Even before someone at the controls calmly said the last words heard from the missing Malaysian jetliner, one of the Boeing 777’s communications systems had already been disabled, authorities said yesterday, adding to suspicions that one or both of the pilots were involved in the disappearance of the flight.

Politicians on both sides of the US congressional stalemate have been summoned for talks with president Barack Obama as the partial government shutdown showed little sign of a breakthrough.

Northern Ireland football star David Healy was today cleared of assault after a key prosecution witness admitted lying in an attempt to blacken his name.

US diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Muslim world will be closed at least until the end of this week, amid online “chatter” about terror threats.

SINCE his first day in office, US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has rested on outreach: Resetting ties with Russia, building a partnership with China, and offering a fresh start with antagonistic leaders from Iran to Venezuela.

US officials have captured Osama bin Laden’s spokesman in Jordan, a senior congressman says.

The 11th-hour US compromise deal satisfied few people fully and saw a vital vote on a $60bn aid package for Sandy victims delayed, giving an outraged Governor Chris Christie a chance to take centre stage, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Former CIA director David Petraeus was sneaked into the Capitol today, away from the media, to face lawmakers’ questions about the attack on the US Consulate in Libya – just one week after he resigned over an extramarital affair.

The sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus has widened, with the top US commander in Afghanistan under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from General Petraeus’ former lover.

Members of the US Congress are demanding more details about the FBI investigation that unmasked an extramarital affair between ex-CIA director David Petraeus and his biographer.

The Wikileaks founder is being sheltered by a nation that cracks down on journalists, but Ecuador is no stranger to facing down world powers, writes Dan Buckley

Officials in Galway have been warned by a leading US politician that there will be ramifications if they proceed with a plan to erect a statue to Che Guevara in the city.

About 20 women were brought back to a hotel in Colombia by US Secret Service and military personnel in an incident last week involving alleged misconduct with prostitutes, US Senator Susan Collins said yesterday.

The sex scandal involving US Secret Service agents and prostitutes in a hotel in Colombia involved at least 20 foreign women, congressional officials say.

Barack Obama promised to return to Ireland following up on last May’s successful trip — provided he wins re-election in November.

The large Secret Service agent at the back of the Oval Office glared at me and I quickly scooped my notebook off Barack Obama’s desk.

The Pentagon is looking into concerns that the Obama administration may have given a Hollywood filmmaker too many details about the secret mission last May in which Osama bin Laden was killed.

The drone strike in Yemen that killed al-Qaida chief Anwar al-Awlaki appears to have also killed the terror group’s top Saudi bomb-maker, US officials said today.

US counterterrorism officials are chasing a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington.

A defiant Rupert Murdoch has said he will challenge the “total lies” issued about his News Corporation media empire in the phone hacking scandal when he appears before MPs next week.

The FBI has begun a preliminary inquiry based on concerns in the US Congress over a report that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp sought to hack into the phones of September 11, 2001 victims, a law enforcement official said.

THE FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation sought to hack into the phones of 9/11 victims, according to a law enforcement official.

America has said Osama bin Laden was actively running al-Qaida up until he was killed.

IT wasn’t the man he had travelled across the Atlantic to see. But when Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday found himself in the same Washington Hotel lobby as Duke Special he would have been forgiven for asking the Belfast songwriter for a rendition of his hit I Never Thought This Day Would Come.

AL-QAIDA is targeting Muslim Americans for recruits to terrorism and the community must do more to combat Islamic radicalisation, a lawmaker said as he opened hearings that have been criticised as a witch hunt.

REPUBLICAN congressman Peter King, whose controversial hearings into radical Islam begin today, has said Muslims shouldn’t feel threatened or intimidated by his inquiry.

WITH his leather jackets and messy, bleached hair, Julian Assange could be the edgy one in a fashionable indie band. In more ways than one, the WikiLeaks founder is the poster boy for today’s unthinking, whistleblowing brand of newsmaking, which is what currently passes for investigative reporting.

ROUTINE business for Dr Crokes in their opening provincial foray yesterday.

The US government is changing its terror-screening policy to focus on specific terror threats and not travellers' nationalities.

A prominent Nigerian banker was today meeting security officials over fears his son may have been the man who allegedly tried to bomb a US-bound flight.

An airline passenger from Nigeria who said he was acting on al Qaida's instructions set off an explosive device in a failed terror attack on the plane as it was preparing to land.

The US Congress is to subpoena the White House gatecrashers to reveal how they got into a state dinner without an invitation.

The couple who gatecrashed a White House state dinner for India’s prime minister will invoke their right to silence if they are made to appear before the US Congress over the security breach.

US Congressman Peter King is free to voice his comments about Michael Jackson’s alleged trysts with young boys and child molestation charges.

The stage was set for Michael Jackson’s final act today as the world capital of make-believe braced for what could be the biggest, most spectacular celebrity send-off of all time.

An American congressman has attacked the media coverage of Michael Jackson’s death and said he was a “pervert”.

The FBI arrested four men in what US authorities called a plot to detonate a bomb outside a Jewish temple and to shoot military planes with guided missiles.

Some 20,000 Irish school leavers will able to live and work in the US for a year under a new visa deal expected to be signed today.

I’VE asked this before and I’ll ask it again: why isn’t New York representative Peter King heading up the office of Homeland Security?

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.

Edward Connolly is to make his championship debut for the Tipperary footballers in Saturday's All-Ireland qualifier against Longford (Pearse Park, throw-in 7pm).

THERE was a palpable sense of anger in Long Island’s Irish Centre on Saturday night when Kerry woman Mary Brennan took the stage.

A MAN who wanted to become a notorious serial killer and be like the Nightmare On Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger for a day was given six life sentences at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Bertie Ahern today urged the US Senate to pass immigration legislation that would benefit the estimated 50,000 to 70,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the United States.