Death turns spotlight on America's murder capital

Nick O'Malley JANUARY was a big month for Hadiya Pendleton. The 15-year-old drum majorette travelled to Washington to march in Barack Obama's inauguration parade, before returning home to Chicago for her finals.

Obama takes oath of office for second term

Nick O'Malley President Barack Obama's rousing speech centres on the idea that "America's possibilities are limitless". Beyonce confirms as much in her rendition of the National Anthem. Prepare to get chills!

Slain children were shot multiple times

Nick O'Malley NEWTOWN, Connecticut: As teams of investigators continued to comb through the carnage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people on Friday, officials finally released the names...

Daily life: Seven dead after shooting at Sikh temple in US

Nick O'Malley At least seven people are thought to have been killed, including a suspect, in another mass shooting in the United States, this time at a Sikh temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek in the state...

Colorado shooting suspect's bizarre court appearance

Nick O'Malley JAMES Holmes, the 24-year-old alleged to have gunned down 12 people in a US cinema screening the new Batman movie, has made his first appearance in a Colorado court.

Nick O'Malley

Obama hits Romney where it hurts

Nick O'Malley If anyone still harboured any suspicions that Barack Obama was a transformative figure, the past few days should have sorted them out.

Obama's health reforms pass high court

Nick O'Malley US President Barack Obama's health care reform has survived the Supreme Court challenge in a five – four decision written by the Chief Justice John Roberts, recasting the coming election from...

Child birth

'This baby is going to be born here or in the car'

Nick O'Malley Usually children are conceived, not born, in the front seat of the family car.

'Messy process': NATO backs Afghanistan withdrawal

Nick O'Malley NATO and its partner nations have completed their plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, with President Barack Obama, and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard both restating their belief that the Afghan...

Gillard signs off on millions of dollars of aid for Afghanistan

Nick O'Malley in Chicago The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has committed to increasing Australia’s aid to Afghanistan by $85 million a year to $250 million by 2015 in an agreement signed with Afghanistan President Hamid...

Trauma of tours may link US tragedies

Nick O'Malley WASHINGTON: Last Tuesday in Orange County, California, Abel Gutierrez shot Lucero Luna, the 11-year-old sister he had helped to raise, then shot himself.