Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday denied the United States had plans to base B-1 bombers in the country, saying an American official had "misspoken" on the issue.

Assistant Defense Secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear spoke this week of the deployment of the aircraft at a hearing on safeguarding US interests in the East and South China Seas.

The Israeli parliament late Thursday narrowly approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government as the United States insisted the Jewish state must forge a deal with the Palestinians for its own good.

The new administration marks a shift to the right and looks likely to complicate Netanyahu's fraught relationships with the Palestinians and with U.S. President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama sought to reassure Persian Gulf nations on Thursday that the United States is committed to their security, insisting a nuclear deal with Iran would not leave them more vulnerable.

Obama and leaders from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries met in a rare summit at Camp David, the presidential retreat. They were expected to issue a statement announcing new military commitments, including joint exercises and ballistic missile cooperation.

When President Barack Obama wooed two Saudi princes at the White House Wednesday he paid tribute to decades-long ties between the United States and the Arabian kingdom, but did he get his history in a twist?

"As all of you are aware, the United States and Saudi Arabia have an extraordinary friendship and relationship that dates back to Franklin Roosevelt and King Faisal," he said.

President Barack Obama has chosen a submarine officer to serve as the next head of the U.S. Navy and an infantry officer who commanded troops in Afghanistan for army chief, officials said Wednesday.

Admiral John Richardson, currently the head of naval reactors, has been nominated to lead the navy, and General Mark Milley, who also served in Iraq, was picked to lead the army.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed America's "extraordinary friendship" with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as he hosted skeptical Gulf leaders at the White House for a summit beset by disagreements and royal no-shows.

Describing "an extraordinary friendship and relationship that dates back to (U.S. president) Franklin Roosevelt and King Faisal," in the 1940s, Obama heaped praise on two powerful Saudi princes in the Oval Office.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday warned Russia that now was a critical time to implement a fragile peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, after his talks with President Vladimir Putin raised hopes of a slackening in tensions.

Kerry said there was an "enormous moment of opportunity" to bring to an end over a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russia separatists which has dragged relations between Moscow and the West to a new post-Cold War low.

French President Francois Hollande called Monday for an end to the US embargo on Cuba, during the first visit by a Western leader to the island since Washington and Havana moved to restore ties.

Addressing the half-century-old trade embargo ahead of meetings with Fidel and Raul Castro, the brothers who have ruled Cuba since its 1959 revolution, Hollande said France will do whatever possible to see that "the measures that have so badly harmed Cuba's development can finally be lifted, repealed."

U.S. President Barack Obama has no immediate plans to visit Cuba but has not ruled out making such a trip "in the year to come," the White House said Monday.

As France's President Francois Hollande touched down in Havana, Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters who asked if the U.S. leader would follow suit: "I would not rule it out."

Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister insisted Monday that King Salman's last minute decision not to attend a Camp David summit was not intended as a snub to the United States.

"This is not related in any way, shape or form to any disagreement between the two countries," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters at Saudi Arabia's embassy Washington.