U.S. President Barack Obama hit the road Wednesday to prolong the impact of his State of the Union promise to act to cut the gap between the rich and poor.

Obama appeared at a Costco wholesale store in suburban Maryland to push his plan to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour.

President Barack Obama declared Tuesday that America must move away from a permanent war footing to give diplomacy a chance to resolve some of the world's toughest problems, such as the nuclear standoff with Iran.

"The fact is, that danger remains," Obama warned in the annual State of the Union address, adding the United States had "to remain vigilant" in face of changing global threats.

President Barack Obama will seek to rally his divided nation and his own compromised political prospects Tuesday, in his ritual State of the Union address.

Obama will step up in the House of Representatives at 9pm (0200 GMT), wielding the issue of economic inequality as a cudgel against the Republicans holding his second term hostage.

President Barack Obama is expected to name a U.S. Navy admiral as the next head of the embattled National Security Agency, the Washington Post reported Monday.

If confirmed by lawmakers, Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, 53, would take over at a difficult moment for the spy agency, which is under unprecedented scrutiny after leaks from ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of NSA eavesdropping.

President Barack Obama will serve notice in his State of the Union address he intends to bypass Congress whenever necessary to regain initiative after a year of debilitating legislative logjams, aides said Sunday

"I think what we saw last year in 2013 was a Washington that did not deliver for the American people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in an interview with ABC's "This Week."

President Barack Obama still "looks forward" to meeting next month with President Francois Hollande, the White House said Saturday after the French leader announced his split from partner Valerie Trierweiler.

Obama "looks forward to seeing President Hollande as planned" during his February 11 state visit, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told Agence France Presse, without further comment.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged South Sudan's government and rebels Thursday to implement a new ceasefire as soon as possible and cement it with an inclusive political dialogue.

The deal committed both sides to halt fighting within 24 hours and end five weeks of conflict that has left thousands dead.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday discussed the need to integrate Sunni tribal leaders and troops into the Iraqi army with the Sunni speaker of Iraq's parliament Osama al-Nujaifi.

Obama dropped by a scheduled meeting with the speaker, Iraqi parliamentarians and Vice President Joe Biden, as the White House seeks to help Iraq quell an al-Qaida upsurge in key western cities in Anbar province.

Senior U.S. lawmaker John McCain accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of risking a Middle East regional conflagration by failing to show leadership on the crisis in Syria.

The conservative senator and former presidential candidate, an influential Washington foreign policy hawk, compared Obama to former president Jimmy Carter, widely seen here as weak.

Thirty-one retired U.S. military officers urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo prison by speeding up efforts to transfer detainees.

"We appreciate your leadership this past year in recommitting to closing Guantanamo," the former generals and admirals wrote in a letter released by Human Rights First.