Louisianan Dexter Solomon is no political expert, but even he recognizes the pitfalls of President Barack Obama -- deeply unpopular in the South -- campaigning for Democrats struggling against a Republican tide.

"It'd be a two-edge sword," the 46-year-old home repairman, hunched over a plate of waffles and grits at a Baton Rouge diner, said of the unlikely prospect of the commander-in-chief visiting the bayou to campaign with three-term Senator Mary Landrieu.

The founder of U.S. yogurt brand Chobani said Thursday he has given $2 million for Iraqi and Syrian refugees massed along Turkey's borders.

The money from Chobani creator Hamdi Ulukaya will go to items that are urgently needed as winter approaches, such as tents, blankets and food, a statement said.

The United States could make its borders and cities perfectly secure, Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said Thursday, but the result would be "a prison."

Speaking on steps Washington has taken to stem the recent flood of illegal immigration, Johnson said homeland security means balancing civil liberties and protection.

A U.S. drone attack has killed at least four militants in a restive northwestern Pakistani tribal area on the Afghan border, officials said Thursday, taking the toll from a flurry of strikes this week to 25.

Tokyo Thursday criticised the indictment of a Japanese journalist in South Korea over a story about President Park Geun-Hye, saying the move raised serious concerns about press freedoms.

Hunger-striking prisoners who are force-fed at Guantanamo Bay can choose from several flavors, including strawberry, for the liquid meal they must ingest and well-behaved inmates sometimes are force-fed communally, a U.S. court heard Wednesday.

President Barack Obama conferred with commanders Wednesday on the "difficult" fight against Islamic State jihadists as the U.S. military warned air power alone could not prevent the group from seizing a key Syrian border town.

After a meeting with top brass at the Pentagon, Obama said there would be no easy victory against the IS group but said a growing international coalition was resolved to confront the Sunni extremists rampaging in Iraq and Syria.

Ukraine dispatched top envoys to Washington and Brussels on Wednesday to secure help in the face of a surge in clashes with pro-Russian insurgents that saw six more die overnight.

The family of an American citizen on hunger strike in an Egyptian jail for some 250 days are appealing to the U.S. government to press Cairo to let him go fearing his life is at risk.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed whether Arkansas prison authorities can prevent inmates from growing beards over fears they might smuggle weapons or other items in their facial hair.