UN chief: World worse now due to COVID, climate, conflict

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — As he starts his second term as U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres says the world is worse in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere. But unlike U.S. President Joe Biden, the U.N. chief thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine. Guterres said in an AP interview Thursday that his appeal for peace on his first day in office on Jan. 1, 2017 and his priorities in his first term of trying to prevent conflicts and tackle global inequalities, the pandemic and a warming planet haven’t changed.