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Israel's Netanyahu can expect to be greeted by protests, while the Palestinian Abbas will address the body via video after the US denied him a visa. Beyond the Middle East, rising sea levels will be on the day 3 agenda.
Turkey will gradually hand over control of its Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq to Baghdad, Ankara and Baghdad said Wednesday, in a move aimed at strengthening Iraqi state authority and easing a long-running source of tension between the neighbours.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gave a defiant wartime address at the UN on Wednesday accusing the US of terrorism in his country and saying Iran would not "bend at the knee". But as Pezeshkian called for diplomacy, Iranian officials downplayed their talks with US counterparts on the sidelines of the gerenal assembly as "not anything new".
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the UN Wednesday that the contested Golan Heights region would "remain Syrian" despite ongoing military occupation by Israel. The Syrian leader also used his second turn at the UN rostrum to denounce repeated Israeli strikes on his country.
The OECD group of industrialized nations put its 2026 growth forecast at 2.9%. It said investment in AI was helping drive growth, while the war in the Middle East was fueling inflation.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Wednesday issued a stinging rebuke to French President Emmanuel Macron's UN speech denouncing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Macron's remarks that "Hamas has never struck in the West Bank" was a "grotesque absurdity", said the statement.
Higher energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East and climate change could hit growth.
Oil prices were mixed Wednesday, amid hopes of a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Middle East after Iran and the U.S. had talks.
Fuel prices have hit record highs across Europe in recent days, driven by soaring oil prices amid the war in the Middle East and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. However, the scale of the increases, as well as the measures taken to address them, varies significantly from one EU country to another. Here’s why.
US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that he would have to decide whether to “annihilate” Iran if Tehran fails to reach a deal to end the war in the Middle East. He added that he believed an agreement was possible after the US midterm elections in November.
Emmanuel Macron has written to the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, calling on Brussels to take immediate action to lower energy prices. They have been on the rise as the conflict in the Middle East spreads, and as Ukraine's attacks on Russian diesel refineries continue.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had "very constructive" talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine as they met in New York ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. France 24’s Philip Turle takes a closer look at what came out of Macron and Trump’s bilateral meeting and what to look out for at the UN later today.
Volunteer blood bike charity Freewheelers workers said they are also facing tough choices.
US President Donald Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader on the sidelines of the UN general assembly was with French President Emmanuel Macron. The French president said that the talks, which focused on Ukraine and the Middle East, were "quite constructive". Macron has been trying to convince Trump to take a harder line on Putin and support the sovereignty of Ukraine. Click on the video for more details.
It comes as fuel prices reach their highest since 2022, driven by conflict in the Middle East.
The number of refugees fleeing across the Red Sea to Djibouti could jump from 3,000 today to 10,000 in coming months because of renewed fighting in Yemen, the United Nations warned Tuesday. UN Refugee Agency Global Spokesman Babar Baloch also told reporters in Geneva that the number of internally displaced people in Yemen could swell to over 230,000. Follow our live blog for the latest developments.
World leaders are gathering at the United Nations this week against a backdrop of wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, rising fears over artificial intelligence and mounting economic and climate pressures. The annual General Assembly will test whether the 193-member body can still bring countries together to tackle crises that increasingly transcend borders.
The French government is holding urgent meetings today as it looks for ways to tackle rapidly rising fuel prices. Drivers are paying record-high prices for diesel, as the war in Iran disrupts crude oil shipments from the Middle East. But with public discontent growing, the government has limited options, as France’s finances are already under pressure. This report is from Bryan Quinn and our colleagues at France Télévisions.
Two tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday by either an "unknown projectile" or debris, a maritime security agency said. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations added that at least two crew members were injured in the first incident, and both vessels will continue to their next port of call.
A suspected Palestinian gunman on Sunday shot dead an Israeli man near a West Bank settlement, according to Israeli officials. The gunman was located at a Ramallah hospital and arrested, police said. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian motorist who the military said was attempting to run them over. The flare up in violence came on the eve of the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
