“Extremely dangerous” Hurricane Ike grew to fierce Category 4 strength today as it roared on an uncertain path that forced millions from the Caribbean to Florida, and Louisiana to Mexico, to wonder where it would eventually strike.

Padraig Harrington, feeling refreshed again after a draining summer, carded a respectable one-under-par-69 in the opening round at the BMW Championship on Friday.

SOME have predicted that Barack Obama could turn out to be another George McGovern.

The UK's biggest companies slid to more stock market losses today in the worst week for the FTSE 100 Index for more than six years.

The remnants of Hurricane Gustav washed out the first day’s play at the BMW Championship today.

New Orleans was largely spared the wrath of Hurricane Gustav, but the BMW Championship will not be so lucky.

BARACK OBAMA hit out at John McCain yesterday over a comment from his campaign manager that the presidential race will be decided more on personalities than on issues.

SCIENTISTS have found the clearest evidence yet that warming oceans are whipping up more powerful cyclone storms, such as Hurricane Gustav.

Wall Street finished mixed in fickle trading today, with investors still unsettled about the US economy ahead of Friday’s employment report and only somewhat relieved about sliding commodities prices.

Some of the two million residents who fled New Orleans and Louisiana to escape Hurricane Gustav were returning to their homes today.

Petrol prices are expected to fall further after Hurricane Gustav failed to disrupt output.

Fidel Castro is likening Hurricane Gustav’s destruction in Cuba to a nuclear explosion.

Mayor Ray Nagin gave New Orleans residents the go-ahead to return to the US city today, but with several warnings – many homes were without electricity or working toilets and a dusk-to-dawn curfew is still in effect.

Haitian families scrambled on to rooftops and screamed for help today in a city flooded by Tropical Storm Hanna, as United Nations peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is an “independent man who thinks for himself”, President George Bush said today.

LAST WEEK had gone so well: then the weekend’s clouds started to gather.

THE Republican party has sidelined plans to specifically target young voters at its convention, preferring to focus on presidential candidate John McCain’s maverick history.

ANXIOUS evacuees across America clamoured to come home yesterday after their city was largely spared by Hurricane Gustav, but Mayor Ray Nagin warned they may have to wait in shelters and motels a few days longer.

Wall Street succumbed to its continuing angst today, giving up a sharp advance and turning moderately lower after falling oil prices failed to calm the market’s nervousness about the economy and the financial sector.

President George Bush will throw his “enthusiastic support” behind Republican presidential hopeful John McCain as the party’s national convention gets back on track today, the White House said.

Hurricane Hanna reduced to tropical storm strength after hitting the Bahamas today but forecasters said it still posed a threat.

Oil prices fell to their lowest level in four months today as the threat from a weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav faded.

Hurricane Gustav crashed into a mainly-deserted US Gulf coast and delivered only a glancing blow to New Orleans as it weakened and headed inland today.

VIOLENT protests with 13 arrests and vicious rumours stole a march on the prized news agenda and filled the void during the Republican convention’s stripped down first day.

REPUBLICANS scrambled to turn the first day of their national convention into a fundraising drive for hurricane victims yesterday, with presidential candidate John McCain’s wife and first lady Laura Bush appealing for Gulf Coast help while McCain visited a disaster relief centre in Ohio.

AS Hurricane Gustav threatened the Gulf Coast, US President George W Bush was out to show the nation that his government had learned the haunting lessons of Katrina and was ready to act.

Americans should come together and help support victims of Hurricane Gustav, the wife of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said today.

Hurricane Gustav crashed into a mainly-deserted US Gulf coast and delivered only a glancing blow to New Orleans as it weakened and headed inland today.

Oil prices fell today as Hurricane Gustav hit the US coast at a weaker-than-expected strength.

Hurricane Gustav weakened slightly to a Category 2 storm as it headed towards New Orleans today, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Oil prices fell back today as weather forecasters said Hurricane Gustav was not strengthening during its advance on the US coast.

The FTSE 100 Index was on course to break a three-day winning streak today as banks and miners weighed heavy on the London market.

Hundreds of determined Louisiana locals insisted they would stay put as their neighbours fled Hurricane Gustav’s approach by the thousands today.

Global warming may have made Hurricane Gustav slightly stronger and wetter, some scientists said today, but few were rushing to make a specific connection between climate change and stronger storms.

Hurricane Gustav is expected to make landfall on the US Gulf coast today, three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain urged his party “to act as Americans, not as Republicans” and suspended most of his party’s national convention as Hurricane Gustav approached the US Gulf coast.

Republicans will suspend most of the activities planned for tomorrow’s opening of their national convention because of the threat of Hurricane Gustav, presidential hopeful John McCain announced tonight.

US President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will skip the Republican National Convention because of mounting concerns about Hurricane Gustav, the White House said today.

Irish people in New Orleans have been urged to keep in touch with family in Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs as the city braces itself for monster Hurricane Gustav.

Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, directing residents of a city still recovering from the devastation left behind three years ago from Hurricane Katrina to flee from the approaching Hurricane Gustav.

Wall Street tumbled today after the US government said personal incomes fell last month by the largest amount in nearly three years while consumer spending slowed.

Tourists and oil workers fled today as Hurricane Gustav swamped eastern Jamaica on a path to hit the Cayman Islands with winds near hurricane force.

Hurricane Gustav caused a killer landslide and dumped torrential rain on southern Haiti before weakening to a tropical storm today.

US stocks have ended mixed as concerns about the path of Hurricane Gustav sent oil prices higher and offset a better-than-expected reading on consumer confidence. Comments from the Federal Reserve about rising inflation added to the market’s uneasiness.