Set against an entertainment-driven campaign, tonight’s US presidential debate offers a critical opportunity to ask some hard-hitting questions, writes Kathryn Cramer Brownell.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is strengthening his top team and refocusing on New York after recent tactical failures raised doubts about his campaign.

It’s show time again. The party machines have revved up. The soundbites have been polished off. The candidates are out on the road pressing the flesh, occasionally taking time out to gaze up admiringly at their images on their posters.

It’s nearly 40 years since Henry Kissinger held political office but he is still influential — and deeply divisive. Neil Robinson says Niall Ferguson’s first instalment of his biography won’t change anyone’s mind about him.

Barack Obama has wished Jimmy Carter a full and speedy recovery after the former US president announced that he was battling cancer.

David Letterman has been ushered into retirement by four US presidents declaring “our long national nightmare is over” and a succession of stars delivering a final top 10 list of things they always wanted to say to the late-night TV host.

US senator John McCain had a blunt message for demonstrators chanting for the arrest of Henry Kissinger at a Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing: “Get out of here, you low-life scum.”

Henry Kissinger

George Soros is alive and well — despite being killed off for a good 30 minutes on Thursday evening by international news agency Reuters.

Forrest Fenn, a real-life Indiana Jones, has spent his life digging for artifacts and treasure all around the world. Somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe, the 82-year-old has buried a small antique chest. Inside is €1m of his treasure — and he wants you to find it. Are you up for an adventure? Tony Dokoupil joins the hunt

The Washington National Cathedral, where the US gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin performing same-sex marriages.

Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary, beating front-runner Mitt Romney in the race to challenge President Barack Obama.

TWO things are hard to find in Connemara. The first is a reliable weather forecast.

Former US first lady Betty Ford has died at 93, a family friend said today.

A Charles Manson follower who tried to assassinate US President Gerald Ford was freed from prison today after 34 years behind bars.

THE Charles Manson follower convicted of attempting to assassinate US president Gerald Ford will be released from a Texas prison later this month after serving more than 30 years behind bars.

Karen McCarthy reports from New York on the trail of deceit as US presidential candidates take liberties with the truth.

WINNING the Democratic nomination for president is now just a formality for Barrack Obama, and the smear tactics are already in full swing.

THIS could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

DWIGHT D EISENHOWER, John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr and Bill Clinton.

YOU’RE aware that they’re picking presidential candidates in America at the moment.

IN the past week we had posthumous pronouncements from both Judge Seán O’Leary and the late US President Gerald Ford.

Moving quietly and solemnly through the moonlight, mourners in Michigan waited for a chance to file past the casket of Gerald Ford, welcoming home the 38th US president for a final time.

HAVING ended the year on a record high the ISEQ 100 started 2007 with another record performance.

Trading on the London Stock Exchange started the year in an upbeat mood as the FTSE 100 index closed at its highest level in almost six years today.

Gerald Ford left his beloved US Capitol for the last time today as the period set aside for ordinary Americans to say goodbye to the president gave way to an elaborate invitation-only funeral at the Washington National Cathedral.

The FTSE 100 Index looked on course for a fresh six-year high after a sparkling start to the new year today.

Ordinary Americans joined President George Bush and other dignitaries in Washington to pay final respects to Gerald Ford as the former US president’s flag-draped coffin rested under the Capitol dome, before a last round of funeral services and burial near his family home in Michigan.

President George Bush and first lady Laura Bush briefly paid their respects Gerald Ford today, joining thousands of ordinary Americans in saying goodbye to the former president.

Spectators staked out front-row seats for a trip to a galaxy far, far away, as Pasadena's famous Rose Parade prepares to present an otherworldly tribute to Star Wars.

WITH the thunder of cannon and the whistle of a bosun pipe, Washington has honoured former President Gerald Ford’s memory.

Six days of national mourning for former US President Gerald Ford has begun with military honours and a simple family prayer service at his parish church.

George Bush has declared Tuesday a national day of mourning for former US president Gerald Ford, asking people to gather in places of worship to honour his memory and ordering non-essential government departments to close.

A brochure advertising sex films created quite a stir amongst pharmacists, clergy and politicians, writes Caroline O’Doherty.

A state funeral for Gerald Ford will return him to the US Congress that he served on his way to an unplanned and unelected presidency.

Former US president Gerald Ford was highly critical of the Bush administration, saying the Iraq war was unjustified, in a two-year-old interview published only today.

Former US President Gerald Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House but may have doomed his own chances of election by pardoning his disgraced predecessor, has died. He was 93.

US president George Bush hailed Gerald Ford for his administration's honour. Ford's former opponent, ex-president Jimmy Carter, called him "a man of highest integrity". Nancy Reagan praised his dedication to the country.

Gerald Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House to become the only unelected president in America’s history, has died at 93, his wife said today.

US President George Bush went to his Texan ranch today to rethink his strategy in Iraq as the US death toll in the country passed that of the September 11 attacks.

Former US President Gerald Ford underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic, his spokeswoman said today.