A top U.S. official on Wednesday denounced "false" assertions by a former Israeli ambassador that the Obama administration has abandoned Israel, a traditional ally of the United States.

In an op-ed piece earlier this week, former Israeli envoy to the United States, Michael Oren, said President Barack Obama had dropped the core principles guiding Israeli-U.S. ties of "no daylight, no surprises."

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday approved the deployment of 450 more U.S. military trainers to Iraq, a cautious bid to reverse gains by the Islamic State group.

The White House said the forces will join an already 3,100-strong mission to "train, advise and assist" the Iraqi army and Sunni tribal fighters.

The White House on Tuesday rejected suggestions that President Barack Obama had deliberately ignored the Iraqi prime minister at a G7 summit in Germany.

News footage emerged from the summit showing an apparently eager-to-talk Haider al-Abadi awkwardly sitting down next to Obama, only to be shown the U.S. president's back.

Thousands of foreign jihadists are still flooding into Syria to fight, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Monday, as he urged greater efforts to halt the flow, particularly through the porous Turkish border.

"Not all of that is preventable, but a lot of it is preventable if we've got better cooperation, better coordination, better intelligence, if we are monitoring what's happening at the Turkish-Syria border more effectively," said Obama after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany.

With a "Bavarian breakfast" of soft pretzels, oompah music and frothy beer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel treated U.S. President Barack Obama to a folksy welcome Sunday to drive home the enduring strength of transatlantic ties.

As fighting in Ukraine flares and Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to exploit any cracks in the united Western front on sanctions, Merkel gave Obama a homely reception heavy on symbolism.

The leaders of Germany and the United States hammered home a tough line on Russia Sunday at the start of a G7 summit dominated by crises in Ukraine and Greece.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off the day by treating U.S. President Barack Obama to some traditional Bavarian beer garden hospitality, with frothy ale, pretzels and oompah brass music played by locals in lederhosen.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush is now more popular than his successor Barack Obama, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday.

The survey said 52 percent of Americans polled have a favorable opinion of the former Republican president who was in office between 2001 and 2009, while 49 percent share a similar feeling about the man currently in the White House.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that Israel risks losing "credibility" over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on the creation of a Palestinian state.

Obama made the comments to an Israeli television station in response to a question about Netanyahu's comments regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state before and after March elections.

The White House signaled its intent Tuesday to veto legislation that would stymie President Barack Obama's push to open travel to Cuba, the latest political clash over his landmark foreign policy goal.

The transportation bill includes measures designed to scupper Obama's broader effort to thaw Cuba ties that were set in deep freeze during the Cold War.

President Barack Obama has urged Myanmar to end discrimination against its ethnic Rohingya minority if it wants to succeed in its democratic transition from decades of junta rule.

The plight of the Muslim group, 1.3 million of whom live in western Myanmar but are mostly denied citizenship, has come under scrutiny as a migrant crisis unfurls in Southeast Asia.