An oil company exploration crew’s chance discovery of a 200-year-old shipwreck in a little-charted stretch of the Gulf of Mexico is yielding a trove of new information to scientists, who say it is one of the most well-preserved wrecks ever found in the Gulf.

Enron founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in US history, died yesterday in Aspen, Colorado.

Police officers failed to spot what could have been a “dirty bomb” planted in the heart of Washington, a report by US government investigators revealed today.