Mayor scandal rocks New York City

Good morning from the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where Manhattan is reeling from the bombshell news that Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted today, becoming the first sitting mayor in New York city to face criminal charges. POLITICO’s New York team have all the deets.
Mood darkens: Meanwhile at U.N. headquarters, the mood has darkened as the threat of all-out war in the Middle East dominates proceedings.
Cease-fire hope: After a day of frantic diplomacy, a dozen countries unveiled a cease-fire plan last night, following an emergency ` Security Council meeting. The proposal is a 21-day temporary cease-fire in Lebanon, with newly appointed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot due to fly to Beirut by the end of the week.
Netanyahu no-show: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his visit to the U.N. General Assembly, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz taking his place.
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Macron steps up: Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron used his address to the General Assembly to warn against a slide into war. “We cannot have a war in Lebanon,” he said. He also chastised Israel. “There is no justification, no explanation for thousands of civilian Palestinian deaths. Too many civilians are dead.”
Rallying the troops: Speaking to world leaders at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at a reception Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden captured the gravity of the moment, as he urged them to keep the faith.
Throughout his (long) life and political career he had seen the “impossible become reality,” he said. “I’ve seen the Berlin Wall come down … apartheid end; I’ve seen  humanity pull together to prevent a nuclear war … and I’ve seen countries in the Middle East make peace.
“Remember nothing is impossible.”
Zelenskyy in DC: Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Washington today for a series of meetings starting with a closed door meeting in the U.S. Congress as he tries to lock down U.S. support and persuade the White House to sanction the use of long-range weapons inside Russia. (In the meantime, China has been busy peddling its own peace plan, Phelim Kine and the POLITICO team report.)
Keeping all sides happy: But in a sign of the difficulty ahead for Zelenskyy as he tries to win over the skeptical wing of the Republican Party, House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted the Ukrainian president’s visit to a Pennsylvania ammunition factory as a political stunt in a letter Wednesday, calling on Zelenskyy to fire his ambassador.
AT THE TABLE: As disquiet rippled across the United Nations at the escalating situation in the Middle East, Global Playbook spoke to Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, whose country currently sits on the Security Council and holds the presidency of the 15-member body this month.
Middle East Crisis: Golob, who will chair another meeting of the Security Council Friday, called for an immediate cease-fire in the Middle East. “The first thing is, we need to bring the hostilities —all of them  — to an immediate stop. Right now what we see is escalation.”
Harsh words for Israel: But he had harsh words for Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of “deliberately” escalating the situation in the region. “The world needs to be united in saying, step back, step back. Because at a certain point it will become irreversible. We don’t want to see that.”
On Gaza: He also slammed Israel for its actions in Gaza. “It’s hard to find words for the humanitarian catastrophe that is happening on the ground. Israel is targeting … in a non-discriminatory way; whoever is there is a target,” he said. “This is something that is more worrying than other armed conflicts because here it’s not just international law and U.N. law that is being totally dismantled. It’s also the safety of humanitarian workers.”
Background: Slovenia was one of a small number of European states, including Spain, Ireland and Norway, to recognize a Palestinian state earlier this year. Israel was furious, accusing the government in Ljubljana of rewarding Hamas.
Hostage diplomacy: Golob is due to meet today with freed American journalist Evan Gershkovich at the Wall Street Journal offices in New York. Slovenia played a critical role in the prisoner swap, which saw the release of 16 people held by Russia back in July, having detained a Russian couple who had posed as Argentine citizens since 2017. President Biden memorably phoned Golob to seal the deal from his holiday home in Delaware, just 90 minutes before he announced his withdrawal from the presidential race. 
Working together: Golob said that the idea for the east-west prisoner exchange was more than a year in the making. “Immediately after we detained the spies we put forward this idea … it took more than a year before this plan came to fruition.” The outcome was a reminder of the importance of alliances, he said. “I’m quoting President Biden now, but it shows how each of us, even the strongest one, can benefit by having friends and allies around the world, no matter the size.”
US INVESTMENT WOES: Ukraine may be fighting an unprovoked war on its territories and seeing its roads and bridges being destroyed, but even the Ukrainian government thinks that America’s infrastructure is abysmal.
Shooting from the hip:  Ukrainian Minister for Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin bemoaned delays on the U.S. East Coast rail corridor in a social media post. “Do something, Amtrak,” he implored, adding the hashtag #WakeUpAmtrak. Kamyshin knows something about railroads — he was previously CEO of Ukraine’s state-owned railway body, Ukrainian Railways.
ICYMI: Here’s our own Nahal Toosi on how the U.S. election is a key topic of discussion among the many officials and diplomats in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly.
BLAST FROM THE PAST:  Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will discuss climate change and global governance at the Asia Society Policy Institute this evening (such is his star power that the event is already sold out). The South Korean diplomat has been out and about this week in New York. At a New York Climate Week event Wednesday, he called for a new Fossil Fuel Treaty, arguing that the climate crisis merits the same kind of urgency that led to the Nuclear Ban Treaty and the phasing out of landmines. 
LAVROV DOES THE ROUNDS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in town, making an appearance at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting Wednesday. He also found time to hold bilaterals, including with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
WATER COOLER CHAT: Actor Matt Damon and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who co-chairs the C40 group, are teaming up today at The Climate Pledge Summit to highlight the water challenges being precipitated by climate change. Fun fact: Khan and Damon were both born on the same day — October 8, 1970. 
HEALTH IN FOCUS: Global health will take center stage today at the U.N. with a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking place at the General Assembly, writes POLITICO’s Rory O’Neill. Among those speaking — U.N. agencies, AMR survivors, health ministers, and Big Pharma executives. 
