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Reports: G-20 seating chart altered By: Tal Kopan September 5, 2013 07:51 AM EDT Those eager for a potentially awkward photo op of President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting next to each other at the G-20 summit might be disappointed: The seating chart is putting more distance between the two leaders than previously expected. Seating at the summit is alphabetical, but the planners for the event have reportedly changed which alphabet they are using to make the chart, Voice of America and The Guardian reported. In the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in Russian, Russia and the...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 25, 2009 The following fact sheets outline the outcomes of the Pittsburgh Summit hosted by President Obama on September 24th and 25th. FACT SHEETS The Pittsburgh Summit: Key Accomplishments LINK Creating a 21st Century International Economic Architecture LINK Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth LINK Bold and Coordinated Actions from Crisis to Recovery LINK Partnering on Food Security LINK Acting on our Global Energy and Climate Change Challenges LINK Support for the Most Vulnerable LINK

President Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner last night, discussing false claims made about the health care reform bill, told a little anecdote. "I was up at the G20 -- just a little aside -- I was up at the G20, and some of you saw those big flags and all the world leaders come in and Michelle and I are shaking hands with them," the president said. "One of the leaders -- I won't mention who it was -- he comes up to me. We take the picture, we go behind. "He says, 'Barack, explain to me...

The Group of 20 is set to become the premier coordinating body on global economic issues, reflecting a new world economic order in which emerging market countries like China are much more relevant, according to a draft communique. Leaders of the G20 developed and developing nations also agreed to make the International Monetary Fund more representative by increasing the voting power of countries that have long been under-represented in the world financial body,

Jules Crittenden comments on President Sarkozy's statement at the United Nations last week: "It's a sad state of affairs when a Frenchman mocks an American president and you have to go with the Frog." Here's what the man said: President Obama dreams of a world without weapons ... but right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite. Iran since 2005 has flouted five security council resolutions. North Korea has been defying council resolutions since 1993. I support the extended hand of the Americans, but what good has proposals for dialogue brought the international community? More uranium...

At the town hall health care meetings this summer far left LaRouche activists showed up with Obama-Hitler signs. This same extremist group held Obama-Hitler signs at several events. But, now the AP and Obama are making it sound like these protesters were conservatives. The AP reported: At the G-20 economic summit that wrapped up Friday in Pennsylvania, Obama told a story about an unnamed foreign leader who privately told the president he didn't understand the at-times contentious debate over changing the health care system. "He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and...

PITTSBURGH — World leaders on Friday issued sweeping promises to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns. President Barack Obama said actions taken so far "brought the global economy back from the brink.""We leave here today confident and united," Obama said at the conclusion of a two-day gathering of the world's 20 top economies to deal with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The leaders agreed to keep stimulus plans, which include government spending and low interest rates, generally in place in their respective countries for now to avoid derailing still-fragile recoveries....

Facing down Iran, French president Nicolas Sarkozy stood shoulder to shoulder with President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Pittsburgh last week. Or so it might be said. The statements of all three were consistent as they denounced the Islamic Republic's construction of a secret nuclear facility. But in this stage show of solidarity, body language sent a different message. Obama and Brown really did stand side by side. Sarkozy stood apart, looking a little like he'd been asked to stand as best man at a stranger's wedding. Perhaps in his gut he thought this should have...

Hannity took on two G20 protesters from the University of Pittsburgh, one of them being a graduate student in English. Hannity worked them over and exposed the students, one of them getting a PhD in English, as communists.

The First Women Of The G-20 Summit: How They Measure Up To Their Famous Husbands [12 Pics in URL] by Jennifer Romolini, Shine staff, on Fri Sep 25, 2009 Michelle Obama played hostess to the spouses of leaders from all over the world during the G-20 Summit that began Thursday in Pittsburgh. Opening night included a reception at the Phipps Conservatory (where Mrs. Obama wore a controversial dress by designer Thakoon). Other events on the first ladies' itinerary included an intimate dinner at Teresa Heinz Kerry's farm, a tour of the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, and a visit...

