Terrorism and nukes top General Assembly agenda

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer



UNITED NATIONS – More than 120 world leaders meet Wednesday on the heels of a climate change summit to tackle other crucial issues on the international agenda from terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons to growing poverty resulting from the global financial crisis.

"Amid many crises — food, energy, recession and pandemic flu, hitting all at once — the world looks to us for answers," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in prepared remarks for the opening of the General Assembly's 64th ministerial session.

"If ever there were a time to act in a spirit of renewed multilateralism, a moment to create a United Nations of genuine collective action, it is now."

A host of new faces will step to the podium at this last General Assembly ministerial session in the U.N.'s landmark headquarters before it closes for renovation later this fall — U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, China's President Hu Jintao and Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

A day after some 100 heads of state and government, in the largest-ever summit on global warming, exchanged views on how to reach a new global accord to combat climate change, Ban will again exhort the leaders to "rise to the greatest challenge we face as a human family."

The U.N. chief will also urge leaders to take steps to free the world of nuclear weapons, to address the "red flags of warning" about a global economic recovery and make a fresh push to achieve U.N. anti-poverty goals especially reducing maternal and child mortality rates which remain very high, according to his prepared text.

Ban will call for a revival of negotiations to achieve a comprehensive settlement in the Mideast and a two-state solution where Israel and Palestine live side-by-side in peace. And he will pledge to see the Afghans "through their long night" and stand as well with the people of Pakistan.

Security around the sprawling U.N. complex and adjacent neighborhood is exceedingly tight because of the VIP participants, especially Obama who spoke at Monday's climate summit and will be back in the assembly chamber Wednesday morning to address ministers and diplomats from the 191 other U.N. member states.

Diplomats said the new U.S. president is almost certain to receive a standing ovation because of the new American commitment to working with countries rich and poor, large and small, to solve global problems and Obama's outreach to the Muslim world.

On Tuesday — in addition to focusing on reducing U.S. carbon emissions, a Mideast summit with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders and a meeting with China's president — Obama invited 25 African leaders and African Union Commissioner Jean Ping to lunch to discuss job creation, particularly for young people, increasing trade and investment and improving agricultural productivity.

Obama stressed that the lunch was not a one-off event but the start of a dialogue between his administration and African leaders, said Michelle Gavin, special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs. She said she was certain that Obama — whose late father was Kenyan — would make a return visit to Africa "at some point," noting that he has received many invitations.

The U.S. president will chair a high-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council Thursday on disarmament and efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and the leaders of the four other nuclear powers on the council will also speak — Medvedev, Hu, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The council is expected to adopt a resolution calling for stepped up disarmament efforts and a more intense global campaign to reduce nuclear dangers and threats of proliferation. It doesn't name any countries but the draft resolution does refer to previous council resolutions that imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea for their nuclear pursuits.

Foreign ministers from the five permanent council nations and Germany, who have been trying to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, will meet with the European Union's top negotiator on Wednesday to discuss prospects and expectations for lower-level talks with Iranian officials on Oct. 1.

Demonstrators have announced protests against two heads of government: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who will be making his first U.N. appearance after 40 years as ruler of the oil-rich North African nation, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

There has been much speculation on whether Obama will cross paths with Gadhafi and Ahmadinejad.

They are all invited to a lunch Wednesday hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and then there is a group photo session. Gadhafi is almost certain to meet the U.S. leader if he attends Thursday's Security Council meeting on nuclear nonproliferation to represent Libya, which is a non-permanent council member.

There are many other meetings scheduled on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

Countries concerned with Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan will hold closed-door talks. There will be commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees and of the Geneva Conventions. And there will be a two-day meeting starting Thursday to press for ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty, to name a few.

Ban called in the draft of his speech for urgent support to achieve broad stability in Sudan. He again called for the release of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and for fresh efforts to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.

And he urged all nations to take risks and "rise to an exceptional moment."

Archaeologists find suspected Trojan war-era couple

ANKARA (Reuters) – Archaeologists in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey have found the remains of a man and a woman believed to have died in 1,200 B.C., the time of the legendary war chronicled by Homer, a leading German professor said on Tuesday.

