Summit violence prompts rethink

Riot police were heavily armed

A small core of violent protesters has clashed with police for a second day in the Italian city of Genoa, where up to 150,000 peaceful activists demonstrated during the G8 summit.

The turmoil prompted Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the host of next year's summit, to propose rethinking the next G8 gathering.

Genoa issues

Impact of US slowdown on world economy

Relaunching global trade talks

Launching $1bn global health fund to tackle Aids and other diseases

Easing poverty in developing countries

Efforts to combat global warming

More than 200 people were wounded in the clashes on Saturday, and about 70 people have been arrested over two days of protest, some on charges as serious as attempted murder.

Early on Sunday, Italian police raided the press centre of the anti-globalisation movement, the Genoa Social Forum, and seized computer disks.

Click here to see map of Saturday's clashes

Mr Chretien said that changes would be needed before next year's summit.

"We have to reduce the size of the delegation to have a more informal type of meeting. There are too many people. Some have huge delegations - that is not needed," he said.

He is also reportedly considering holding the 2002 summit in a remote Rocky Mountain town that will be more difficult for protesters to reach.

Protesters threw tear gas back at police

The G8 presidents and prime ministers pressed ahead with their talks as running battles raged outside the protected "red zone" where they were meeting.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday morning, they condemned "violence overflowing into anarchy" by a small minority of the demonstrators.

They said they respected people's right to protest peacefully, but added: "It is vitally important that democratically elected leaders legitimately representing millions of people can meet to discuss areas of common concern."

Africa plan

The G8 agreed to set up a joint working group with African leaders to draw up plans to help the continent.

The proposals will be aimed at promoting democracy, preventing conflict, fighting corruption and encouraging foreign and internal African investment.

While there was consensus on the Africa programme, there were sharp disputes over the environment.

Chirac and Bush: Smiles, but no agreement

US President George W Bush met with two of the strongest critics of his rejection of the Kyoto climate change accord, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

He put a positive spin on the meetings, saying: "We have agreed to reduce greenhouse gases, and we have agreed to continue to dialogue on how."

But EU Commission President Romani Prodi's evaluation was more downbeat. He said the US and EU had repeated their conflicting positions on the climate-change accord.

Protests

As the meeting went on, the protest march moved along the Italian port city's seafront and black-hooded protesters tried to breach the "red zone".

The dead protester was named as Italian Carlo Giuliani, 23

Police armed with shields and backed by armoured vans responded by firing tear gas and forcing the demonstrators back.

In a change of tactics from Friday, security on Saturday included plainclothes police officers who blended in with the crowd and swung into action when fighting began.

The clashes came the day after a protester was killed, the first demonstrator to be shot dead in two years of ant-globalisation protests.

An official investigation has been opened into the fatal shooting of the 23-year-old Italian protester by a policeman, who could face criminal charges.

Hijacking fear

Some campaign groups pulled out of the protest amid fears that it was being hijacked by anarchist groups.

Organisations such as Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Catholic Development Agency were among those that decided to hold alternative protests.

On Friday, the G8 leaders called for a new round of free trade talks, to ensure sustained global economic growth.

The G8 also pledged an initial $1.2bn to a United Nations-sponsored plan to combat Aids and other diseases in developing countries.

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Map shows "red zone", the exclusion area surrounding the Palazzo Ducale summit venue, and the outer "yellow zone", which was meant to free of protesters but was quickly breached.