Live: Pezeshkian set to address UN for the first time since US, Israel launched Iran war

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Wednesday in his first speech at the world body since the US and Israel launched the Iran war. His address comes a day after President Donald Trump told the UNGA he could "annihilate the Islamic Republic" and "drive them into hell." Follow our liveblog for all the latest updates. AI takes centre stage at UN General Assembly Artificial intelligence (AI) is a major focus at the UN General Assembly, with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham among the leaders addressing the issue, explains FRANCE 24’s Jessica Le Massurier, reporting from New York. Xi departs Beijing for talks with Trump in US China's leader Xi Jinping departed Beijing on Wednesday, state media said, heading to Washington where he will meet with US President Donald Trump. "President Xi Jinping left Beijing by special plane for a state visit to the United States" accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, his right-hand man Cai Qi, and foreign minister Wang Yi, among others, state broadcaster CCTV said. Pezeshkian set to address UN for the first time since Iran war launch The Iran war will also take centre stage on the second day of the UN General Assembly. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to address the world body for the first time since the US and Iran launched a full-scale war on his country. Pezeshkian's speech comes a day after President Donald Trump, in his speech to the UN, said he could "annihilate the Islamic Republic" and "drive them into hell." All but one member of the Iranian delegation walked out Trump's speech. France convenes emergency UN Security Council meeting on AI The future of artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to dominate the UN gathering of world leaders Wednesday. Following weeks of worldwide headlines about risks of uncontrollable AI – and calls for a slowdown – industry leaders are set to brief a UN Security Council emergency meeting convened by France. Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Clement Delangue of Hugging Face will brief the 15-strong Security Council, the top UN body. Hugging Face, a repository of AI models, was the target of a recent cyberattack by autonomous OpenAI software, the first in a series of incidents that have raised alarm bells over the rapidly evolving technology. Hello and welcome to our coverage of the second day of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) amid a flurry of diplomatic activity as world leaders gather in the US to address some of the most pressing global challenges of our times.