Ernst Pernicka, a University of Tubingen professor of archaeometry who is leading excavations on the site in northwestern Turkey, said the bodies were found near a defense line within the city built in the late Bronze age.

The discovery could add to evidence that Troy's lower area was bigger in the late Bronze Age than previously thought, changing scholars' perceptions about the city of the "Iliad."

"If the remains are confirmed to be from 1,200 B.C. it would coincide with the Trojan war period. These people were buried near a mote. We are conducting radiocarbon testing, but the finding is electrifying," Pernicka told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Ancient Troy, located in the northwest of modern-day Turkey at the mouth of the Dardanelles not far south of Istanbul, was unearthed in the 1870s by Heinrich Schliemann, the German entrepreneur and pioneering archaeologist who discovered the steep and windy city described by Homer.

Pernicka said pottery found near the bodies, which had their lower parts missing, was confirmed to be from 1,200 BC, but added the couple could have been buried 400 years later in a burial site in what archaeologists call Troy VI or Troy VII, different layers of ruins at Troy.

Tens of thousands of visitors flock every year to the ruins of Troy, where a huge replica of the famous wooden horse stands along with an array of excavated ruins.

Turkey, Syria Launch Strategic Cooperation

ANKARA [MENL] -- After decades of enmity, Syria and Turkey have launched strategic cooperation.

In September, the two neighbors signed an agreement meant to launch strategic cooperation, including in the defense and military sectors. The accord also saw the removal of restrictions along the border between Syria and Turkey.

Judge Sawan interrogates Fatah al-Islam detainees

BEIRUT: Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan on Tuesday interrogated five Fatah al-Islam militants accused of planning terrorist activities and manufacturing explosives in south Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday. Sawwan formally arrested the five, the report added. NNA said the five terrorists were seized in south Lebanon for belonging to an armed organization and planning to carry out terrorist activities and making bombs. Sawan also issued arrest warrants against Palestinian national Ali al-Far and Wissam Thaybish for the same crimes. Authorities will question Thaybish on Wednesday about his possible involvement in the 1999 assassination of four Lebanese judges at Sidon’s Justice Palace.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened with UN walk out if Holocaust comments repeated

British officials plan to walk out of a United Nations session if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, repeats comments which deny the Holocaust.

Andrew Porter, Political Editor

A succession of world leaders including President Barack Obama and Gordon Brown will address the UN in New York today. But Mr Ahmadinejad's presence in America has caused consternation.

Many fear he will provoke outrage by discussing Holocaust denial while the world's media attention is on him. Earlier this year, a similar statement in Geneva saw officials from several countries walk out.

A Number 10 source traveling with the Prime Minister said: "If he does get into Holocaust denial territory or say something that's not compatible with human rights that we work to uphold then we would consider walking out."

Mr Brown will also come face to face with Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, at a meeting of the UN security council. Libya is a non permanent member of the council.

It will be the first time they have met since the release of the Lockerbie bomber last month. That has led to tension between London and Washington with Mr Obama telling Mr Brown that he was disappointed with the prisoner's release.

Number 10 did not indicate whether the two men would shake hands but it is expected they will if they come face-to-face.

That could further inflame opinion in America where families of Lockerbie victims have protested at Megrahi's release.

On the first day of his four-day trip to America Mr Brown will tell the UN: "Once again we are at a point of no return. And just as the collapse of the banks focused our minds a year ago - so we must now grasp this next set of issues."

Last night the Prime Minister took part in a dinner discussing climate change. He called on leaders to take seriously the drive to secure a new global warming reduction target at Copenhagen in December.

He will say today: "This is the moment, now, to limit and reverse the climate change we are inflicting on future generations. Not later, at another conference, in another decade, after we have lost 10 years to inaction and delay".

His speech will also address nuclear proliferation, poverty in Africa and terrorism.

Canada to boycott Iran's UN speech

UNITED NATIONS - Canada will boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the United Nations on Wednesday, saying his outbursts about the Holocaust and Israel are "shameful."

