Spoke about the issues at stake with the president of the un generalassembly, dennis francis. Thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news, president. This is obviously a very busy week at the General Assembly, but also special summits on the sdgs, global finance, Un Security Council is meeting as well, High Level Health meetings, but leaders of some of the most powerful countries have chosen not to attend france, the uk, india, china, russia. Do you consider that a snob . No, i dont. I dont at all. Of course, we hoped that the house would be full, but we appreciate that leaders may have other pressing matters that require their attention, and i am sure the views and perspectives of those countries not led by Heads Of State and or government will be expressed and represented by their heads of delegation. But if you have only one of the five permanent members sending their leader here, does that raise legitimacy issues about the un . No, it doesnt, because the permanent members have a special status, in the context of the Security Council. The business we are discussing this week, while peace and security is high on the agenda, of course, it expands well beyond the Security Council. This is the sdg summit today. It is the broad, Strategic Plan for lifting people out of poverty and hunger, for making the world a more just, safer, more productive, for treating with Human Rights Abuses wherever they are, for treating with the issue of violence against women and girls, for example. And we will talk about the Sustainable Development goals in just a minute, but you mentioned there, safety. You have the issue of one member, russia, invading the sovereignty of another nation, ukraine, and many would say the un, in all its factions, has been somewhat powerless to stop that. Of course, the un is not at all happy or pleased that the hostilities continue in ukraine. We wish that it would end sooner rather than later, and that lives can be saved, and we hope that the combatants will observe their international obligations, particularly with respect to the use of certain kinds of weapons, namely cluster munitions. The fact of the matter is that ukraine, what is going on in ukraine, will continue for some time. We do not know when it will end. As i said, we hope it is sooner rather than later. However, while that is taking place, the International Community, as constituted in the un, must focus on other compelling issues that require attention on the part of the International Community. Things Like International debt, climate change, climate finance, the Health Issues that have come to the surface in the context of covid 19, which, incidentally, we should remind ourselves is not yet over. So the issues on the table are issues that are live issues and important issues for countries across the spectrum, and they will bring that energy and dynamism to the discussion, hopefully in a manner that will create the positive outcomes that we need. Another region where there has been a lot of conflict this year is africa. We have seen coups in gabon, niger, sudan. Would you like to see a permanent seat at the Security Council for a nation from africa . Those are matters that are within the realm of the membership. Of course, i have views, personal views, but it is not the proper role of the president of the General Assembly to seek to impose his or her views on the house. Those conflicts, and many others, have resulted in a lot of displaced persons. In sudan alone, an estimated 4 Million People. What do you say to those member countries who are taking an increasingly hard line on migrants . That is an unfortunate course of action, because these are people who are desperately in need of help, support and relief. It is not a choice that they have made, per se, to leave their homelands and seek refuge elsewhere. One of the things, one of the big, practical preoccupations of the United Nations, is that, in humanitarian circumstances, we need to reach out and assist others who are in desperate need of help, and the disruption that has resulted from these conflicts mean that people are in extremely vulnerable situations. They need support and assistance, and so i would ask those countries to rethink those policies, and to admit and support. We saw it magnificently done with ukraine, for example, when the war first started. Many ukrainian citizens crossed the border into neighbouring countries, where they were welcomed, they were given food and shelter. I gather that, in many cases, they have been integrated into the school system, so the kids can go to school. That is the kind of support and help and disposition that we hope will be replicated in all theatres of the world. Many of those issues are the Sustainable Development goals as well, if we can just talk about that, given the special summit is on today . Yes. The progress is not what anyone would like. Do you think it can make that up in the second half . Absolutely, because the human spirit, when it decides to take action, takes decisive action. We have seen it over and over again. But, more than that, what really is required is the political will to act, to deliver the sdgs. It cannot be acceptable in the 21st century that 1. 