Obama speech

The United Nations had done extraordinary good around the world, but had often been a forum for discord instead of forging common ground, Obama said. The US was committed to "a new chapter of international cooperation," he said. But all nations had a responsibility to share.

"After all, it is easy to walk up to this podium and to point fingers and stoke division," Obama told the UN General Assembly. "Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles, and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions."

He said the time had come for the world to move in "a new direction."

"We must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interests and mutual respect, and our work must begin now," he said.

Obama told world leaders he believed there were four pillars necessary to ensure "a future of peace and prosperity." These were nuclear disarmament, the promotion of peace and security, preservation of the planet, and a global economy that offered opportunity for all people. He said those pillars had to be "the guiding principle of international cooperation."

He warned that responsibility for this endeavor could not solely rest with the United States.

"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," Obama said.

Obama's speech, his first before the UN General Assembly since he took office in January, had been greatly anticipated. Obama has vowed a close partnership with the UN after the administration of his predecessor, George W. Bush, was accused of riding roughshod over the 192-member body.

A new course at the G-20 summit

Obama said the upcoming G-20 summit, which he is hosting in Pittsburgh beginning Thursday, should set new rules to better regulate financial centers.

"In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world's largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained," the US leader said. This meant ensuring that people get back to work, that steps are taken to rekindle demand, so that "a global recovery can be sustained."

"And that means setting new rules of the road and strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again," he said.

No preconditions for Middle East negotiations

A day after holding inconclusive talks in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Obama also addressed the Middle East conflict in his speech.

"We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements (in the West Bank)," he said.

The Obama administration has called for a complete freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want to turn into a future state. But Israel has so far blocked these demands.

"The time has come to relaunch negotiations - without preconditions - that address the permanent-status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians, borders, refugees and Jerusalem," he said.

Nuclear weapons and climate change also addressed

Obama renewed his pledge to work toward a world without nuclear weapons. He said all nations would be less secure if some avoided international inspections. He urged world leaders to hold both North Korea and Iran to account for their nuclear programs.

"In their actions to date, the governments of North Korea and Iran threaten to take us down this dangerous slope," the US president said. "The world must stand together to demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise, and that treaties will be enforced. We must insist that the future not belong to fear."

Obama also repeated his sentiments from Tuesday's special UN summit on climate protection. He said there could be no peace without cooperative work to preserve the planet.

"The danger posed by climate change cannot be denied and our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred," he said. "This is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over."

He said he understood the temptation of nations to put economic recovery from recession ahead of work on climate change, but said that must not be allowed to happen.

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Editor: Michael Lawton