UN chief says people are looking to leaders for way out of ‘mess’

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres acknowledges the audience’s applause after addressing the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Leaders of a world fractured by war, climate change and persisting inequality have gathered under one roof to hear the UN chief summon them to take united action on humanity’s huge challenges – and to start delivering their own assessments on the most global of stages.

“Our world is becoming unhinged. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Global challenges are mounting. And we seem incapable of coming together to respond,” Antonio Guterres told the people who run the world’s nations on Tuesday.