Annan urges leaders to act

The Swedish prime minister called for protection of human rights.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed Wednesday to world leaders marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations to help restore confidence in the world body and to act together to meet the challenges of the new century.

Addressing more than 150 presidents, prime ministers and monarchs, Annan said a document they will adopt at the end of the three-day summit was "a good start" but not "the sweeping and fundamental reform" he proposed. He called for urgent action on the tough, unresolved issues.

"Because one thing has emerged clearly from this process on which we embarked two years ago: Whatever our differences, in our interdependent world, we stand or fall together," Annan said.

"Whether our challenge is peacemaking, nation-building, democratization or responding to natural or man-made disasters, we have seen that even the strongest among us cannot succeed alone," he said, apparently referring to U.S. difficulties in coping with Hurricane Katrina.

Bush's speech

President Bush, before a skeptical audience in the General Assembly chamber, sought to sell his blueprints for spreading democracy in Iraq and elsewhere, overhauling the United Nations and expanding trade.

He urged compassion for the needy and pressed the global community to "put the terrorists on notice" by cracking down on any activities that could incite deadly attacks. "The terrorists must know that wherever they go they cannot escape justice," Bush told world leaders who sat silently throughout his speech.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed two resolutions — one calling on nations to outlaw the incitement of terrorism and to counter violent extremist ideologies, and the other urging the United Nations to do more to prevent armed conflict, especially in Africa. Leaders of the 15 nations sat around the council's horseshoe-shaped table for the vote, something extremely rare in the history of the council.

The presidents of Russia, China, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan are also attending along with the prime ministers of Britain, France and Israel. Tightened security has streets around U.N. headquarters closed to traffic, boats patrolling the adjacent East River, and no airplanes allowed overhead.

On the sidelines of the summit, a Russian-sponsored treaty making it a crime to possess radioactive material or weapons with the intention of committing a terrorist act opened for signatures. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first to sign, followed soon after by Bush.

Addresses human rights

Opening the summit, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson urged joint action to prevent conflict and genocide and to protect human rights. He warned that millions of lives will be lost if significant steps are not taken to fight global poverty.

"We the heads of state and government owe this to coming generations," he said. "We cannot afford to fail. We need to find collective solutions based on the rule of law, and for this we need a stronger United Nations."

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