The president of a zoo where a two-year-old boy fell into an enclosure and was mauled to death by African wild dogs said it had met or exceeded safety standards, proving that no exhibit was "fail-proof".

The gunman who murdered three women at a Pennsylvania gym posted a chilling diary on the internet in which he seethed with anger and frustration towards the opposite sex.

Four people were killed in a shooting rampage at a health club, it was reported today.

US police were today searching for an 18-year-old man charged with stabbing his 11-year-old twin brothers, killing one of them and leaving the other seriously injured.

A woman who disappeared as a teenager 10 years ago had been living with a middle school security guard who did not allow her to leave his home for several years, police in Pennsylvania said.

50 Cent said he was saddened by the fatal shooting at a cinema where his movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin' was playing.

As night fell, the city moved past the nightmarish scenes of people on fire jumping from buildings and braced itself for more pain: picking through the rubble for the dead and the injured.