UN General Assembly discusses Gaza, AI and aid to Ukraine — ABC News Australia
In New York, United States, on the first day of the week-long UN General Assembly leaders’ summit, representatives of a number of countries condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, southern Lebanon and the West Bank. ABC News Australia reports on the main topics of the meetings and statements.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law, is destroying the path to peace and creating a risk of ethnic cleansing. King Abdullah II of Jordan called on the international community to consider sanctions or other measures against Israel. French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, said that statements about peace had not restored humanitarian access to Gaza.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on social media platform X a video, likely generated by artificial intelligence, featuring parrots at the UN podium repeating the phrase “blame Israel.” Netanyahu rejects accusations of genocide and promised to speak about Israeli military personnel in his address to the General Assembly.
Artificial intelligence regulation
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who the day before, together with 21 other world leaders, called for global AI rules, continued to promote this initiative. US President Donald Trump rejected this approach in his speech, saying that the United States would not restrain the development of a technology that, in his view, would be larger in scale than the Industrial Revolution.
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UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that his country would make artificial intelligence one of the central issues during its G20 presidency next year. Albanese also joined the presentation of a roadmap to protect children from AI risks alongside the leaders of France, Spain and Kenya. The document covers chatbot safety, AI-generated sexual abuse material, pornographic deepfakes and raising awareness about the technology.
Zelenskyy and Trump meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Trump on the sidelines of the summit. Afterwards, he told The Wall Street Journal that he had requested a “winter package” of weapons from the United States, including Patriot missile defense systems. Zelenskyy also said that he expected Trump to attempt to reach an agreement on a certain halt to strikes on energy facilities. According to the Ukrainian president, such an agreement would be a necessary condition for stopping Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.
In his speech, Trump also spoke sharply about Cuba and said that the country would “fall.” The Cuban delegation left the General Assembly hall during these remarks. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded that the country would defend its sovereignty and resist pressure from the United States.
