BANGKOK, Thailand -- Iran's foreign minister says the newly elected government does not deny the Holocaust, is not anti-Semitic and tweeted Rosh Hashanah greetings to all Jews, but is still against political Zionism.

"We were never against Jews. We oppose Zionists who are a small group," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the semi-official Tasnim news agency in September, according to Tehran Times.

"We do not allow the Zionists to represent Iran as an anti-Semitic country in their propaganda so they can cover up their crimes against Palestinian and Lebanese people," Zarif said.

Zarif is a U.S.-educated former ambassador to the United Nations and posted on his Twitter account "Happy Rosh Hashanah" on Sept. 5 to welcome the Jewish New Year.

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Christine Pelosi -- daughter of U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi -- responded to Zarif on her Twitter by writing, "Thanks. The New Year would be even sweeter if you would end Iran's Holocaust denial, sir."

As President Hassan Rouhani of Iran makes his debut appearance before the United Nations in New York this week, the world is exercised with anticipation about his remarks. Granted Mr. Rouhani’s words will surely not resemble the theatrics put on by his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, performances that resulted in the U.S. and Israeli delegations walking out of the venue. No, expectations this time around are much higher for the Iranian President, perhaps too high.

Since his election, Rouhani has used the podium in Tehran to promote a contemporary relationship between Iran and the West. Whereas Ahmadinejad preferred anti-Semitic hyperbole and diplomatic posturing, President Rouhani has suggested over the past month that he sees a somewhat different path ahead for Iran. For Rouhani positive relations with the United States appear to be atop his agenda. Before we break out the champagne, however, there are some inconvenient truths that qualify this reality.

Only a couple of weeks ago, as the nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful “I Have a Dream” speech, I was reminded of the Rev. King’s last birthday, in January 1968.

He combined it with work — a staff meeting, planning for the multiracial Poor People’s March, where we made plans to occupy the National Mall. He spoke to us of the need to march to demand an end to the War in Vietnam and to push for a full commitment to the War on Poverty.

This week — four-and-a-half decades later — the U.S. Census Bureau reported that “the nation’s official poverty rate in 2012 was 15.0 percent, which represents 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line.” That’s up from 46.2 million in 2011, and translates to a poverty rate of 15 percent — one out of every seven Americans. The Census Bureau says that number includes about 16 million children and almost 4 million seniors. Is anybody listening?

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Rich or poor, king or commoner, when some Buddhists and Hindus die their funeral can include bending the corpse into an upright fetal position, or burying the body and later burning the bones in a "double funeral".

Buddhists and Hindus hope to ensure the best possible reincarnation, and eventually escape the cycle of rebirth to achieve nirvana.

Many of Cambodia's traditional rites appeared during week-long ceremonies in the capital, Phnom Penh, when former king Norodom Sihanouk was cremated in February.

Sihanouk was entitled to have an elaborate royal cremation, but had indicated preference for a simpler, albeit relatively grandiose, funeral.

"Before King Sihanouk, the body of a [previous] deceased king, with the help of [cotton] strings, was put in the position of 'a fetus in the mother's womb' and the body was put in a big urn," said Ang Choulean, a professor at the faculty of archeology in the prestigious Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.

"The height of the urn was shorter than the size of a human being, because the body of the dead had to be bent, like a fetus in the

We are now within two months of what may be humankind’s most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

There is no excuse for not acting. All the resources our species can muster must be focussed on the fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4.

Fukushima’s owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), says that within as few as 60 days it may begin trying to remove more than 1300 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged pool perched 100 feet in the air. The pool rests on a badly damaged building that is tilting, sinking and could easily come down in the next earthquake, if not on its own.

Some 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times as much radiation as was released at Hiroshima.

The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese government. The situation demands a coordinated worldwide effort of the best scientists and engineers our species can muster.

Why is this so serious?