Like the lesser celebrity chefs we've all seen so much of, Mario Batali has had it pretty good. After creating and running some of the most successful Italian restaurants in the U.S., he has made enough money to buy Sardinia. He's such a big TV star that even his vacations get made into TV shows. Through his cookbooks, his magazine articles and the deathless repetition of his various cooking programs, he has influenced the way America cooks ...

A truck rigged with explosives detonated near Afghanistan's capital, killing 25 people Thursday morning, local officials said. U.S. President Barack Obama will lead the Major Economies Forum at the Group of Eight meetings in L'Aquila. The forum is a climate-centered group whose members represent the G-8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- along with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Those nations account for 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gas ...

Leaders of the world's leading industrialized nations are huddling with representatives of up-and-coming powerhouses to tackle global warming at an economic summit Thursday in Italy. U.S. President Barack Obama will lead the Major Economies Forum at the Group of Eight meetings in L'Aquila. The forum is a climate-centered group whose members represent the G-8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- along with Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Those nations account ...

Leaders of the world's most powerful economies pledged to seek huge cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions at a summit in Italy on Wednesday. The Group of Eight leaders said they would "join a global response to achieve a 50 percent reduction in global emissions by 2050 and to a goal of an aggregate 80 percent or more reduction by developed countries by that date." The goal mirrors one adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives last month. Despite the ...

The votes were tied 126-126, and it all came down to a marble. In an interview with Italian magazine "Chi," the 72-year old denied he had ever paid for sex. ''I've never paid a woman. I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest,'' Berlusconi told Chi. According to Italian press agency ANSA, Berlusconi accused Patrizia D'Addario -- the woman who alleges she was paid to spend the night with the premier in November -- ...

The prospects are not good. The men and women called together in London by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to counter an economic slump are politicians -- just at a time when the world's electorates are demonstrating their lack of faith in governments and in their ability to understand, let alone sort out, the economic mess. Thirty, 20, even 10 years back there used to be some belief that getting the power-players together could solve problems, or at least ...

Can this G-20 summit prove to be anything more than group therapy for a bunch of fingernail-gnawing, troubled individuals? The prospects are not good. The men and women called together in London by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to counter an economic slump are politicians -- just at a time when the world's electorates are demonstrating their lack of faith in governments and in their ability to understand, let alone sort out, the economic mess. Thirty, 20, even 10 years ...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he believed world leaders would "rise to the challenge" at this week's G-20 summit by agreeing firm measures to set about tackling the global financial crisis. Brown, who hosts Thursday's meeting in London, has spent the past few weeks courting a succession of world leaders in a bid to persuade them to sign up to a package of proposals he has described as a "global new deal," including tighter financial regulations and further ...

Italians are normally not good at waiting in line. During the weekly trip to the bank or post office it helps to have sharp elbows and a sense of entitlement. Getting on a bus or train can be more like packing down in a rugby scrum. But when those big moments in life arrive — the next step in your career, a business idea to launch, moving out of your parent's home — Italy is afflicted by a troubling surplus ...