Actor Matthew McConaughey is selling a sports car on eBay to raise money for hurricane relief.

Venus Williams says winning her third Wimbledon title was exciting, but it wasn’t the best thing that happened this year.

Record profits for a UK company could be set by BP this year after the oil giant revealed today it was taking more than £30m (€44.3m) every day.

HURRICANE Wilma tore into the heart of Mexico’s Caribbean resort strip last night, trapping thousands of frightened tourists in darkened shelters pounded by torrential rains and shrieking winds.

TERRORISTS brought grief to London, nature’s forces terrorised New Orleans, while Eddie Hobbs threw the Government into panic over Rip Off Ireland.

SOME of New Orleans’ most popular neighbourhoods officially reopened to residents yesterday, a move that could bring back about a third of the city’s half a million inhabitants.

The mayor of New Orleans today invited residents of some of the city’s neighbourhoods to return at their own risk, a move that could bring back about one-third of the city’s half-million inhabitants.

Most US stocks closed higher today after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy has weathered the increase in oil prices “reasonably well”.

The telecoms sector ensured the FTSE 100 Index remained in the ascendancy today following a positive update from mobile phone operator O2.

Hurricane Rita’s path of devastation along the Texas-Louisiana coast became shockingly clear as rescuers pulled stranded bayou residents out on skiffs and Army helicopters searched for thousands of cattle feared drowned.

Crude oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel yesterday, while the US oil industry assessed damage from Hurricane Rita.

RESCUERS pushed their way into once-inaccessible neighbourhoods as Hurricane Rita’s floodwaters receded along the Texas-Louisiana coast yesterday.

Stocks fluctuated before closing modestly higher today as oil prices neared $66 a barrel despite lower-than-expected damage estimates from Hurricane Rita.

Mining stocks drove the FTSE 100 Index to a new four year high today after traders had earlier breathed a sigh of relief at the passing of Hurricane Rita.

Concerned about Hurricane Rita’s damage to coastal oil refineries, US President George Bush turned his attention to the nation’s energy industry as early economic indicators offered reason for optimism and a speedy recovery.

London shares surged ahead today as traders expressed relief that Hurricane Rita caused less damage than originally feared.

Texans are returning home today after 120mph Hurricane Rita failed to cause the feared Katrina-sized destruction.

AREAS of New Orleans newly flooded by Hurricane Rita could be pumped dry within a week after levee damage is repaired, far sooner than initially predicted.

US oil prices fell yesterday after Houston refineries escaped serious damage from Hurricane Rita, although plants further east in Port Arthur and Lake Charles were hit harder.

The damage inflicted by Hurricane Rita paled in comparison to Katrina, Texas Governor Rick Perry said today – but urged evacuees to stay where they are until local officials say it’s all right to return.

Residents along the Texas and Louisiana coasts began clearing away debris today as crews worked to restore electricity to more than one million customers in four states after Hurricane Rita tore through the US Gulf Coast, causing less damage than feared.

Pope Benedict XVI called today for special prayers for the victims of Hurricane Rita, as well as for the rescue workers trying to help them, during his final Sunday blessing from his summer residence south of Rome.

Three million Americans evacuated before Hurricane Rita pummelled east Texas and the Louisiana coast, were urged not to hurry home today.

The Bush administration, eager to avoid repeating the error-prone response to Hurricane Katrina, mounted a broad mobilisation of government assistance today to areas of Texas and Louisiana slammed by Hurricane Rita.

Hurricane Rita poured more water into New Orleans for a second day today and inundated fishing villages along Louisiana’s coast, where dozens of people were rescued from homes swamped by up to 6 feet of water.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf of Mexico coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, flooding low-lying regions, knocking power out to nearly a million customers and sparking fires across the region.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, threatening to flood low-lying regions and knocking power out to half a million people as transformers exploded in the pre-dawn sky.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, igniting the pre-dawn sky with exploding transformers and threatening to flood the low-lying region.

Finance officials from the world’s biggest industrial powers said soaring energy prices posed a risk to global economic activity and pledged to do all they could to limit the fallout.

Hurricane Rita steamed toward refinery towns along the Texas-Louisiana coast with 120mph winds early today, creating havoc even before it arrived.

COME in Houston, come in Houston.

HURRICANE Rita's rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee yesterday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighbourhoods in a repeat of New Orleans's flooding nightmare.

FEDERAL authorities began counting down to Hurricane Rita's arrival with last-minute promises to deliver fuel to hundreds of thousands of evacuees fleeing the shifting storm that covered half of the Gulf of Mexico.

A BUS carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire and was rocked by explosions early yesterday on a gridlocked highway near Dallas, Texas, killing as many as 24 people, authorities said.

CRUDE oil prices dropped sharply yesterday, the second straight day of declines, as traders welcomed news that Hurricane Rita had weakened, suggesting that damage to refinery capacity in the Gulf could be less severe than originally feared.

Wall Street rallied to finish mostly higher today, capping off the week with two days of gains as Hurricane Rita lost steam and raised hopes that its impact on key Gulf Coast refineries wouldn’t be as bad as initially feared.

Hurricane Rita is expected to destroy almost 5,700 homes and affect more than five million Texans when it slams into the US coast overnight, officials said.

The FTSE 100 Index put aside jitters over Hurricane Rita today to surge back above the 5400 level.

Frustation and fear continues to mount along Texas highways today as people seek to escape Hurricane Rita.

A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire early today on gridlocked Interstate 45 in Texas, killing or injuring an unknown number of passengers.

A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire early today on gridlocked Interstate 45 in Texas, killing or injuring an unknown number of passengers.

A pledge by pubs group Enterprise Inns to return cash to investors put the London market on track to end the trading week on a high.

Coldplay and Oasis have cancelled their concerts this weekend in Texas as Hurricane Rita approaches the southern US state.

Hurricane Rita roared toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts early today, a major Category 4 storm that spurred a traffic-snarled exodus toward higher ground and fears it could cripple the heart of the US petrochemical industry.