Morsi wants ’real’ friendship with US

(AP) — Before embarking on his first visit to the United States since becoming Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi says Washington in the past earned ill will in the Middle East by backing dictators but now he envisions the two countries being "real friends."

Morsi is heading to New York early Monday to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting. In an interview with the New York Times published Saturday, he also said that the United States should not judge Egypt by its own standards — an apparent reaction to resentment in the Muslim country against an anti-Islam video produced in the United States.

It was his first interview with a U.S. publication since becoming president in the aftermath of the 2011 overthrow of Washington's key strategic ally, Hosni Mubarak.