Originally Posted by root

The G8 leaders, meeting in Japan, have many challenges but few tools

THE leaders of the G8 group of rich countries kicked off three days of annual summitry hosted by Japan in Toyako on the northern island of Hokkaido on Monday July 7th. The remoteness of the venue--a bubble-era resort hotel overlooking Lake Toya--and an overwhelming police presence around the summit and Japan's main cities appear to have prevented the scale of anti-globalisation protests and street violence that have disrupted recent gatherings of the world's self-appointed steering group, including last year's summit at Heiligendamm in Germany. But even without the protests, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, Japan and Russia, half of them new to their job, will be aware of how much the world has changed since Heiligendamm.

At last year's summit the price of oil was at less than half today's $140 a barrel. The world price of rice and other grains gave few signs of doubling, threatening political stability in Africa and Asia and mocking earlier G8 commitments to reducing global poverty. Meanwhile, mention then of structured investment vehicles or Northern Rock to a G8 leader would have been met with a blank stare. ...



More... (http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11696589&fsrc=RSS)

Originally Posted by deus-redux

Actually, these are a test of an automated news feed.

-deus-

Originally Posted by deus-redux

Actually, these are a test of an automated news feed.

-deus-