Obama to deliver 'Arab spring' speech

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama was scheduled to lay out a new strategy toward a skeptical Arab world on Thursday, offering fresh aid to promote political change as he seeks to shape the outcome of popular uprisings threatening both friends and foes.

In his much-anticipated "Arab spring" speech, Obama was expected to reset relations with the Middle East, but his outreach could falter amid Arab frustration over an uneven US response to the region's revolts and his failure to advance Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Obama was expected to unveil new economic aid packages to bolster political transitions in Egypt and Tunisia, nudge allies like Yemen and Bahrain to undertake reforms and harden his line against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.