G8 leaders gathering here Wednesday faced deepening crises in Iran and China and a warning that the worst political and social effects of the global economic downturn are still to come.
Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations and a host of emerging powers meet until Friday in the city of L'Aquila, which was devastated in April by an earthquake that killed nearly 300 people. But as the leaders began arriving, World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy warned them that "the worst of the crisis in social terms is still to come, which means that the worst of the crisis in political terms is still to come".