Financial Times FT.com

Italians break convention with covert listening device

By Guy Dinmore in L'Aquila and Marco Pasqua in Rome

Published: July 9 2009 03:00 | Last updated: July 9 2009 03:00

Whenever G8 leaders gather for their annual talks, an elaborate ritual unfolds to ensure the conversations within this elite club are kept confidential.

There will be no recording or note-taking of their deliberations, and each head of government is accompanied by just one aide - the "sherpa" - who is allowed to communicate with those outside the closed room only through a digital pen.

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