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World Leaders to Meet at UN amid Threat of Gaza, Ukraine War Spillovers

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 22 September 2023. (EPA)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 22 September 2023. (EPA)
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World Leaders to Meet at UN amid Threat of Gaza, Ukraine War Spillovers

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 22 September 2023. (EPA)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 22 September 2023. (EPA)

More than 130 world leaders will meet at the United Nations next week, faced with wars in the Middle East and Europe threatening to spread, frustration at the slow pace of efforts to end those conflicts, and worsening climate and humanitarian crises.
While the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip and Russia's war in Ukraine are set to dominate the annual high-level UN General Assembly, diplomats and analysts say they don't expect progress toward peace.
"The wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are going to be the three main crisis-points in focus at the General Assembly. I don't think we are likely to see breakthroughs on any of them," said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week told Reuters that the wars in Gaza and Ukraine were "stuck with no peaceful solutions in sight."
Concerns about a spillover of the Gaza conflict to the broader Middle East have again escalated after Lebanese militant group Hezbollah accused Israel of detonating pagers and hand-held radios in two days of deadly attacks. Israel has not commented on the accusation.
"There is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid that escalation," Guterres told reporters on Wednesday.
The war in besieged Gaza was triggered by a Hamas attack on civilians in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, two weeks after world leaders finished their annual gathering last year.
Mediation efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have yet to broker a ceasefire and global patience has waned nine months after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded a humanitarian truce and as the Gaza death toll reaches 41,000.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who has long accused the UN of being anti-Israel - and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are both scheduled to address the General Assembly on Sept. 26.
DIPLOMATIC SPEED-DATING
The annual gathering of world leaders to mark the beginning of each new session of the General Assembly is often referred to as diplomatic speed-dating.
While the event is anchored by six days of leaders' speeches to the assembly, much of the action happens on the sidelines with hundreds of bilateral meetings and dozens of side events seeking to focus the global spotlight on the main issues.
Also looming this year is the prospect of a new US administration. Republican Donald Trump - who cut UN funding and called the global body weak and incompetent while in office from 2017 to 2021 - faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a Nov. 5 election.
"Clearly in the back of everyone's mind is going to be a guy called Donald Trump," Gowan said. "I think in a lot of the private conversations around the General Assembly ... the number one question will be what will Trump do to the organization."
This year side events will be held on the war and humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where famine has taken hold, international efforts to help Haiti fight gang violence and the Taliban crackdown on women's rights in Afghanistan.
Guterres on Wednesday poked fun at himself, saying he has "no power and no money."
"There are two things the Secretary-General of the United Nations has, and I have to say that I've been using them," he told reporters. "One is my voice, and nobody will be able to shut it up. And second is the capacity to convene people of goodwill to address and solve problems."
IRAN, UKRAINE
Western accusations about Iran's role in the Middle East - Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis are aligned with Tehran - and support for Russia's war in Ukraine also shadow this year's UN General Assembly.
European powers seek to revive efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program and Iranian and European officials are due to meet in New York next week to test their mutual willingness to engage.
Iran's comparatively moderate new president Masoud Pezeshkian will address the United Nations on Tuesday.
Pezeshkian "will focus on detente, building confidence with the world, and de-escalation," a senior Iranian official said, but he will also "stress Iran's right to retaliate" against Israel if needed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address the high-level General Assembly gathering for the third time since Russia invaded his country. He is due to address a meeting on Ukraine of the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday and the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Zelenskiy has a plan to push Russia to diplomatically end the war that he wants to present to US President Joe Biden this month. He also wants to share it with both of Biden's potential successors, Harris and Trump.
Some US officials have already been briefed on elements of the plan.
"We think it lays out a strategy and a plan that can work. And we need to see how we can promote that as we engage with all of the countries' heads of state who will be here in New York ... we do have hope to make some progress," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Tuesday.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin virtually addressed the General Assembly in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has not physically traveled to New York for the event since 2015. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is instead due to speak to the General Assembly on Sept. 28.

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World

WHO Eyes ‘Encouraging’ Signs in DR Congo Fight Against Ebola

A member of the civil protection team's dignified and safe burial service prepares to swab the body of a child suspected of having died from Ebola at the Butembo Unit Hospital morgue, in Butembo, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A member of the civil protection team's dignified and safe burial service prepares to swab the body of a child suspected of having died from Ebola at the Butembo Unit Hospital morgue, in Butembo, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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WHO Eyes ‘Encouraging’ Signs in DR Congo Fight Against Ebola

A member of the civil protection team's dignified and safe burial service prepares to swab the body of a child suspected of having died from Ebola at the Butembo Unit Hospital morgue, in Butembo, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
A member of the civil protection team's dignified and safe burial service prepares to swab the body of a child suspected of having died from Ebola at the Butembo Unit Hospital morgue, in Butembo, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)

The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is still spreading but appears to be showing "encouraging" signs of improvement, the head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

"We are starting to see encouraging signs that we're gaining ground," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva.

Since the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in mid-May, more than 3,500 deaths have been recorded from over 7,200 cases to date across seven northern and eastern provinces plagued by widespread insecurity and a litany of armed groups.

Ebola, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and can cause severe internal and external bleeding and organ failure, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the last 50 years.

