AFP

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh police arrested at least 14 protesters on Wednesday as security was ramped up dramatically on the eve of the G20 summit.

Most of those detained were activists from the Greenpeace pressure group, caught as they abseiled from one of Pittsburgh's iconic river bridges to deploy a banner reading: "Danger. Climate destruction ahead."

Pittsburgh police headquarters said the demonstrators had been arrested at the scene on suspicion of "possession of instruments of a crime, disorderly conduct, conspiracy and obstruction."

The leaders of the world's 19 biggest national economies plus the European Union have begun to arrive in Pittsburgh for two days of talks on the economic crisis and climate change.

Ahead of their arrival, Pittsburgh has beefed up security with thousands of extra police officers and a huge steel security, seeking to avoid a repeat of the violence that marred April's G20 summit in London.

Three secure areas in the heart of the city near the conference venue have been designated as official protest zones, but access to the summit sites itself will be strictly controlled.

US secret service officers are due to conduct an overnight sweep to ensure the conference center and related buildings are safe, and mounted officers and hazardous materials units are deployed nearby.

City leaders hope to use the summit to showcase Pittsburgh's remarkable economic turnaround from dilapidated former steel capital to a thriving hub of high technology industries.

Small businesses, however, were taking few chances on the eve of the talks. Many plan to shut during the two day meeting, and workmen were boarding over shop windows in the downtown business district.

Previous global summits have attracted serious crowd problems, in North America most famously in at the 1999 World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, when anarchists among a 40,000 strong crowd battled police.

The most recent G20 summit in London also saw violent scenes, and British police were criticized after footage filmed during the demonstration showed an officer beating a bystander who later died.

Several groups have announced plans to hold what they saw will be peaceful protests in Pittsburgh, including Greenpeace, which wants leaders to commit tens of billions of dollars to encouraging third world emissions cuts.

"Eight Greenpeace activists scaled the iconic West End Bridge and dropped an 80 foot by 30 foot (24 meters by 9 meters) banner off the side at about 10:45 am," Greenpeace campaign coordinator Gabe Wisniewski told AFP.

Pittsburgh's 29-nine-year-old mayor Luke Ravenstahl has said protesters will be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech and assembly "within sight and sound" of the summit venue.

Ravenstahl has also called in 4,000 federal police officers to back up local security forces during the summit.

On Wednesday, workers' and environmentalist movements will be holding a concert, which 10,000 people are expected to attend.

The following day around 1,000 people are expected to march towards the summit venue in a protest organized by the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project.


http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090923-713813.html

LONDON (Dow Jones)-U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday the next six months will be the true test of whether governments can come together to tackle the economic crisis, climate change and security issues.

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Brown said there had been strong cooperation over the last year on the international economy but that leaders "cannot be complacent."

"For while it may seem strange to say so after a time of such intense global action, our world is entering a six-month period which may prove even more testing for international cooperation," he said.

Ahead of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations meetings in Pittsburgh Thursday and Friday, Brown said governments must deliver on commitments to maintain fiscal stimulus if they are not to "choke off recovery."

He said the Pittsburgh G-20 summit needs to ensure "proper planning of exit strategies" from the anti-crisis policy measures and must aim for strong global growth that is "balanced and sustainable."

He said that will require "facilitating agreement setting clear objectives on how each of us can best contribute to worldwide growth in the future."

On climate change, Brown repeated his call for a $100 billion fund to help developing countries adapt and said now was the moment for action.

"Not later, at another conference, in another decade, after we have lost 10 years to inaction and delay," he said.

Brown has committed to attending December's Copenhagen climate change conference to try and secure a deal.

U.K. officials say Brown has received a good response in New York from other leaders to his call for heads of government to attend the Copenhagen summit. Officials also say there was broad support for the $100 billion climate change fund at a climate change dinner with world leaders late Tuesday.

In his remarks, Brown also warned Iran and North Korea that they could face stronger sanctions if they pursue nuclear weapons programs. And he confirmed that as part of efforts to secure non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and a reduction in stockpiles, his government will consider reducing its nuclear weapon submarine fleet to three from four.

The move could also save his cash-strapped government billions of pounds.

Also Wednesday, Brown met with business leaders in New York to discuss the investment climate in the U.K. with senior executives from the likes of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), HSBC PLC (HBC) and Coca-Cola (KO).

