Biden gaffe: "Critical to accelerate the climate crisis" during UN General Assembly speech

Mr Biden appeared to commit a gaffe as he declared that the US would work with China on “accelerating the climate crisis”.

He quickly corrected himself, saying that the two nations needed to jointly tackle “the accelerating climate crisis”.

Noting “record breaking” heat waves in the US and China, along with wildfires in America and Europe, the US president warned of the “existential threat” of climate change.

“These snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels”, he said.

Joe Biden has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the UN General Assembly, hitting out at what he called an “illegal war of conquest”.

The US President read out comments teased by the White House earlier today, saying: “We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would be aggressors tomorrow.”

His comments on Ukraine received a round of applause from the assembly, including from the watching Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.