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.

US president Barack Obama will make his first comments on the economy and the financial crisis today as the White House makes the issue its top post-election priority.

President Barack Obama has blocked a Chinese company from owning four wind farm projects in northern Oregon near a Navy base where the US military flies unmanned drones and electronic-warfare planes on training missions.

Paul Ryan, a hero to conservatives and lightning rod for Democrats, accepted the Republican nomination as Mitt Romney's vice presidential running mate today, saying the moment for President Barack Obama's Democrats "came and went".

The storm-shortened Republican National Convention which begins in earnest today will be a three-day coronation of Mitt Romney as the party’s rival to President Barack Obama.

Fashion’s enduring love of celebrity has recently found expression in a new guise — the rise of celebrity children as models and brand ambassadors.

Barack Obama defended the US role in bringing down Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, rejecting assessments that the international coalition he helped assemble amounted to “leading from behind”.

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.

People around the globe stopped to remember the victims of the September 11 attack today, falling silent to mark the exact moment a decade ago that terrorists struck.

European governments need to restructure their economies to restore the confidence of financial markets as the global economy moves into a new danger zone, the head of the World Bank said today.

The leaders of Germany and France are meeting today to discuss how to get the eurozone’s 17 countries to work together to address Europe’s debt crisis.

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has toured an aid and donation centre in an area of her home city that was heavily damaged by tornadoes.

The United States aims to build on its killing of Osama bin Laden to destroy his al-Qaida terrorist organisation, the White House counterterrorism chief said today.

Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said his biggest mistake during his six years in the Pentagon was not resigning after shocking photos of the treatment of Iraqi inmates by American soldiers at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison were published.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has challenged former US President George Bush’s claim that the use of waterboarding saved British lives.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged world governments to end the “long inertia” at the Geneva disarmament talks and free up much of the money spent on arms for alleviating hunger, disease and other ills in impoverished nations.

The White House accused online whistleblower WikiLeaks of endangering the lives of American, British and other coalition troops after it posted around 90,000 leaked US military records today.

US AFGHAN commander Stanley McChrystal was sacked by Barack Obama last night for publicly criticising the President.

US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal was sacked by Barack Obama tonight for publicly criticising the president.

The first man to walk on the moon told senators that new plans by Barack Obama would cede America's long-time space programme leadership to other nations.

Barack Obama warned of a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster” as a wrecked BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico spewed a widening and deadly slick towards delicate wetlands and wildlife.

Turkey angrily withdrew its US ambassador after a government committee backed a resolution branding the First World War-era killing of Armenians genocide.

Toyota was preparing today to announce plans to deal with braking problems in its prized Prius hybrid amid reports it had decided to issue a recall for the vehicle in Japan.

The Nigerian accused of the Christmas Day airline bomb attack has been co-operating with investigators and providing fresh intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, senior US sources said.

President Barack Obama unveiled his new budget today, a plan that forecasts the government spending a record $1.66 trillion (€1.19 trillion) more than it takes in through taxes.

A defiant Tony Blair today mounted a vigorous defence of the invasion of Iraq, insisting he had no regrets over removing Saddam Hussein and would do the same again.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today that US President George Bush decided the United Nations Security Council’s support “wasn’t necessary” to invade Iraq.

Tony Blair today rejected claims that he struck a private deal with President George Bush over Iraq 11 months before the invasion.

Tony Blair said today that he had always been clear that he would join the Americans if it came to military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Former British defence secretary Geoff Hoon disclosed today that he had feared the armed forces would struggle to cope with commitment of a full-scale land force to Iraq.

One of Tony Blair's closest advisers will be grilled by the Iraq Inquiry today as it starts a week of evidence sessions dominated by key political figures.

Former spin-doctor for Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, will today appear before the Iraq Inquiry in London to face questions about his role in the build up to the invasion of 2003.

A senior British Army officer described today how he warned Tony Blair two days before the invasion of Iraq that there were insufficient preparations for dealing with the aftermath of the conflict.

British attempts to improve “dire” planning for the aftermath of the Iraq invasion were repeatedly ignored by the US, the inquiry into the war heard today.

The couple who gatecrashed a White House state dinner were being filmed by a reality TV show camera crew, the network said today.

Tony Blair deliberately combined the threats from Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida following the 9/11 attacks, the official inquiry into the Iraq War was told today.

President Barack Obama tried to soothe bruised Indian feelings with a glittering state visit dinner and assurances of the world's largest democracy's "rightful place as a global leader".

British officials secretly discussed the prospects for "regime change" in Iraq in late 2001 - more than a year before the invasion - the official inquiry into the war was told today.

Former US President George Bush warned today that “the world would face serious threats” if the resurgent Taliban and al Qaida are allowed to retake control of Afghanistan.

US President Barack Obama said today that a US travel ban against people infected with the HIV virus will be overturned early next year.

The White House acknowledged for the first time that it might not be able to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay by January as President Barack Obama promised.

Alleged terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed called the September 11 attack a “noble victory” and branded President Barack Obama a liar in a letter released by the US military’s war crimes court.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George Bush was released today after nine months in prison, and in a defiant address he accused Iraqi security forces of torturing him with beatings, whippings and electric shocks.

The brother of an Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at former US President George Bush in a stunning act of protest that made him a hero around the Arab world said the journalist has been released from a Baghdad prison.