2 billion people live in abject poverty, in the midst of so much wealth. Wealth is important. Its critical. We need to create wealth. Economies need to create wealth for growth, forjobs, for sustainability. But we also need to bring people, who are in the margins, the forgotten, those without voices, into the system, so that they have a stake in it, and so that their lives can be improved, and the lives of their children can be improved. Otherwise, we would have failed. Sustainability, therefore, becomes a critical dimension of the work and vision of the United Nations has for development. That is called a Sustainable Development goals. That is why its called Sustainable Development goals. And how would you describe the challenge that lies ahead now in the second half . The challenge, as i said, political will is top of the agenda. The International Community needs to show solidarity. Are there specific areas, though, that are particularly problematic . I think there are. Education is one. As ive said before, education is one of the great liberators. It allows people to move up the social ladder. It expands the minds of people, allows them to be able to function at a very sophisticated level, based on their own ambitions and the quality of life they would like to live. So education is a challenge, because in many parts of the world, access and quality education is not available for young people, for children, and in some parts of the world, in addition, girls are denied their rights to an education. This is a fundamental human right. It is therefore not something that should exist, and that is why it is an important dimension of the agenda for 2030. Great, well, on that note we will leave it great, well, on that note we will leave it there, because i know you are under time and pressure and we do appreciate you speaking to us. Not at all. Thank you for having me. That was dennis francis, president of the un General Assembly, speaking with my colleague caitriona perry. Well have more from the summit coming up. But first, five americans, who were imprisoned in iran for years, are on their way home to the us. They were freed on monday, as part of a prisoner swap, mediated by qatar. The citizens, four men and one woman, were flown out of tehran to qatar. Their release was dependent on the us transferring 6 billion in iranian funds, money that iran earned from selling oil to south korea. In return, the us also released five detained iranian citizens. Once they were freed, President Biden announced new sanctions, saying the us would continue to impose costs on iran for its provocative actions. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, sent this report from doha. The first steps to freedom. Finally, leaving iran. Two hours later, touching down in doha. Imagine the emotion inside this plane, opening the door on a new life, five former prisoners. Relief and joy palpable, as they embraced american and qatari officials. The success of months of indirect talks here between arch enemies, iran and america. These are three of the freed prisoners. Two others did not want their identities revealed. 67 year old, morad tahbaz, arrested five years ago in a crackdown on environmental activists. 58 year old emad shargi, a businessman arrested in 2020, also on charges of spying, and 51 year old siamak namazi, an oil executive, who spent the longest in tehran� s notorious evin prison. He issued this statement today. We spoke to one of his relatives, who also spent time in evin prison. It is a joyful day, but knowing siamak, and his very strong personality, and his values, im sure that he will try to come out of this trauma as soon as possible so he can dedicate his time to constructive ideas. Free men, arm in arm. He then took a call from the top diplomat in america, who has vowed to stop this hostage taking. We will take steps every day to make this practice more and more difficult, and more and more of a burden on those countries that engage in it. This is such an extraordinary moment in this very ordinary setting, marking the end of a very painful, personal ordealfor americans, who became Bargaining Chips in irans wrangling with the west and they could only secure their freedom through this very political deal which is highly complex and deeply controversial. Irans leaders see this as a victory, which is why critics of the deal, including leading us republicans, say it will only encourage iran to take more hostages. The islamic republic, suffering under crippling sanctions, and unprecedented protests, sees the foreigners in this prison as one of its few levers to put pressure on the west. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Lets look at some other stories making news. The us military says its found debris of an f 35jet, which disappeared over south carolina. They had asked for the public� s help to try and locate the aircraft which went missing after its pilot ejected due to a, quote, � mishap� on sunday. Members of the community are urged to avoid the area. 0vidio guzman lopez, son of the jailed Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin El Chapo guzman loera, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, Money Laundering and other charges during his first us Court Appearance on monday in chicago. Guzman lopez was extradited to the United States from mexico on friday. Canadian prime Ministerjustin Trudeau said canadas Security Agencies are actively pursing credible allegations of a potential link between Indian Government agents and the murder of a sikh leader in British Columbia this pastjune. Trudeau says he raised concerns directly to indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at the g20 last week. The Indian Government says it rejects the claims as, absurd. Youre live with bbc news. In eastern libya, Anti Government protests have erupted after the collapse of two dams during a storm triggered deadly flooding. 