Anti-capitalist protesters scuffled with police outside the Bank of England today as Gordon Brown received a series of world leaders in Downing Street to prepare for tomorrow's G20 summit.

First up was Barack Obama, making his first trip outside North America since his inauguration, The US President and his wife, Michelle, received a rare round of applause from staff at No 10 as they arrived for a breakfast meeting this morning.
Mr Obama's outsized motorcade was just the first in a series of armoured convoys due to pass through the Downing Street gates. The Prime Minister was also holding talks with President Medvedev of Russia, President Hu of China, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan.

But the two leaders who most threaten to upset Mr Brown's plans for the G20 are not due at No 10 until this evening when all the G20 heads of state and government meet for a pre-summit dinner.

Mr Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, have already scuppered UK attempts to have the meeting endorse a massive and coordinated fiscal stimulus. They are now pushing for the summit to make clear progress on tighter regulation of financial markets to replace the "light-touch" Anglo-Saxon model blamed for the current crisis.
Hong Kong led a strong region-wide rally across Asia Pacific on Thursday amid growing optimism about the outlook for the US economy following better-than-expected data.

The Hang Seng rallied 7.4 per cent to 14,521.97, its biggest one-day gain since December 8 and at its highest closing level in three months. HSBC led the market higher, with a 15.3 per cent rally.