UNITED NATIONS (AP) — It’s the second day of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly that brings together world leaders at UN headquarters in New York. Here are the highlights of what happened Tuesday at the UN and what to look out for on Wednesday. Follow our live updates to stay on top of developments throughout the week.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON TUESDAY
— Caravans and barricades jammed downtown Manhattan as the world’s top dignitaries gathered for the first day of the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, which began with a stern speech from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
— The first day featured speeches from high-profile leaders, including US President Joe Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
— While the speeches have likely been in the works for some time, Tuesday’s speeches still referenced very recent events, from last week’s floods in Libya to renewed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
— Number of speeches: 37, including opening speeches by the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly
WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON DAY 2
— Key speeches: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, Marshall Islands President David Kabua.
— The UN Security Council will also meet. On the agenda: “maintaining peace and security in Ukraine.” The president of that country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is expected to attend.
— Also happening: the UN Climate Ambition Summit, where only leaders of nations who provide ideas for new and meaningful actions will be allowed to speak.
— On the sidelines, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will finally meet for the first time since Israel’s leader took office again. They will meet in New York and a large anti-Netanyahu demonstration is expected at the same time.
— Many speeches have directly invoked various global crises, but no topic has completely dominated the speech yet. Will that change on Wednesday?
QUOTABLE
“I want them to live in the times when human beings knew how to stop killing themselves on the planet and managed, by understanding their own cultural diversity, to comply with the expansion of the virus of life through the stars of the universe.”
—Colombian President Gustavo Petro, talking about his grandchildren in a speech full of literary flourishes.
DAY NUMBER
3: The number of women who spoke from the podium on Tuesday.
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