The G20 summit kicks off in Pittsburgh today. Leaders from the world's biggest economies are gathering in the Steel City to develop plans for repairing the wounded global economy, reforming bank-bonus structures and continuing the climate change conversation. Out on the streets of Pittsburgh, residents are battening the hatches while hoping their city avoids the wrath Seattle faced in 1999. (Seattle saw riots and chaos on the streets during the World Trade Organization meetings in 1999.) Joining us for a view from the ground in Pittsburgh is Cindy Skrzycki, a correspondent for GlobalPost. And for an international perspective, we speak with GlobalPost correspondent Michael Goldfarb in London.

Read the Global Post's full G-20 coverage

The Copenhagen Conference, planned for December this year, aims to create a "Copenhagen Protocol" to address worldwide climate change.  In preparation for this winter's conference, representatives of 17 countries are meeting in Washington today for a major forum on energy and climate. Included in the meeting are some of the world's biggest polluters, including China and the United States. David Biello, associate editor for Scientific American, joins us with a look at what's on (and what should be on) this group's agenda as they prepare for Copenhagen.

To see climate change in action, watch this video from Extreme Ice Survey, with 26 time lapse cameras in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Canada, and Glacier National Park, the Extreme Ice Survey is creating the most comprehensive photographic survey of glacial change.

The World Trade Organization has upheld a complaint by the U.S. that could help open the massive Chinese market to American movies, music, and books. Right now that market is subject to restrictions by China's government on what foreign media can be imported and distributed there. The BBC's correspondent in Shanghai, Chris Hogg, joins us with more of the story.

President Barack Obama and other G-8 leaders are meeting in Italy today. Top of their agenda is climate change. The leaders of the world's top industrialized nations are aiming at new targets to battle global warming, including a goal of keeping the world's average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. But the wealthy nations were unable to persuade leaders of developing countries to commit to reductions of their own. Their cooperation is considered critical to avoiding the worst effects of climate change. Joining us from L'Aquila, Italy, is Peter Baker, New York Times correspondent, and Richard Gowan, associate director of New York University's Center on International Cooperation, a thinktank that works on the G-8, the U.N. and the World Bank.

At this week's G-8 world summit, climate change is an unexpected guest at a meeting usually filled with talks of nuclear disarmament, the world's poor, and trade networks. The meeting takes place in L'Aquila, Italy, the site of the recent earthquake. With the start of the summit comes President Obama's debut into the world of climate negotiations. Can we expect any agreement to come out of this round of talks — all of which are setting the stage for a post-Kyoto climate treaty in Copenhagen in December? Here with his take is Jason Burnett, former energy and climate official with the EPA, now founder of Burnett EcoEnergy, a company that funds clean energy projects.

One of the five pillars of Islam, “zakat,” is the giving of a small percentage of one’s income to a Muslim charity. President Obama, in his Cairo speech, said that he is "committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat." The practice of zakat came under scrutiny under the Bush administration, when seven charities were closed down and jailed leaders accused of helping fund terrorist organizations abroad. Many Muslims fear that if they give to a religious group, they may be accused of funneling money to terrorists. What steps are needed to make it easier for Muslims to practice this important part of their religion?

The Takeaway talks with Jennifer Turner, the Human Rights Researcher at the ACLU. She’s been interviewing Muslim donors and charities the past year for the ACLU and has talked to many in the Muslim community. Also joining the show is Asra Nomani, she is a Professor of Journalism at Georgetown University and author of "Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam," and she's here to talk about her struggles with giving to Muslim charities as part of her zakat.

The U.S. and the United Nations now have to calibrate their reaction to North Korea's recent missile test, while also worrying about Iran's nuclear ambition and fears of proliferation on the subcontinent. The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, is the international regulatory agency charged with monitoring the use and development of nuclear energy. But the agency is in the middle of electing a new general director. There are five candidates vying for the job and they are officially announcing their candidacies today. How much can the agency do?

Hans Blix knows something about those nuclear politics. He served as Director General of the IAEA from 1981 to 1997 before he was tapped to lead the U.N. committee that was eventually charged with searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He joins The Takeaway to discuss North Korea and the new era of nuclear politics.

Global health officials are warning that H1N1 swine flu could bloom into a pandemic. Yesterday, the World Health Organization declared a Phase Five alert. Epidemiologist and virus hunter Nathan Wolfe, of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, says it never should have gotten to this point. In an op-ed in today's New York Times, Wolfe argues that if global public health functioned differently, we probably could have detected the virus before it spread so widely.

Still unsure of how to spot swine flu? This video from the Centers for Disease Control explains the symptoms.

The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic threat level to Phase Five. What does that mean? The BBC's Matt McGrath explains the connection between the threat level and international caution.

Click through for a transcript.

