Number could be up for old G7

RUSSIAN President Boris Yeltsin is learning what to do in Denver when you are back from the dead.

After surviving heart surgery, pneumonia and the political ambitions of foes at home, Mr Yeltsin arrived in the United States as a full participant in the Group of Seven summit for the first time.

But is it now G7? With the summit of industrial nations now totalling eight, a new name appears to be one of the most testing problems on the world leaders' agenda.

For the time being, host Bill Clinton has dubbed it 'the summit of the eight'. But considering the US President's wavering record on foreign policy decisions, who knows what the summit will be called by the time it next meets.