Eerie images show a series of disc-shaped holes appearing in the sky. What does it mean?

COMMENT: With the first Presidential Debate done for 2016, here's some independent advice for the major party candidates ahead of round two.

If you're expecting Donald Trump to be his usual controversial self in today's first presidential debate, prepare to be surprised.

COMMENT: The science is clear: we must rapidly transition from fossil fuel energy. But industry won't let this happen without a fight.

Hillary Clinton abruptly left a September 11 memorial service in New York after suffering a "medical episode".

George W Bush's reaction to the 9/11 attacks in America has been detailed in full for the first time by his press secretary.

Since 2012, Dotcom, who founded the file-sharing website Megaupload, has been fighting extradition from New Zealand to the United States on piracy charges.

Islamic State has suffered a blow after the leader of the group's Afghanistan and Pakistan branches was killed in a US drone strike, the Pentagon says.

Pete Souza has shot hundreds of thousands of photos of United States' president Barack Obama since Obama took office almost eight years ago.

In both theme and target audience, Trump offered a powerful echo of Richard Nixon almost 50 years ago.

The visit of Barack Obama's number two to New Zealand will be a family affair.

Kurt Sonnenfeld is on the run. He says the US government wants to keep him quiet about what he saw on 9/11.

Lydia DePillis asks if all the secrecy around the Trans-Pacific Partnership is really worth the price.

Hillary Clinton has fallen silent on the TPP, an interesting departure from her statements as the nation's top diplomat.

Atriumphant Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be on a new collision course with Barack Obama after the US President bluntly restated his belief in a Palestinian state and criticised the Israeli leader's election campaign tactics.

Hillary Clinton has attempted to defuse a growing crisis over her controversial use of a private email account while Secretary of State, explaining that she had opted not to use a government email address as a "matter of convenience".

Saudi officials deny they blurred out US First Lady Michelle Obama, but her decision not to wear a headscarf, and don blue, not black at the late King's funeral, is controversial.

A military couple who planned to get married on a Hawaii golf course had to move their ceremony at 24 hours' notice when United States President Barack Obama decided he wanted to play a round, it has emerged.

Assumptions that President Barack Obama was a lame duck, counting down his last quarter after Republicans seized Congress, were confounded by several White House coups.

Whoa, this can't be right. Guys, guys, guys - this isn't the end. It feels like the lights have just come on in the theatre just when I was settling down to my popcorn...

CIA director John Brennan is acknowledging that agency officers did "abhorrent" things to captive terror suspects, and he says he can't prove the harsh treatment made the prisoners cooperate.

The police shooting of an unarmed black man has sparked another potential flashpoint in the United States.

A billion-dollar class-action lawsuit over Apple's iPods heads to trial after nearly a decade in legal wrangling.

The Waldorf Astoria sale to a Chinese buyer is likely to spark a national security review to assess potential spying risks.

A stoic President Barack Obama attempted a steady and conciliatory tone yesterday after a rout in Wednesday's midterm elections that saw Republicans crush his party's hopes.

The coalition of young and minority voters that handed President Barack Obama both of his election victories failed to show up for the Democrats in the US midterms as Republicans celebrated their first black female member of Congress.

Tech giants like Apple keep looking for overseas tax loopholes as their foreign cash has piled up to almost absurd levels.

The unmanned Antares rocket that blew up in a spectacular fireball in the United States during a launch to the International Space Station was using two 40-year-old Soviet-made rocket engines of the same type as one that exploded during tests in May.