President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in Cairo today no doubt inspired many, not least of all — women. Meanwhile, North Korea will try two female American journalists — Laura Ling and Euna Lee — for "hostile acts" today, and is sending signs it will defy the world when it comes to its nuclear weapons once again.

In Egypt, Obama gave the message that America is not at war with Islam, yet it will fight the extremists striving to do us harm, and called for a "new beginning" between the two cultures. He also did what many women here in the U.S.— including Dick Cheney’s daughter, Liz Cheney — were hoping he would do: make clear that women everywhere should have access to education and be free of oppression. Obama spoke at length about economic development and opportunity for women and girls around the world.

"I was completely swept away. More importantly, the audience was swept away" and gave the president a standing ovation, top Obama adviser and longtime friend Valerie Jarrett told MSNBC from Cairo this morning. "He turned the page … I think it resonated not just in the Muslim world but throughout the world."

Jarrett met with five female Egyptian leaders afterward, and said "they were all very pleased." Among other things, Obama said: "I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality." He said the U.S. will partner with Muslim countries to support expanded literacy for girls, and will help young women pursue employment through micro-financing. Obama also stressed the need for more exchange programs between America and Muslim countries, so that the two cultures can get better acquainted.

Many were listening for what Obama would say about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reaction from Hamas, Iraq and elsewhere can be found here. He said a two-state solution is the "only resolution." "Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."

Calling the 9/11 attacks "an enormous trauma on our country," Obama said that while our anger was well-deserved, in some cases "it led us to act contrary to our traditions and ideas," alluding to enhanced interrogation of terror suspects. He repeated his call to close Guantanamo Bay by January and his ban on torture. You can read the text of Obama’s speech here, and watch video of it below.

While Obama is focused on the Middle East, North Korea is misbehaving again.

Pyongyang today put Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both with Al Gore’s Current TV, on trial, which could leave them in a labor camp for ten years. The women’s families begged for their release this week. Meanwhile, there are signs the rogue country is preparing to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile that may be capable of hitting Alaska. Should that test happen, it will be more than the missile that goes ballistic — much of the international community will, as well. On top of this, North Korea sent a patrol ship into South Korean waters after the South sent a warship north, saying it’s prepared to dispatch fighter jets if Pyongyang provokes its neighbor with another missile test.

"North Koreans are mistaken if they think that they will be able to get what they want through negotiation after provocations, as they have in the past," Deputy State Secretary James Steinberg said in a meeting with South Korea’s president in Seoul, reports Bloomberg. "The U.S. will not make the mistake again."

The eyes of the world are watching North Korea, hoping it will tread very carefully, or else face the consequences. 

Watch video of Obama’s Cairo speech below. (Grab your popcorn — it’s a long one!)