G20 leaders reach $1tn deal

G20 LEADERS REACH $1TN DEAL



Following the G20 jamboree, today's front page headlines are as follows:

Guardian: Brown's new world order

Mail: Brown's new world order! (it's a rare day when only an exclamation mark separates the two papers).

And a variation on the theme in the Independent: Obama hails the new world order

Financial Times: G20 leaders hail crisis fightback

Times: The London United


Telegraph: The fightback starts here

Sun: And to save the world, I demand One trillion dollars (like Dr Evil in the Austin Powers movies)

Mirror: G-Whiz!

International Herald Tribune: Leaders reach $1 trillion deal

New York Times website: Obama's Star Turn at Summit Gets Mixed Results

Washington Post website: Triumph of Substance at Summit

Daily Star: Jade's funeral is a fake


World leaders heralded the G20 London summit as the day the world "fought back against the recession", says the Financial Times, which strikes a tone found throughout today's coverage.

"President Barack Obama described the summit's measures as 'bolder and more rapid than any international response that we've seen to a financial crisis in memory' and predicted that they would mark 'a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery'. Of the $500bn of money pledged to the IMF to bolster struggling economies, some had already been announced and $250bn was a pledge of future funds."

The Guardian's Julian Glover attempts to explain what the communique announced by Gordon Brown actually means. As for the prime minister's key promise on "an additional $1.1trillon programme of support to restore credit, growth and jobs in the world economy", Glover says the following: "Brown's hopes of fiscal stimulus were dashed but he got the next best thing, a $1.1tn boost for the IMF. But spot the difference: the money is promised but not paid upfront, and it will go to developing countries in crisis, not the rich world as a stimulus would."

The Times, in a leader, says that: "Low expectations have been met". "The mere fact of agreement will have expanded, in Gordon Brown's phrase, the oxygen of confidence in the global economy.

"To judge a summit primarily by its contribution to psychology may appear to trivialise a crisis that is widely compared to the Great Depression. Yet confidence is the crucial missing ingredient. Its absence has directly caused the collapse of the western financial system."

It's widely seen as a good summit for Brown. Jonathan Freedland writes in the Guardian: "So the 36 hours in London allowed the PM to play the role in which he appears most comfortable: chancellor to the world. Even his opening statement at the end-of-summit press conference had the rhythm and grammar of a budget speech." But there's a warning further on.

"The tougher question is whether that helps Brown in his current job, as prime minister of Britain. The problem he may soon find is that high praise from fellow world leaders does not automatically translate into popularity at home."

"Gordon Brown cannot be faulted for effort," says a Sun leader. The paper's page three topless model, Rosie, is impressed. In her News in Briefs slot, she says: "It's great to see Gordon Brown pull this off. I'm most impressed by his fiscal stimulus package."

The Mirror helpfully adds that $1tn would pay MPs' expenses for 7,344 years.

The New York Times' Helene Cooper, strikes a different tone: "After more than 11 hours of meetings, Mr Obama emerged from his first summit meeting with a handful of modest concrete commitments. He did not get much of what American officials had been hoping for, notably failing to persuade other countries to commit to more fiscal stimulus spending."


JAMIE COOKS FOR G20


Stories emerging from Wednesday night's heads of state dinner fascinate the papers.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, arrived late for the dinner cooked by Jamie Oliver in Downing Street, the Guardian says. "When he finally turned up, he found himself sitting next to Hu Jintao, the Chinese president. Their discussions were frosty, prompting Sarkozy to suggest a meeting after dinner. But the source of the problem ... was the Dalai Lama. Sarkozy had caused the Chinese deep offence by meeting the Tibetan leader in Poland last December. They finally agreed to meet at Sarkozy's hotel, the Mandarin, a helpfully named venue. But the Chinese refused to turn up until the Elysée issued a joint diplomatic communique in which France moderated its position on Tibet."

Both Obamas were star-struck to be in the presence of the Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, the Telegraph says. The president made a beeline for Rowling, and told her that he had read all her books.

"Miss Rowling then received a second presidential seal of approval for the boy wizard from Russia's President Medvedev and his wife Svetlana, who not only admitted to having read the Harry Potter books but also asked for her autograph."

While the leaders dined in No 10, their spouses were next door having, by the sounds of it, much more fun.

Michelle Obama's vegetable garden, the vexing business of juggling work and children, and even the merits of high street over designer stores – all were topics discussed with fervent interest among the four tables as this fascinating mixture of stateswomen and celebrities whiled away their evening, the Mail says.

Later, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi was seen "in deep conversation" with the model Naomi Campbell, the Independent says.

Michelle Obama seemed to have an impact wherever she went, getting a rare hug from the Queen, the Mail reports, and almost being mobbed by excited schoolgirls, the Telegraph adds.


CANADA PM MISSES GROUP PHOTOGRAPH


The other talking point of the day is the botched attempts at getting the leaders together for a group photo.

"It was, one might have thought, a relatively straightforward task to photograph 30 world leaders and dignitaries, but whoever first noted the particular challenge presented by herding cats has never been to a G20 summit," writes the Guardian's Esther Addley.

"It was Barack Obama who first noticed the gap next to Angela Merkel. 'Where are the Canadians?' he asked. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had, the Toronto Globe and Mail later reported, lost track of the time 'while being briefed by an aide', though sources close to the summit lavatories suggested he had been responding to an altogether more primal call."


FRENCH/GERMAN CAMP 'ON WAR PATH'


Looking elsewhere, Der Spiegel notes the divide between the UK/US camp and the Franco/German one.

"In the morning, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown were conciliatory. In the evening, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel went on the war path. Such an impolitic press conference hasn't been seen at an international summit for a long time."

Xinhua, China's official news agency, chose to highlight sino-US relations. It quoted experts as saying that the meeting between the Chinese and US presidents ahead of the summit was the most important among all the bilateral meetings at the G20.

The French daily Le Monde reported that important decisions to save the world economy had been taken at the G20, although it noted the absence of any discussion about how to balance the books in the long term.

"Decisions and a strong signal. The G20 summit, which united the planet's most important leaders, achieved a double coup."

Spain's El País says the summit achieved a consensus which opened fertile possibilities to face up to the world recession.

The Times of India reported the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, as being "quite happy" with the outcome, and focused on Obama's declaration that the Indian leader was a wise man.