Releasing its annual figures on Thursday, the regional offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals that the results of a crackdown on immigrants already convicted for crimes, including those who have been dodging standing deportation orders stands at a record high, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in Texas deported in the past 12 months.

Raiding homes, scouring jails and prisons, in what is a 20% increase from the previous year, ICE agents deported 349,000 illegal immigrants across the nation, during the
12 months leading up to September.

A girl student of Paul Revere Middle School died due to meningitis on Friday. But still the health officials were unaware about the real cause of the disease – virus or bacteria.
Meningitis can be both viral as well as bacterial. But only bacterial meningitis is contagious.

The exact cause is difficult to ascertain as 13-year-old Ana Cortez recently took antibiotics. Cortez’ classmates were shocked to learn of her death.

“She was real funny, a smart person. Never tried to put nobody down. She always tried to help you out if you were in need,” classmate Dejune Johnson said.

As a precautionary measure, 12 students and 9 staff members were given antibiotics to fight off a bacterial infection.

Austin (Texas), Oct. 15 : The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has finally admitted after almost a year that the murder of two teenage girls by their father is a case of "honor killing."

Sarah Said, 17, and her sister Amina, 18, were killed on New Year''s Day, and were found in the back seat of a taxicab in Texas.

But for nine months, the FBI deflected questions about whether their father — the prime suspect and the subject of a nationwide manhunt — may have targeted them because of a perceived slight upon his honor.

Gilchrist, Texas  - The sunset is beautiful in Gilchrist - within just a few minutes the sky goes from red to indigo and then to a wide range of grey before turning the black of night.

The sunset is, indeed, almost the only thing left unchanged in what was until the arrival of Hurricane Ike a tourist village south- east of Houston with some 750 residents.

The storm only left three to eight houses standing, and they all suffered severe damage. There is no trace of the remaining 200 homes in the village whose population swelled in the summer.

La Marque, Texas - Hurricane Ike Friday stalked hungrily across the Gulf of Mexico with its victim firmly in its sights.

By early Saturday morning, Galveston, a barrier island of 60,000 residents, faced certain devastation from Ike's 165-kilometre-an-hour winds. Those who refused to evacuate faced nearly certain death, forecasters warned.

"Galveston could disappear," said John Dennis, who was waiting in line at one of the only operating petrol stations in La Marque, the first town on the Texas mainland from Galveston.

La Marque, Texas - It was still a half day before the eye of Hurricane Ike was due to make landfall, there was little more than a strong breeze and the sky seemed reluctant to turn from white to grey, but the picture Friday had elements to promote panic.

Many roads and streets in Galveston, Texas, were already under water. And high tide was still hours away.

"Galveston could disappear," said John Dennis.

He was not joking - his jeans, wet to his knees, spoke for themselves.

"I just picked up my wife, and now I have to return to pick up my in-laws," he added. "They don't want to go, but we are going to get them out whatever it takes."