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Artificial intelligence holds vast potential but poses grave risks if left unregulated, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Wednesday.

From accelerating the move to clean energy to planting trees, leaders from more than 120 countries presented new national climate action plans and pledges during a meeting on Wednesday as part of the high-level week of the UN General Assembly. 

In just nine months, one million Syrians have returned home following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Wednesday.

The words inclusivity, resilience, reforms – and many more coloured in green and blue – provided a bold, digital backdrop from artist Marsha Dunn for the first ever Biennial Summit for a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on Wednesday that there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking the use of paracetamol – also known as acetaminophen – during pregnancy, with autism spectrum disorder.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday warned world leaders that international institutions are “too weak” to stop wars, urging more countries to join Ukraine’s security coalition and step up pressure on Russia.

UN agencies on Wednesday warned that civilians in the devastated Gaza Strip are facing escalating attacks, more mass displacement and worsening hunger.

Iran’s President affirmed that his country has no intentions to build a nuclear bomb in his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. 

The Security Council on Tuesday heard a warning from Secretary-General António Guterres on the war in Ukraine, while in the General Assembly, leaders from Lithuania, France and Poland called for stronger international action against aggression.

The deepening crisis in Gaza echoed through the halls of the United Nations on Tuesday, as the Security Council grappled with alarming reports of civilian suffering and rising regional tensions, while leaders from Jordan to Qatar took the General Assembly floor to demand urgent global action.

Floods in South Asia, wildfires across North America, and record-breaking heat in Europe have underscored what scientists have warned for years: climate change is escalating faster than the political response. Against this backdrop, the UN Secretary-General is holding a climate summit during the high-level week of the General Assembly, pressing nations to raise their climate pledges ahead of November’s UN climate conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. 

Foreign Ministers from across the Americas met on the margins of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to rally for greater support for Haiti.