Washington has confirmed it will boycott a United Nations forum on racism in Geneva because of differences over Israel and the likening of Zionism to racism. The boycott was prompted by concerns that the conference would be a flashback to the initial world summit meeting against racism in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, which critics said served as a platform to bash Israel. Those fears were confirmed when Iran's President just called Israel a 'racist government' at the start of the meeting, prompting Western delegates to walk out. For more we turn to the New York Times' Isabel Kershner, who is in Jerusalem and watching this conference closely.

For more, read Isabel Kershner's article, As U.N. Racism Conference Opens, Israel Recalls Envoy, in today's New York Times.

The North Koreans have launched what they say is a “communications satellite’ into orbit. America and its allies suspect the state’s “satellite” is in fact a long-range ballistic missile, which North Korea was testing. North Korea and their leader Kim Jong-Il remain defiant in the face of global protest and strong warnings from North Korea's neighbors. After the launch, the U.S. and its allies denounced the move and called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to . The BBC's John Sudworth and Brian Myers of Dongseo University join The Takeaway to discuss the implications of this launch.


Our partners at the New York Times are reporting that the North Korean Missile Launch Was a Failure, Experts Say.

French police have clashed with anti-Nato protesters in Strasbourg, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to stop a crowd getting to the city center. Masked protesters smashed bus shelters and set fire to rubbish bins. There are reportedly some 25,000 police are on duty to control the tens of thousands of protesters expected to attend.



Despite the ruckus in the streets, speaking at the start of the celebration and meeting, President Barack Obama hailed NATO as the most successful alliance in modern history and a central pillar is strong European defense:

We started the week leading up to the G-20 by speaking with Dan Price, a former international economics assistant to President Bush who was responsible for setting up last year's meeting of the Group of 20 and is in London for this year's. We return to him now for his take on the summit, whether a trillion dollars is enough for the IMF, and the hope for a coordinated response to the global economic crisis.


To hear Dan Price's earlier interview, click here.

Before heading off to celebrate NATO's 60th birthday, world leaders heralded the show of unity at the G-20 summit. Their strong showing lifted global markets and mapped out a new future for financial regulation. Despite struggling to bridge deep divides over how to revive a paralyzed global economy, the leaders of the world’s largest economies agreed Thursday to bail out developing countries, stimulate world trade and regulate financial firms more stringently. For a recap of the outcome of the G-20 we turn to George Parker, political editor for the Financial Times.

International aid organizations are expected to release a report today outlining their concerns over the expected troop surge in Afghanistan. This report comes as world leaders are gathered to celebrate NATO's 60th birthday party and President Obama is expected to ask NATO allies to contribute more troops to Afghanistan. But the western aid agencies are worried that more troops will lead to more civilian casualties, a big problem in the effort to win over the Afghan population. To explain their concerns over President Obama's plan is Matt Waldman is head of policy at Oxfam International in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Our friend David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times and author of The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, is at the G-20 summit in London. He joins us with a road map of the leaders, the proposed options, the possible outcomes, and his own suggestion for the Presidential ipod.

For more, read his article with Mark Landler, Global Leaders Meeting to Resolve Rift on Economic Plan in today's New York Times.

Leaders at the G-20 represent 85% of the global economy. And there are possibly as many financial rescue plans as there are world leaders at the summit. One option has Germany and France pushing the U.S. to accept global financial regulations that could reach well inside American borders. Helping us to make sense of what's happening at the G-20 today is The New York Times' Mark Landler who is in the Excel Center in London, where the meeting is taking place.

For more, read Mark Landler's and David Sanger's article, Global Leaders Meeting to Resolve Rift on Economic Plan, in today's New York Times.

The G-20 summit is underway in London and world leaders are hoping the day will end with a new global deal for tackling the worldwide recession. It’s a moment that reminds our next guest of the end of the year 1930, when the world was 18 months into the Great Depression. Stocks were down about 60 percent, corporate profits had been cut in half, and unemployment had climbed from 4 percent to about 10 percent. Sounds familiar, right? To help us understand what tools world leaders and central bankers can use to the global economy out of a recession and whether a return to the gold standard can help that is Liaquat Ahamed, the Author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World.

We've been checking in all morning with the gathering protestors in London the day before the G-20 summit. London is braced for a day of demonstrations ahead of tomorrow's summit of G-20 leaders. This morning anti-capitalist and climate change protestors converged on the financial heart of the city, while this afternoon an anti-war demonstration is expected outside the American Embassy. The organizers insist their protests will be peaceful, but windows at a Royal Bank of Scotland building and other shops have been smashed. We return once again to BBC reporter Jack Izzard who is on the scene.

If you want to keep on top of the action, follow the twitter feed of the G-20 and while you're there, follow us @thetakeaway.

Here's the latest from YouTube:

We are continuing our live coverage of the G-20 protests in London. We return to Jack Izzard of the BBC's Today programme, who is on the streets of London watching the gathering demonstrators.

If you want to keep on top of the action, follow the twitter feed of the G-20 and while you're there, follow us @thetakeaway.

Watch footage from this morning of protesters in London.