With the help of Bob Geldof and a few dozen rock stars, this year's G-8 Summit is getting more than its usual share of media attention. So what exactly is the G-8 and what does it hope to accomplish at this year's summit?

What is the G-8?

The G-8 refers to the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries: Italy, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Japan, and Germany.

The group was formed during the 1973 oil crisis with six members to coordinate economic policy. It became the G-7 in 1977, when Canada joined, and the G-8 in 1998, when Russia signed on. The G-8 has no headquarters, budget or permanent staff.

The group's main focus now is stabilizing and expanding the world economy and managing international trade, although they also deal with other topics that come up each year.

The leaders of all the G-8 countries gather to meet once a year for what amounts to a photo op, as they announce agreements hashed out at smaller meetings in the weeks ahead of the summit by teams of diplomats known as "sherpas."

The G-8 presidency rotates every year, and the president hosts the group's annual summit and decides the agenda. This year, it's the United Kingdom's Tony Blair's turn. He's holding the summit in Gleneagles, a posh golf resort in the Scottish Highlands.

Russia takes over the presidency at the end of the year.

How is the G-8 different from the G-20 and the G-7?

The G-20, formally created in 1999, brings together finance ministers and bank governors from the G-8 industrialized countries -- as well as emerging-market countries. Together, the Group of 20 account for more than 90 per cent of the world's economic output.

The G7 meetings involve finance ministers from all the G-8 countries, minus Russia, which is not considered a major economic power. The group tries to develop unified positions on international currency and financial systems.

What's on this year's agenda?

While the G-8's main focus is the world economy, members often work on a wider range of issues. A few years ago, G-8 countries signed onto an initiative to secure nuclear materials vulnerable to theft in the former Soviet Union.

Recently, G-8 members have discussed the technical obstacles facing the international pedophile tracking system set up in 2003.

At this year's summit, G-8 president Tony Blair has put Africa and climate change at the top of the agenda, as well as more mundane topics such as the rising price of oil and export subsidies.

With Africa, Blair hopes to stir action on the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which include eliminating extreme poverty, combating AIDS, and ensuring universal primary education. He is also calling for a boost of $25 billion in annual aid to Africa by 2010.

With climate change, Blair hopes to get the United States to sign on for a strong climate agreement that acknowledges the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But he admits that securing such a deal will be "obviously very difficult."

How likely is a deal on climate change?

There still remains significant disagreement from the United States on the causes of global warming. The U.S. disputes the notion that global warming is due in large part to "human activity" and was the only G-8 member to reject the Kyoto Protocol, which requires developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

And yet U.S. President George Bush has acknowledged that America must end its reliance on Arab oil. That's why his country is funding research into alternative fuels, such as methane, hydrogen and nuclear power. Bush argues that these initiatives will go a long way to cutting greenhouse emissions and will be far less costly than trying to meet the Kyoto targets.

Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the Gleneagles summit will result in a concrete commitment on climate change. A leaked draft of a final statement on climate change included no firm targets, timetables or cash, although British officials insist the wording could yet be stiffened before the summit is over.

Hasn't the G-8 already agreed to African debt cancellation?

On June 11, the finance ministers of the G-8 agreed to forgive the debts of 18 impoverished nations, 14 of them African, including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Ghana. The debts were owed to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the African Development Bank (AFDB) and totaled about $40 billion.

But because those poor countries will have difficulty seeking more loans, Blair is hoping to secure a pledge at this year's summit to double aid to Africa. So far, he has already received a qualified commitment by the EU to double aid by 2015 but has had less success securing a deal with the U.S. (The pressure is on Canada to help nudge this along.)

Ahead of the summit, Bush moved to blunt criticism against him by pledging a number of initiatives for Africa. He said he'd ask Congress for $1.2 billion to cut malaria deaths in half over five years, to double spending on promoting education programs for girls in Africa, and improve legal protections for women against violence and sexual abuse.

Bush has said more aid will be offered to Africa in the future, but the U.S. must be convinced that governments are acting responsibly and spending wisely, saying "African leaders should be agents of reform and progress not passive recipients of money."

How is Live 8 connected to the G-8?

The Live 8 series of music concerts are not affiliated with the economic group but the shows will be held in each of the G-8 countries. The concerts are part of Bob Geldof's plan to raise awareness for proposed solutions to global poverty.

The concerts' sponsoring groups, including Make Poverty History, are calling for 100 per cent debt relief for poor countries, the revision of international trade rules, and a doubling of aid for Africa.

Geldof insists that unlike Live Aid in 1985, the focus of the concerts is raising awareness, not money.

Will there be more protests?

Because G-8 countries represent much of the world's economic power, their summit always draws fire from anti-globalization groups and human rights activists. In recent years, the protests have grown bigger and angrier. The most notable recent incident was in 2001, when a protester was shot to death by police during the G-8 summit in Genoa.

This year, many protest groups are subscribing to the Live 8 message of global debt relief. About 100,000 people are expected to march through Edinburgh on Saturday in support of the Make Poverty History Campaign.

They are planning a series of parades and meetings from Saturday until Tuesday. The protests will escalate on Wednesday when the summit begins, with marches and attempted road blockades planned for around the summit site.

The protesters' main target is the United States, which has agreed to only modest extra aid for Africa and has refused to sign on to the Kyoto Accord.