Bill de Blasio has become New York City’s first Democratic mayor in more than 20 years, running on an unabashed liberal, tax-the-rich platform contrasting sharply with billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s 12 years in office.

Remains of a firefighter killed in the September 11 2001 terror attacks have been identified more than 11 years after his death at New York City’s World Trade Centre.

Barack Obama has offered his most vigorous public defence of drone strikes, describing them as legal, effective and necessary.

David Petraeus, the retired four-star general renowned for spearheading military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned abruptly as director of the CIA after admitting to an extramarital affair.

America, caught by surprise by the ferocious September 11 attack against the US consulate in Libya that killed the US ambassador and three other countrymen, is bracing itself for more potential violence in parts of the Muslim world today.

The US government is investigating whether the attack on the US Consulate in Libya in which America’s ambassador was gunned down was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks rather than a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.

In the US, hundreds of people have marched through Charlotte's central business district ahead of the Democratic National Convention.

A notorious arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death” has been sentenced to 25 years in prison following his conviction on terrorism charges.

Afghanistan’s president has appealed for Pakistan’s help in negotiating a peace deal with Taliban militants before a summit today that will also include Iran’s leader.

The US has accused Iranian government agents of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, immediately using the thwarted plot to step up sanctions and recruit international allies in a bid to further isolate Tehran.

A Texas man was executed early today for killing a convenience store clerk during a shooting spree he said was retaliation for the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

Osama bin Laden kept pressing followers to find new ways to hit the US and his terror organisation was becoming battered and fragmented, according to his private diary and other documents recovered in the raid on his Pakistan hideout.

US President Barack Obama says the world is better and safer because of the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the September 11 2001 terror attacks that led to the war in Afghanistan, has been killed in a firefight, President Barack Obama said today.

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 2001, terror attacks, was killed in an operation led by the United States, President Barack Obama said today.

A parcel carrying the mail bomb found in Dubai travelled on two separate passenger planes, it was revealed today.

Police in Yemen arrested a woman suspected of sending a pair of bombs powerful enough to take down aircraft.

A soaring bridge that will let drivers bypass Hoover Dam – and steer clear of its security checkpoints and tourists – will open after nearly eight years and $242m (€171m) worth of work.

The man who planted a car bomb in New York’s Times Square boasted that he thought it would kill at least 40 people and he planned to detonate a second bomb two weeks later, US prosecutors said.

A small explosion at a Copenhagen hotel could be terror-related, Danish officials said today.

The release of secret documents has endangered the lives of Afghan citizens who have co-operated with the international forces, president Hamid Karzai said today.

STRUCTURAL steel for the 1,776ft tower that will be known as 1 World Trade Centre has risen 200 feet above street level in a tangible sign of ground zero progress since the September 11 2001 terror attacks.

Structural steel for the 1,776ft tower that will be known as 1 World Trade Centre has risen 200 feet above street level in a tangible sign of ground zero progress since the September 11 2001 terror attacks.

A Pakistani scientist allegedly linked to al Qaida will go on trial in New York today, accused of shooting at FBI agents in Afghanistan.

The US Justice Department tonight charged the alleged Christmas Day terrorist with attempting to destroy a plane.

The Pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing today, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine, hours after he was knocked down by a woman who jumped over a barrier in St Peter’s Basilica.

An environmental adviser to US president Barack Obama has resigned amid controversy over his past inflammatory statements, the White House said today.

Researchers say a small number of young police officers who took part in the World Trade Centre rescue and clean-up operation after the September 11 2001 terror attacks have developed an immune system cancer.

The two most influential women in President George Bush’s White House launched a fierce defence of the president’s legacy against critics calling his administration one of the worst in history.

US Congressional leaders, with advice from their parties’ presidential nominees, scrambled today to find out what changes are needed to sell the failed $700bn (€497bn) financial system bailout to rank-and-file members.

The US stock market took another nosedive as the American banking system appeared even shakier and investors worried that the financial crisis is spinning so far out of control that even government rescues cannot stop it.

A Pentagon jury will consider its a verdict on a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama bin Laden today as the US nears completion of its first war crimes trial since the Second World War.

A top US biodefence researcher committed suicide just before being charged over the anthrax mailings that traumatised America after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

As the US continues its long manhunt for Osama bin Laden, victims of the September 11 2001 terror attacks are involved in their own bin Laden pursuit - for his family’s vast fortune.

Barack Obama said today he had resigned his 20-year church membership “with some sadness” in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his long-time pastor the Rev Jeremiah Wright and fiery remarks by another minister.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in New York’s Yankee Stadium, telling his American flock to use its freedoms wisely as he ended his first papal trip to the US.

South American presidents reached an uneasy compromise to resolve a dangerous crisis triggered by Colombia’s military raid in Ecuador, stepping back from a week of insults, troop movements and talk of war.

Six men have been charged with committing a total of 169 offences in the September 11 2001 terror attacks, the Pentagon said today.

Investors in the UK desperate for an interest rate cut will scour Bank of England minutes released today for hopeful signs amid continuing stock market turmoil.

FBI counter-terrorism agents lack the language skills and cultural understanding needed to succeed, a high-profile whistleblower claims.

A judge in Trinidad has ordered three men to be extradited to the US to face charges over an alleged plot to attack New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, as a confidential document said they planned to seek help from Iran.

Congress approved new laws to step up anti-terror efforts in the US, shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo.

Airport security officers in the US have been told to look out for terrorists practising carrying explosive components on to aircraft.

Al Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the US and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike, according to a new intelligence assessment.