Ask HN: Why does `news.` resolve to `donuts.domains`?

[gpmcadam]

Sometimes, when I go to visit HN, I type `news.` in my address bar and before auto-complete finishes, I hit return.

Somehow, this resolves to `donuts.domains`. But I can't see how this should work.

Performing a DIG on `news.` returns;

    news.   10768 IN SOA demand.alpha.aridns.net.au.hostmaster.donuts.co. 1578924501 1800 900 604800 86400

But how is this permitted? Is `news.` a valid FQDN, even without a TLD?

[detaro]

"news" is the TLD. donuts.domains runs the technical operations for it.

[lordgrenville]

For anyone looking to reproduce this in a browser with an omnibar (eg Chrome/FF), append a / to force treating it like a URL instead of a search term.