As artificial intelligence reshapes power, the United Nations is struggling to keep pace. In a candid exchange, the Secretary-General acknowledged that global institutions lack leverage over technology powerful enough to influence elections, conflicts and societies. The result is an ambitious effort to set norms and warn of risks, even as enforcement remains beyond reach.

As António Guterres opens his final year as U.N. chief, the press corps turns the daily briefing into a test of credibility — pressing officials on Iran contacts, Gaza demolitions and internal accountability. The result is a sharper, more skeptical exchange that exposes the widening gap between diplomatic language and on-the-ground realities.

A routine U.N. briefing turned into a sharp exchange as journalists pressed officials on Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, rising violence in Iran and the politics of humanitarian funding. The questioning exposed growing skepticism toward diplomatic language and highlighted the widening gap between official optimism and realities on the ground.

The president of the U.N. General Assembly warned Wednesday that the multilateral system faces an existential moment as she fielded sharp questioning from journalists on the next secretary-general race, U.N. funding shortfalls and Israel’s restrictions on UNRWA. The sustained exchange revealed a press corps increasingly focused not on ceremony, but on whether the institution’s processes still carry real credibility.

At the Jan. 13 U.N. briefing, journalists sharply challenged officials over Iran’s protest death toll, Trump’s rhetoric, and the limits of U.N. action, turning the room into a test of credibility. Grim updates from Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza underscored the scale of global crises — and the widening gap between humanitarian need and political leverage.

The U.N. Secretary-General has condemned the deadly crackdown on protests in Iran, calling for restraint and the restoration of communications as reports mount of deaths, injuries, and widespread use of force against demonstrators.

As Washington moves to withdraw from multiple U.N. bodies and withhold funding, the daily U.N. press briefing turns into a tense exchange, revealing a press corps increasingly willing to challenge the limits of multilateralism, accountability, and the Secretary-General’s authority in a rapidly fragmenting world order.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen alongside a White House notice announcing Washington’s withdrawal from multiple U.N. entities. By ATN News Team UNHQ, New York :  — The UN on Thursday expressed regret over the United States’ decision to withdraw from dozens of U.N. organizations, funds, programs, and coordination bodies, warning that the move will reduce U.S. participation across the multilateral system but stressing that the or

At the UN’s Jan. 7 briefing, reporters pressed the Secretary-General’s spokesperson on Venezuela, Syria, and sovereignty, testing how far the organization can go as major powers act faster than diplomacy and humanitarian stakes rise.

At the UN’s daily briefing, reporters pressed the Secretary-General’s spokesperson on Venezuela, Gaza, Sudan, and the limits of diplomacy. The exchange revealed growing unease over the UN’s ability to shape political outcomes while humanitarian crises multiply and civilians bear the cost of stalled consensus.