The nationwide manhunt for a US Marine wanted over the brutal killing of a 20-year-old pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape focused on Louisiana and Texas today, after he was apparently seen catching a bus.

Actress Katie Holmes was forced to call the police during a recent shopping trip in Shreveport, Louisiana, after she found herself targeted by photographers.

Danny Harold Rolling, Florida’s most notorious serial killer since Ted Bundy, was ”remarkably calm” as he awaited his execution for the grisly 1990 slayings of five college students in Gainesville, his attorney said today.

Robert Charles Browne told investigators in Denver he used ether to knock out one woman he was trying to seduce, then “used an ice pick on her.”

Three million Americans evacuated before Hurricane Rita pummelled east Texas and the Louisiana coast, were urged not to hurry home today.

Two of New Orleans’ most troubled hospitals were evacuated late yesterday after desperate doctors spent days making tough choices about which patients got dwindling supplies of food, water and medicines.

CELEBRITY lawyer Johnnie L Cochran Jnr died aged 67 on Tuesday at his home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.

A Delta airliner bound for California was diverted to Shreveport, Louisiana and landed under escort from two fighter planes tonight after the pilot reported a disturbance in the cabin.