All the latest updates as world leaders gather in New York for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

World leaders have gathered in New York City for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The meeting comes amid simmering tension in the Middle East over recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which the United States blames on Iran, allegations Tehran denies. 

UNGA also comes just days after millions of young activists and their supporters marched in thousands of cities worldwide to demand greater action on climate change. 

The general debate is taking place from September 24 to September 30, with dozens of world leaders scheduled to address the General Assembly.

Follow the live updates:

Tuesday, September 24

UK’s Johnson calls on Iran to release jailed nationals

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for the immediate release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals imprisoned in Iran during a meeting with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in New York on Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.

Johnson also raised Britain’s “deep concern about Iran’s destabilising activity in the region, including the attacks on the Aramco oil facilities, and insisted this must stop,” the spokesperson said.

The prime minister stressed support for the Iran nuclear deal and the need for dialogue, “including on a comprehensive successor deal.”

US leads condemnation of China over ‘horrific’ repression in Xinjiang

The United States led more than 30 countries on Tuesday in condemning what it called China’s “horrific campaign of repression” against Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang, in an event on the sidelines of the UNGA that was denounced by the government in Beijing.

Calling for UN access to the area, where the world body has said one million Uighurs are being held in detention camps that China calls vocational skills training centres, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said the United Nations and its member states had “a singular responsibility to speak up when survivor after survivor recounts the horrors of state repression.”

China criticised the US for organising the event, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the measures taken in Xinjiang were necessary to prevent ‘extremism and terrorism’.

Macron says conditions in place for Trump-Rouhani talks

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he believed the conditions for the leaders of the United States and Iran to meet were now in place, but it was their decision on whether to move forward.

“I believe that the conditions in this context for a rapid return to negotiations have been created,” Macron told reporters after meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Donald Trump earlier on Tuesday.

“There is a common intent to progress and to not just find the terms of a de-escalation, but build a long-term accord,” he said. “But it depends on the will of both sides.”

Macron meets Iran’s Rouhani after seeing Trump

Macron met Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday, shortly after holding talks with US President Donald Trump, a French presidential official said.

Macron, who had already met Rouhani for 90 minutes on Monday night, is trying to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran in the hope of opening a negotiation between the two sides as well as regional and international powers.

Pakistan mediating with Iran after Trump request, PM Khan says

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said he spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday after US President Donald Trump had asked him to help defuse tensions with Iran.

“I can’t say anything right now more than this, except that we are trying and mediating,” Khan told reporters on the sidelines of the UN meet.

Macron urges Iran, US to pursue negotiations

French President Emmanuel Macron said the “time has come” amid heightened tensions in the Middle East for the United States and Iran to hold talks, warning the September 14 attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities had “changed the situation” in the region.

“Today we have a risk of serious conflict based on a miscalculation or a disproportionate response,” Macron said. “Peace is at the mercy of an incident … and the consequences [of conflict] for the region would be very serious; too serious for us to live on the edge of a cliff.”

“Now more than ever is the time for negotiations among Iran, the United States, the signatories of the JCPOA and regional powers, centered on the region’s security and stability,” Macron added, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

“It takes courage to build peace,” he said, adding that he would continue his recent efforts to bring all sides to the negotiating table.

Merkel wants US-Iran talks but can’t see sanctions lifted first

German Chancellor Angela Merkel would welcome talks between the United States and Iran, but after speaking to the presidents of both countries, said it was unrealistic to expect Washington to lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic first.

“I would welcome it if it came to talks between the US and Iran but it won’t work that all sanctions are first taken off the table and then there are talks. I think that is not realistic,” Merkel said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said he was open to discuss small changes, additions or amendments to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers if the US lifted sanctions.

Seoul calls for ‘peace zone’ between Koreas

South Korea’s president called for economic engagement with North Korea in return for progress on nuclear disarmament and urged the establishment of an “international peace zone” on the divided peninsula.

Moon Jae-in said his nation “will guarantee the security of North Korea” and expressed hope “North Korea will do the same for South Korea”.

He added that mutual security assurances would allow faster nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula, which is still technically in a state of war, and that UN offices and other international groups could be stationed at the proposed “peace zone”.

