Watch NZH Focus: Laos Prime Minster has welcomed leaders at the opening of the ASEAN, Prime Minister John Key is set to meet Barack Obama for talks. The Frenchwoman who received the world's first partial face transplant has died from cancer, 11 years after the surgery. And New Zealand is bracing itself for a return to wintery weather, more snow and strong winds is making its north up the South Island.

It is a relief that a G20 summit hosted by China produced nothing worse than a dispute over steps the US President would use to alight from Air Force One.

Source: AFP

Watch NZH Focus: A strong aftershock rocks the North Island's east coast, a 5.7 magnitude quake struck at 3.19 this morning. President Barack Obama becomes the first sitting US president to visit the isolated, landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos. And Mel Gibson’s new movie the World War II action drama ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ premieres to rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival.

COMMENT: Why is the US election down to being between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton? Alan Duff reckons it's because the US is weird and contradictory.

COMMENT: Is there a more perfect expression of the First Amendment than roasting the head of state?

It has been 24 long years since Hillary Clinton uttered these controversial words, but she still hasn't shaken loose of them.

Watch NZH Focus: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, has been declared a saint by Pope Francis just 19 years after her death. Donald Trump has closed the gap with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, as he consolidates support among his party’s likely voters in recent weeks. And Disney, Universal and SeaWorld are now providing free mosquito repellent as the Zika virus continues to be found in parts of Miami.

Madonna has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton by blasting Donald Trump's sons via social media.

COMMENT: Brazilians waited for the final round of the presidential impeachment process more anxiously than any Olympic competition.

The Mexican President has rebuffed Trump's claims the cost of the wall wasn't discussed, saying Mexico won't be paying for it.

In an ideal world the Secretary General of the United Nations would be a strong, clear-eyed, fair-minded and forceful personality.

The only leader Uzbekistan has had since the fall of the USSR has had a stroke and is now in intensive care without having named a successor.

Watch NZH Focus: A New Jersey Transit police officer is being hailed as a hero for pulling a man from train tracks. More than three thousand migrants and refugees, mostly from Eritrea, have been rescued from the from the Mediterranean Sea. Apple is being sued by owners of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones who say a design defect causes the phones' touchscreens to become unusable.

Hillary Clinton is taking the methodical approach of a veteran lawyer. Donald Trump is summoning his informal band of advisers to test out zingers.

"If elected, Mr Trump, I can say unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

A series of racially charged accusations dominated the US presidential campaign yesterday, with Clinton accusing Trump of "taking hate groups mainstream"

Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of "hypocrisy" and "spin" after CCTV footage revealed he had a seat on a train despite suggesting it was so "ram-packed" he was forced to sit on the floor.

The FBI's year-long investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server uncovered 14,900 emails that had not been disclosed by her attorneys.

Watch NZH Focus: Some of the pills taken from Prince's home after his death were 50 times more powerful than heroin. And Speedo and Ralph Lauren are the first companies to drop Ryan Lochte's sponsorships amid Rio Scandal.

Donald Trump's campaign has wavered on whether he would continue to call for the mass deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States.

We're often quick to deride Donald Trump's outrageous behaviour, but Hillary Clinton's one big failing could be his biggest asset.

At a rally on Saturday in Dimondale, Michigan, Trump repeated a version of a plea to black voters that he'd offered 24 hours earlier in North Carolina.

The main reason that Trump was never going to win this election is that most Americans - although clearly not all - are good people with fully functioning hearts and minds.

Donald Trump proposed a new ideological test for all Muslim immigrants and visitors to this country, allowing entry only to "those who support our values."

COMMENT: From public spat with this writer to UN delusion, there's no end to hubris.

COMMENT: With so much drama on the international political stage this year, the New Zealand political scene has struggled for attention.

Eight years after Obama captivated them, young US voters are dispirited by the political options left on the table.

Hillary Clinton and her husband had US$10.75 million ($14.94m) in income in 2015 and paid an effective federal tax rate of 34.2 per cent.

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump repeatedly suggested that there were links between President Barack Obama and the organisation Isis (Islamic State).