News stories by Analysis by Sanjay Suri, page 2

It is with too much ease that we all sometimes use the word 'revolution'. Because all too often the change being championed is one that too many others simply do not notice. But that isn't the case here: the change pushed for at the G8 summit in Italy, and at other such forums, is no less than revolutionary, and can only be seen as historic.

There is a reason that eight and five do not add up to 13 when it comes to the G8. And it is not just that the five developing countries that now attend the summit of the eight mighty ones as a matter of course are less rich. It's because they have their own way to go, and parallel with the G8 meet, their own summit to attend.

It seemed like a lot of money at the time. The leaders of the group of eight richest countries, the G8, met in Gleneagles in Scotland and announced 50 billion dollars in new aid, half of that for Africa and half for the rest of the world.

There is on the face of it a fairness in the language hanging over the G20 summit that is quite seductive. 'A global crisis requires a global solution,' everyone who matters seems to be saying, at least towards the richer end of the G20 spectrum. Such talk is getting louder by the day as heads of state and government head for a meeting in London Thursday to address the global economic crisis.

If the draft declaration of the G20 meeting in London is anything to go by, the most specific outcome of this summit is that there will be another one later in the year.