Silvio Berlusconi is the 5ft 6ins ladies' man with the flair for the tactless remark, Michelle Obama is the 5ft 11 ins. tough cookie First Lady with a determination as steely as her arms. The meeting between the pair at the opening reception for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh bore all the hallmarks of a classic US-European impasse, with the American president in the middle, looking daggers at his Italian counterpart. While Mrs Obama exchanged hugs and kisses with Browns, the Sarkozys, the Medvedevs and Germany's Angela Merkel, she didn't appear to want to come too close to Mr Berlusconi....

As another G20 meeting rolls around, this time on home soil, the time comes once again for the economically curious but politically unconnected to wonder what is really happening behind closed doors. But while admiring the pageantry, chuckling at the awkward group photos, and parsing the joint communiqués like newly found Dead Sea scrolls, the overwhelming majority of observers will miss the meeting’s dominant theme: hypocrisy. Everyone agrees that the principal agenda item in Pittsburgh will be the need to rein in the ‘global imbalances’ that created the late economic crisis. Everyone also agrees that these imbalances involve too much...

Woo! Hoo! Break out the victory champagne! Wonderful news on the diplomatic and economic fronts! Obama's expressions of deep concern have caused Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wilt under the pressure and announce that Iran will destroy its nuclear plants. On top of that there is news of soaring employment numbers as well as a booming economy. Okay, so maybe none of this is really happening but one could be forgiven for believing these fantasies if his reading material were limited to Reuters which jubilantly published a story by Steve Holland titled Obama Scores Twin Coups on Iran, Economy: PITTSBURGH...

  Late Thursday night, two hours after it sent out President Barack Obama’s Friday schedule, the White House told reporters it was adding another event – a statement that he would give in the morning. Amid all the hoopla of the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh, there was scant indication the announcement would be dramatic. But behind the scenes, the Obama administration was furiously preparing for a major public intelligence disclosure that it had not planned to make: that the U.S. had known for years about a previously undisclosed clandestine nuclear enrichment facility Iran has been building since 2005 in...

U.S. First lady Michelle Obama delivers a speech during the visit with the other first ladies to CAPA high school of art on September 25, 2009 during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama waves at an event for the spouses of the G20 world leaders at CAPA school during the G20 Pittsburgh Summit in Pittsburgh, September 25, 2009.

As world leaders discussed the intricacies of global finance here at the staid Group of 20 meetings, their spouses, led by first lady Michelle Obama, enjoyed a more urbane Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh, taking in a concert at a performing arts school and then touring the Andy Warhol Museum. Obama, 15 other first ladies and six other spouses of leading financial officials enjoyed performances by Yo-Yo Ma, the world famous cellist, as well as by music students and other established musicians at the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, a colorful modern building in the city's cultural district. "The arts...

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) turns the podium over to his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy to deliver a statement about the discovery of an undeclared nuclear site in Iran from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the second day of the G20 Summit, September 25, 2009. President Barack Obama, center, waves at the end of a group photo opportunity at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. Also pictured, left to right: Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; President...

Obama gets hit with a question on sanction against Iran, I think he said exactly what he thinks here, he's not interested in victory, this shows the man is not qualified to be commander in chief... come on 2012...We owe it to our troops...

When it comes to free markets, Obama's message is mixed. The G-20 summit is a chance to provide some clarity. President Obama is in favor of free trade. Except when he isn't. Free trade creates jobs and lowers prices, as he freely acknowledges. But he also insists that American workers must be shielded from foreign labor practices that threaten job security. During the presidential campaign, Obama indicated that he was open to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, even as an advisor quietly reassured Canadian officials that he wouldn't tamper with free trade on the North American continent. Nine...

PITTSBURGH. -- First Lady Michelle Obama called the arts “a form of diplomacy in which we can all take part” during her appearance with fellow first ladies at a high school here, where Obama touted her commitment to the creative arts.