Ike Turner, whose role as one of rock’s critical architects was overshadowed by his ogre-like image as the man who brutally abused former wife Tina Turner, died today at his home in suburban San Diego.

HUNDREDS of thousands of people across the Houston metropolitan area struggled to make their way inland in a vast, bumper-to-bumper exodus as Hurricane Rita closed in on the fourth-largest city in the US with winds howling at 241 kilometres an hour.

US fighter jets forced down a light aircraft that flew too close to President George Bush’s Texas ranch.