0ur correspondent anna foster has more. Anger and blame in derna, after a week of struggle for its flood survivors, they raised their voices. This group gathered at the Landmark Mosque to protest. And then, as night fell, there were videos that seemed to show the mayors home set on fire. And derna is paying a terrible price. Children, women, my mother. My mother. My brother. My sister, all dead. But they are not living here, they are living in the next street. This is a bad situation, we dont know, we dont need food, we dont need clothes, we need. Where will i live . we joined turkish Recovery Teams in this sealed off zone, to see their work. This is one of the streets that has been painstakingly cleared of victims, more than 500 in this area alone, but it is still such is a small part of the devastation and you can see there is still so much more to do. These buildings were overcome with water, 20 30 metres deep. Bodies have been found as high as six floors up. When the floods came, it was a Split Second Decision for People Living here. Would they be safer to stay, or escape . In a school not far away, this woman knows she made the right choice, she brought her five children here before their home was swept away. And it saved their lives. My son is asking me, mum, where is my neighbour, where are my friends . Water takes us away. Every time he is asking me, i cannot answer. I answer him they are gone. He says, no, mum, they are dead, i hear it. I know. There are no lessons in this school. No homes to go back to. For now, the lives of this citys children are on pause. Anna foster, bbc news, derna. More on our top story now, and the un General Assembly here in new york. The summit can be a chance to bring forgotten issues to the forefront. With the crisis in syria now entering its 13th year, i asked geir pedersen, the United Nations special envoy for syria, what he wants to focus on. Great have you on bbc news. You were recently in damascus. You are in touch with Civil Society members there. The conflict in syria is in its 13th year. What did you find there . What is the situation like . Situation inside syria, wherever you live, whether you live in government controlled areas or in the three other areas that are not controlled by the government, it is extremely difficult. But it is also difficult for the syrians living outside of syria. The living in lebanon, injordan and turkey. And the economy is collapsing even further. So i said when i talked to people in damascus, i said to me it seems now that the situation economically is worse than what it was even during the height of the complex. What has made it worse . What has made it worse is a combination of factors. It is a long process of war, conflict, mismanagement, corruption and then you had the collapse of the lebanese financial system. You had covid and sanctions. But on top of it of course you had the earthquake. And all of these factors together just proves to me that without addressing the underlying factors, the politicalfactors underlying this conflict, the situation will continue to deteriorate. You have called on International Donors to make sure they dont turn their backs on syria in this moment. Do you feel Like International community has forgotten syria . I think it is fair to say it has not forgotten syria. I was at the Donor Conference in brussels earlier this spring and there was a lot of pledging made to syria. But the problem is the lack of disbursement. So we are actually seeing a decrease of the funding by most probably 40 and of course where the needs are increasing, the funding is decreasing. Nine out of ten syrians are now living in poverty and there is most probably more than 15 Million People in need of humanitarian assistance. You have also said that if you dont address the political consequences, you wont be able to address the humanitarian consequences in syria. The conflict has gone into its 13 year. Multiple Mediation Efforts have failed and the president is still in power so what hope is there really for a political solution . I think there is a lot of scepticism and cynicism because as you rightly said after 12 years the process has not delivered by the Syrian People need. We also now know that after the war in ukraine that it is difficult to think about really you know some kind of cooperation when it comes to The Americans and the russians when it comes to syria. And i need that kind of cooperation. I need The Americans, the russians, the iranians, the turks, the arabs and europeans to address their really divisive issue. That may not happen anytime soon. I will continue to appeal when i am dealing with them bilaterally but while were doing that i am also trying to do two things. Im trying to launch what i call a step four step piocess , where damascus engages and The Americans, the europeans and the arabs engage and they agree in advance what they want to do so that we can start to move slowly forward. The other thing i am working on, as you may know is of course the constitutional committee. It has not met for more than a year but im hoping it should be possible now to relaunch it before the end of the year. But all this means working with the president , correct . My