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Iranian president blames US for market collapse
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-23 22:26 Iran insists its nuclear activities are geared only toward generating power. But Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The US estimates Tehran is at least two years away from that stage. Ahmadinejad's speech will come just hours after President Bush makes his final address to the General Assembly. After seven years of criticizing the UN for its huge, costly bureaucracy and indecisiveness in the face of grave problems, Bush is expected to stress the need for multinational diplomacy in a 15-minute speech. Bush also is to meet Tuesday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Topping their talks will be the series of suspected US missile attacks and an American-led cross-border ground assault in Pakistan's volatile northwest that have angered public opinion. The vice president of Sudan and leaders from Georgia, Lebanon, Kenya, Somalia, France, Liberia and Argentina are also among those addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday. On Monday, leaders gathered for a high-level meeting on Africa's development needs. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world's rich nations to spend $72 billion a year to help Africa achieve UN goals to fight poverty, improve health and ensure universal primary education. A new report from the secretary-general said not a single African country is likely to achieve all the UN Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015. Ban said last week he was deeply concerned that the current economic slowdown and turmoil on Wall Street could have a "very serious negative impact" on the ability of rich nations to help achieve the targets, first and foremost to cut extreme poverty by half. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who heads the African Union, added his concern, warning Monday that "if the crisis is to continue, it will certainly have serious, serious implications." But he was hopeful that the financial turmoil will be short-lived. "There may not be easy answers, but I believe the US will overcome, and the world will overcome this unfortunate situation," he said. |