Venezuela defends Cuba ties after Trump speech

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said his country would continue working with Cuba, after US President Donald Trump earlier called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a “Cuban puppet” in his speech.

Arreaza called Trump a “puppet of imperialism and capitalism” and said other countries in the region that recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido were puppets of the United States.

Qatar’s emir slams ‘Israeli occupation’

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani denounced the “continuation of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Arab territories in general”.

“The ensuing unlawful practices and, in particular, expansion of settlements, Judaisation of the city of Jerusalem, unjust and strangling blockade of the Gaza strip and intensification of settlement activity in the Syrian Golan heights … are happening in overt defiance to the UN and its resolutions,” Sheikh Tamim told the UN General Assembly.

He went on to call for a “permanent peace based on justice”, including “the establishment of the Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital and the end of Israeli occupation of all occupied Arab lands”.

Sheikh Tamim‘s comments came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier also criticised Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Emir of Qatar calls for stability in the Gulf

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, called for stability in the Gulf amid rising tensions in the region.

“The strategic importance of the Gulf makes stability in that region a regional and international need,” Sheikh Tamim said.

“We stress our firm position to keep the region clear of risks by resolving differences through dialogue based on common interests and respect for the sovereignty of its states,” he added.

The emir also repeated his calls for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain to end their “unjust, unlawful and unjustified” blockade of Qatar that was imposed in June 2017.

Read more here.

Turkey, Nigeria condemn Islamophobia

Presidents of Turkey and Nigeria have condemned Islamophobia in their addresses.

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said hate speech was a disease turning into a “raging insanity”.

Meanwhile, Muhammadu Buhari highlighted the growing threat of hatred towards Muslims, citing the Christchurch mosque attacks earlier this year.

Erdogan issues reminder over Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminded world leaders of the humanitarian cost of Syria’s civil war.

He called for an end to the nearly nine-year-old civil war and said that many of the more than three million asylum seekers residing in Turkey are Syrian. The number of Syrian children born in Turkey has reached half-a-million.

Erdogan also said people must “never forget” the world’s “baby Alans” as he held up the photo of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy who died in 2015 while trying to reach Turkey’s shores. The image of the child’s lifeless body prompted outrage and drew the world’s attention to the plight of refugees.

Erdogan: Nuclear power should be free for all or banned

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the UN General Assembly nuclear power should either be free for all states or banned completely.

He also warned that the “inequality” between states which have nuclear power and those which do not undermines global balances.

“The position of nuclear power should either be forbidden for all or permissible for everyone,” Erdogan said.

El-Sisi: Libya needs to be saved from ‘chaos’

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said a concerted effort was needed to stop armed groups taking control of Libya and to prevent external actors from intervening there.

El-Sisi said in his UNGA speech that the oil-producing North African state needed to be saved from “the ensuing chaos by militias and prevent the intervention of external actors in Libya’s internal affairs”.

Egypt is a supporter of Libyan eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army (LNA) has been trying to take the capital, Tripoli, from forces allied with the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

Trump slams Iran’s ‘bloodlust’

US President Donald Trump called on nations around the world to tighten the economic noose around Iran, saying no country should support Tehran’s “bloodlust”.

“One of the greatest security threats facing peace-loving nations today is the repressive regime in Iran,” he said.

“The regime’s record of death and destruction is well known to us all. Not only is Iran the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism, but Iran’s leaders are fuelling the tragic wars in both Syria and Yemen, and at the same time the regime is squandering the nation’s wealth and future in a fanatical quest for nuclear weapons.”

Read more here.

Trump attacks policies of ‘open border activists’ as evil

Policies pushed by “open border activists” were hurting the very people they supposedly aimed to help, US President Donald Trump told the UN General Assembly as he called migration one of the world’s must crucial challenges.

“Today I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: your policies are not just. Your policies are cruel and evil,” Trump said.

“You are empowering criminal organisations that prey on innocent men, women and children. You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives, wellbeing and countless innocent people,” he added. “When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity.”

China’s trade practices unfair, Trump says

US President Donald Trump sharply criticised China’s trade practices, going over a litany of what he deemed unfair policies.

“It has embraced an economic model dependent on massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation … forced technology transfers and the theft of intellectual property, and also trade secrets on a grand scale,” Trump said.

