Everything you need to know about this year’s meeting of leaders at the UN General Assembly

By MALLIKA SEN
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — For two years, it was the coronavirus pandemic. Then, it was Russia’s war in Ukraine. Throughout it all, the perils of climate change, poverty and inequality have steadily, increasingly thrummed through each convening of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. As the 78th session opens this week, there’s no one clear crisis set to dominate the General Debate, as none of them have been resolved. The high-level meeting will be set against the backdrop of many challenges. Among them are ongoing war, new political crises in West Africa and Latin America, ripples from the pandemic, economic instability, widening inequality and fresh natural disasters in the forms of devastating earthquakes, floods and fires.