US authorities could soon be snooping on social media posts from would-be immigrants in a new effort to close security gaps in the country’s visa system.

US authorities could soon be snooping on social media posts from would-be immigrants in a new effort to close security gaps in the country's visa system.

Russian military jets have carried out air strikes in Syria for the first time, targeting what Moscow said were IS positions.

Siri can be a useful fountain of knowledge, but she doesn’t have all the answers as her interjection during a White House press briefing showed.

The White House is in the final stage of drafting a plan for closing the Guantanamo prison for foreign terrorism suspects, racing against time to resolve one of President Barack Obama’s most intractable problems.

Barack Obama is set to become the first sitting US President to visit the inside of a federal prison as part of a push to change the country's justice system.

Nuclear negotiations between Tehran and six other world powers were unlikely to finish late last night, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, with diplomats reporting deadlock over a UN arms embargo and other sticking points.

Iran nuclear talks passed their second deadline in a week yesterday, casting new questions about the ability of world powers to cut off all Iranian pathways to a bomb through diplomacy. But the parties agreed to continue their talks.

The US National Security Agency lost its authority to collect phone records in bulk, with intelligence officials warning it could jeopardise Americans’ safety.

Al Qaeda’s Yemen offshoot could bring down a transatlantic passenger plane at any time, a new book by a former CIA leader has warned.

Russia has said it will be at least six months before it can deliver a missile system to Iran, but the Kremlin confirmed a barter deal to supply Russian goods in exchange for Iranian oil was already being implemented.

A video showing the mass beheading of Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages by Islamic State (IS) linked terrorists in Libya has sparked worldwide revulsion.

Guns would fall silent, heavy weapons would pull back from the front and Ukraine would trade broad autonomy for the east to get back control of its Russian border by the end of 2015 under a peace deal hammered out in negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

President Barack Obama is poised in the next few days to ask Congress for new authority to use US military force against Islamic State (IS) militants.

A device, possibly an unmanned aerial drone, was found on the White House grounds during the middle of the night while President Barack Obama and the first lady were in India – but his spokesman said that it posed no threat.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama says a “device” has been found on the grounds of the White House.

Hackers claiming to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants briefly seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military’s US Central Command yesterday.

Hackers claiming to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants briefly seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military’s US Central Command.

The US government was not responsible for sustained electronic attacks that crippled North Korea’s internet infrastructure last month, two senior US officials have said.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny says he is "shocked and appalled by the brutal and horrific killings" at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

American embassies, military units and other US interests are bracing for possible security threats related to the planned release of a report on the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques, the White House says.

President Barack Obama has authorised the US military to deploy up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq as part of the mission to combat the Islamic State group.

Republicans were last night on course to make major gains and possibly recapture control of the US Senate in mid-term elections that could serve as a public referendum on President Barack Obama’s job performance.

New rules will come into effect in the United States today for people travelling from west African nations hit hardest by Ebola.

President Barack Obama and military chiefs from more than 20 nations gathered in a show of strength against Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq and Syria.

A nurse in Spain has contracted Ebola, becoming the first person known to have caught the disease outside the outbreak zone in West Africa during the current epidemic.

The director of the US Secret Service has resigned in the face of revelations of security breaches and an erosion of confidence over the safety of president Barack Obama and his family.

Secret Service director Julia Pierson resigned yesterday in the face of multiple revelations about bumbling in her agency and rapidly eroding confidence that the president and his family were being kept safe.

An intruder who jumped a fence at the White House made it further inside the building than the US Secret Service has publicly acknowledged, according to reports.

The US military has stepped up its campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants with five airstrikes across Iraq.

The United States has taken the first step in its expanded fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.

Islamic militants have posted a video online which claims to show the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff, who went missing in Syria last year.

An internet video has been released purporting to show the beheading of US reporter Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group.

Ukraine called yesterday for full membership in Nato, its strongest plea yet for Western military help, after accusing Russia of sending in armoured columns that have driven back its forces on behalf of pro-Moscow rebels.

Islamist militants surged across northern Iraq towards the capital of the Kurdish region yesterday, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives.

Israeli forces, backed by heavy tank fire and air strikes, have moved deeper into southern Gaza in search of a soldier apparently captured in a clash with Hamas militants earlier in the day.

The Central Intelligence Agency was involved in a spying operation against Germany that led to the alleged recruitment of a German intelligence official and has prompted renewed outrage in Berlin, two US officials familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The Israeli military has found the bodies of three missing teenagers, just over two weeks after they were abducted in the West Bank, allegedly by Hamas militants.

The United States has condemned a siege of Iraq’s second-largest city by Islamic militants “in the strongest possible terms.”

Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych discussed the possibility of new elections and a new constitution with three EU foreign ministers as their colleagues in Brussels agreed to introduce immediate sanctions.

Barack Obama is preparing for the possibility of unilateral American military action against Syria within days, hours after Britain opted out in a stunning Commons vote.

THE images emerging from Syria — from the hysterical young girl to the rows of corpses — should be a turning point in a conflict that has killed 100,000 people. The deaths, if proven, demonstrate either the depravity of Bashar al-Assad — or the rebels fighting him.

US soldier Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for giving hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Scotland Yard has said that the detention of the partner of a Guardian journalist at the centre of revelations about US and British security services was "legally and procedurally sound".