“As far as America is concerned, those days are over.”

Trump: Future belongs to ‘patriots’ not ‘globalists’

US President Donald Trump told the UN General Assembly the future belonged to “patriots” and not “globalists”.

“Wise leaders always put the good of their own people and their own country first,” he said.

“The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbours and honour the differences that make each country special and unique.”

‘Fallacy’ to say Amazon is the heritage of humankind: Bolsonaro

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has come under heavy international criticism for wildfires that are raging in the Amazon, said that the rainforest is his country’s sovereign territory.

“It is a fallacy to say that the Amazon is the heritage of humankind, and a misconception confirmed by scientists to say that our Amazon forests are the lungs of the world,” Bolsonaro told the UN General Assembly.

“The Amazon is not being devastated, nor is it being consumed by fire, as the media says,” he added.

Satellite data from the Brazilian Space Agency has shown a sharp increase in deforestation and forest fires in the past year. 

Trump to say US does not seek conflict

US President Donald Trump will say the United States does not seek conflict with other countries but will defend its interests, according to excerpts from his address, scheduled to be delivered later on Tuesday.

“The US does not seek conflict with any other nation. We desire peace, cooperation, and mutual gain with all. But I will never fail to defend America’s interests,” Trump will say, according to excerpts from his speech provided to the Reuters news agency.

UN chief warns of world splitting in two

There is a looming risk of the world splitting in two with the two largest economies, the United States and China, creating rival internets, currencies, financial rules “and their own zero-sum geopolitical and military strategies,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned.

Guterres said in his “state of the world address” that the risk “may not yet be large, but it is real”.

He added that “we must do everything possible to avert the Great Fracture” and maintain a universal economy in a multipolar world, before also warning of an impending climate crisis, spreading insecurity and rising inequality.

Guterres: ‘Alarming possibility of conflict in the Gulf’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities as “totally unacceptable”, cautioning the strikes had raised the possibility of military confrontation in the Middle East.

“We are facing the alarming possibility of armed conflict in the Gulf, the consequences of which the world cannot afford,” he said.

“We must do everything possible to push for reason and restraint.”

Guterres opens UNGA debate

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the first day of debate at UNGA, warning the world was in a state of “disquiet”.

“A great many people fear getting trampled, thwarted or left behind,” Guterres said.

“Machines take their jobs, traffickers take their dignity, demagogues take their rights, warlords take their lives, fossil fuels take their futures and yet people believe in the spirits and ideas that bring us to this hall,” he added. “They believe in the United Nations … and we the leaders must deliver for we the peoples.”

Online outrage after Trump tweet on Greta Thunberg

Reactions poured out on social media in support of Greta Thunberg after US President Donald Trump appeared to mock the teenage activist who gave an impassioned speech on climate change.

Read more here. 

Guterres to open UNGA debate 

The stage is ready for world leaders to inaugurate the first day of debate at UNGA. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will kick off proceedings at 13:00 GMT when he is due to give his opening statement.

Read more here.  

Monday, September 23

Tech firms agree to beefed up watchdog on ‘extremist’ content

A global working group set up by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft to remove ‘extremist’ content online will become an independent watchdog working “to respond quicker and work more collaboratively to prevent” attacks like Christchurch, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.

“In the same way that we respond to natural emergencies like fires and floods, we need to be prepared and ready to respond to a crisis like the one we experienced,” Ardern told reporters on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.

The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, which was established in 2017, will become an independent organisation led by an executive director and governed by an operating board made up of company representatives. There will be an independent advisory committee made up of government and civil society members.

Read the full story here.

‘The tide is turning’: Guterres says climate progress being made

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said progress was being made as the climate summit wrapped up in New York on Monday.

“Action by action the tide is turning,” Guterres said. “But we have a long way to go. We are not yet there.”

Guterres listed 77 countries that had committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, although those countries combined produce significantly less than half the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Seventy nations also pledged to do more to fight climate change, 100 business leaders promised to join the green economy and one-third of the global banking sector signed up to green goals.

Still, the large number of coal power plants that are scheduled to be built is “a looming threat,” Guterres said, repeating his call for no new coal plants to be built after next year.

