Overview

• U.N. chief António Guterres cautioned that geopolitical divides are widening as nearly 150 leaders convene for the 80th session.
• Israel launched a ground assault on Gaza City this week as a global hunger monitor warns famine has taken hold and could spread by month’s end.
• Several Western governments, including Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, have pledged conditional recognition of a Palestinian state, and Mahmoud Abbas will address the gathering by video after a U.S. visa denial.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov are slated to speak, with a Security Council meeting on Ukraine planned during high‑level week.
• Urgent talks over Iran’s nuclear program are expected in New York before a Sept. 28 deadline that could restore all U.N. sanctions, with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attending.