Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the UN General Assembly
The UN General Assembly's opening day was overshadowed on Tuesday by a seemingly imminent all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and the apparent inability of the 193-member world body to do anything at all to stop it.
A string of leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian, lamented the state of world affairs, but none was able to articulate a convincing off-ramp from the apparent trajectory towards a broader regional war.
In his final address to the UN General Assembly before his term ends in January, Mr Biden said the world stands at an “inflection point” and expressed frustration that a months-long, US-led push for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has come to nothing, even as he suggested a diplomatic solution could still be found to prevent Israel going to war with Lebanon's Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.
“Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security,” Mr Biden said in his speech in front of the UN chamber's famous green marble backdrop.
But as he was speaking, a swift resolution to the crisis appeared remote. Lebanese health authorities on Tuesday raised the death toll from two days of Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah to 564, as Israel's military vowed it would do “whatever is necessary” to push the militia away from the border.
This week's air strikes come after pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon last week, for which Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: “We can't go on like this”.
“We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world,” he told the General Assembly.
While the wars in Sudan and Ukraine also drew considerable attention on Tuesday, time and again speakers returned to the situation in the Middle East and articulated their anger towards Israel, whose military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,400 people, local health officials say, in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks that killed about 1,200 people.
Israel, which drew an upswell of international support and sympathy after October 7, appeared increasingly isolated at the UN on Tuesday. The Israeli ambassador is scheduled to speak on Thursday.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticised Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
“The right to self-defence became a right for vengeance, which prevents a deal for the release of hostages and delays a ceasefire,” he said.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II told the General Assembly that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to an attack on the UN, saying the presence of its flag has been unable to ensure protection for civilians from Israeli attacks.
“The Israeli government’s assault has resulted in one of the fastest death rates in recent conflicts, one of the fastest rates of starvation caused by war, the largest cohort of child amputees and unprecedented levels of destruction this Israeli government has killed more children, more journalists, more aid workers and more medical personnel than any other war in recent memory,” he said.
And Iran, which funds Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen's Houthis and several other militias, accused Israel of “barbarism”.
“The international community must urgently intervene to establish a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and end Israel’s desperate barbarism in Lebanon before it engulfs the region and the world,” Mr Pezeshkian said. “Israel has been defeated in Gaza and no amount of barbaric violence can restore its myth of invincibility.”
Sheikh Tamim, the Emir of Qatar, told the UN General Assembly that Israel’s campaign in Gaza is "genocide".
“It is a crime of genocide by means of the most sophisticated weapons against the people besieged in a detention camp where there is no escape from the barrage of aerial bombing,” he said.
Mr Biden had sought to define his foreign policy legacy during his speech, highlighting his international leadership in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But history may remember him as the US leader who failed to stop a major Middle East conflagration.
Israel and Lebanon cross-border strikes – in pictures
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Newcastle United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Tottenham (Alli 61'), Davies (70')
Red card Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle)
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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The specs
Engine: 1.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 3,00rpm
Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
Price: From Dh139,995
On sale: now
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
SERIES INFO
Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series
All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Test series
1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March
Play starts at 9.30am
T20 series
1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March
TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
SHADOWS%20AND%20LIGHT%3A%20THE%20EXTRAORDINARY%20LIFE%20OF%20JAMES%20MCBEY
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
