Victims' tales recall unsettling days after 9/11

America awoke to images of carnage and the foreboding reality of terrorism, which ended a run of luck and a largely peaceful 11 years since the September 11 attacks.

'I'm not the young socialist I used to be'

Mark Silva President Barack Obama, addressing an audience of Washington journalists and Hollywood celebrities at a ritual annual dinner, spared no jokes about himself.

Drone debate engulfs US Republicans

Richard W. Stevenson and Ashley Parker Senator Rand Paul's intention was to highlight his misgivings about how drones are used. He ended up enmeshing his fellow Republicans in a broader debate over national security that scrambled the...

Eleventh-hour tax deal on table

Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane THE US President, Barack Obama, and Senate leaders are on the verge of an agreement that would let taxes rise on the wealthiest households while protecting the vast majority of Americans from tax...

Nation on the verge of a fiscal breakdown

Rosalind Helderman WASHINGTON: It was designed to be the budget cut so painful, so indiscriminate, so downright mindless that even a gridlocked Congress wouldn't allow it to happen.

Congress sits on its hands as the fiscal cliff looms

Nick O'Malley WASHINGTON: Despite intense scrutiny and the growing frustration of the American public, the US Congress failed to come up with a weekend deal to avoid the sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts known...

No deal: Congress stares at cliff failure

Nick O'Malley Despite intense scrutiny and the growing frustration of the American public, the US Congress failed to come up with a weekend deal to avoid the sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts known as the...

Rancour and relief as US pulls back from brink

Nick O'Malley Minutes before the midnight deadline of the fiscal cliff Democrats started celebrating a partial victory – it appeared the White House and Senate leaders had cut a deal and the US would begin...

US pulls back from the cliff

Nick O'Malley Minutes before the midnight deadline of the fiscal cliff, Democrats started celebrating a partial victory.

Nick O'Malley

11th hour deal gives Obama a breather

Nick O'Malley WASHINGTON: Minutes before the midnight deadline of the fiscal cliff, Democrats started celebrating a partial victory.

Republicans warn Obama on Pentagon job

Jon Swaine, Washington US President's choice of former Republican senator Chuck Hagel for defence secretary deemed 'antagonistic to Israel'

Debt battle rages, with Republicans firing first

Nick O'Malley BEFORE the dust has even begun to settle from the battle over the so-called fiscal cliff in Washington there were indications over the weekend that the New Year's Eve showdown might have been a...

Obama's defence choice 'insults' Israel, say Republicans

BARACK OBAMA has been accused by senior Republicans of insulting Israel by preparing to unveil a critic of Washington's ''Jewish lobby'' as his next defence secretary.

US inches back from fiscal cliff

Lesley Clark, David Lightman Republican and Democrat congressional leaders emerged optimistic from presidential talks aimed at avoiding a tumble over the ''fiscal cliff'', offering hints of a compromise that would combine new...

Clinton keeps the pressure on Burma

WASHINGTON: The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, says the US will embrace Burma further if its once-estranged government releases all remaining political prisoners, ends violence against...

Obama health law case could dog run

Robert Barnes WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court has said it will hear a challenge to Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul act passed last year, meaning a decision on the US president's most controversial domestic...

Republicans criticise Obama's job creation plan

Simon Mann Republicans are set to resist much of US President Barack Obama's jobs package.

Obama fights to win back 'betrayed' Democrats

Ewen Macaskill WASHINGTON: After signing off on the law to raise America's debt ceiling, Barack Obama came out fighting to undo the damage to his reputation caused by the long-running stand-off.

Obama stares into the abyss

Simon Mann Barack Obama turns 50 on Thursday. With a bit of luck, the American President might also be celebrating the Houdini-like escape of the world's biggest economy from defaulting on its debt - that's if...

Republican debt deal set for dunking by Tea Party

Simon Mann Herald Correspondent WASHINGTON: THE US debt plan put up by the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, looks destined to be sunk - by members of his own party.