David Cameron To Address World Leaders At UN

David Cameron will hope to put an awkward week behind him when he addresses world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York later.

As the row over his Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell's angry encounter with a Downing Street police officer still rumbles at home, the Prime Minister has launched into a packed schedule here in the US.

His diary includes an appearance on David Letterman's Late Show to promote Britain to an American audience.

But the overriding theme of the 193-country summit so far has been the challenge presented by the Arab Spring uprisings, and the role of the international community in supporting people in the region fighting for freedom and peaceful change.

Mr Cameron will portray himself as one of the Arab Spring's champions, meeting for the first time with Egypt's newly elected President Mohammed Morsi.

According to Downing Street, Mr Cameron and Mr Morsi will discuss the possibility of returning assets stolen under the previous Egyptian regime that are currently frozen in the UK, as well as the importance of assisting Egypt's new government in fighting extremism at home and in the wider region.

The White House recently criticised Mr Morsi for failing to condemn fast enough the violence that flared in his country over the crude US-made anti-Muslim film that sparked violent protest across the Arab world.

In his speech to the General Assembly, President Obama condemned the film, but also the reaction to it, arguing that no words justified the killing of innocent people.

With just six weeks to the presidential election, Mr Obama also gave a stark warning on Iran, insisting that he would do what it takes to prevent it getting a nuclear weapon.

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to address the assembly later.

He has already ignored a warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric, insisting that Israel has "no roots" in the Middle East.

He also insisted that his country's nuclear programme is not aimed at weapons building.

Mr Cameron's speech will follow Mr Ahmadinejad's, but before that the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet the new Libyan president Mohammed Magrief, Pakistan's President Asif Zardari, and the leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

The conflict Syria will be high on the agenda too.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called it a "regional calamity with global ramifications".

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News that there was international deadlock on the issue and that he has little hope for a change in attitude at the UN Security Council, which has been unable to agree to intervene in the conflict because of opposition from Russia and China.

The UK hopes to persuade allies to step up their support for Syria in order to relieve the worsening humanitarian crisis there.

Late on Tuesday, the Prime Minister used a meeting on UN targets for eradicating global poverty to reaffirm the UK's pledge to spend around £12bn of its yearly national income on aid for developing countries.

However Mr Cameron has been unable to escape questions over the chief whip row.

At a brief news conference, he was pressed over why he appeared to accept Mr Mitchell's account of his tirade rather than that recorded in police logs.

He said: "What I am saying very clearly is that what happened was wrong, it shouldn't have happened, it was deeply regrettable and that is why the Chief Whip has made a very public and clear apology."