The allegations date back to Messina's time as chief of staff to Max Baucus

But win provokes criticism from the UK and US, as Australia's Foreign Minister calls for election re-run

1. Pebble Mill

The former deputy chief of staff at the White House was once described as the 'most powerful person in Washington you’ve never heard of'

Deputy prime minister drew outrage for saying Japan should learn from how the Nazi party stealthily changed Germany's inter-war constitution

Russia’s granting of asylum to Edward Snowden may have ended nearly six weeks in airport limbo for the man who leaked some of America’s most sensitive intelligence gathering programmes. But it has further poisoned the already severely strained relations between Moscow and Washington.

Senior minister from the collection of low-lying coral atolls in the north Pacific says the end of this century will spell 'the end of my country and many others like it'

Harry Byrd Jr, who died on 30 July at the age of 98, was a Democrat-turned-independent who began his career as a staunch segregationist and preached fiscal restraint in Washington long before it became fashionable. Byrd served 17 years in the US Senate, replacing his powerful father, Harry Flood Byrd, a senator from 1933 until ill health forced him to retire in 1965.

Anthony Weiner’s bid to be New York mayor has faced another major setback, after his Communication Director Barbara Morgan let rip at an intern after she penned a comment piece on the campaign.

The 2011 Revolution showed how mature Egyptians were, even after dictatorships

The sticking points are familiar ones: security, borders, the right of return for Palestinian refugees since 1948, the status of Jerusalem, and a formal recognition of the Jewish state

President Barack Obama welcomed the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that started in Washington on Monday as a “promising step forward” but warned that “hard choices” lie ahead.

British-born Mr Indyk served as America’s ambassador in Tel Aviv between 1995 and 1997