Secretary-General António Guterres is pounding the podium to stimulate urgent action. ? TN Editor

At a time when "the only certainty is more uncertainty", countries must unite to forge a new, more hopeful and equal path, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly on Friday, laying out his priorities for 2022.

"We face a five-alarm global fire that requires the full mobilization of all countries," he said, referring to the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and diminished peace and security.

He stressed that countries "must go into emergency mode", and now is the time to act as the response will determine global outcomes for decades ahead.