US: President Bush is expected to launch a vigorous defence of his controversial Middle East and anti-terror policies when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today. At the weekend he said he looked forward to addressing world leaders on their duty to "defend civilisation".
Accompanied by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, the president will spend a total of three days at the UN where his schedule includes several face-to-face meetings with other political leaders including the presidents of Iraq and the Palestinian Authority.
His General Assembly address will be the culmination of a 20-day series of speeches in which he has sought to shift the focus of public opinion away from the unpopular war in Iraq towards the broader issue of the so-called "war on terror".
In today's speech, Mr Bush is expected to outline his vision of a new, democratic and peaceful Middle East. Mid-term congressional elections are coming up in November and opinion polls indicate that the Republican Party will suffer an electoral setback as a result of public disenchantment over Iraq.
In a weekend radio address, Mr Bush said: "We must work together to support the forces of freedom and moderation throughout the Middle East."
Mr Bush will also hold a meeting with French president Jacques Chirac, with Iran's nuclear programme likely to be high on the agenda.
The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also due to address the General Assembly today.
Prior to his arrival in New York he stopped off in Caracas where he received vociferous support from president Hugo Chavez who described him as a "distinguished leader of a heroic people and leader of a revolution, sister of the Venezuelan revolution."
Mr Bush is expected to meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow. Coalition talks between Fatah, led by Mr Abbas and the Hamas leadership have stalled because of US demands that the proposed Palestinian unity government recognise Israel. Mr Abbas is expected to ask Mr Bush to soften his stance sufficiently to allow the talks proceed.
Mr Abbas was also scheduled to meet late last night with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and a spokesman on her behalf said there would be reciprocal steps if an incoming Palestinian government renounced violence, recognised the state of Israel and brought about the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit.
The African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC) was also meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly to decide whether it should stick by its September 30th deadline for withdrawal of AU forces from the Darfur region of Sudan.
A global day of protest was held on Sunday, including a large demonstration in New York's Central Park and world leaders are under strong pressure to halt the allegedly genocidal activities of the Sudanese government and its Janjaweed proxies.
If the AU withdraws its poorly-funded 7,000-strong force from Darfur and the United Nations fails to send peacekeepers in their place, the international community will be accused of ignoring a humanitarian catastrophe similar to the Rwanda genocide.
Sudan has consistently rejected UN intervention, claiming the big powers simply want to get their hands on the country's resources.
The issue is seen as the first major test for the new UN doctrine of "Responsibility to Protect", which was adopted at the World Summit last September and allows for a state's sovereignty to be over-ridden on humanitarian grounds.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan was expected to ask the African Union to kept its soldiers in Darfur until the end of the year, giving time for the eventual deployment of a robust UN peacekeeping force.
Last month, the Security Council approved deployment of a peacekeeping force of 22,500 troops and police officers.