Militants, migrants, pope and Putin to headline at United Nations

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - World leaders will gather for their annual meeting at the United Nations starting Friday as Europe faces a flood of asylum seekers, many fleeing Syria's civil war in the worst humanitarian crisis since the world body was created 70 years ago.

Islamic State will also top the agenda. U.S. President Barack Obama will host a counterterrorism meeting, with over 100 countries invited, that will address Islamic State, foreign terrorist fighters and violent extremism. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will chair a high-level U.N. Security Council meeting on counterterrorism.

But before the marathon of speeches in the 193-member General Assembly starts on Monday, Pope Francis will address the United Nations on Friday ahead of a three-day summit with more than 150 world leaders that will formally adopt a global sustainable development agenda for the next 15 years.

"General Assembly high-level week is always known as diplomatic speed-dating, but I think this year is breaking records," said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power. She said it was believed to be the highest number of world leaders attending in U.N. history.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/militants-migrants-pope-putin-headline-united-nations-182753190.html

[Purveyor]

1. This is going to be fun.