Headlines about President Mohamed Morsy's debut speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly and his meetings with high-level officials ran across the front pages of local papers Wednesday. Dubbing Morsy's General Assembly speech scheduled for Wednesday "historical," state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper quotes his remarksto an audience of Muslim, Jewish and Christians from across the US on Egypt's commitment to international treaties and a civil state. State-owned Al-Akhbar says Morsy sent clear messages from New York, including Egypt's commitment to secure Sinai, and his rejection of any foreign intervention. The paper also cites Morsy's insistence that Egypt is a civil state where there is no place for discrimination against women and Copts, and his description of the US as a "friend." State-run Al-Gomhurriya quotes Morsy's demands to US President Barack Obama and Congress to take a legal action against religious blasphemy and denying that he ever asked Obama to take exceptional measures against those who produced "Innocence of Muslims," the amateur anti-Islam film that has sparked protests around the world. Freedom and Justice, the mouthpiece of the Brotherhood's party, highlights an analysis of political science professor Seif Abdel Fattah describing Morsy's upcoming speech as "drawing the position of revolutionary Egypt, her ability to take initiatives." The paper also cites articles published in the international press regarding Morsy's "historical" visit to the US. Freedom and Justice also reports on an opinion poll by Baseera Center for Public Opinion Studies showing public support for Morsy's performance at 79 percent. The poll was conducted on 1,665 citizens "in different governorates," the paper writes, without referring to any specifics of the study sample. The poll shows more support for Morsy in rural areas, and in the Delta as compared to Upper Egypt. Private Al-Shorouk newspaper bucks the trend and features the anger of families of the 18 defendants convicted by the State Security Criminal Court in Ismailia of attacking the Arish police station in July 2011. Fourteen of the jihadist group members have been sentenced to death and the rest to life in prison. Other members of the same group, the newspaper reports, declared that they will take revenge if the court rulings are applied. The newspaper also highlights leaks from the Constituent Assembly regarding a new electoral system for the parliamentary elections in which the system will be 100 percent closed party lists, while allowing different independent candidates to run on unified lists as well. Al-Shorouk also reports on private TV station owner Sheikh Ahmed Abo Abdullah, known as Abu Islam, and his son being referred to a misdemeanor court for defaming Christianity after they were allegedly filmed defacing the Bible in a protest against "Innocence of Muslims." State-run Rose Al-Youssef interviews Abo Bakr El-Guindy, head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), who says the last count of Copts in Egypt was recorded at 5.6 million in 1986, after which the United Nations deemed asking poll receipts about their religion discriminatory. He said that under former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's Cabinet, then-Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy refused a request from the justice minister to release the numbers of Coptic citizens living in Egypt based on national ID records. Giving statistics on the economy, Guindy said unemployment rates reached 12.6 percent after the revolution, the equivalent of 9 million citizens. Egypt's papers: Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned Al-Watan: Daily, privately owned Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party Youm7: Daily, privately owned Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
