As the field of candidates grows, their competing visions for reform, development, representation and the UN’s financial future offer an early glimpse of how each would lead an organization in crisis. As Manhattan’s sidewalks filled with bleary-eyed morning commuters, many carrying piping-hot cups of coffee, and city buses wobbled along traffic-packed streets, four candidates arrived…
The Quiet Work of Diplomacy Looking back through UNGA photographs, I found myself reflecting less on individual events than on the movement of the process itself. Undoubtedly, the past few years have been the most intense in recent history and the shift in coverage, focus and angle on geopolitics has become wide and the…
Day three brought a mass walkout, a remote Palestinian address and plenty of old arguments, while the race for the next secretary-general remained eerily quiet. The decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians took center stage in New York on Thursday, as the leaders of Palestine and Israel both addressed the General Assembly. As in 2025,…
The next UN chief’s first year will be a test of whether the institution can still deliver in an age of conflict, financial strain and geopolitical paralysis. Over the past months, the candidates vying to become the next UN secretary-general have fielded hundreds of questions across a series of debates and public appearances. But…
As world leaders prepare to gather at the UN General Assembly, Anthony Albanese is positioning Australia between American security guarantees and Chinese economic power—and choosing reform over rupture. Anthony Albanese, into his fourth year as Australia’s prime minister, can still be a little prickly when challenged by the media. Asked recently about Canadian counterpart…
Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, urged the UN body to start small with an agreement every member could sign: a ban on using AI to make biological weapons. By Mercedes Gallego Sam Altman came to yesterday’s historic Security Council meeting determined to avoid controversy. That meant avoiding the press. Reporters had packed the stakeout, waiting for…
On day 2 of UNGA, the biggest draw wasn’t a head of state While eyes were turned toward Washington for the US-China meeting, several influential leaders were speaking at the UN General Assembly, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian. But the person who attracted the most attention wasn’t a head of state or…
President Trump took over the United Nations Correspondent Association’s room to sign a new agreement with Denmark and Greenland. Then, the UN press corp noticed. “Ma’am, where are you going?” The Secret Service agent who dared to stop Edith Lederer in the third-floor press corridor had no idea he was standing in front of a…
Spain’s prime minister skips Trump’s UNGA reception as tensions with Washington deepen and pressure mounts over Morocco. Ever since Volodymyr Zelensky was ambushed and humiliated in the Oval Office, world leaders have learned to keep their distance from Donald Trump when relations turn sour. Or at least, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has. Last night,…
From Trump’s AI renaming to Guterres’s “law of power,” a day of competing visions at the UN Today was what UN reporters informally call “Trump Day”—a reference to Donald Trump’s ability to dominate the news cycle whenever he stops by UN Headquarters. Trump’s speech appeared more controlled than last year’s, though he still made headlines…
Along the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, global leaders and dealmakers gather to celebrate Africa’s present and claim its future. Global leaders in finance, government, and civil society gathered in New York City for two days this week for Unstoppable Africa, an event that promotes investment, business development, and prosperity…
From Brazil’s election-season diplomacy to Venezuela’s return and a crowded UN leadership race, Latin America arrives at UNGA81 with unusual geopolitical weight–and a potential UN office to fill. Latin America is carrying more weight at this year’s high-level week than it has in previous years. From Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opening the debate…
Some are arriving for the first time. Others may be saying goodbye. These are the leaders poised to shape the politics, drama and diplomacy of this year’s General Assembly. Part of the fun of covering the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Debate (UNGA) as a journalist involves watching world leaders discuss issues tackled by the…
The United Nations is strangely quiet in August. I can walk through the Secretariat Building’s winding corridors without dodging delegations, journalists hauling heavy cameras, or civil society representatives searching for conference rooms. I can cross First Avenue to go to work without the NYPD surveying the scene. And I can grab a coffee a few…
As UNGA brings the world’s leaders to New York, diplomatic gift-giving offers a window into how countries court allies, signal priorities and seek influence. While visiting Buckingham Palace in March, President Zelensky of Ukraine gifted King Charles an Apple iPad. But this one was unlike any other. With one swipe of a finger, the…
Guterres championed Africa’s voice at the UN. Turning that advocacy into political results proved harder. “Even after 31 December, wherever I will be and whatever I will be doing, I can guarantee that at the centre of my concerns and my active solidarity, there will always be Africa,” he said. He was speaking at the…
From Khrushchev’s shoe to Arafat’s gun, some of the UN’s most memorable moments remain suspended between history, exaggeration and folklore. But how much of that history is true? What do we remember from more than 80 years of UN General Assembly gatherings? If we’re New Yorkers, it may be the gridlock spreading across Midtown Manhattan…
