President Barack Obama cast his ballot Monday during a visit in his hometown of Chicago two weeks ahead of November 4 mid-term elections.

"I love voting. Everybody in Illinois, early vote. It's a wonderful opportunity," Obama said after submitting his vote at the Martin Luther King Jr Park & Family Entertainment Center.

Kurds battling jihadists for the Syrian border town of Kobane welcomed a first U.S. airdrop of weapons Monday as neighboring Turkey said it will help Iraqi Kurds to join the fight.

Ankara has refused land deliveries of arms to the Syrian Kurds, who are linked with Turkey's outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but said it was helping Iraqi Kurds to reinforce the strategic town.

U.S. President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and they pledged to step up the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, the White House said Sunday.

Kurdish fighters have been under IS assault for more than a month around Kobane, which has become a key prize as it is being fought under the gaze of the world's press massed just over the border in Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday rejected calls for Turkey to arm the main Kurdish party in Syria, describing the group as a terrorist organisation.

Erdogan said the Democratic Union Party (PYD) was the same as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 30-year insurgency for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon sought to calm fresh tensions with Washington on Sunday as he began a five-day trip to the United States. 

In a statement released ahead of his departure, Yaalon warned that no dispute should be allowed to "cast a shadow" over Israel's crucial relationship with its closest ally. 

A Malaysian government crackdown under its Sedition Act is creating a climate of fear in the country, according to rising numbers of critics who say it could stunt a recent flowering in freedom of speech. 

About 40 people -- mostly opposition politicians including leader Anwar Ibrahim, but also student activists, lawyers, academics and a journalist -- have been investigated, charged or convicted under the act this year, activists say.

A Russian container ship carrying tons of fuel and diesel was drifting once again off Canada's Pacific shore Saturday after a cable linking it to a tow ship ruptured, the military said.

The ship is carrying 400 metric tonnes of bunker fuel and 60 metric tonnes of diesel, triggering fears of an environmental catastrophe.

Spain will begin training Iraqi forces later this year to battle Islamic State fighters but has ruled out taking part in ground operations in Syria, officials said Saturday.

Defense Minister Pedro Morenes made the announcement in Washington, where he met Friday with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The United States joined Britain, France, Germany and Italy on Saturday in calling for an "immediate" end to long-running violence there between government forces and militias.

The countries also said in a joint statement that they were ready to use individual sanctions against hostile actors who "threaten the peace, stability or security of Libya or obstruct or undermine the political process."

The United States has held direct talks for the first time with a key Syrian Kurdish group, whose troops have been battling the Islamic State group, the State Department said Thursday.

Previous contacts with the powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) had been handled through intermediaries but a State Department official -- who was not identified -- met with the group within the last week, spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.