Who’s attending: Outgoing European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides is in town to deliver the EU’s statement at the plenary session. U.K. Special Envoy on AMR Sally Davies, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, GSK Chief Executive Emma Walmsley, and Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention will also attend. 
Why it matters: U.N. member governments are talking about one of the biggest threats to human health facing the world today — how some microorganisms are no longer responding to antibiotics — with leaders due to sign a political declaration pledging to curb AMR. 
What to expect: Leaders are expected to adopt a 15-page document that experts hoped would be an ambitious rallying call, full of commitments to end widespread antibiotic misuse, promote new drug discovery and guarantee equitable access. 
Watering it down: But as Claudia Chiappa and Helen Collis report, successive drafts of the text have been watered down amid “heated” discussions, with divisions emerging over financing, obligations on the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries, the sharing of new technology, and equitable access to new drugs.
Helping those on the front line: Malawi’s health minister, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, urged leaders to make “concrete plans” to tackle the spread of resistant infection in countries like Malawi, which are disproportionately affected. “We cannot tackle the increased AMR risks and mitigate the aggravated impacts on vulnerable populations alone.”
Catch-up here: In case you missed it, POLITICO’s star team of health reporters are out with this special report that will have you primed ahead of today’s gathering, including an article on how wars are breeding superbugs that are immune to standard antibiotics.
UGANDA IN THE SPOTLIGHT: LGBTQ+, human rights, and HIV activists will protest in front of Uganda’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. at 9 am this morning over the country’s enactment of a law last year imposing harsh criminal penalties for gay people, Carmen Paun writes in to report. 
World Bank criticism: The group plans to present a large “Blank Check for Hate” to protest at what it claims are the World Bank’s plans to restart lending to the Ugandan government. A World Bank spokesperson told POLITICO that the bank will not propose any new public financing for Uganda until it’s satisfied that “additional mitigation measures are in place.”
Calling out Iranian regime: Thousands of Iranian-Americans have been showing up at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, one block away from the U.N., earlier this week to protest Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s regime, Mona Zhang reported — part of a week of actions organized by the Organization of Iranian American Communities. Demonstrators have also been gathering outside the hotel where the new Iranian president is staying. 
— High-level general debate of the United Nations General Assembly continues, 9 a.m. Speakers include: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, European Council President Charles Michel, Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille.
— Ministerial Meeting on the situation in Gaza and the implementation of the two-state solution as a path to a just and comprehensive peace, 5:45 p.m., ECOSOC Chamber, U.N. Headquarters.
— FP Energy Forum: Accelerating the Global Energy Transition, 8:30 a.m.- 11:30 a.m., Rockefeller Center.
— “Food and Agriculture is a Key Solution to the Climate Crisis,” New York Climate Week event, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space. 
— EU High Representative Josep Borrell chairs meeting between foreign ministers from the EU and CELA (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC); 10:30 a.m.; EU Delegation to the U.N.
— Foreign Minister of Jordan Ayman Safadi and Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard co-chair ministerial event on UNRWA, 1 pm – 2:30 p.m., Conference Room 3, U.N. Headquarters.
— The Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Forum on GeoEconomics, 9 a.m. Speakers include U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns; U.S.Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security, Matthew Axelrod; Stephanie Flanders of Bloomberg News; Lisa Monaco, U.S. deputy attorney general; Carole House, White House national special adviser for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure policy; David Levy of Amazon Web Services; Julia Friedlander, CEO of Atlantik-Brücke; Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for international economics at the White House.
— A Conversation With President Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo; Council of Foreign Relations; 2:45 p.m. 
— Celso Amorim, chief adviser to Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, sharing a hug with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres ahead of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. 
— Finnish President Alexander Stubb waiting patiently at the corner of 42nd Street and 1st Avenue as secret service shut down the streets late morning. 
— At the  20th Anniversary of the NATO Istanbul Cooperation Initiative in the west terrace of the  Delegates Dining Room. Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah;  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg; Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. 
— At the UK Soft Power Reception at Brunswick Group HQ in midtown Manhattan. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy; Actor Benedict Cumberbatch; British Ambassador to the United States Karen Pierce; British Consul General Hannah Young; CNN’s Mark Thompson and Richard Quest; Former Prime Minister Theresa May; journalist Tina Brown; London Mayor Sadiq Khan; Semafor’s Ben Smith; Will Straw, CEO of the King’s Trust; Niamh King of the Aspen Institute.
— At the ONE campaign’s 20th anniversary reception at the Rockefeller Foundation NYC Headquarters: Comedian Phoebe Robinson; former NSC Director for Africa Judd Devermont; MTV founder and financier Tom Freston; ONE Foundation’s Jamie Drummond and David McNair; Alice Rhee, Skoll Foundation; actor and playwright Danai Gurira; actor Zachary Quinto; actor Busy Philipps; chef Tolu Eros.
— At a private dinner at The Wall Street Journal’s Journal House during UNGA in NYC: Almar Latour, WSJ publisher and Dow Jones CEO; former Vice President Al Gore, Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd; NY Times’ Meredith Kopit Levien, Condé Nast’s Roger Lynch and Richard Edelman.
— at the HSBC x Google Climate Tech Nightcap, hosted by Goal’s House at Tavern on the Green; Google’s CSO Kate Brandt; HSBC CSO Celine Herweijer.
Thanks to: Nahal Toosi, Mona Zhang, Carmen Paun, Rory O’Neill, Phelim Kine and editor Sanya Khetani-Shah.
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