U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for a pre-Christmas deal with Republicans to avert a year-end tax and deficit crunch, as pressure mounted from the business world and stock markets fluttered.

U.S. lawmakers demanded urgent action to keep America from tumbling off the so-called "fiscal cliff," and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was to drive the point home Thursday when he meets members of Congress to discuss "a balanced approach to reduce our deficit," his office said.

U.S. President Barack Obama will host his defeated Republican foe Mitt Romney for a conciliatory private lunch at the White House on Thursday in their first encounter since a bitter election.

Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said the meeting would take place in the president's private dining room next to the Oval Office and would be closed to the press.

President Barack Obama "pardoned" two turkeys Wednesday ahead of the annual Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans dine on millions of the fattened fowl.

"They say that life is all about second chances," Obama told reporters gathered at the White House Rose Garden for the yearly ceremony. "This November I could not agree more."

President Barack Obama landed back on U.S. soil early Wednesday after his landmark visit to Myanmar and a three-day tour of Southeast Asia in which he attended a regional summit.

The president arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, near the U.S. capital, at 12:30 am (5:30 GMT), said a reporter on Air Force One, and then made the short flight back to the White House on his Marine One helicopter.

U.S. President Barack Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for the third time in 24 hours on Tuesday and "commended" his efforts to secure a truce in Gaza, the White House said.

"He commended President Morsi's efforts to pursue a de-escalation" in the Gaza Strip, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling home from Asia with Obama during a stopover in Japan.

U.S. President Barack Obama told Cambodia's premier in a "tense" meeting Monday that his government's human rights violations were "an impediment" to better bilateral ties, a U.S. official said.

Newly re-elected Obama, fresh from a historic jaunt to Myanmar, met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for talks in Phnom Penh ahead of joining an East Asia Summit.

Officially at least, America still calls this Southeast Asian nation Burma, the favored appellation of dissidents and pro-democracy activists who opposed the former military junta's move to summarily change its name 23 years ago.

President Barack Obama used that name during his historic visit Monday, but he also called Burma what its government and many other people have been calling it for years: Myanmar.

In a historic trip to a long shunned land, President Barack Obama on Monday showered praise and promises of more U.S. help to Myanmar if the Asian nation keeps building its new democracy. "Our goal is to sustain the momentum," he declared with pride as the first U.S. president to visit here.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets as Obama packed in diplomacy and soaked in his steamy surroundings. He shared words and an affectionate hug with the Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy activist who endured years of house arrest to gain freedom and become a lawmaker.

Leading Republican Senator John McCain suggested Sunday that President Barack Obama should send Bill Clinton as a special envoy to try to negotiate peace between Israel and Hamas.

"The United States should obviously be as heavily influential as they can," McCain told CBS television, referring to the bloody conflict that has raged since Wednesday between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers.

President Barack Obama arrived in Asia Sunday to intensify a U.S. foreign policy pivot towards the fast-rising region on his first overseas trip since re-election, including a landmark visit to Myanmar.

He became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the long-time pariah, reflecting a dramatic thaw in relations brought about by sweeping political changes under a new reformist government.