Economic headwinds threaten G20 growth

BRISBANE, Australia: G20 leaders will this weekend pledge to rev up combined growth by $2 trillion but analysts are skeptical of success with key pistons of the global economic engine such as Germany and China starting to misfire, and Japan again at risk of going into reverse.

With Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of Russia among the leaders coming to the Brisbane summit, geopolitical issues will not be far from the surface given the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, the rise of the Islamic State group and the devastating impact of Ebola.