Biden declares world at 'inflection point' amid crises

United Nations: President Joe Biden used his first address before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to declare that the world stands and at an inflection point in history and must move quickly and cooperatively to address the festering issues of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuse.

Amid growing China tensions Biden also declared the U.S. is not seeking a new Cold War.

Without mentioning China directly, Biden acknowledged increasing concerns about rising tensions between the two nations. But he said, We are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocks.

The president noted his decision to end America's longest war last month, in Afghanistan, and set the table for his administration to shift U.S. attention to intensive diplomacy with no shortage of crises facing the globe. He said he is driven by a belief that to deliver for our own people, we must also engage deeply with the rest of the world.

We've ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, Biden said. And as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world.

Biden, who arrived in New York on Monday evening to meet with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of Tuesday's address, offered a full-throated endorsement of the body's relevance and ambition at a difficult moment in history.

The world is seeing an explosion in seizures of power by force and military coups are back, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday, lamenting that geopolitical divisions are undermining international cooperation as he called for strengthening global governance and re-igniting multilateralism.

Guterres, in his address to the opening of the General Debate of the 76th Session of the General Assembly, called on world leaders to restore trust and inspire hope, saying there is a need for cooperation, dialogue and understanding.

We are also seeing an explosion in seizures of power by force. Military coups are back. The lack of unity among the international community does not help, he said.