UN chief warns world faces a 'great fracture'

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning global leaders of the looming risk of the world splitting in two with the two largest economies, the United States and China, creating rival internets, currencies, financial rules "and their own zero-sum geopolitical and military strategies." The UN chief said in his "state of the world address" Tuesday to the General Assembly's annual gathering of heads of state and government that the risk "may not yet be large, but it is real."

He said "we must do everything possible to avert the Great Fracture" and maintain a universal economy in a multipolar world. Guterres painted a grim picture of a deeply divided and anxious planet facing a climate crisis, "the alarming possibility" of a Gulf conflict, spreading terrorism spreading and rising inequality.