Morsi to visit US next month

  Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will visit the United States on September 23, making his first trip there since taking power in June, the presidential spokesman said on Wednesday. "President Morsi will visit the United States on September 23 after his visit to China," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told Reuters, referring to a visit to Beijing next week. In July, U.S. President Barack Obama invited Morsi to the United States in September during the U.N. General Assembly meetings, but no date was announced. Morsi is due to visit China on August 27 and will then go to Iran to attend a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on August 30. His first official visit was to Saudi Arabia. The United States was a close ally of Egypt under ousted President Hosni Mubarak and gives $1.3 billion in military aid a year to Egypt plus other assistance. Washington opened formal talks with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 as the group emerged as a major player in the political scene of the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Morsi in Egypt during a visit in July.