Syria 'calamity' a threat to world peace: Ban

UNITED NATIONS - Agence France-Presse

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon addresses the 67th UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. AFP photo

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said today that the Syrian civil war is a "calamity" that now threatens world peace and demands action by the divided UN Security Council.

Ban told the opening of the UN General Assembly that the Syria conflict "is a regional calamity with global ramifications." He added that "brutal" rights abuses were being committed by President Bashar al-Assad's government.