His work here is nearly done. Michael Phelps won his 17th gold medal, and last individual, last night with a swim that characterised every detail that has made him an Olympian like no other.

Michael Phelps again outshone Milorad Cavic as the pair renewed their rivalry in the 100 metres butterfly.

Ryan Lochte deposed Michael Phelps as the Olympic 400 metres individual medley champion as he secured a dominant victory at the Aquatics Centre.

Where are you now and what can you see?

The heat that blanketed much of the US and left at least 46 people dead will begin easing up this week as temperatures approach normal from the Midwest to the East Coast.

Millions of people in a swath of states along the US East Coast and farther west went into a third sweltering day without power today after a round of summer storms that killed more than a dozen people.

Whatever the fate of the 2,000 Guineas winner Camelot at Epsom in 12 days' time, and whatever his destiny afterwards, at least one Triple Crown dream is still alive. The Kentucky Derby hero I'll Have Another followed up in the second leg of the US version, the Preakness Stakes, on Saturday night and is now bound for the third, next month's Belmont Stakes.

Professional body piercer Dave Hurban is a man attached to his iPod. Literally.

Claude Holloway, one of the most successful motor torpedo boat commanders in the Mediterranean in the Second World War, also became through grievous injury custodian of one of Winston Churchill's closest-kept secrets. Holloway won a Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the Caorle Point action of April 1945, in which the 28th MTB Flotilla sank five enemy ships with six torpedoes, but the night fixed deepest in his memory was the Bari Harbour catastrophe of 2 December 1943, the true story of which both the American and British governments tried to suppress.

Liverpool will begin their pre-season tour of North America with a friendly against the Major League Soccer side Toronto FC on 21 July. The match will take place at the 47,000-capacity Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

A Kansas man has revealed that hours after buying three tickets in last week's Mega Millions lottery frenzy that swept America, he was hit by lightning, proving the adage about how hopelessly small the chances are of winning.

America was a nation plunged into disappointment yesterday as all but three citizens realised their raids on the penny jar to buy tickets in a lottery with a jackpot of $656m (£409m) had come to nought.

Maryland state lottery officials announced early Saturday their state sold what could become the world's largestlottery payout of all-time, but it wasn't immediately clear if that ticket holder would get sole possession of the $640m (£400m) jackpot or have to split it with other winners.