World leaders converge in New York later this month for annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly -- and it’s fair to say they’ll have plenty to talk about.

From North Korea’s increasingly provocative moves to bloody protests against a dictator in Venezuela, the anxiety-provoking headlines are stacking up with alarming frequency.

In this issue of STATE, we capture the unsettled nature of the world right now. We harnessed the global resources of CNN – note the datelines from Caracas, Havana and Berlin – to give you a deeper understanding of the people and places at the center of the tumult.

Elise Labott, CNN’s global affairs correspondent, landed an exclusive interview with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who opened up about why she didn’t want to be secretary of state and the conditions she put on accepting her current role. This profile is a must-read as Haley becomes the face of the administration’s effort to tame North Korea.

Meanwhile, Fareed Zakaria answers your questions about North Korea. You can learn more by watching “Fareed Zakaria GPS” Sundays at 10am and 1pm on CNN.

CNN Politics reporter Stephen Collinson profiles Angela Merkel ahead of German elections later this month that will determine whether she gets a fourth term as chancellor. Collinson brings us inside a dinner Merkel had with then-President Barack Obama as she weighed whether to run again. He writes that the dinner marked the beginning of “Merkel’s positioning as the calm foil to erratic, inward-looking Trumpism.”

Patrick Oppmann, CNN’s Havana-based correspondent, filed a dispatch from Cuba looking at the whiplash many on the island feel in the Trump era. “This is the glummest period I have experienced in nearly six years of living here,” Oppmann writes.

Patrick Gillespie, a CNN Money reporter who frequently travels to Venezuela, wrote a heartbreaking account of a dying child’s agony that will force you to pay more attention to the unrest there.

CNN National Political Reporter Maeve Reston spent time in competitive congressional districts in California where Trump’s approach to foreign policy could put incumbent Republicans on edge.

We end this month on a slightly lighter note as CNN media writer Brian Lowry looks at whether people who think “Game of Thrones” reflects real life may be reading a bit too much into the show.

Thanks to Meredith Artley, Natalie Austin, Wendy Brundige, Olivia Camerini, Stephany Cardet, Nitya Chambers, Ashley Codianni, Joe Coleman, Shane Csontos-Popko, Cullen Daly, Padraic Driscoll, Renee Ernst, Dianna Heitz, Vanessa Meza, Andrew Morse, Ed O'Keefe, Damian Prado, Jonathan Reyes, Brett Roegiers, Meshach Rojas, Rachel Smolkin, Manav Tanneeru, Bernadette Tuazon, Ben Werschkul, Z. Byron Wolf.