NEW YORK: US President Barack Obama left New York late Wednesday after a marathon diplomatic mission, huddling one-on-one with dozens of world leaders and addressing the United Nations General Assembly.
Obama departed John F. Kennedy airport at 10:30 pm (0230 GMT Thursday) en route to the US capital Washington, according to reporters aboard the official Air Force One plane.
He earlier met with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas amid a tense diplomatic showdown over the latter's drive for statehood recognition at the United Nations.
That meeting came seven hours after Obama met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the US leader deserved a "badge of honor" for his defense of the Jewish state.
During his stay in New York, Obama also met with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister David Cameron, the new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff, and the President Salva Kiir from the world's youngest country, South Sudan.
Obama is set to jump back into polarized domestic politics with a trip to Ohio on Thursday to highlight the crumbling US infrastructure amid a raging debate in Congress on jobs and reining in the ballooning budget deficit.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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