UN chief warns fragmented world faces existential threats

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a farewell speech Tuesday urging global leaders to cooperate, warning that the world faces a choice between fragmentation and tackling existential threats like climate change, AI, and inequality. Guterres identified four "great tests of power," including conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, the climate crisis, unaccountable artificial intelligence, and wealth concentration. He rebuked might-makes-right thinking, saying military power alone cannot secure peace and no power can solve today's challenges alone. He stressed the need to reform the 81-year-old United Nations to reflect the 21st-century world, noting his term ends December 31 with no clear successor emerging. Guterres vowed to never give up on the UN's values of rule of law and human rights.