UN General Assembly Has Full Plate This Week

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon predicts that this week's session of the U.N. General Assembly and its sideline events will be among the busiest ever, reflecting "the tumultuous time in which we live.

President Barack Obama and more than 120 other presidents, prime ministers and monarchs will meet in New York under heavy security, to discuss crises such as the civil war in Syria, deadly protests generated by an anti-Islamic video and al-Qaida's inroads in parts of Africa.

Obama will address the ministerial session, which begins tomorrow. But a number of sideline meetings start today when the U.N.-Arab League envoy briefs the Security Council behind closed doors on his recent talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other leaders in the region.

The Syrian conflict has bitterly divided the most powerful members of the Security Council, and diplomats aren't expecting any breakthroughs this week.