What’s happening at the UN General Assembly?

The week’s activities kick off with a peace summit today honouring the 100th birthday this year of South African antiapartheid leader Nelson Mandela. A statue of Mandela will be unveiled at UN headquarters and leaders are expected to adopt a declaration recognising the years 2019-2028 as the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.

The General Assembly’s General Debate , as the ministerial session is called, officially opens tomorrow with Guterres’ report on the state of the world, to be followed soon after by speeches from Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and then President Hassan Rouhani of Iran.

■ About 130 heads of state are turning up for the sixday marathon of speeches and meetings on tackling a list of issues from climate change to poverty.

■ Among those making their debut on the world stage will be Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.