G-20 Summit Puts Spotlight on Reborn Pittsburgh

Obama slams China over currency manipulation

(NEWSER) - G20 leaders have agreed to curb “persistently large imbalances” in saving and spending and set “indicative guidelines” against trade imbalances, but more specific decisions on how to identify and fix said imbalances were left until next year, reports the New York Times . The finance minsters are to agree on these guidelines by June; the IMF will then use them to analyze the cause and effect of the imbalances in advance of next year's G20 meeting. More»

Police raid follows widespread violence

(NEWSER) - Police in Toronto conducted a large raid and rounded up more protesters today in an effort to quell further violence at the global economic summit after black-clad youths rampaged through the city, smashing windows and torching police cruisers. Police said they have arrested more than 500 demonstrators, many of whom were hauled away in plastic handcuffs and taken to a temporary holding center constructed for the G20 summit. More»

Wrongheaded policies to be on display at UN, G20 meetings

(NEWSER) - President Obama's agenda can be summed up as "beggar thy neighbor, bankrupt thy country, and appease thy foe," as can be seen in his plans for summit meetings this week, Bret Stephens writes in the Wall Street Journal. The president chairs a UN Security Council meeting on nuclear disarmament this week but won't focus on any particular country, Stephens writes, an approach so broad it seems to suggest that disarming France is as important as preventing Iran and North Korea from having nuclear weapons. More»

Former steel capital showcases economic recovery: White House

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration has picked Pittsburgh to host September’s G20 summit, where leaders representing 85% of the world’s economy will measure progress since the last meeting and discuss further action to curb the global crisis, the Post-Gazette reports. Hit hard by the steel industry’s decline, the revitalized city is committed to the president’s green economy, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says. More»

(NEWSER) - Unlike most economic summits, the G20 talks have delivered more than just a promise to talk some more in the future, Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post. The meeting may not have been the turning point declared by President Obama, but the market-boosting measures agreed upon represent a more substantial result than many had expected. More»