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world news Diaranson 21 september 2022

UN chief: World is 'paralyzed' and equity is slipping away

(AP) — In an alarming assess- The world lacks even the beginning
ment, the head of the United Na- of "a global architecture" to deal with
tions warned world leaders Tues- the ripples caused by these new tech-
day that nations are "gridlocked nologies because of "geopolitical ten-
in colossal global dysfunction" sions," Guterres said.
and aren't ready or willing to
tackle the challenges that threat- Guterres made sure to start out by
en humanity's future — and the sounding a note of hope. He showed
planet's. "Our world is in peril — a video of the first U.N.-chartered
and paralyzed," he said. ship carrying grain from Ukraine —
part of the deal between Ukraine and
Speaking at the opening of the Gen- Russia that the United Nations and
eral Assembly's annual high-level Turkey helped broker — to the Horn
meeting, Secretary-General Anto- of Africa, where millions of people
nio Guterres made sure to empha- are on the edge of famine It is, he
size that hope remained. But his re- said, an example of promise and hope but to meet privately to discuss the and a rising cost of living in many
marks reflected a tense and worried "in a world teeming with turmoil." challenges on the global agenda -- others. Those issues are high on the
world. He cited the war in Ukraine and hopefully make some progress. agenda.
and multiplying conflicts around the He stressed that cooperation and
world, the climate emergency, the dialogue are the only path forward The 77th General Assembly meeting At a meeting Monday to promote
dire financial situation of developing — two fundamental U.N. principles of world leaders convenes under the U.N. goals for 2030 — including
countries and setbacks in U.N. goals since its founding after World War shadow of Europe's first major war ending extreme poverty, ensuring
for 2030 including an end to extreme II. And he warned that "no power or since World War II — the conflict quality education for all children and
poverty and quality education for all group alone can call the shots." between Russia and Ukraine, which achieving gender equality — Guterres
children. has unleashed a global food crisis and said the world's many pressing perils
It's rarely that easy. Geopolitical divi- opened fissures among major powers make it "tempting to put our long-
He also warned of what he called "a sions are undermining the work of in a way not seen since the Cold War. term development priorities to one
forest of red flags" around new tech- the U.N. Security Council, inter- side."
nologies despite promising advances national law, people's trust in demo- Leaders in many countries are trying
to heal diseases and connect people. cratic institutions and most forms of to prevent a wider war and restore But the U.N. chief said some things
Guterres said social media platforms international cooperation, Guterres peace in Europe. Diplomats, though, can't wait — among them education,
are based on a model "that monetizes said. aren't expecting any breakthroughs dignified jobs, full equality for wom-
outrage, anger and negativity." Artifi- this week. en and girls, comprehensive health
cial intelligence he said, "is compro- Nearly 150 heads of state and gov- care and action to tackle the climate
mising the integrity of information ernment are on the latest speakers' The loss of important grain and fertil- crisis. He called for public and private
systems, the media, and indeed de- list, a high number reflecting that izer exports from Ukraine and Russia finance and investment, and above all
mocracy itself." the United Nations remains the only has triggered a food crisis, especially for peace.
place not just to deliver their views in developing countries, and inflation

China quarantine bus crash prompts outcry over 'zero COVID'

(AP) — A nighttime bus going, but it later emerged der "medical observation," apologized at a news confer- Chinese President Xi Jinping
crash that killed 27 people they were headed to a quar- confirming reports they were ence, bowing and observing a has cited China's approach
in southwest China this antine location outside their being taken to quarantine. moment of silence. as a "major strategic success"
week has set off a storm city of Guiyang, the capital of Online, many wondered at and evidence of the "signifi-
of anger online over the Guizhou province. Following public anger, Gui- the logic behind transporting cant advantages" of its politi-
harshness of the country's yang fired three officials in people outside of Guiyang, cal system over Western lib-
strict COVID-19 policies. The bus with 47 people on charge of Yunyan district, accusing the government of eral democracies.
board crashed about 2:40 where the residents had moving them so that the city
The initial police report did a.m. Sunday. City officials been picked up, the provin- would no longer report any According to FreeWeibo, a
not say who the passengers announced many hours later cial government said Mon- new cases. website that tracks censored
were and where they were that the passengers were un- day. Guiyang's deputy mayor posts on the popular social
"Will this ever end? On the media platform, three of top
top searches (on social me- 10 searches on Weibo related
dia), there's all sorts of pan- to the bus accident.
demic prevention situations
every day, creating unneces- Many fixated on images of
sary panic and making people the bus shared by social me-
jittery," one person wrote. dia users. One photo showed
"Is there scientific validity to the bus after it had been re-
hauling people to quarantine, trieved from the accident site.
one car after another?" Its roof was crushed and por-
tions missing. Another photo
Guiyang officials had an- allegedly showed the driver
nounced the city would decked out in a full white
achieve "societal zero-COV- protective suit.
ID" by Monday, one day after
the crash. Users online questioned how
a driver could see properly
Zero COVID also has be- when his face was covered
come a political issue, and at up, and why he was driving
one point was celebrated by so late at night. Many com-
many Chinese as signifying ments were censored but
the superiority of their coun- some that expressed discon-
try over the U.S., which has tent with the current ap-
had more than a million CO- proach to the pandemic did
VID deaths. remain up.