mandate is clear. This is what the Security Council agreed on. My mandate is to work with the Syrian Government and with the syrian opposition. My mandate is to bring them together to try to find a compromise that can bring the Syrian People together, that can heal the wounds after 12 years of war and conflict. Are you confident that can happen . If we are to look back at 12 years of war and conflict, it is looking extremely difficult. But myjob and the uns job is never to give up. You mentioned the other players involved, russia, iran, turkey. How can you come to a solution when you have different players who have competing interests in syria . Im not so sure they have competing interests when it comes to syria. I think that is a very important question we need to address to the key actor wants more. I used to say before the war in ukraine that when it comes to syria, you actually have not competing interests, you have a common interest and that is to bring stability to this country so that we can get rid of terrorism, we can get syria united again and that we can stop the flow of refugees. Remember, syria, you know, was a middle Income Company doing relatively well before the war. What is your message to the us and eu and what role they need to play . Just know i am concentrating on trying to get the government in damascus, The Americans, europeans and the arabs that we can agree on some asks of the government of damascus and some deliverables from europeans, americans and arabs. Good news is i have the arabs completely on board on this. Working closely together. Cooperating particularly closely with egypt, jordan and saudi arabia. I will be meeting them during the week here in new york. Final question, what do you hope to come out of this General Assembly for syria . I hope deepening the dialogue are what i call the step for step approach. And that we can find an agreement so we can launch the Constitution Committee again before the end of the year. Thank you so much forjoining us. My pleasure. Thank you. That was geir pederson, the United Nations special envoy for syria talking to me there. Stay with us here on bbc news. Thats all from us here in new york, we leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleagues there. Stay with us here on bbc news. Hello there. It has definitely been a gear change with the weather story in recent days. An autumnal flavour to our weather. We will certainly see threatening looking skies for the remainder of the week and some of the rain at times really quite heavy. So here is the next batch pushing in off the atlantic, just look at how many isobars there are on the chart. The winds a feature and some of that rain really quite heavy. So, to start with, on tuesday, the wettest of the weather moving out of Northern Ireland across southern scotland, Northern England and wales. And well see this frontal system moving its way south and north throughout the day. Now it never really gets all the way across central and Southern England so here, brighter skies into the afternoon, pretty windy. Gusts of Winds A0 A5mph in places, maybe close to 60mph in exposed west facing coast and the heaviest of the rain across north west england, Scottish Borders and Northern Ireland. The far north of scotland, bright as well, not quite as windy here but it will be noticeably fresher. Top temperatures here around 13 15 celsius. We mightjust see 20 celsius further south if we get a little bit of afternoon brightness. Now as we move out to tuesday into wednesday theres another area of low pressure and this one has the remnants, a little bit of energy from Ex Hurricane Lee there. So this one again will mean business, a lot of heavy rain sweeping its way steadily eastwards. Dont forget the brighter greens denoting the intensity of that rain and the winds again a feature, 50 60mph gusts not out of the question, particularly close to the centre of the low and far west of scotland. The top temperatures again, 14 21 celsius the high. So as we move out of wednesday theres more to come and its all because the jet stream at the moment has sunk that little bit further south, its intensified and centred across the uk. Now all we know by now its the jet stream, this ribbon of fast moving air high up in the atmosphere that drives in areas of low pressure. And if it centres across the uk, then its going to continue to push further areas of low in our direction. Just look whats Waiting In The Wings as we head through the weekend. So, be prepared for some showers or longer spells of rain, the winds remaining a feature. A brief window of finer weather potentially on saturday. Take care. V0|ce 0ver this is bbc news. Well have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. Welcome to hardtalk, im stephen sackur. What sort of political system best delivers individual rights and collective wellbeing . In the western world, the consensus answer is democracy. But what happens when the Building Blocks of democratic societies start to crumble, when bonds of trust and shared history weaken, when information is no longer impartial, and hostility undermines common purpose . Well, my guest, the israeli historian and public intellectual, yuval noah harari, is watching his own country grappling with these questions. Its happening in the us and europe, too. So where will it end . Yuval noah harari, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. It is now more than a decade since you wrote sapiens