Egypt's new President Morsi debuts at UN

Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi debuts at the United Nations on Wednesday with a speech that will be closely watched by world leaders for clues about his democratic intentions and plans for lifting his country out of crippling poverty.            

He also opposed foreign military intervention in Syria, and urged inclusive mediated resolution of conflict.           

Addressing the violence that raged across the Muslim world in response to a video produced in the U.S. that denigrated Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the Egyptian leader said freedom of expression must come with "responsibility."                        

He appeared to have been responding to President Barack Obama's General Assembly speech earlier Tuesday in which the U.S. leader again condemned the video but sternly defended the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free speech.                         

Another Arab leader making his first appearance at the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting after being swept into power by the Arab Spring revolutions was Yemen's President Abed Rabbo  Mansour Hadi.               
                        
The United States, Israel and Western nations claim Tehran is using what it insists is a peaceful nuclear program as cover for building a weapon.                    

Iran is suffering under tough sanctions as punishment for Iran's failure to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to prove the peaceful nature of its drive to enrich uranium to levels that could be used to build a nuclear weapon.                       

Israel has threatened a military strike against Iranian nuclear installations, but President Barack Obama insists that time remains to solve the dispute through diplomacy.                           
Ahmadinejad took aim at both the U.S. and Israel while addressing a high-level U.N. meeting promoting the rule of law Monday, accusing Washington of shielding what he called a nuclear-armed "fake regime."             
                                        
The 21-member Arab League has shaken off decades of near total submission to the will of the region's leaders and is seeking to transform itself after the seismic changes brought about by the Arab revolutions.                     

The league has supported the rebels who ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and suspended Syria in response to President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown against his opponents.                                 

As rebels claimed credit Wednesday for a strike on Syria's army command headquarters in Damascus, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said that advances by the opposition could speed a break in the impasse.

AP/LBCI