Obama to miss G20 summit

US President-elect Barack Obama will stay away from this weekend's G20 summit as a sign of respect for George W Bush, Obama's transition team said yesterday.

John Podesta, one of the co-chairs overseeing Obama's transition to the White House, told reporters that it was "not appropriate for two people to show up" at the economic summit in Washington. "The president-elect will respect the fact that we have one president at a time."

Obama's advisers will meet visiting leaders, who include British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but the President-elect will remain in Chicago while the summit takes place.

Obama's reluctance to play a leading role in the summit could also be politically convenient - leaving Bush to keep sole ownership of the increasingly controversial $700bn bail-out package for the financial industries.