United Nations, Sept. 20 -- "Our world is in big trouble". With those explosive words, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on Tuesday listing the crisis upon crisis piled upon the world.

He listed them: war, conflicts, climate change, hunger, financial crises, challenges of runaway technology developments, hate speech, global divisions and inequalities, and massive human rights violations.

"The United Nations Charter and the ideals it represents are in jeopardy," he said. "And yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction".

In the midst of the gloomy prognosis, Guterres projected on the giant screens at the General Assembly chamber the image of a ship navigating the trouble...