Irene has weakened to a tropical storm as it raced across New York City, leaving behind a stunned east coast where at least nine people died, severe flooding was widespread and four million homes were without power.

A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Irene slammed into the New Jersey shore with 75mph winds today after dumping a foot of rain on North Carolina and Virginia, killing nine people and knocking out power to at least two million homes.

A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Irene slammed into the New Jersey shore with 75mph winds today after dumping a foot of rain on North Carolina and Virginia, killing eight people and knocking out power to at least two million homes.

A US citizen in custody in Yemen as a suspected al-Qaida member had worked at six nuclear plants in the States, officials in New Jersey said.