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President Obama held a press conference Friday in L’Aquila, Italy, highlighting the achievements of the three day G8 Summit.

The President said that, at the conclusion of the summit, the world leaers in attendance had made significant headway on ecomnit recovery, nuclear non-proliferation, climate change, and food security.

Mr. Obama also declared that full economic recovery is still “a ways off,” although “we appear to have averted global collapse.”

He also discussed issues with Iran, his meeting with the pope, and his stopover in Africa.

The full transcript of Mr. Obama’s press conference on July 10, as released by the White House, can be found below:

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Commentators have had plenty of fun with a photograph of President Obama apparently taking a good look at a woman at this week's Group Of Eight summit in Italy. (See the thumbnail at left.)

The video, however, suggests a somewhat different story, as "The Early Show" explained this morning. It appears the president was helping a woman down a step when the now-infamous photograph was taken.

As you will see, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has no such alibi.

Check it out by playing the video above.

The United States and other nations will inevitably confront world crises where they have a "moral imperative" to intervene, President Obama said today -- but only in "exceptional" circumstances.

"There has to be a strong international outrage at what's taking place," Mr. Obama said in a press conference in L'Aquila, Italy, where the G8 summit has wrapped up. He called striking a balance between meeting that moral obligation and respecting national sovereignty "one of the most difficult questions in international affairs."

"I don't think there is a clean formula," he said. "In general, it is important for the sovereignty of nations to be respected."

Mr. Obama added that conflicts should be resolved through diplomacy and setting up international norms that countries want to meet.

The question of respecting national sovereignty versus protecting international human rights lingered at the end of the G8 summit as new protests against the outcome of the Iranian presidential election cropped up yesterday in Tehran.

The Group of Eight countries released a statement on Wednesday which says the participating nations "deplore" the post-election violence, and consider interference with media, unjustified detentions of journalists and recent arrests of foreign nationals in Iran "unacceptable."

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It was more handshake diplomacy by President Obama as he became the first US president to exchange a face-to-face greeting with Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi.

As Chairman of the African Union, Qadhafi was invited to attend the G8 Summit Leaders dinner tonight in L’Aquila, Italy.

As the chiefs of state and heads of government gathered for a class photo, Qadhafi approached President Obama and they shook hands. It was a polite encounter, conducted according to protocol. Qadhafi smiled, Mr. Obama not so much.

Back in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan would sooner have cut off his arm than shake hands with Qadhafi.

"We do not underestimate the brutality of this evil man," said Mr. Reagan of the Libyan leader in 1986, who was deemed by the U.S. to be world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.

President Reagan regarded Qadhafi as a "madman," a ruler of an "outlaw regime," and "an enemy of the United States."

Qadhafi took power in a 1969 coup, after which U.S. relations with the North African nation became increasingly strained to the point of military action.

In 1986, Mr. Reagan ordered air strikes on military targets in Libya after evidence linking it to a bombing incident in Berlin which claimed the lives of two American servicemen.

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In the morning, President Obama will attend a bilateral meeting with President Lula of Brazil.

Later in the morning, the president will attend a meeting of the leaders of G8, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Egypt. Following the meeting of leaders, President Obama will attend a working lunch of the leaders of the G8, +5, Egypt and six international organizations (United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, International Energy Agency, and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

In the afternoon, the president will attend a meeting with representatives of the Junior 8. President Obama will also attend a discussion on world trade and a Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment. Following the MEF discussion, the president will deliver a brief statement to the press.

In the evening, the president will attend a working dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Here is more from the White House press office (all times Eastern):

3:30AM: President Obama attends a bi-lat with President Lula of Brazil

7:00AM: President Obama attends meeting of leaders of the G-8, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt

6:30AM: President Obama attends working lunch of the leaders of the G-8, +5, Egypt, and six international organizations

8:30AM: President Obama attends meeting of the representatives of the Junior 8

9:00AM: President Obama attends world trade discussion

10:15AM: President Obama attends Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment

12:30PM: President Obama delivers statement to the press on Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment

2:30PM: President Obama attends G-8 dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano

On Wednesday's edition of "Washington Unplugged," Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations said the goal of cutting global emissions in half by 2050, which is now being considered at the G-8 summit in Italy, "seems like a long way off."

