The White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama did see the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as terrorism, after Mitt Romney accused him of downplaying the incident.

The Republican presidential candidate, hoping to dent the president's favorable approval ratings on foreign policy, has attacked Obama for describing turmoil in the Middle East as "bumps in the road."

France's President Francois Hollande showed a fine understanding of American politics Tuesday when he refused to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate.

Asked by a reporter at the U.N. General Assembly in New York whether he backed Democratic incumbent Barack Obama or his Republican rival Mitt Romney for the White House, a smiling Hollande shot back: "Who do you think?"

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the Syria "calamity" is turning into a global crisis as U.S. President Barack Obama led growing calls for an end to Bashar Assad's rule.

Condemnations of Assad marked the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly of world leaders, as the conflict passes 18 months and the international community remains deadlocked over how to end the bloodshed.

President Barack Obama will tell the United Nations Tuesday that the United States will "do what we must" to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, according to excerpts from his speech.

He also planned to address the Middle East turmoil sparked by an offensive anti-Islam Internet video and the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in a wide-ranging speech just six weeks before the November 6 U.S. election.

Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, urged the United States late Saturday to change its approach to the Arab world to be able to repair relations and revitalize an alliance with Egypt.

Morsi will travel to New York on Sunday to take part in a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has visited the United Nations and received a new award as she paid tribute to unknown fighters for democracy in her country.

"Tonight I must pay tribute to my colleagues whose names are unknown to the world," said Suu Kyi as she received the 2012 Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council, a think tank that promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati traveled to New York City on Saturday to take part in the United Nations General Assembly, where he is likely to stress the Lebanese government's policy of disassociating itself from the Syrian crisis, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

He will likely also demand the international community's assistance in catering to the needs of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Israel is trying to thaw the frosty relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House, and set up a meeting with President Barack Obama, an Israeli newspaper said on Friday.

A report in the Maariv daily said National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror was in Washington and had been "meeting senior White House officials for the past two days in an attempt to reach certain understandings regarding the red lines that must be set for the Iranian nuclear program."

The co-chairman of White House challenger Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, Tim Pawlenty, stepped down on Thursday to become a lobbyist for the banking industry.

The campaign issued a joint statement by the two men -- former rivals for the Republican candidacy until Pawlenty dropped out late last year -- in which Romney expressed regret that Pawlenty will not stay with the campaign.

The United States lifted sanctions on two of Myanmar's top leaders on Wednesday, as the Congress hailed Aung San Suu Kyi as a hero of democracy in a lavish ceremony unthinkable only months ago.

The move to end the sanctions on Myanmar President Thein Sein and parliamentary speaker Thura Shwe Mann came just hours after Suu Kyi had called for U.S. sanctions crippling her impoverished nation to be lifted.