Obama asserts US leadership at UN speech

UNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama urged the world’s nations Wednesday to follow the lead of the United States in combating a variety of crises around the globe, from the threat of terrorist groups in the Middle East to the Ebola epidemic killing thousands in West Africa.

“We can renew the international system that has enabled so much progress, or allow ourselves to be pulled back by an undertow of instability,” Obama said in his annual speech to the United Nations General Assembly. “We call upon others to join us on the right side of history.”