LIVE BLOG: Leaders speak at UN General Assembly
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Americans 'stand with the brave women of Iran': Biden
US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Americans "stand with the brave women of Iran" during growing protests over the death of a young woman arrested by the country's morality police.
"Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights," Biden told the UN General Assembly. - AFP
Biden's UN speech to contain 'firm rebuke' of Russian war on Ukraine: US official
President Joe Biden will deliver a "firm rebuke" of Russia's war against Ukraine in his speech Wednesday to the UN General Assembly, a US official said after President Vladimir Putin made a veiled threat of using nuclear weapons.
"He will offer a firm rebuke of Russia's unjust war on Ukraine," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. - AFP
Iran president says West has 'double standard' on women's rights
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday accused the West of "double standards" on women's rights as his country is gripped by protests over the death of a woman arrested by religious police.
"We have this double standard where attention is solely focused on one side and not all," the hardline cleric told the United Nations General Assembly, pointing to deaths of indigenous women in Canada and Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories. - AFP
NATO chief slams Putin's 'reckless nuclear rhetoric'
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of "dangerous" rhetoric after Russia's leader suggested Moscow could use nuclear weapons over the war in Ukraine.
"This is dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric. It's not new as he has done it many times before. He knows very well that a nuclear war should never be fought and cannot be won, and it will have unprecedented consequences for Russia," Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. - AFP
Declaration of leaders’ summit on global food security
Leaders of the Governments of Spain, the US, the AU, the EU, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia and Nigeria met on Tuesday to affirm their commitment to urgently respond to the food security and nutritional needs of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The leaders reiterated that food systems and global food security are at a critical moment, the US Department of States said in a media statement on Tuesday.
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African Union repeats call for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe at UN General Assembly
Speaking at the 77th Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and Acting President of the African Union, said the time is now to change the world.
Sall highlighted that, since the last UN General Assembly, the world has become more dangerous and more uncertain under the combined influence of global warming, security and health perils, as well as the war in Ukraine.
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Scholz calls Putin's announcements an' act of desperation'
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday condemned President Vladimir Putin's order for a partial military mobilisation to support Russia's war in Ukraine and hold annexation referendums as an "act of desperation".
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Scholz insisted Russia "cannot win this criminal war" in Ukraine and that Putin "with his most recent decision makes everything much worse". - AFP
We can all do our part to achieve a more peaceful world!
— United Nations (@UN) September 21, 2022
On Wednesday's #PeaceDay, try our new @instagram filter with the iconic Non-Violence knotted gun sculpture to spread the word about how your are standing for peace. 👉 https://t.co/wNE1UvvNvy pic.twitter.com/Xct0Dislen
Disease, malnutrition threaten to raise Pakistan flood toll: UN
The water-borne diseases and malnutrition that are plaguing swathes of Pakistan after record monsoon floods threaten to be more deadly than the initial deluge, UN officials warned on Wednesday.
Pakistan has been lashed by unprecedented monsoon downpours flooding a third of the country -- an area the size of the United Kingdom -- and killing nearly 1 600 people, according to the latest government figures.
More than seven million people have been displaced, many living in makeshift tents without protection from mosquitoes, and often with little access to clean drinking water or washing facilities.- AFP
Climate change seems to have been dropped as a priority by many decision makers around the world.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 21, 2022
This week at #UNGA, I am calling for global #ClimateAction to reverse this trend.
We don’t have much time to turn things around. pic.twitter.com/F9ut45tBOi
World leaders warn of divisions over Ukraine ahead of Biden speech
By Shaun Tandon
United Nations, United States - Ukraine will take centre stage at the United Nations on Wednesday as world leaders warned of a new era of divisions over the war and other crises including climate change.
US President Joe Biden will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday as will Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the only leader permitted to speak by video as the massive annual summit returned in person after two years of pandemic restrictions.
Other speakers will include Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who flew to New York despite protests in his nation after the death of a young woman following her arrest by "morality police."
Standing at the UN rostrum late Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the world was "facing a new fragmentation" after years of hope following the end of the Cold War and his own nation's reunification.
"Major global crises are piling up before us and are combining and reinforcing one another. Some have even seen this as a harbinger of a world without rules," he said.
Scholz said that President Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine in February, will "only give up his war and his imperialist ambitions if he realizes he cannot win."
"We stand firmly at the side of those under attack - for the protection of the lives and the freedom of the Ukrainians, and for the protection of our international order," he said.
- World forced to choose sides? -
Biden is expected also to address Ukraine and the global order. In a break with tradition for US presidents, he did not speak on the first day as he had travelled to Britain for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Just as the UN summit was getting underway with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian-backed forces announced they were going ahead with a move the West had long warned against: referendums on annexation by Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron described Russia's invasion as "a return to a new age of imperialism and colonies" and warned that inaction risked "tearing down the global order without which peace is not possible."
"It's not a matter of choosing one side between East and West, or North or South. It's a matter of responsibility" to the UN Charter, he said.
"Beyond the war, there is a risk of division in the world for reasons both direct and indirect from the conflict."
But a number of developing nations have resisted Western calls to punish Russia and have voiced unease about the billions of dollars being spent on weapons for Ukraine.
"Africa has suffered enough from the burden of history," said Senegalese President Macky Sall, the current chair of the African Union, as he pleaded for a "negotiated solution" in Ukraine.
"It does not want to be the breeding ground of a new cold war."
The new Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also alluded to tensions between the United States and China.
"In Asia, our hard-won peace and stability is under threat by increasing strategic and ideological tensions," he said.
- Anger over Iranian woman's death -
Macron met on the UN sidelines with Raisi as he pressed for Iran to agree to the revival of a 2015 nuclear accord rejected by former US president Donald Trump.
But the nuclear issue appeared overshadowed by scenes of protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the unit responsible for enforcing the Islamic republic's dress code for women.
Macron said he encouraged Raisi to show "respect for women's rights," as dissident groups staging noisy demonstrations in New York said they were filing a new lawsuit against Raisi over previous human rights concerns.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a leftist former student leader, paid tribute to Amini as he called for "an end to abuses by the powerful everywhere."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the General Assembly by projecting images of a ship carrying grain out of Ukraine - evidence of how diplomacy can succeed.
But he warned that "divides are growing deeper."
"A winter of global discontent is on the horizon," he added.
"Trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding, our planet is burning. People are hurting - with the most vulnerable suffering the most."
With global temperatures rising and a chunk of Pakistan the size of the United Kingdom recently under water, Guterres lashed out at fossil fuel companies and the "suicidal war against nature."
He called on developed economies to tax profits from fossil fuels and dedicate the funds both to compensate for damage from climate change and to help people struggling with high prices.
"Polluters must pay," he said. - AFP