World leaders are gathering in the French resort of Deauville for a summit of the G8 bloc of wealthy nations.
The leaders are expected to discuss how to end the seemingly deadlocked Libya conflict, and their response to the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. Correspondents say recent events such as uprisings in the Arab world and Japan's nuclear crisis have given the G8 a new sense of purpose.
Also on the agenda is how little or how much the internet should be regulated.
Internet bosses - including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google boss Eric Schmidt - are attending the two-day summit in Normandy.
The global economy and climate change will be discussed, too, at the gathering for the leaders of the US, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada.
Thousands of police have been deployed as part of a huge security operation and checkpoints have been erected on all roads leading to Deauville.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to welcome his guests to the coastal casino resort at 1045 GMT.
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End QuoteHe [Obama] has no longer set out to impose America's brand of democracy in troubled corners of the world”
His wife, First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, will host the leaders' spouses, in her first G8 summit since her pregnancy was revealed.
US President Barack Obama is en route to the meeting having completed his state visit to the UK. He is due to hold one-on-one meetings on the summit sidelines with President Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Debate is expected at the summit on ways of improving global nuclear safety after the breakdown of Japan's Fukushima power plant following March's earthquake and tsunami.
G8 also offers the leaders their first real opportunity to debate the so-called Arab Spring uprisings.
Interim prime ministers from Tunisia and Egypt - where longtime leaders were overthrown this year - and the head of the Arab League will also be at Deauville for talks on a massive aid plan to help their transition to democracy.
Representatives from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are due to spell out for G8 leaders what it would take to stabilise the Tunisian and Egyptian economies.
Points of friction BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall, in Deauville, says that despite President Obama's appeal in London on Wednesday for democratic unity and leadership, there may well be friction at the summit.
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End Quote Barack Obama US PresidentThe time for our leadership is now”
She adds that Russia's president - one of the first to arrive - has opposed air strikes on Libya from the start, though he may offer to mediate in that conflict.
Africa will also be represented at the summit, as it has been since 2003. Newly elected leaders from Ivory Coast, Niger and Guinea are expected to participate in sessions about promoting democracy.A shift in global influence to emerging powers such as India and China, who are not in the G8, has led to the bloc's relevance being questioned.
But speaking in London on Wednesday, President Obama rejected arguments that the rise of superpowers like China and India spelled the demise of American and European influence in the world.
"Perhaps, the argument goes, these nations represent the future, and the time for our leadership has passed. That argument is wrong. The time for our leadership is now," he said.
After the summit ends on Friday afternoon, President Obama is scheduled to travel to Poland, the last stop on a four-country, six-day tour of Europe that began Monday in Ireland.
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