Foley beheading video shocks the world, Obama says
US President Barack Obama has said the beheading of US journalist James Foley is "an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world".
Mr Obama compared Islamic State (IS), the group which made a video of Mr Foley's killing, to a "cancer" and said its ideology was "bankrupt".
IS said Mr Foley's death was revenge for US air strikes on its fighters in Iraq.
But Mr Obama pledged to continue "to do what we must do" to confront IS.
The UN, UK and others have also expressed abhorrence at the video.
Mr Foley's mother Diane said he "gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people".
Mr Foley, 40, had reported extensively across the Middle East, working for US publication GlobalPost and other media outlets including French news agency AFP.
In a statement, GlobalPost asked for "prayers for Jim and his family".
In the video, Mr Foley is shown next to a masked man with a British accent, and Prime Minister David Cameron said he was shocked that a British citizen looked likely to be involved in the killing.
'A message to America'
A grim-looking Mr Obama said IS militants had "no place in the 21st Century".
"No just god would stand for what they did yesterday or what they do every single day," he added.
He said the future would be won by those such as James Foley, who "built rather than destroyed".
In the IS video, titled A Message to America, a man identified as James Foley is dressed in an orange jumpsuit, kneeling in desert-like terrain beside an armed man dressed in black.
He gives a message to his family and links his imminent death to the US government's bombing campaign of IS targets in Iraq.
James Foley has been missing since he was seized in Syria in 2012
A ribbon is tied to a tree outside James Foley's house in Rochester, New Hampshire
James Foley had previously reported from Libya in 2011, where he was held for six weeks
Clearly under duress, he says: "I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality."
Then the masked militant delivers a warning to the US government: "You are no longer fighting an insurgency. We are an Islamic army and a state that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide.
"So any attempt by you Obama to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people."
After he speaks, the militant appears to start cutting at his captive's neck before the video fades to black.
His body is then seen on the ground.
Another captive, identified as American journalist Steven Sotloff, is shown at the end, with the warning that his fate depends on President Obama's next move.
Mr Sotloff was abducted in northern Syria a year ago.
'Cowardly assassination'
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the killing as "deeply shocking" but said it was "not a time for a knee-jerk reaction".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it "an abominable crime that underscores the campaign of terror".
Earlier, French President Francois Hollande told Le Monde: "I think we are in the most serious international situation since 2001" - the year of the 11 September attacks in the US.
In the undated video of James Foley, the masked militant accuses the US of attacking IS daily in Iraq
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