AP: Nearly 100 world leaders to speak at U.N. session on COVID-19
“Nearly 100 world leaders and several dozen ministers are slated to speak at the U.N. General Assembly’s special session starting Thursday on the response to COVID-19 and the best path to recovery from the pandemic which has claimed 1.5 million lives, shattered economies, and left tens of millions of people unemployed in countries rich and poor…” (Lederer, 12/3).

Reuters: U.S. says U.N. COVID-19 meeting is stage for Chinese ‘propaganda’
“The United States on Wednesday claimed a United Nations meeting of world leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic was being designed to allow Beijing to spread ‘propaganda,’ stoking months of bickering at the world body between the superpowers. … A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the special session of the 193-member General Assembly should have been held earlier, that it had been ‘pre-engineered to serve China’s purposes’ and complained that questions at panel discussions on Friday would be restricted. … A spokesperson for China’s mission to the United Nations in New York said the U.S. ‘politicization of the issue is not in the interest of the international community’…” (Shalal et al., 12/2).

Additional coverage of the special session is available from Axios and Xinhua.