United States and Argentine authorities were investigating how a stick of dynamite in a college student’s checked luggage ended up on a Houston-bound flight, one of seven security incidents that disrupted US flights in a day.

The lawyer shot by US Vice President Dick Cheney during a hunting trip was discharged from a hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, today and told reporters he was sorry for all the trouble Cheney had faced over the past week.

An investigation into US Vice President Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of a hunting partner has been closed and police say no charges will be filed.

The outer bands of rain from Hurricane Rita began falling in New Orleans today, and forecasts of between 8 and 13 centimetres of rainfall in the coming days raised fears the patched levee system could fail and flood the city all over again.

Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated and as many as one million others were ordered to clear out along the Gulf Coast today as Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm with 140mph winds that could batter Texas and bring more misery to New Orleans by the weekend.

FLESH-EATING bacteria cases, fatal pneumonia and life-threatening heart infections suddenly are popping up around the US, striking healthy people and stunning their doctors.

Flesh-eating bacteria cases, fatal pneumonia and life-threatening heart infections suddenly are popping up around the US, striking healthy people and stunning their doctors.