"I think people were really expecting an agreement on targets, so it is something of a failure if we don't get them," he said. "It's very hard to see how we can get to agreement on what we're going to do in the next ten years if we can't agree on where we need to be in almost half a century."

Levy said President Obama is limited in what he can do on climate change by "American politics."

"American politics say that the United States is not going to commit to the sorts of numbers that the Europeans, the Chinese, the Indians are agitating for," he said.

Watch the entire episode, which opens with a debrief from CBS News' Bill Plante on the president's trips to Russia and to the G-8 in L'Aquila, Italy, above.

Leaders from the Group of Eight -- which includes the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia -- gathered Wednesday in the central Italian city of L'Aquila for their annual summit meeting. The leaders are discussing issues including stimulus plans to bolster the global economy, measures to curb global warming and security issues in North Korea and Iran.

The pictured attendees, from left to right, are: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper , U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The summit will also discuss ways to expand the Group of Eight, given the notion that the world's most-industrialized nations can no longer claim leadership on the global political and economic agenda.

Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**President Obama in Italy...

**Biden to announce agreement with hospital industry as Congress continues work on health care...

**Democrats wrestle with talk of second stimulus...

PRESIDENT OBAMA: After wrapping up two days of meetings with Russian leaders in Moscow, President Obama flew to Italy this morning for a three day G-8 summit.

Mr. Obama is now in L'Aquila, the site of the G-8 meeting, that will focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other global issues such as the economy, Afghanistan, Iran, world poverty, nuclear arms are also expected to be discussed.

"The G-8 meetings may lack the intrigue of Obama's sit-downs earlier in the week with Russia's top leaders, or the emotion of the reception the first black American president surely will get in Ghana Saturday," writes the Associated Press' Charles Babington.

"But they won't lack for ambition, on the surface at least, as the world's most powerful officials discuss the problems threatening the planet. Obama and the leaders of seven other industrialized nations had meetings set at the picturesque L'Aquila, northeast of Rome, before they were to widen their circle to include fast-growing countries like China and India, and struggling nations from Africa. In large and small groups, the talks will involve trade, Iran's nuclear ambitions, food security and other issues. ... Topping the list of G-8 discussions are possible ways to slow the release of greenhouse gases linked to global warming."

Tribune's Christi Parsons and Mark Silva, "Obama at G-8: fragile consensus"

CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante, who's traveling with the president, notes that a devastating earthquake in L'Aquila in April killed almost 300 people and drove thousands from their homes. Berlusconi moved the summit here in a show of support. There are still regular aftershocks - and with the leaders of almost 40 nations staying there, there's an emergency plan to airlift them out in case there's another serious quake, Plante reports. Italy is deploying thousands of police officers as it seeks to avoid the violence that marred the last G-8 summit held in this country, when one protester was killed and more than 200 were injured in Genoa in 2001.

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President Obama and First Lady MIchelle Obama will travel to Rome, Italy today.

Mr. Obama will meet with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, and the two men will deliver brief statements to the press.

Following the meeting, Mr. Obama will travel to L'Aquila. He will be greeted at the Guardia di Finanz School, the site of the G8, by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The president will then attend a working lunch, followed by a G8 session on global issues.

In the evening, the president and Prime Minister Berlusconi will tour L'Aquila's historic center. At night, Mr. Obama will attend a G8 working dinner at the Guardia di Finanz School.

Back in the United States this morning, Vice President Joe Biden, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and representatives of the hospital industry will make a major health care announcement.

Here is more from the White House press office (all times Eastern):

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