World leaders are gearing up to confront grim life or death challenges this week at the United Nations, seeking ways to halt jihadist militants in Iraq and Syria and stem the spread of Ebola. More than 140 heads of states and governments are converging on New York for the annual UN General Assembly, as crises on many fronts put multilateralism back in fashion.
"There is plenty of reason to be uneasy over the state of the world. But there is also plenty of reason for hope," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said ahead of the gathering. US President Barack Obama will be among the first to speak at the when debate swings into gear on Wednesday, with the jihadist advance in Iraq and Syria the dominant theme.
During a string of bilateral meetings, the United States will seek to shore up an international coalition to confront the threat from the Islamist State group that controls a large swath of Iraq and Syria. On Wednesday, Obama will chair a UN Security Council meeting on stemming the flow of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq, pushing a resolution asking countries to make it a crime to join the jihad.
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