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon will be at the world body to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly's annual debate, but officials signal he and other members of the Canadian delegation will vacate the Canadian seats when the Islamic republic's president approaches the podium.

Walking out of the chamber is seen as a strong diplomatic show of disgust at the UN - and since the chamber is generally packed on the first day of the annual summit, Canada's empty seats will not go unnoticed.

One of the first speakers of the day will be U.S. President Barack Obama, who is making his debut address before the assembly.

"President Ahmadinejad's repeated denial of the Holocaust and his anti-Israel comments run counter to the values of the UN General Assembly, and they're shameful," said one Canadian official.

"He uses his public appearances to provoke the international community, and that is why Canada's seats will be empty."

The gesture is a step stronger than one announced Tuesday by the German Foreign Ministry, which asked other European Union member states to walk out of the General Assembly chamber if Ahmadinejad again denies the Holocaust, or makes anti-Semitic statements.

The Canadian initiative will be welcomed by Israel, which Tuesday urged all delegates in the 192-member chamber to stay away when Ahmadinejad speaks.

"A few days ago, he gave a new speech of hate," Gabriela Shalev, Israeli ambassador to the UN, told Israeli army radio.

"The simple fact of leaving the room during his speech, or not to be present during it, is a symbolic act."

Shalev insisted Israel had not been asking countries to "promise" they would boycott Ahmadinejad's address.

"We are simply reminding them of how dangerous this person and the country that he leads are," she said.

Iranian officials said this week that Ahmadinejad intended to use his speech to offer a message of "peace and friendship."

But Ahmadinejad sparked new outrage just last week by again calling Nazi Germany's murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust a "myth," then saying the angry reaction he provoked was a "source of pride" to him. His anti-Israel statements have included calling for the country - created by the UN shortly after the Second World War - to be "wiped of the map."

Canada annually leads a multi-nation effort in the UN General Assembly to highlight in successive resolutions Iran's poor human-rights record. The effort infuriates Iran, which pulls out all the diplomatic stops to try to block it.

On the front burner at the moment is the fate of hundreds of people arrested in the violent crackdown Ahmadinejad and his supporters ordered as opposition rose to his disputed re-election as president in June.

Among those jailed was Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, an internationally recognized documentary filmmaker, who was in the Islamic republic for Newsweek magazine to cover the election and ensuing protests.

"We remain deeply concerned by the human-rights situation in Iran, and the crackdown on legitimate democratic protests, and the arrests of Iranians and foreign nationals, are unacceptable," added the Canadian official.

"We will continue to demand the release of those unjustly detained, including Canadian Newsweek reporter, Maziar Bahari."

The Canadian boycott comes as the Obama administration has sought to launch a dialogue with Iran, and direct talks between the two countries over Western opposition to Iran's nuclear program are scheduled for Oct. 1.

However, Obama officials, among them U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, denounced Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust.

Obama is expected to try to avoid Ahmadinejad at the UN, even though he said in a 2007 campaign debate he was prepared to meet personally with the Iranian leader - without preconditions.

The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb, though Iran, despite being oil-rich, said it wants to produce nuclear energy only.

Iranian leader says he'll seek leniency for hikers

By ROBERT BURNS and ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writers

NEW YORK – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday in an Associated Press interview that he will seek leniency for three American hikers who strayed across the Iranian border, and he urged President Barack Obama to see Iran as a potential friend.

The Iranian leader also said he expects "free and open" discussion of nuclear issues at a meeting next week with six world powers, but stressed that his country would not negotiate on its own nuclear plans. He sought to open a wider nuclear dialogue with the West, and said the onus should be on the United States and other major nuclear powers to give up their weapons and to expand opportunities for all countries to make peaceful use of nuclear power.

He dismissed last week's U.S. shift away from a planned long-range missile shield in Europe, meant to guard against an Iranian strike, as "a respectful way of buying out" Russian objections.

"I heard Mr. Obama saying the next threat is Iran. Iran is an opportunity for everyone," Ahmadinejad said.

The Iranian leader's remarks on those and other issues in an hour-long interview at his New York hotel, just hours after he arrived in the U.S., appeared designed to present his country as open to a broad international dialogue and to soften Iran's image as a rogue nation bent on spreading its Islamic revolution.

