United Nations

Annan asks leaders to prepare for big decisions

World leaders returned to their capitals after the two-week U.N. General Assembly session with dozens of ideas on tackling terrorism, nuclear proliferation, poverty and other threats to global peace and security.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was expecting some “bold decisions” when they come back for next year’s meeting.

“We have reached a fork in the road,” Annan warned the 191 U.N. member states. “If you, the political leaders of the world’s nations, cannot reach agreement on the way forward, history will take the decisions for you, and the interests of your peoples may go by default.”

Pakistan

Shiites riot after funeral for suicide bomb victims

Thousands of minority Shiite Muslims rampaged through Sailkot for the second straight day Saturday, burning a police station and the mayor’s office after a mass funeral for 31 people killed by a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque.

Investigators questioned survivors of Friday’s blast and sifted through the carnage at the Zainabia mosque in Sialkot for clues, but said it was not yet clear whether al-Qaida had a hand in the attack.

Hundreds of army troops and police commandos patrolled the streets, but initially struggled to contain rioting by youths that broke out after about 15,000 Shiite Muslim mourners, beating their chests and wailing, had gathered for a mass funeral for victims of the bombing.

By late afternoon, security forces had brought the situation under control and the city was quiet.

Denmark

Danes hope studies will help claim North Pole

Denmark is joining Russia and Canada to see if it can lay a claim to the North Pole — and whatever natural riches may lie beneath it.

The key to Denmark’s claim is Greenland, the world’s largest island and a semi-independent Danish territory, just 500 miles south of the North Pole. Researchers hope to find evidence that Greenland may be connected to a huge ridge beneath the floating Arctic ice, the country’s science and technology minister said.

If high-tech measurements can prove that Greenland is attached to the 1,240 mile underwater Lomonosov Ridge, then “maybe there is a chance that the North Pole could become Danish,” Cabinet minister Helge Sander said Friday.

Since the spring, teams of experts have used sonar, seismological instruments and Global Positioning Satellite data to survey the ridge.