Rice calls for 'lasting revolution'

Rice delivered her remarks to the 60th UN General Assembly session that opened a day after a summit here adopted a text on UN reform watered down by weeks of wrangling.

"The time to reform the United Nations is now," Rice said. "And we must seize this opportunity together."

She said that "the very terrain of international politics has shifted beneath our feet" since the days of the Cold War, when the most serious threats to peace were conflicts between states.

Now, she said, "the greatest threats we face emerge within states and melt through their borders -- transnational threats like terrorism and weapons proliferation, pandemic disease and trafficking in human beings."

"For this institution to become an engine of change in the 21st century, it must now change itself," Rice said. "The United Nations must launch a lasting revolution of reform."

"The United States believes in the United Nations. ... Let us reform this great institution to meet the challenges of a new era."

The UN reform document adopted Friday denounced terrorism, promoted development, backed reform of UN management and called for the establishment of a peace-building commission and a more effective human rights council.