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At the G8 Summit: World Leaders Meet Low Expectations
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At the G8 Summit: World Leaders Meet Low Expectations

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At the G8 Summit in Italy, President Obama's being looked to for leadership on world finance and global warming.  Is progress likely or is the G8 an anachronistic waste of time? Also, a cyberattack on US government websites. On Reporter's Notebook, Mexico is dealing with drug violence and a shrinking economy. Now voters have dealt conservative President Felipe Calderón a stunning set-back. Is it a mandate for return to the PRI?

Banner image: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (5nd R) visit quake-ravaged hamlet Onna before the start of the G8 summit. Photo: Steffen Kugler-Pool/Getty Images

Making News

Cyberattack Hits US Government Websites ()

Computers from all over the world overwhelmed major websites this weekend in South Korea and the United States. Targets included the White House, the Pentagon, the New York Stock Exchange and the Washington Post. Robert McMillan is senior writer, covering computer crime, for IDG News.

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Main Topic

At the G8 Summit: World Leaders Meet Low Expectations ()

The leaders of the US, Japan, Russia, Canada, Germany, France and Britain and some 3500 reporters have crowded into L'Aquila, Italy, a town still feeling aftershocks from a devastating earthquake in April. Iran and food security are on the agenda, and President Obama faces pressure to demonstrate US leadership on economic recovery and global warming. Prime Minister Berlusconi's personal scandals have led to a lack of planning. China's President Hu Jintau has gone home to deal with the Uighurs. We get an update and a preview of what's to come.

Guests:
  • Guy Dinmore: Diplomatic Correspondent, Financial Times
  • Simon Johnson: former Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund
  • Alden Meyer: Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists
  • Richard Gowan: Associate Director of the Centre for International Co-operation, New York University
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Reporter's Notebook

Es La Economia, Estupido! ()

The Institutional Revolutionary Party ruled Mexico for 70 years until it was discredited and ousted nine years ago. Felipe Calderón is the second president of the PAN, the National Action Party, but in parliamentary elections this weekend, the PRI stormed back, winning five of six governorships and a majority in Congress' lower house. Daniel Lund, president of the public-policy market-research firm MUND Américas, has more on the political repercussions of drug violence and a shrinking economy.

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