Lots of leaders saying lots of things about lots of topics — topics that matter to them, to their regions, to the world.
That’s what the speechmaking at the U.N. General Assembly invariably produces each year. And each year, certain enormous topics and certain louder voices dominate.
Here, The Associated Press takes the opposite approach and spotlights some thoughts you might not have heard — the voices of leaders speaking at the first all-virtual U.N. General Assembly leaders meeting who might not have captured the headlines and the airtime on Wednesday, the second day of the 2020 debate.
“We must think now about the world that will emerge from this crisis and that cannot entirely be yesterday’s. If every crisis is a suffering, it is also a moment of change that allows us to reinvent ourselves.”
— Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation
“We must find a global balance between human beings and other creatures on our earth.”
— Uhuru Kenyatta, president of Kenya
“We have all gone down together. We should all rise together.”
— Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president of Ghana
“We pray to the almighty God that the next meeting can be held in a pandemic-free world.”
— Barham Salih, president of Iraq
“The pandemic has done for us what World War II did for generations before us.”
— Ashraf Ghani, president of Afghanistan
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.