The former Navy reservist who slaughtered 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard had been “hearing voices” and was being treated for mental problems in the weeks before the shooting rampage, but was not stripped of his security clearance, officials said.

PRESIDENT Barack Obama, under pressure from fiscal conservatives, will seek a three-year freeze on domestic spending in his 2011 budget that would save $250 billion (€177.5bn) by 2020, administration officials said.

A mail room in the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre is to be fumigated after testing positive for trace amounts of anthrax.