An old leg injury has surfaced as a key element in an appeal that seeks to keep a condemned Texas inmate from being executed this evening.

Officials in the US state of Texas are today preparing for Hurricane Dean.

Tom DeLay, once one of the most powerful and feared conservatives in the US Congress, said today he is resigning from the House of Representatives in the wake of two criminal investigations that dimmed his prospects for re-election.

Taking a cue from the suffering in New Orleans, residents lined up for plywood and officials called for a voluntary evacuation of the island city of Galveston as Hurricane Rita threatened to slam into the Texas Coast this weekend.

Fights and rubbish fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans today, as National Guardsmen in armoured vehicles poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city.