President Barack Obama headed to Asia Saturday for a tour of three countries on his first foreign trip since winning re-election that will see him make a once unthinkable stop in Myanmar.

The first trip by a U.S. president spent entirely in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War, the visit that will also take in Thailand and Cambodia aims to emphasize the Obama administration's focus on the dynamic and largely U.S.-friendly region where several nations worry about a rising China.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the conflict in Gaza.

"The president reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives," the White House said in a summary of the conversation.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern Friday that renewed violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip would damage the Middle East peace process.

"The two leaders shared their concerns about the dangers to civilian populations on both sides and expressed their common desire to see an end to the violence," the White House said, after Obama called the Turkish leader.

U.S. President Barack Obama toured the fringes of New York City hardest hit by superstorm Sandy on Thursday, hearing pleas for help and consoling the victims.

Flying in his Marine One helicopter, Obama was shown the Rockaways and Breezy Point neighborhoods in Queens, two areas where 17 days after Sandy struck there are still people without heat and light.

Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama won by showering "gifts" on women, African American and Hispanic supporters, in his first published remarks since conceding last week's election.

The remarks came as Republicans have called for greater outreach to women and minorities after their unexpectedly lopsided defeat, and drew an angry response from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a rising star in the party.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday said he was confident General John Allen would be promoted to NATO supreme commander in Europe despite his being linked to a sex scandal.

Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, is currently under investigation over thousands of emails exchanged with the woman who inadvertently led the FBI to CIA director David Petraeus's mistress, leading to his resignation.

An outraged President Barack Obama on Wednesday accused Republicans, including John McCain, of besmirching U.N. envoy Susan Rice, re-igniting a fierce row over the slaying of the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Obama threw the weight of his replenished political capital behind Rice, the favorite to be his next secretary of state, as Republicans, lined her up as a top administration scalp over the attack in Benghazi on September 11.

Russia's representative in international talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, Sergei Ryabkov, is to meet Tehran's top negotiator on Wednesday, news agencies reported.

Ryabkov, who is also deputy foreign minister, was due to meet Saeed Jalili in his one-day visit, the Iranian agencies said without elaborating on the content or the aim of the visit.

President Barack Obama gave his backing to the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday after the top general was dragged into the sex scandal that brought down CIA director David Petraeus.

General John Allen was placed under investigation after FBI agents probing email threats sent by Petraeus' mistress stumbled upon a vast trove of "flirtatious" messages Allen sent to another woman at the heart of the scandal.

President Barack Obama has delayed General John Allen's nomination as NATO's supreme commander pending a probe into his email correspondence with a woman at the center of a sex scandal, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

"At the request of the secretary of defense, the president has put on hold his nomination of Gen Allen as SACEUR pending the investigation of Gen Allen's conduct by the Department of Defense IG (inspector general)," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.