Obama pushes for hope

UNITED NATIONS – Grasping for peace, President Barack Obama yesterday challenged a pessimistic world to overcome decades of shattered promises and help Israelis and Palestinians close an historic deal within a year.
“This time will be different,” he declared, offering a now-or-never choice between Mideast stability and perpetual bloodshed.
To a hushed audience of global leaders, Obama made Middle East peace the dominant theme of his yearly address to the United Nations General Assembly, a sign of the importance he attaches to its success. (AP)