The Iranian leader is in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Obama is also speaking Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad remained soft-spoken and almost completely still in his chair as he politely fielded questions on a wide range of controversies rankling Iran's relationship with the West. He would occasionally nod or offer a small smile, particularly when he appeared pleased with a point he had made, but the Iranian leader never gestured or raised his voice. A few questions prompted an animated flurry of conversation in Farsi among members of his delegation before he gave a response that was translated into English.

He reiterated explicitly that Iran is not building nuclear weapons.

"I hope that Mr. Obama will move in the direction of change," Ahmadinejad said. At another point he said, "The sources of insecurity around the world need to be discussed."

The United States has agreed for the first time to fully join European-led talks with Iran, fulfilling an Obama campaign pledge to engage adversaries but risking a gambit that Iran will hijack the talks and yield nothing.

The United States, Israel and the European Union fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to covertly develop nuclear weapons. But Tehran says the program serves purely civilian purposes and asserts its right to enrich uranium for use in nuclear power plants to generate electricity.

The Bush administration had refused to negotiate further with Iran until it agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment efforts, which it has refused to do.

When asked in the interview about the three American hikers, the Iranian leader said they broke the law by illegally entering Iran. Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad said he will ask the Iranian judiciary to treat the case with "maximum leniency."

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian leader did not elaborate on what that might mean for the fate of the three Americans. Families of the imprisoned hikers have said they hope Ahmadinejad's visit to New York might yield a breakthrough in the case.

The three have been held for 52 days since they apparently strayed into Iran while hiking in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region in July. Their case has become the latest source of friction between the U.S. and Iran.

Ahmadinejad also was asked about the case of an Iranian-Canadian journalist, Maziar Bahari, who was working for Newsweek magazine and imprisoned while covering the social unrest in Iran after the disputed June presidential election. Ahmadinejad did not reply about Bahari, limiting his remarks to the case of the hikers.

The ambassador at Iran's mission at the United Nations, Mohammad Khazee, said later that he hoped the case of Bahari would also be resolved.

Ahmadinejad said he regrets the deaths of protesters in the violence that followed his country's disputed presidential elections, but denied that his government had any role in the killings.

Ahmadinejad said those who died were "not at fault." He instead said the responsibility lies with Iranian opposition politicians and with "European and American politicians" who he said fueled the violence.

"We believe what they did was very wrong," he said.

Pro-reform opposition has staged dramatic protests, claiming that Ahmadinejad's victory in the June voting was fraudulent. The Iranian government waged a bloody crackdown and opposition groups say at least 72 protesters were killed. Government officials maintain that only 36 people died, and Ahmadinejad repeated that claim.

"It is all very regrettable," Ahmadinejad said, adding that he has directed Iran's judicial system to investigate each death. "The government has no role in these events."

Ahmadinejad muted his remarks on the Holocaust, an event he has frequently questioned as a matter of historical fact. As recently as last Friday, Ahmadinejad questioned whether the Holocaust was "a real event" and said it was used by Jews to trick the West into backing the creation of Israel. In a speech in Tehran, he said the Jewish state was created out of "a lie and a mythical claim."

In a lengthy exchange, he did not repeat those outright denials.

Using markedly less confrontational language than he has in the past, Ahmadinejad said he is not interested in debating historical details. Instead, he said he wants to focus on what he calls the wrong done to Palestinians who lost their land when the state of Israel was formed.

Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust is used as a pretext for the repression of Palestinians. He grouped the deaths of Jews during World War II with those of millions of others who died.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to boycott the Iranian's address.

Ahmadinejad repeated his nation's interest in cooperating to help stabilize Afghanistan and help Iraq, but blamed the United States for having created chaos in the war-torn country on Iran's eastern border.

"The occupying forces or the groups that have sent in the military to these two states, if indeed their policy has led to further instability, what do they want us to do?" Ahmadinejad said. "What exactly can we do for a car that has decided to speed up and basically crash down the hill? I don't see exactly what we can do under that scenario."