US police have issued arrest warrants for a dozen Turkish security agents and two others accused of taking part in a violent altercation with protesters on May 16 as Turkey's president visited Washington.

A physician who was behaving suspiciously and had made threatening remarks has been arrested at the Trump International Hotel in Washington after police found an assault-style rifle and handgun in his car, authorities said.

SPACE shuttle Atlantis thundered off its seaside launch pad, rising atop a tower of smoke and flames as it left Earth on the final flight of the US space shuttle programme yesterday.