A US air traffic controller was suspended after being asleep while a medical flight was landing in Nevada.

Heavy snow covered the Northern California mountains and rain and wind hit the US West Coast as a third day of winter storms left at least three people dead and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in California, Oregon and Washington without power.

A US woman was booted off a flight for wearing a T-shirt with an expletive and images of President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.