UN General Assembly

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is pleading for “a world built on interdependence” as he makes his final address to the General Assembly gathering of world leaders. The U.N. leader has long implored leaders not to give up on cooperation and shared decision-making in the face of accelerating global challenges and increasing great--powers competition. About an hour after Guterres spoke, U.S. President Donald Trump touted his country's economic and military footprint, calling America “the most powerful country in the world.”

There is not much diplomats can agree on these days. But if asked about the state of the world ahead of the annual meeting at the United Nations General Assembly, heads of state and government and ministers alike will describe a globe in massive turmoil. With two escalating wars raging on in Europe and the Middle East, a global economy in flux and a shifting world order, international leaders are arriving in New York on Tuesday to an outlook that is massively dissimilar to this time last year.