Group Of Eight

As President Obama heads for his second economic summit in three months, lingering skepticism about U.S. leadership threatens to produce a policy stalemate that could undercut prospects for recovery at home and abroad. Behind a veil of traditional diplomatic courtesy, leaders of the other wealthy economies are all but certain to resist any major new steps to stimulate global economic activity.

Addressing leaders of the world's most important economies early Thursday, President Obama wasted no time in proclaiming a new day for U.S. policy on climate change. "I know that in the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities," he said. "So let me be clear: Those days are over."

Faced with record-high oil prices, the world's leading economies and oil consumers Sunday pledged greater investment in energy efficiency and green technologies to control their spiraling thirst for petroleum. In a joint statement, energy ministers from the Group of Eight countries, joined by China, India and South Korea, also urged oil producers to boost output, which has stalled at about 85 million barrels a day since 2005, and called for cooperation between buyers and producers.

As leaders of the world's major developed nations meet this week in a tranquil mountain resort in Japan, their gathering probably will be overshadowed by the turbulent global economy and deepening unrest over soaring oil and food prices. And the question on many minds is whether the Group of 8 leaders will be able to do anything about it.

Two security officials said Germany had received warnings of left-wing attacks linked to a Group of 8 summit next month in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm. Joerg Ziercke, head of the federal crime office, said the warnings were evidently not aimed at individuals, but rather vehicles and buildings.

The tear gas is stocked and the police are helmeted and ready for tens of thousands of anarchists and anti-globalization protesters who are planning rallies and guerrilla-inspired mischief to disrupt the upcoming Group of 8 summit in this Baltic Sea resort.

Sporadic violence erupted Saturday in this port city as radicals, their faces hidden by hoods and bandannas, broke from a largely peaceful anti-globalization protest and attacked police with sticks, bottles and Molotov cocktails ahead of this week's summit of leading industrialized nations. Authorities said 146 police officers were injured, 25 of them seriously; 78 demonstrators were arrested or taken into temporary custody.

President Bush embarked Monday on a weeklong European mission in which he is seeking to restore the United States' relations with some of its most important allies and move beyond the divisiveness of the Iraq war. Bush, who arrived Monday night in this bustling Eastern European capital, aims to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the recent elections of a new, more pro-U.S. group of leaders as they discuss issues including global warming.

With the leaders of the major industrialized nations arriving at her doorstep today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure at home and abroad to persuade President Bush to accept strict measures to limit global warming. Merkel's reputation as a skilled foreign policy strategist is being scrutinized as members of the Group of 8 meet for three days at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm.

President Bush presented himself Wednesday as caught in the middle of the international climate debate, fending off allies' calls for mandatory steps to reverse global warming while encouraging major developing nations to join eventual climate negotiations. The dispute over how to respond to the world's changing climate is emerging as a focal point of the annual Group of 8 summit that began Wednesday night in Heiligendamm, a resort village on the Baltic Sea.