A sudden power outage brought the world's busiest airport to a standstill on Sunday, grounding more than 1,000 flights in Atlanta just days before the start of the Christmas travel rush.

Delta Air Lines will be handing out refunds and travel vouchers as penance for the latest computer malfunction to knock a major airline off stride.

Delta Air Lines flights gradually resumed after an outage hit its computer systems, grounding planes and stranding passengers of one of the world’s largest carriers at airports around the globe.

A police helicopter flying low on a night-time search for a missing nine-year-old child has crashed near a major Atlanta intersection, killing the two officers aboard on impact.

A deadly storm system rumbled across the southern US over the weekend where tornadoes and severe weather killed at least 20 people in three states.