to grant them amnesty if an envoy like former President Clinton would come to Pyongyang to secure their release.

• During the weekend of July 24 and 25, President Clinton spoke with National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones about his willingness to take on this mission.

• Clinton ultimately agreed to go on the mission but made it very clear in every communication that this was purely a humanitarian effort.

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Former President Clinton met Tuesday with North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

Office of President William Jefferson Clinton

"I am very happy that after this long ordeal, Laura Ling and Euna Lee are now home and reunited with their loved ones.

When their families, Vice President Gore and the White House asked that I undertake this humanitarian mission, I agreed. I share a deep sense of relief with Laura and Euna and their families that they are safely home."

Editor's Note: Victor Cha was director of Asian affairs at the White House during the Bush administration. He visited Pyongyang with Governor Bill Richardson back in 2007. Cha spoke to Kiran Chetry on American Morning Tuesday.

Former US president Bill Clinton arrives at Pyongyang airport.

Q&A with Victor Cha
CNN American Morning

Kiran Chetry: Drawing on your experience and extensive knowledge of North Korea, what might be going on in these negotiations with Korean leaders and our former President Bill Clinton?

Victor Cha: Well, I think for the North Koreans … receiving a former head of state gives them a lot of face, political face, which is important to the country and to their leadership. I would imagine that the former president is there solely for the purpose of trying to bring back these two Americans. And he’s probably engaging in discussions with the Foreign Ministry as well as with some members of the party, perhaps even the dear leader himself to secure the release of these Americans as a humanitarian gesture by the North Korean government.

Chetry: We’ve heard the rhetoric ratcheted up recently, the long-range missile firings, the censure of North Korea by the United Nations, nuclear talks, pulling out of the six-party talks. What does it say about North Korea’s influence on the world stage if they’re finally getting a former U.S. president to visit them, but it’s only after detaining two American journalists?

Cha: Well, I mean it doesn’t say a lot in terms of their reputation around the world, clearly. You know, but for them, former President Clinton is very credible for them because he as president considered very seriously going to North Korea in his last few days or weeks in office. So, for the North Koreans to receive him, I think they see that as a really big deal for them. And hopefully that will be enough to get them – get the two Americans released. But overall, in terms of their reputation around the world, it certainly doesn’t do them any good.

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President Clinton met Tuesday with North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

Candy Crowley | BIO
CNN Senior Political Correspondent

Long time no blog. Life is the teensiest bit nutty Chez Crowley but I’ve missed you. And I couldn’t pass up a chat about the story du jour (I’m feeling a little French today).

Anyway, so former President BiIl Clinton is on a mission in North Korea to free those two American journalists sentenced to hard labor. My fave part of the story so far is Robert Gibbs (White House Spokesman) saying this is a “solely private mission.” Um. Ok.

You think Washington-speak is Sanskrit? Try diplo-speak. This is how the game plays out. North Korea wants two things a) admission of guilt by the two women. You’ve pretty much seen that along with some mumblings about how everybody is very sorry about the situation from Secretary of State Clinton (not to be confused with mission-head Bill Clinton). You think she talked to him about his “solely private mission”? Me too.

And b) North Korea wants some respect. The two countries don’t have diplomatic relations, and the Obama administration is in no mood anyway. In his first several months in office, the President’s outstretched hand was greeted by two, three or eight –who’s counting—missile launches from North Korea. Provocative, but lame.

So, no “official” US officials are gonna go.

Cue the former President, a big big name overseas, a senior US statesman, an “unofficial” official. In antique dating terms, Bill Clinton’s a “catch” and, importantly to the Obama administration, he’s not in the Obama administration. He’s kind of an administration in-law.

So, the table is set. The skids have been greased.

See all those pictures being beamed out of North Korea? The invisible caption reads “Look How Important North Korea Is”.

I bet you anything we will see those two American journalists free and headed home in the next 24 hours. You didn’t think a senior US statesman would go to North Korea unless he knew he was coming home with them, did you? I hope I hope I hope. Maybe it’ll break in time for AC360.

President Clinton met Tuesday with North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.

CNN

North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and ordered the release of two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.

The announcement came after former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been arrested while reporting from the border between North Korea and China.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it," the news agency reported. "Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view.

"The meetings had candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them."

The report said Clinton then conveyed a message from President Obama "expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."

It added, "The measure taken to release the American journalists is a manifestation of the DPRK's humanitarian and peace-loving policy.

"The DPRK visit of Clinton and his party will contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."

DPRK is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the nation's official name.

Read more...

