Obama's G-8 Agenda

The agenda for the day from the official G-8 Summit website:

The first day of the G8 Summit in L'Aquila is now under way. The Heads of State and Government Leaders arrive in the course of the morning. Before the working sessions got under way, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi escorted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Onna, a village that has become the very symbol of the earthquake.

The Abruzzo Summit starts officially at around 13:00 with a working luncheon for the G8 Leaders, devoted to the global economy. Prime Minister Berlusconi welcomes the Heads of State and Government Leaders outside the Heads of Delegations dining area, where the luncheon is being held. The 'family photo' of the Eight Leaders will be taken after the first working session.

The first working session is on the slate for 15:30, running until 17:30. Prime Minister Berlusconi will accompany US President Barack Obama at around 17:45 to visit the historic centre of L'Aquila, which was so badly damaged in the earthquake. Berlusconi will then take Russian Federation President Dmitriy Medvedev on a tour of the same area.
Meanwhile, the first ladies will tour Rome:

The spouses of the Heads of State and Government Leaders meeting at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila are spending the day in Rome.

Their schedule includes a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican in the morning,a welcome luncheon at Rome's Campidoglio city hall and a guided tour of the Capitoline Museums.

The First Ladies will be accompanied to the Caffarelli terrace by Isabella Alemanno,the wife of the Mayor of Rome,together with Ministers Mara Carfagna and Maria Stella Gelmini. In the evening,Ms.Clio Napolitano,the wife of the President of the Republic, will be holding a cocktail party for the first ladies in the Sala degli Specchi at the Quirinale.

Tomorrow the world leaders will focus on policies to alleviate poverty.

On global climate change:

The leaders may fall short on reaching a commitment to keep the globe's average temperature rise under 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit in a bid to contain global warming. The United States, Japan, Canada and Russia — half of the G-8 — have previously refused to back it, and the White House declined Wednesday to comment if it had signed off on a statement citing the temperature threshold.
U.S. backing for the deal would mark an abrupt turnaround from the Bush administration's stand and be a strong gesture to developing nations.

'Right direction'
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters that he hoped that the leaders could agree to the specific limit on the rise in temperature.

"We are not yet there where we would like to be but I think things are shaping in the right direction for Copenhagen," Barroso said, referring to the next meeting of a key international summit to replace the Kyoto protocol in December. MSNBC

White House fact sheet on the G-8.

Italy May Take 3 Guantanamo Detainees

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi met with Obama at the White House today and apparently they discussed gitmo detainees.
Some detainees, cleared of being terrorists, already are enjoying life in Bermuda and more are headed to Palau.

Italy will consider taking in at least three detainees from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, an aide to Silvio Berlusconi said Monday ahead of the Italian premier's meeting with President Barack Obama.

Obama has been banking on foreign countries to take in some of the detainees who cannot go to their own countries for fear of ill-treatment, and on moving others to maximum security prisons in the U.S. mainland.

The Berlusconi aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders would discuss Italy's offer to consider accepting at least three of the prisoners from the detention center in Cuba, although it would want to evaluate each individual case first. Last month, Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said Italy was considering a U.S. request to take two Tunisian prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. MSNBC

Obama Meets With Berlusconi June 15

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, who apparently loves young starlets a little too much, is meeting with Obama today.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's meeting Monday with President Barack Obama offers the Italian leader a chance to rehabilitate his international reputation after a scandal over his link to an 18-year-old model and ahead of a major summit he is hosting next month.
Obama is looking for common ground on boosting the troubled economy, and the two leaders are likely to discuss the differing approaches of the U.S. and most of Europe — a topic that will feature prominently at the July summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in L'Aquila, the Apennine mountain town that was devastated by an earthquake this spring.
"I think (Obama) will want to encourage as much conversation and public statements as possible about strong U.S.-European cooperation to ensure quick recovery of the economy," said Heather Conley, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Europe Program.
The leaders offer a striking contrast: Berlusconi, a media mogul and one of Italy's richest men, has been plagued by criminal trials, conflict-of-interest accusations, tawdry scandals and headline-making gaffes that have drawn scorn from other countries but have done little to lower his high popularity rating at home.
Among other unguarded comments, Berlusconi made headlines shortly after the U.S. presidential election when he said Obama is "young, he's handsome and he even has a good tan." Read the rest at AP

The Queen and Her Court Pose for Family Photo

Apparently, according to CNN and other media reports, the Queen is irritated in this video by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's PM. To me, she seems to just have a dry wit about her.

I guess the real story is that the people of Italy think Berlosconi's a big showoff: