US ‘open to talks with North Korea’

The US envoy to North Korea has arrived in the Chinese capital Beijing for talks on restarting stalled negotiations on Pyonyang’s nuclear disarmament.

Stephen Bosworth said on Wednesday that no quick breakthroughs were likely in wooing North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks although the US remained open to a direct meeting.

“It is going to take some time,” he said.

He said lifting of sanctions imposed on the country by the United Nations, the US and other countries can occur only after the North has shown a willingness to make progress in the talks.

Ahmadinejad says future is Iran’s

 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said “the future belongs to Iran” and challenged the United States to accept that his country has a major role in the world.

The comments came in an hourlong interview Sunday with The Associated Press on the first day of his visit to the United States to attend the annual General Assembly of the United Nations this week.

He insisted that his government does not want an atomic bomb — something he has said in the past — and that Iran is only seeking peace and a nuclear-weapons-free world. He repeatedly sidestepped questions on when Iran would resume talks on its disputed nuclear program, and he said anti-nuclear sanctions against his government would have no effect.