The United States is poised to send spy planes into Syria to track Islamic State jihadists whose advances have sparked international concern and American air strikes in neighboring Iraq.

A U.S. official confirmed the plans after Syria said on Monday it was willing to work with the international community, including Washington, to tackle extremist fighters.

The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama had so far made no decision on whether to launch air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria.

"The president has not made any decision to conduct military action in Syria," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, amid rising expectations of U.S. action following American attacks against the jihadist group in Iraq.

U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to take action on immigration before summer's end. Now millions of hopeful undocumented immigrants are eagerly awaiting his move -- as are Republican leaders who accuse him of abusing his power.

Back in Washington after two weeks of a golf-filled family vacation on a small island in Massachusetts, the U.S. president is readying to take on a issue which is especially sensitive in the run-up to November's midterm elections.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Afghanistan's two presidential candidates to finalize negotiations on forming a national unity government as soon as possible, the White House said Sunday.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Obama spoke separately on Friday with Ashraf Ghani and Abddullah Abdullah, rivals to replace Hamid Karzai as president of Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama has ordered an investigation into whether it is "appropriate" for the U.S. military to sell battle-grade hardware to local police, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

President Barack Obama calls the Islamic State a jihadist "cancer" threatening the Middle East and the rest of the world but has so far backed only limited air strikes against the extremists.

If the United States intends to decisively defeat IS, what diplomatic and military means would be needed to crush them?

Under a photo of Barack Obama carried by demonstrators in a town rocked by racially-charged protests, the appeal to America's first black president is loud and clear: "Please come now."

The poster is among those waved by demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a white policeman nine days ago, touching off days of unrest.

President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States has embarked on a long-term mission to defeat the insurgents of the so-called "Islamic State" fighting in Iraq.

Ten days after ordering air strikes against the jihadist fighters, Obama warned that IS remains a threat to Iraq and the wider region, telling Baghdad "the wolf is at the door."

Protesters in Ferguson shot at police and threw rocks and Molotov cocktails in a new spasm of violence late Monday in the St Louis suburb that left six wounded and led to 31 arrests, police said.

U.S. President Barack Obama told Congress on Sunday that the "limited" airstrikes he has authorized on Iraq to retake its largest dam from militants protected U.S. interests there.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the airstrikes supporting security forces were consistent with the War Powers Resolution, which requires congressional approval before the president can launch the country into war.