Editor's note: In early June Anderson spoke to the families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, American journalists detained in North Korea. A couple of days later, Ling and Lee were sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of entering North Korea illegally. Former President Bill Clinton is in North Korea to negotiate their release.

Protesters calling for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee in June.

Charlie Moore
AC360° Senior Broadcast Producer

Former President Bill Clinton is headed to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists held there since March, a source with detailed knowledge of the former president's movements said Monday.

The imprisoned women, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are reporters for California-based Current TV - a media venture of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. They were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.

The United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea. Efforts to resolve the issue so far have been handled through Sweden, which represents U.S. interests in the reclusive communist state.

The visit by the former president, whose wife Hillary is now the Obama administration's secretary of state, comes about three weeks after the United States dropped a request that Ling and Lee be released on humanitarian grounds.

Instead, the United States is seeking amnesty for the women, Mrs. Clinton said.

A plea for amnesty implies forgiveness for some offense.

Clinton's mission comes as the United States and its allies in the region are trying to push North Korea back into stalled nuclear disarmament talks. North Korea conducted a nuclear bomb test, its second, in May, and has conducted several missile tests since then. The United Nations responded by tightening and expanding sanctions on the north.

The two countries were on opposite sides in the 1950-1953 Korean War and had no regular contacts before a 1994 crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. North Korea agreed at that time to halt the development of nuclear weapons, but abandoned that accord and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.

Clinton had considered visiting North Korea in 2000, near the end of his second term as president. His secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, had gone to Pyongyang in early 2000 to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il - now widely reported to be ill.

The Empire State Building is set to reduce its energy output by 38 percent.

Asia Lindsay
AC360º Intern

Having just arrived in New York City, fresh from Manchester, England, and being the kind of person who carpools elevators, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of environmental consciousness in The Big Apple.

Take the Empire State Building, for instance. It is one of my (and America’s) favorite buildings, is famous for its romantic depiction in countless films, and it can now add tackling climate change to its impressive resume.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative (CCI) and, of course, the Empire State Building Company have joined forces for the $500 million renovation to make the iconic building more eco-friendly. The project will also aim to boost the building’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status to Gold – the highest rating in the green building industry.

A crack team of companies - the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Johnsons Controls Inc. and Jones Lang LaSalle - are taking on this historic renovation. More than 6,500 new specially-treated windows will be installed to reduce energy output. These windows will allow natural light to be used in the building, thereby reducing heavy reliance on artificial light. The project also includes the installation of barriers behind each of the 6,500 radiators, to help insulate the building during the winter. RMI say that all of this will to reduce the building’s energy output by 38 percent and save $4.4 million per year.

The expensive renovation is just one CCI’s new projects, which aims to encourage energy efficiency in cities and to reduce deforestation.

CCI has teamed up with an organization called C40, a group of 40 of the largest cities in the world that actively seek to reduce energy use. American cities involved in the C40 project include Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and – of course – New York.

Over the past seven years, the Bloomberg Administration has put together a number of massive environmental initiatives in an effort to achieve the cleanest air for an American big city and reduce the world’s energy emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

It is nice to see that New York is not the only city jumping on the global green bandwagon. The developers of the controversial Okhta Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia, say that it will be the largest and the most eco-friendly building in Europe.

Despite its dazzling green credentials, the plan to build the Okhta Centre has become a source of contention in the city. It will house Gazprom, the world’s largest gas extractor. The fact that such a contentious company will be the tenant in one of the world’s greenest buildings is an irony that has not been lost on the citizens of St. Petersburg.

The city, often called the “Venice of the North,” is famous for its baroque and neoclassical architecture and picturesque, albeit low, skyline. In fact, the city has specific codes that limit the height of buildings. The sudden advent of Gazprom’s incongruously modern, 1,300-foot tower was expected to be met with enthusiasm from some, and downright outrage with others.

Proponents of the Okhta Centre, however, contend that the super-tall skyscraper will be designed to enhance St. Petersburg’s environmental assets. The city’s main river and the sunlight will reflect off the building, giving the impression that it is changing colors. The sunlight will also be used to generate energy within the building.

The Empire State Building is also taking similar energy-saving measures, and if everything goes well we will see the stunning results in about three years.

It is great that the powerful organizations, corporations and developers are contributing to the issue of climate change, but you can’t disguise the fact that many of the corporations within the walls of these shiny, new eco-buildings are among the greatest polluters in the world. Maybe they should take a leaf out of Hearst’s book and reduce their corporate carbon footprint, as well as just that of their building.