If the United States were to attack Iran, the country would respond by striking US interests all over the world, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today.

US oil prices fell yesterday after Houston refineries escaped serious damage from Hurricane Rita, although plants further east in Port Arthur and Lake Charles were hit harder.

Thousands of residents fled the Florida Keys as Tropical Storm Rita barrelled toward land, poised to grow into a hurricane with a potential nine-foot storm surge and sparking fears it could eventually ravage the Gulf Coast.

Five days after a Canadian was fatally shot in a Kuwait street, it is still not clear if it was related to the United States air strikes on Afghanistan, a Cabinet minister said today.