United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on G20 leaders to establish a $1 trillion stimulus package for poorer countries threatened by the global financial meltdown. Ban told the Financial Times he’ll make a formal request at the G20 summit in London next week. Ban meanwhile helped mark an international day of observance for victims of the slave trade at the UN.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “Africa has yet to recover from the ravages of the slave trade or the subsequent era of colonization. And here in the new world and in Europe and elsewhere, people of African descendants still struggle daily against entrenched prejudice that keeps them disproportionately in poverty. Despite the official abolition of slavery, racism still pollutes our world.”