CAN YOU HEAR ME? In this Sept, 4, 2009 picture, a young protester listens to a speech outside the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in the City of London as protesters tour the financial institutions in the City. They were calling for new policies to protect the livelihoods of millions of people amid the world economic crisis, as G20 Finance Ministers gathered in London for talks in the run-up to the G20 leaders summit on Sept. 24-25 in Pittsburgh in U.S. Photo: AP
The group, Code Pink, will be among many groups and thousands of activists aiming to use the G-20 summit to spotlight causes including the environment and social injustice. Here a biker displays a poster of the coming conference as they converge in front of the U.S. embassy on Sept. 8, 2009 in Manila Philippines on the last leg of their campaign for the protection of the environment. Photo: AP
Top of the agenda (at the G-20 summit) will be the global economic slowdown. Obama has described the meeting as an opportunity for a "check-up" on countries' initiatives to counter the recession. Along with Gordon Brown, he is keen for progress on a blueprint for international regulation of the financial markets. In this photo protesters in suits wearing masks of G20 leaders, demonstrate in the City of London on Sept. 4, 2009, calling for new policies to protect the livelihoods of millions of people. Text: Guardian Pnoto: AP
Near the Summit venue, an anti-war group plans to set up a tent city to focus attention on the plight of women and children made refugees by war. In this Sept. 17, 2009 photo, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden meets U.S. troops based at the airport in Baghdad, Iraq. Photo: AP
But the U.S. faces a confrontation with other European Union countries over calls to restrict multimillion-pound bonuses in the financial industry. Some European leaders want a cap on bankers' pay, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has threatened to walk out of the summit unless the U.S. moves on the issue.. Photo shows French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaking to reporters after a meeting with bankers at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, on Aug. 25, 2009. France's leading banks agreed to curbs on the way they award bonuses. Text: Guardian Photo: AP
Emphasising his environmental credentials, Obama has been tipped to use his position as the G20 host to call on member countries to end all subsidies for electricity generated by fossil fuels. Picture shows thousands of climate change activists gathering in New York's Central Park to form a human sculpture -- the shape of the earth trapped inside an hourglass. Text: Guardian Photo: AP
India will make a pitch for reforms of world financial institutions and concrete steps to mitigate the global crisis when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh participates in the summit, says IANS. In this July 10, 2009 picture, U.S. President Barack Obama shares a word with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a round table meeting at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy. Photo: AP
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his wife Kim Yoon-ok wave as they leave for the United States to attend the summit at the Seoul Military Airport in Seongnam, South Korea, on Sept. 20: Photo: AP
WILL YOU CARE FOR US? In this Nov. 6, 2007 file photo, a polar bear mother stands with her two cubs in Wapusk National Park on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Global warming will have a bearing on these bears. Photo: AP