‘More fuel to the flames’: Climate advocates shun UN inaction

 As the Climate Action Summit wrapped up at the United Nations in New York City on Monday, environmental activists almost universally concluded that not enough had been done to stop global warming and stem the climate crisis.

Despite some significant commitments from small and medium-sized countries to limit emissions – and a few other notable announcements – the long-heralded gathering lacked any big moves by major nations.

Read the full story here. 

France, Germany, Britain leaders say Iran behind Saudi attack

France, Britain and Germany said it was clear Iran was responsible for an attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14 and called on Tehran to agree to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programmes and regional security issues.

“The time has come for Iran to accept a long-term negotiation framework for its nuclear programme, as well as regional security issues, which include its missile programmes,” the three governments said in a joint statement after French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met during the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.

Read the full story here. 

Trump’s top Iran adviser presses for action against Iran

Brian Hook, the top Iran adviser of US President Donald Trump, has expressed frustration over the international community’s supposed “lack of action” against Iran, as he reiterated blame on the Islamic republic for the recent attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.

Without presenting the proof of his claim, Hook maintained that Iran was behind the attacks, citing “intelligence and open-source analysis”.

“The attacks were more complex, larger in scale, and more precise than anything Houthis are capable to executing,” he said, adding that “accepting the Iranian version of events undermines international security”.

Hook made his case on Monday at the Asia Society in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

(By Samira Sadeque in New York) 

Trump to discuss Iran in UN speech

Trump said he would discuss Iran in his speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. 

Trump, speaking to reporters as he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said Iran was under “more pressure than they’ve ever had” as a result of his maximum-pressure campaign of economic sanctions.

“A lot of things are happening with respect to Iran,” Trump said. “A lot more than you know. I’ll be discussing it a bit tomorrow.”

Trump says meeting with Kim Jong Un ‘could happen soon’

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that a fourth summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “could happen soon” amid stalled nuclear diplomacy.

Trump did not elaborate in comments to reporters ahead of the start of UN meetings in New York, and it was not clear if concrete plans were in the works for another meeting meant to address a growing diplomatic impasse over North Korea’s development of nuclear-armed missiles targeting the US mainland.

When asked as he arrived at the UN when he planned to meet with Kim Jong Un, Trump told reporters: “It could happen soon. It could happen soon.”

Trump meets later on Monday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the driving force behind the initial diplomacy that led to the first Trump-Kim summit last year and replaced threats of war in 2017.

Trump also will speak on Tuesday before the UN General Assembly, two years after he used that podium to deride Kim Jong Un as “little Rocket Man” and to threaten to destroy North Korea.

Trump says hopes India, Pakistan can come together on Kashmir

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he hoped India and Pakistan could come together to resolve their differences over Kashmir but Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he would like the US to use its influence to help.

Trump and Khan met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Trump is to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this week.

The president reiterated to Khan as they began their meeting with reporters present that he would be willing to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

Lima Group willing to impose sanctions on Venezuela’s Maduro

Latin American countries on Monday said they were willing to implement sanctions to force out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but expressed deep reservations about any use of force.

The Lima Group, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, did not specify what type of sanctions. But in a joint statement, the countries made clear that they did not support a military intervention to depose Maduro.

“We do not support any invocation to the use of force or military interventions,” Peruvian foreign minister Nestor Popolizio told reporters after the meeting in New York, where world leaders are gathering for the annual United Nations General Assembly.

Trump upbeat on Johnson’s idea of new Iran deal

US President Donald Trump responded positively to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s idea of creating a new nuclear deal with Iran, saying that he respected Johnson and was not surprised he had floated the idea.

“I respect Boris a lot and I am not surprised at all that he was the first one to come out and say that,” Trump said of Johnson’s comment that: “Whatever your objections to the old nuclear deal with Iran, it’s time now to move forward and do a new deal.”

In fact, others including French President Emmanuel Macron, have spoken about the possibility of a new deal with Iran for more than a year.

Macron to meet Trump, Rouhani to push mediation efforts

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday as he seeks to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran.

An attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14, which the United States and Saudi Arabia blamed on Iran, was a turning point, Macron told reporters. Iran has denied involvement.

Trump makes unscheduled stop at climate summit

US President Donald Trump made an unscheduled brief stop at the UN’s Climate Action summit.

