Obama arrives in New York for UN talks

NEW YORK—US President Barack Obama arrived here Monday ahead of the UN General Assembly, this year overshadowed by a UN bid for membership of a Palestinian state.

Air Force One, carrying the president and First Lady Michelle Obama, arrived from Washington at 5:10 pm (2110 GMT) at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, an AFP photographer said.

Amid tensions over the Palestinian bid to seek UN membership of a Palestinian state, National Security advisor Ben Rhodes confirmed that Obama was due to meet on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But there were “no meetings scheduled at this point” with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas who is due to submit a formal application for UN membership for a Palestinian state on Friday.

“We have noted President Abbas’s statement that he was going to pursue action at the Security Council. He is yet to file that action,” Rhodes said.

“But we have made our position clear. If it came to a vote we have made it clear that we would veto that action in the Security Council.”