
Following is a text of a letter from President Barack Obama to G20 leaders due to meet in Seoul from tomorrow. The letter was sent on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama tried to swing the G20 spotlight back onto global imbalances and take his own country's policies out of the glare as world leaders gathered in Seoul.

A ceremony marking HMS Edinburgh’s return to the fleet after a £17.5m upgrade took place at Portsmouth Naval Base last week. The Portsmouth-based Type 42 destroyer - which was out of action for 18 months for the refit - was “re-Christened” in a colorful re-dedication ceremony in front of hundreds of guests.

The Royal Navy flagship HMS Ark Royal, which was axed as part of the defence review, set sail yesterday for a farewell tour. The aircraft carrier is to be retired three years early as part of cost-cutting measures announced by the British Government last month.

Europe's competition watchdog hit 11 airlines with nearly 800 million Euros in fines Tuesday for running a global cargo cartel that included Air France-KLM, British Airways and Japan Airlines.

As world leaders prepare to debate international trade imbalances this week, China announced Wednesday that its trade surplus surged last month to a staggering 27.2 billion US dollars, a 61% increase over the 16.9 billion surplus in September.

China is resisting pressure to become a locomotive to pull the floundering US economy out of its hole, notably by stubbornly pegging its Yuan to the dollar, a senior IMF official said on Tuesday.

A group of former Royal Navy admirals have called for the decision to scrap the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the fleet of Harrier jets to be reversed. The cuts were announced as part of the government's Strategic Defence Review.

The Falkland Islands dispute must not get in the way of Britain boosting its relations with Latin America, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday. London has neglected its ties with the region for too long and Britain must re-launch its relations with Latin America as its importance on the global stage grows, Hague said.

China kept up criticism of US easy-money policies, warning two days before a G20 world economic summit that Washington could destabilize the global economy and inflate asset bubbles.