Summit Conferences

Considering how rapidly the global economic crisis has escalated, leaders converging in Washington for a weekend financial summit might be accused of taking a lackadaisical approach to developing a strategy to solve it. After all, they're saying this will be just the first of several such summits. And agreeing on a joint plan of action lies months down the road at best.

As global leaders gather today for an economic summit in Washington, no one may feel the spotlight's glare as much as Chinese President Hu Jintao. In the weeks leading up to this meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 developed and emerging countries, there have been repeated calls from different corners of the world for China to step up and take a bigger role in addressing the global financial crisis.

World leaders agreed Saturday to put tighter controls on financial markets and work together to halt the economic crisis now cascading across the globe, but their summit was overshadowed by the knowledge that any long-term plan depended on someone who did not even attend: President-elect Barack Obama.

The eyes of the world may be on President-elect Barack Obama, but when it comes to the issue of climate change, Arnold Schwarzenegger is muscling his way into the international spotlight. On Tuesday, the California governor will convene a two-day Global Climate Summit in Beverly Hills. More than 600 environmental officials and activists from Borneo to Bulgaria, along with five U.S. governors and regional politicians from foreign nations, are expected to attend. Grandiose gabfest?

President Bush arrived in South America on Friday for the final scheduled foreign trip of his presidency, hoping to bolster confidence in efforts to rescue the global economy and move forward on North Korean nuclear disarmament. The 21 member nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, whose summit Bush is attending, account for nearly half of all global trade and 55% of the world's gross domestic product, reflecting in part the ascendance of East Asia and China.

With developing countries offering more emission cuts than anticipated and richer nations in many cases offering fewer, global climate negotiators wrapped up lackluster talks Friday that U.N. officials said nonetheless kept the world on the path toward a new treaty by next December. In the final day of talks, delegates agreed on principles of financing for a fund to help the poorest nations cope with the effects of climate change.

The Iraqi government Thursday invited Iran and Syria to Baghdad for talks next month on regional security, amid growing tension and accusations by the Bush administration of foreign meddling in Iraqi affairs. Iraqi officials have not invited the United States to the meeting, which also could include Iraq's other neighbors, the United Nations and the Arab League.

Amid the perennial topics of geopolitics, production challenges and supply and demand, the world's energy leaders have descended on this oil town for a weeklong conference with a surprising new focus: using less oil. Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson acknowledged the dangers of global warming but sounded skeptical about alternative fuels. Chevron Corp.

As leaders of the world's 77 million Anglicans gathered here amid fears of a split in the church over divergent views on gay bishops and same-sex unions, a spokesman said the first day of discussions was characterized by "intense listening." "There has been no talk of schism in the meeting at all," said Australian Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, who briefed reporters after the closed-door sessions Thursday.

If gasoline prices have you muttering curses at OPEC during each fill-up, maybe you should just say \o7nyet\f7. With global oil output barely covering demand, Russia and other countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are wielding more sway. They're affecting the price of oil and everything made from it.