Deadly Typhoon Fengshen was heading for Taiwan and south-east China today after leaving a trail of destruction in the Philippines where hopes faded of finding more survivors from a capsized passenger ship.

Security forces in Nigeria have located a boat carrying gunmen and the four foreign oil workers they abducted and will soon make an attempt to rescue the captives, a navy official said today.

US President George Bush today denied there was any racial component to people being left behind after Hurricane Katrina, despite suggestions from some critics that the response would have been quicker if so many of the victims hadn’t been poor and black.

Michael Brown, director of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, is being removed from his role managing relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and is returning to Washington.