He also co-chaired a UN meeting on health in poor countries and announced the U.K. will give GBP250 million to a financing mechanism helping poor nations widen access to free health-care, starting with pregnant women and children.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hKIeHbuH8L_gXQTGEVgONspx19FwD9ATBD580

PITTSBURGH — On the eve of a summit of the world's 20 top economies, the Obama administration pressed leaders on Wednesday to overcome differences and work together more closely in confronting thorny financial and environmental problems.

"We simply cannot walk away from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and not do everything in our power to reform the system that contributed to this breakdown," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a congressional panel in Washington.

President Barack Obama, delivering his first speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, urged world leaders to join him in confronting an abundance of global challenges.

"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," he said. Obama was to arrive in Pittsburgh Thursday afternoon. The summit will conclude Friday.

Leaders gathering here face daunting challenges in overcoming differences on major issues ranging from restraining bankers' bonuses to overhauling financial regulation and plotting a future course for sustainable growth as the worst of the downturn appears to be over.

As some leaders began arriving, police said 14 members of the environmental group Greenpeace were arrested on two bridges. They faced various charges, including possession of an instrument of a crime, disorderly conduct, conspiracy and obstruction.

First, four environmental protesters rappelled off the West End Bridge over the Ohio River, dangling perilously over the water while steadying a large banner warning of "climate destruction" if world leaders don't act to control carbon dioxide emissions. After about two hours, the protesters climbed safely back up to the bridge deck.

Police said they arrested nine in that episode. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said five others wearing harnesses and preparing to rappel off another span, the Fort Pitt Bridge, also were arrested.

Although the U.S. has urged G-20 countries not to scale back stimulus spending programs just yet, it will be hard to maintain such a stance in light of recent improvements in all the major economies, including a far brighter assessment by Federal Reserve policymakers on Tuesday.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged at low levels while signaling a willingness to begin to unwind some of the rescue programs it established at the depth of the recession. "Economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn," the Fed policymakers said, a more optimistic view than they issued in August when saying economic activity was "leveling out."

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the earlier "cooperation took place because everybody was scared and understood it was not time to fight one against the other one, but to work together.

"Will it last beyond the crisis?" the IMF chief asked in an interview with PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer." "That's the big question. It has to for the sake of the global economy. Is it absolutely sure? I won't say."

Obama signaled he will use the G-20 summit to call for an end to extensive government subsidies that encourage the use of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, which are blamed for contributing to global warming, He will propose a gradual elimination, with the time frame to be determined, according to White House officials.

Many countries, including the U.S., provide tax breaks and direct payments to help produce and use oil, coal, natural gas and other fuels that spew carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas. However, this proposal was likely to spark opposition from China and possibly some other major greenhouse gas emitters such as India and Russia.

Geithner, in an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, warned against complacency amid signs of a global rebound. The panel was focusing on the administration's sweeping overhaul of the U.S. financial system. But Geithner's testimony echoed the appeal he and Obama are making to other members of the leading economies group.

The talks in Pittsburgh will be held under heavy security. Thousands of police were busy erecting security barriers along the streets around the convention center, the site of the gathering, on the Allegheny River. Many buildings and shops were closed. Police helicopters buzzed overhead. Most of downtown was to be closed to traffic on Thursday and Friday, as were the city's three rivers.

Protesters have vowed to use the sessions as a stage to highlight their grievances against global capitalism.

There are many differences among the summit members. The gathering, which follows G-20 meetings last November in Washington and this past April in London, includes older industrial powers along with major fast-growing developing economies such as China, India and Brazil.

In the financial arena, the U.S. wants the other countries to adopt tougher rules on the size of the capital reserves banks must hold as a cushion against loan losses — which proved inadequate when the worst financial meltdown struck a year ago. But European countries argue that the U.S. proposal, as currently structured, would benefit U.S. banks at the expense of their European competitors.

However, the group is expected to endorse the U.S. call for a new "framework for sustainable and balanced growth," but without any major way to enforce commitments made to restrain imbalances such as China's huge trade surpluses and the United States' surging budget deficits.

European countries are expected to push harder than the U.S. for specific caps on banker's pay and bonuses. While China wants a greater role for it and other emerging economies and the U.S. has been pushing China's cause in the face of opposition from European countries, which would have to give up some of its voting powers.