- Man Utd, Spurs eye respite from domestic woes in Europa League
- Guatemala picks Supreme Court judges with focus on anti-graft fight
- Jill Biden announces $500 million for women's health research
- Injured All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett out of Australia Test
- 'Lead the future': youth challenge world leaders at UN
- Goosebumps and stars as Paris Fashion Week kicks off
- Boeing boosts pay offer in effort to end strike
- Man Utd stadium regeneration could add £7.3bn to British economy
- At COP16, Colombia seeks to lead by example on biodiversity
- Dupont caps off Olympic gold season with Top 14 player award
- Leeds to expand Elland Road to 53,000 capacity
- Mysterious 18th century diamond necklace set for auction
- World's oceans near critical acidification level: report
- California sues oil giant Exxon over plastic recycling 'myth'
- As wars rage, UN's critics say global body is failing its mission
- Amazon forest has lost an area the size of Germany and France
- Nadal, Alcaraz and Sinner in Davis Cup finals teams
- Telegram's Durov announces new crackdown on illegal content
- African players in Europe: Ice-cool Jackson strikes twice
- Man City's Rodri 'out for season' after ACL injury: reports
- Venezuelan court issues arrest warrant for Argentina's Milei
- Arsenal not yet a match for Man City-Liverpool rivalry, says Silva
- Black Eyed Peas star harnesses AI for novel radio product
- England cricket captain Knight reprimanded over 'blackface' photo
- Gunman revealed Trump plot months before golf course arrest: DOJ
- Iran president accuses Israel of seeking conflict, says opposes war
- Swedish battery maker Northvolt to slash 1,600 jobs, quarter of staff
- Joshua says boxing career 'far from over' after Dubois defeat
- Stock markets inch higher on rate hopes
- Friedkin Group reach deal to buy Everton
- UniCredit ups stake in Commerzbank to 21 percent
- Big rate cut was 'appropriate' first step: Fed official
- Man City's Akanji sends defiant title message after Arsenal battle
- Madrid's 'many styles' key to unbeaten streak: Ancelotti
- Barca goalkeeper Ter Stegen to undergo knee operation
- French mass rape trial moves on to new defendants
- UK's Labour looks to be more cheerful despite gifts and welfare row
- Eurozone business activity slumps after Olympics boost
- Russia, Ukraine cross swords in sea dispute court battle
- Albania plans Sufi Muslim microstate within its borders
- EU launches WTO challenge against China dairy probe
- Murdoch's REA ups offer for property website Rightmove
- India's one-horned rhino numbers charging ahead, govt says
- Israel warns Lebanese as wave of strikes hits Hezbollah
- New Socceroos coach Popovic confident he can rescue World Cup campaign
- 'Put Austrians first': On a pub crawl with far-right voters
- Trial begins in Italy student murder case that opened eyes to femicide
- Family of murdered Sri Lanka editor seek justice from new president
- Austria's far right woos anti-vaxxers with fund for vaccine 'victims'
- Long wait for justice in India's backlogged courts
'Lead the future': youth challenge world leaders at UN
Fired up by their desire for change, Alaine, Maria, Emmanuel and Areej are speaking up for young people ahead of the UN's annual diplomatic bonanza in New York.
Maria Marshall, 15, has been a youth activist for several years and has produced short films to raise awareness of climate change and its impact -- particularly in her native Barbados.
"I think people think that we could just go to, maybe, Mars," but "there's only so much that we can really do with money," said the UNICEF ambassador ahead of the UN's annual General Assembly week.
"We only have planet Earth."
Marshall has seen firsthand the dire consequences of climate change in her own country, where beaches disappeared after Barbados was ravaged by hurricane Beryl in July.
"Imagine that -- if all of the beaches of Barbados were to be eaten away like that, it would start to eat into the land," she said ahead of the UN gathering.
Unbowed by some of her peers teasing her for wanting to "save the world", she now hopes to press her case in the corridors of power.
Her videos on social media on how to recycle clothes, along with other upcycling tips "that average people can do" attract hundreds of views.
"How we can help stop climate change is actually by all of us working together," she said.
Her fellow activist Alaine Perdomo, 17, has battled gender inequality in Belize and helped survivors of sexual violence and gender-based discrimination.
"I really saw it happening in my family and (among) my friends and my peers so often," she said.
In response, the student-turned-software developer created an app -- "Safescape" -- to be a safe space where survivors of assault can share as well as obtain support and information.
Following the adoption of a "Pact for the Future" Sunday to chart a course for later generations, Perdomo said she believed world leaders "care."
"I just think that it's always important to hear from different perspectives," she said.
"The point of the United Nations General Assembly is to do that, to bring people together and these fresh perspectives."
- Big journeys, small steps -
Emmanuel Jidisa, 17, also wants to see the views of young people given more weight.
"There's a saying that even the biggest journeys start with small steps -- often taken by those who are directly affected by any given situation. It's young people themselves who are best-placed to say what they think," he said.
Jidisa educates schoolchildren about the perils of climate change in his home country, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The university student, who is a person living with albinism, said that he became aware of the danger caused by the sun when he saw the burns on his own skin.
"It shouldn't be that we choose extinction. The world is getting smaller... I am just calling on leaders to build a world for young people."
Areej Essam, 17, said that being in New York on the sidelines of the UN gathering gave herthe "power to advocate for people in my country (Yemen) and for children that don't have voices."
"If we want a good future, we have to invest in children's education... and peace," she said.
"We have to make sure that they have a sustainable environment to grow in so they can lead the future."
In stark contrast to the overwhelmingly negative mood music at this year's gathering, against a backdrop of wars, famine and uncertainty, Perdomo struck a positive note.
"You have something incredible within you that you can bring and contribute to the world," she said calling on the assembled dignitaries to follow their "passions."
P.Serra--PC