World responds to New Orleans catastrophe

Donations to Hurricane Katrina relief poured in from around the world, with Kuwait offering $500m (€397.4m) and other Mideast countries offering aid and condolences despite widespread opposition to US policies in the area.

But the al-Qaida in Iraq group, led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, called the devastation across the US Gulf Coast region God’s retribution on America.