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 Saturday, the fifth day of the 2020 debate.
“Let us all spread kindness faster than the virus and not hate, fear and misinformation.”
— TUILAEPA SAILELE MALIELEGAOI, prime minister of Samoa
“Something, something is awry with planet Earth.”
— TIMOTHY HARRIS, prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
“A population of 24 million is too big to be left off the table.”
— ALLEN MICHAEL CHASTANET, prime minister of Saint Lucia, on Taiwan
“Nobody wins with Africa more impoverished.”
— JOSÉ ULISSES CORREIA E SILVA, prime minister of Cape Verde
“The old order is passing away before our very eyes as a consequence of the pandemic. … We are still quarrelling away about inconsequential matters. … Metaphorically, all hell has broken loose.”
— RALPH GONSALVES, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
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.