The leader of an Amish group whose members are accused of going into the home of another Amish man and cutting his hair and beard has said it is a religious matter and police should not be involved.

At least 85 people have died as storms devastated parts of the southern US.

US President Barack Obama declared an emergency today after a wave of tornado-spawning storms tore through the South, splintering buildings and killing more than 70 people in four states.

A SUSPICIOUS device that caused a bomb scare for rail workers in the US was most likely a prop from a Denzel Washington movie, a sheriff said.

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has won a US lawsuit filed against him by an etiquette teacher who unwittingly appeared in his hit movie 'Borat'.

A gunman took six girls hostage at the high school in the Colorado mountain town of Bailey, using them as human shields for hours before he shot and fatally wounded a girl and then killed himself as a SWAT team moved in, authorities said.

An adult gunman took at least four people hostage at the high school in the tiny mountain town of Bailey, Colorado today and several shots were reported fired, authorities said.

HURRICANE Rita smashed into a region that is wealthier, more mobile and much less densely populated than the one devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, threatening to flood low-lying regions and knocking power out to half a million people as transformers exploded in the pre-dawn sky.

Hurricane Rita ploughed into the Gulf Coast early today, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, igniting the pre-dawn sky with exploding transformers and threatening to flood the low-lying region.