G20 leaders meet amid new concerns

TORONTO (AP) – World leaders, grappling with the worst financial crisis since the  1930s, were gathering Thursday for global economic talks seeking to maintain solidarity in the face of new challenges.

New leaders in Australia, Japan and Britain could alter the dynamics. With recoveries in their countries proceeding at starkly different paces, leaders of the 20 largest industrial and developing nations found themselves at odds over how to strike the right balance  between continued government stimulus spending and confronting ballooning budget  deficits. Divisions also persisted on proposals for a global bank tax and over how much  multinational banks should be required to keep on reserve as a cushion against loan losses.

“The most pressing issue is sustainable economic growth,” said Canada’s finance  minister, Jim Flaherty. But he told a news conference before a speech to the Toronto Boarde of Trade that this means different things in different parts of the world. “There are clearly some countries, particularly some European countries, that need to fiscally  consolidate on an urgent basis,” he said.

He noted that Canada’s economy is fundamentally strong and that its banks weathered the financial crisis without failures or government bailouts. “We are the envy of the  world,” he said in voicing opposition to a global bank tax.

Security was tight as foreign leaders arrived during the day and their motorcades tied traffic into knots near the airport and on roads into town. Barricades turned Toronto’s downtown core into a virtual fortress.

Police said they took a man into custody Thursday after searching a car and finding  containers of gasoline and unspecified weapons. The car was stopped near a hotel where the French delegation is staying for the summit. Workers at the hotel had walked off the job Thursday as part of a labor dispute.

Protests were light and scattered on Thursday, but more were planned for later in the week when the economic sessions get fully under way. Canadian police patrolled the Lake Ontario waterfront from powerboats and jet skis. One of the first to arrive was Chinese President Hu Jintao, who came on Wednesday and held separate meetings on Thursday with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the summit host.

Britain, Japan and, unexpectedly, Australia were sending new leaders to the G-20  summit. As leaders began arriving, Australia’s ruling Labor Party abruptly ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.