CTV.ca reporter Geoff Nixon is covering the G8/G20 summits and will be filing reports hourly in this notebook column. Check back on the website for updates as the summit gets underway.

T.O. buys insurance for G20 summit

The City of Toronto has taken out event liability insurance to cover the G20 summit.

A report on the Globe and Mail website said the city purchased an undisclosed amount of insurance to "cover all issues" stemming from the G20.

Kevin Sack, the director of strategic communications for the city, confirmed to CTV.ca that the city had sought coverage for the two-day summit of world leaders.

Asked to provide other examples where the city would take out such insurance, Sack said the G20 was a set of unique circumstances.

"This event is not a typical city event and therefore our risk management experts in consultation with the industry and other jurisdictions that have held similar events decided to seek and purchase liability insurance for the event," he told CTV.ca in an email on Thursday afternoon.


In the G8 media area

  

Journalists ‘experience Canada' by kicking back, watching Cup

In the late afternoon, there were a lot of foreign journalists gathered in the "Experience Canada" area.

But they were watching soccer and not the giant screens showing scenic views of Toronto and Muskoka.

Some people watched the game lakeside -- fake-lakeside, that is -- and others lounged near a cappuccino bar.

Denmark managed to score one goal on Japan, but it wasn't enough.

Japan won 3-1 and got a lot of applause from fans of the national team.

The whole scene was another indication of how soccer-mad the world outside Canada is.

One TV crew was filming a page of the Globe and Mail that featured soccer content.

Other crews filmed the reaction of other journalists who were watching the game.


Aussie surprise puts leader bio out of date

Break out the white-out, there's a correction that needs to be made to the G20 backgrounder being given out to reporters in Toronto.

The book says the Australian prime minister is a guy name Kevin Rudd.

That used to be true -- until Rudd lost a leadership vote on Thursday night.

Julia Gillard is now the leader of the Australian government and the first woman to hold that position. She will be the 27th prime minister from Down Under.

According to the now-inaccurate backgrounder, Rudd was the country's 26th prime minister.


CTV's Power Play checks in on Hu visit, fake lake

The arrival of Chinese President Hu Jintao will be one of the key topics on CTV's Power Play later this afternoon.

Hu arrived in Canada yesterday, but was greeted at Rideau Hall on Thursday morning by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and her husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond.

His visit comes at a time when Canada is trying to patch up its relationship with China, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and at least five of his cabinet ministers making trips to Beijing in the past six months.

Power Play host Tom Clark will also pay a visit to the controversial "fake lake" this afternoon.


T.O. welcomes world leaders with CN Tower display

A new nocturnal display has been set up at the CN Tower to welcome the leaders of the G20 to Toronto.

The 553-metre Toronto landmark is using its well-known LED lights to represent representations of the flag of each nation participating in the summit.

From dusk until dawn, it will appear as if flags are moving sideways between the bottom of the tower and its main pod. On top, the colours from the same flag will be shown at the same time.

The display began June 22 and will wrap up Sunday night.

The CN Tower will be closed to the public June 25-27 for security reasons. It will reopen June 28.


Canadian art on display at media centre ... but what is it?

 

Tom Bendtsen's sculpture is one of a few Canadian artworks on display for reporters from around the world to see.

The first question from this reporter was: What is it?

Up close, it's a big pile of 15,000 multi-coloured books and you aren't sure what it's supposed to be. It's also called "Conversation #4."

From further away -- and after a stranger suggests it looks like a sunset hitting the water -- I'm still not sure what it means. But it is definitely cool.

Bendtsen is a Canadian artist who has studied at the Ontario College of Art and later at the State University of New York. He's been making large-scale book sculptures since the mid-1990s.

For people living in Toronto, they might have seen "Conversation #4" on display at a city library during the recent Luminato arts festival.