Tedros said that transmission was declining in the worst-affected areas of Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, while South Kivu has not reported any new cases since May.

"Trials of treatments and post-exposure prophylaxis are picking up speed, due to increased community engagement," he added.

"Vaccine trials should begin in the coming weeks," Tedros said, while warning against complacency. "Make no mistake: the epidemic continues to grow and continues to kill," he said.

"We still have many, many months ahead of us," added Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management at the UN health agency.

- Right response -

In North Kivu, the number of cases was rising "fast", Tedros said, with weekly cases almost doubling from about 100 to more than 200.

"The area is so vast that it is hard to speak of a single epidemic. It is many outbreaks, in many places. We must get the response right in every one of them," he added.

The remoteness of the province, high population mobility and attacks on humanitarian workers were further complicating efforts to fight the epidemic, he explained.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO issued a funding appeal in June for $518 million to support the epidemic response until November.

Both organizations and the Congolese government earlier this month launched a new bid for $1.3 billion for the next six months, on top of the $1.1 billion requested by the UN in August for humanitarian assistance, WHO health emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu said.

There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment against the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the current outbreak.

Some 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has been approved against the Zaire strain of Ebola, have been sent to the DRC to assess its effects on tackling the spread of Bundibugyo.

More than 3,000 health workers and frontline staff have already been vaccinated in Kisangani, said Meg Doherty, director of science for health at the UN health agency.

An observational study led by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity will start on Saturday to evaluate the vaccine's effectiveness in reducing illness and death, she added.

Clinical trials of two vaccines in development against Bundibugyo will take place in the country on a date to be fixed.

World

Netanyahu’s Party Seeks to Impede Israeli Expat Voting

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets supporters after delivering a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets supporters after delivering a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu’s Party Seeks to Impede Israeli Expat Voting

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets supporters after delivering a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets supporters after delivering a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party on Wednesday petitioned the electoral commission to block initiatives aimed at helping Israelis who live abroad return to vote in upcoming close-fought elections.

Israel's electoral law does not allow citizens residing outside the country to vote abroad, except for diplomats and emissaries sent by certain organizations. The Central Bureau of Statistics estimates there are 600,000 Israelis living abroad.

Government opponents have been working for several weeks to encourage voters to come home to cast their ballots, hoping to strengthen the anti-Netanyahu camp in elections scheduled for October 27.

Initiatives include offering discounted plane tickets, assisting expatriates with the administrative procedures required to vote and organizing their transport from the airport.

Attorney Ilan Bombach, representing Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, filed an appeal on Wednesday with the chairman of the Central Elections Committee demanding an end to these practices.

The petition specifically targets the US-based AID Coalition, an organization which says it is aimed at "strengthening and preserving the democratic foundations of the State of Israel" and is behind the "Fly&Vote" scheme.

The petition also targets the opposition Democrats party.

In his appeal, seen by AFP, Bombach likens these methods to an "electoral bribe" and argues that they violate the law on party financing.

Likud maintains that even if the passengers themselves pay for their plane tickets, the "Fly&Vote" scheme grants illicit benefits, such as discounted fares negotiated with airlines through group bookings.

The AID Coalition, which says it is an apolitical organization, has not immediately responded.

On its website, the organization describes the upcoming elections as "critical for the future of the country".

It says the law stipulating that Israelis must be physically in Israel to vote "impacts hundreds of thousands of dedicated Israelis who serve in the reserves... pay taxes, and never-endingly support Israel".

Michal Dagon from the AID Coalition recently told left-leaning daily Haaretz that the organization aimed to help bring between 50,000 and 70,000 voters from abroad to cast their ballots.

More than 30,000 Israelis have already registered, organizers said.

According to polls, the elections are expected to be tightly contested between the bloc led by Netanyahu and that of his main rival, centrist Gadi Eisenkot.

World

Putin Casts Parliamentary Election as Barometer of Support for War, Urges Russians to Vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin Casts Parliamentary Election as Barometer of Support for War, Urges Russians to Vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

President Vladimir Putin ‌on Wednesday framed participation in an upcoming parliamentary election as a barometer of support for Russia's war in Ukraine and urged Russians to vote.

Russia holds a three-day parliamentary election starting on Friday to choose the composition of its 450-seat lower house of parliament, the State Duma, which has a track record of faithfully approving the Kremlin's initiatives.

It is the first parliamentary election since Russia launched its ‌full-scale war ‌in Ukraine in February 2022 and ‌comes ⁠at a time when ⁠opinion polls show some Russians have become more anxious about how the conflict affects them, as the economy is under strain, and as most anti-war candidates have been excluded from the ballot.

The political system is tightly controlled and the ⁠ruling United Russia party, backed by Putin, ‌is widely expected to retain ‌its dominance.

In a televised address to the nation ‌ahead of the vote, Putin referred to the ‌war in Ukraine and to Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, saying that casting a vote would help secure Russia's victory and demonstrate national resolve in the face of external ‌pressure.

"Your choice and your will once again demonstrate that millions of people ⁠stand ⁠behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us, or in undermining our statehood and our socio-political system," Putin said.

He said the vote would serve as a collective response to those seeking to weaken Russia, hinder its development, and deprive it of its sovereignty and right to determine its own future.