With the lights down and the programme under way, Trump spent about 15 minutes at the summit, but did not speak.

He listened attentively as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and India’s Narendra Modi spoke before leaving.

Venezuela opposition sees Trump role as ‘clear sign’ of more pressure on Maduro

Julio Borges, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s chief diplomat, said that US President Donald Trump’s attendance at a meeting solely about Venezuela during the UN General Assembly this week was a “clear sign” that pressure on President Nicolas Maduro would increase.

Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to attend a meeting with Western Hemisphere leaders to discuss Venezuela on Wednesday, Borges said.

Thunberg to UN climate summit: ‘You’ve stolen my dreams’

Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg told world leaders at the opening of a United Nations conference on Monday that they had stolen her childhood with “empty words”.

“My message is that we will be watching you. This is all wrong,” Thunberg said, giving an emotional speech that appeared to move the audience at the UN General Assembly hall in New York City.

“I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean,” she added, addressing the UN Climate Summit. 

“You have come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my childhood with empty words. Yet I’m one of the lucky ones.

“People are suffering, people are dying. All you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear.”

Read the full story here. 

Stage set for US, Iran showdown at UN General Assembly

The US and Iran are set to put forward their competing visions of security in the Middle East to the United Nations General Assembly this week, with US President Donald Trump expected to address the gathering of world leaders on Tuesday, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a day later.

As tensions continue to simmer in the Middle East following an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields and the exchange of sharp rhetoric between Washington and Tehran, the two leaders are holding out hope for diplomacy, with Trump saying he is “a very flexible person” and Rouhani extending a “hand of friendship and brotherhood” towards its regional neighbours.

On Sunday, Trump again left open the possibility of an unscheduled meeting with Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Read the full story.

UN climate summit: ‘A moment of truth’

Days after millions of young people took to the streets worldwide to demand emergency action on climate change, leaders gathered at the United Nations on Monday to try to inject fresh momentum into stalling efforts to curb carbon emissions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned governments that they would have to offer action plans to qualify to speak at the summit, which is aimed at boosting the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat global warming.

World leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were due to address the one-day gathering, alongside companies working to promote renewable energy. Some 60 leaders were scheduled to attend the summit.

Read the full story here. 

Interactive: How does your country vote at the UN?

Al Jazeera analysed 6,112 roll-call votes from the UN General Assembly from 1946 to 2018.

Check out the interactive and explore the biggest issues facing the planet and see how they have evolved.

Enter the interactive here.

Saturday, September 21

Youth leaders at UN demand bold climate change action

Youth leaders gathered at the United Nations to demand radical action on climate change.

The UN invited 500 young activists and entrepreneurs to take part in Saturday’s meeting – the first of its kind – at the body’s headquarters in New York.

It came days before a climate action summit scheduled to begin on Monday, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called to seek greater commitments from world leaders to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris accord to avert runaway global warming.

Read the full story here.

Friday, September 20

‘No Planet B’: Millions take to streets in global climate strike

Millions of students and other activists abandoned school and work on Friday to join mass protests calling for action against climate change before a UN summit.

From New York to Guatemala City, Sydney to Kabul, and Cape Town to London, protesters in hundreds of cities around the world took the streets, demanding their governments take urgent steps to tackle the climate crisis and prevent an environmental catastrophe.

Read the full story here.

Thursday, September 19

US issues visas to Rouhani, Zarif

The United States issued visas allowing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to travel to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations next week, Iran’s UN mission said.

Iran’s foreign minister spokesman said in a tweet that Zarif was set to leave for New York on Friday.

Trump said earlier in the week that he is not looking to meet Rouhani during a UN event.

Read the full story here. 

What is the General Assembly? 

• The General Assembly is the main deliberative and policymaking organ of the UN. It is the only UN body with equal representation, meaning each country has one vote. 

• The General Assembly convenes once a year for three months starting in mid-September and, if necessary, again from January.

• During the general debate, world leaders take turns delivering speeches about the issues that matter to their governments. 

• Representatives from each of the UN member states get 15 minutes in principle to speak. 

• Some of the most memorable moments in the history of the general debate are Benjamin Netanyahu’s “red line” speech, former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi’s 96-minute speech during which he ripped up a copy of the UN charter, and Trump calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man”. 

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