Deadly Florida Sinkhole Is Finally Revealed

The deadly sinkhole that swallowed a man at his home in Florida has been uncovered by demolition teams.

The remaining walls of the house were knocked down on Monday and debris was dragged towards the street to reveal the crater in Seffner, about 15 miles east of Tampa.

The authorities estimate that it now measures 30 feet (9m) across and between 30 and 100ft (30m) deep.

It has become the final resting place of Jeff Bush, whose body was never recovered after the sinkhole opened up under his bedroom on Thursday night.

Five other family members who were in the house escaped unharmed.

Jeremy Bush said more could have been done for his brother

During a brief ceremony on Monday afternoon, the 37-year-old's family placed a teddy bear, a photo, notes and flowers into the bucket of a digger which dropped them into the makeshift grave.

Then the first load of gravel to stabilise the hole was poured on top.

Jeremy Bush, 35, who tried to save his brother thanked rescuers and salvage teams, but also suggested they could have "tried harder".

"I tried my hardest to get you out, brother," he said through his tears at a news conference.

"I think I'm the only one that really tried to get you out. They said the ground was too unstable to do anything, but they got all this heavy equipment on there, pulling stuff out and everyone's cheering for everything that's coming out of the house. I've had enough of the cheering."

Rescue teams had halted all recovery efforts on Saturday when the site became too unstable.

The remaining walls of the Bush family home are torn down

Two neighbouring houses have been evacuated and could also be condemned.

Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.

A second hole was reported about three miles away from the Bush family's home on Monday but aside from a piece of fence, there was no serious damage and nobody was hurt.

It is the loss of life that makes the Seffner case so highly unusual and tragic.

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CPR Refusal Death: Police Investigate Nurse

Police have launched an investigation after a US nurse refused pleas by an emergency call operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman - who later died.

The nurse has been defended by bosses at the Californian retirement home, following the death there of the woman named in reports as Lorraine Bayless, 87.

At the beginning of the emergency call, the nurse - who did not give her full name - asked for paramedics to come and help the woman, who had collapsed in the home's dining room and was barely breathing.

Dispatcher Tracey Halvorson can be heard in a recording of the call pleading for the nurse to perform CPR.

After several refusals Ms Halvorson asks her to find a resident, a gardener or anyone not employed by the home to get on the phone, take her instructions and help the woman.

Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield, California

"Is there anybody that's willing to help this lady and not let her die," Ms Halvorson says on the 911 recording released by the Bakersfield Fire Department.

"Not at this time," said the nurse, who added that the home's rules prevented her from giving medical help to the woman.

"Can we flag someone down in the street and get them to help this lady?" Ms Halvorson went on.

"Can we flag a stranger down? I bet a stranger would help her."

Ms Bayless was later declared dead at Mercy Southwest Hospital, officials said.

Bakersfield Polce said they were investigating whether there had been any criminal wrongdoing.

The executive director of Glenwood Gardens, Jeffrey Toomer, defended the nurse's actions, saying she had followed policy.

He said in a statement: "In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.

"That is the protocol we followed."

Mr Toomer offered condolences to the woman's family and said a "thorough internal review" of the incident would be conducted.

He told KGET-TV that residents are informed of the policy and agree to it when they move in.

He said the policy does not apply at the adjacent assisted living and skilled nursing facilities.

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is a first-aid technique involving chest compressions and sometimes rescue breaths that can be used if a person is not breathing properly or if their heart has stopped.

All states in the US have versions of the Good Samaritan Law, which grants immunity to those administering CPR in good faith.

In California, it is granted to those trained in CPR and "who in good faith, renders emergency CPR at the scene of an emergency," those who provide such training, and those who provide instruction.

However, the law is vague as to whether "non-certified" responders are granted immunity protection when administering CPR.

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'Fast Eddie' Admits Stealing Security Van

A British man who went by the nickname of Fast Eddie and spent almost 20 years as a fugitive in the US has admitted the theft of a security van containing £1.2m.

Eddie Maher was wanted by Suffolk Police after the Securicor van he was driving disappeared from outside the Lloyds Bank in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on January 22, 1993.

The 57-year-old, originally from South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, was arrested by US authorities in February last year and held in custody awaiting trial after denying the theft following his deportation.

But he entered a last-minute guilty plea at Southwark Crown Court in London as he was due to stand trial. He is expected to be sentenced this morning.

Maher, who used the false identities of Stephen King and his brother Michael Maher while on the run, intended to fight the allegation on the grounds that he had been forced to commit the crime after racking up "significant debts".

But Suffolk Police and the Crown Prosecution Service built up evidence proving that the former soldier and firefighter had profited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

During his time on the run, Maher built a new life with his partner, Deborah Brett, and their son Lee, who was three years old at the time of the theft.

After his conviction, detectives revealed details of a series of property investments they say he funded from the proceeds of the crime in Suffolk.

This included a house in Colorado bought with $120,000 (£79,300) in cash just six months after the theft.

Later Maher built a ranch on 80 acres in Colorado before moving around various US states.

At the time of his arrest on February 9 last year, he was working as a cable engineer in Missouri.

Eddie Maher admitted stealing a Securicor van in 1993

But his attempts to escape justice unravelled as he was arrested for illegally possessing firearms.

When US authorities contacted their UK counterparts about immigration issues, it became clear he was a wanted man.

Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector David Giles, from Suffolk Police, said: "Maher said he was forced to carry out this crime and that he only got a small amount of money from it.

"He never named the people who he claimed forced him into it and never put forward a credible story.

"We have succeeded in proving that he profited substantially from the theft and was a key player in the planning and execution of it.

"Since his arrest, he has displayed no remorse for what he did - but I get the impression he has spent 20 years looking over his shoulder and hoping the law would not catch up with him."

None of the £1.2m stolen from the van, which filled 30 sacks, has ever been found.

Ms Brett, 47, Maher's sister Margaret Francis, 64, and a 54-year-old man, from Woodford Green, east London, are all on bail after being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft.

More follows...

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Sir Ranulph Fiennes Returns From Antarctica

Sir Ranulph Fiennes may require surgery on two of his fingers after suffering severe frostbite during training for a trek across Antarctica.

The British explorer was forced to pull out of The Coldest Journey - a six-month trip that is due to start later this month - and spoke of his disappointment at leaving his team-mates behind.

"There's no point crying over spilt milk or split fingers but it's extremely frustrating," he said. "I've been working on this expedition and nothing else for five years."

A surgeon has told Sir Ranulph that while two of the fingers on his left hand "definitely would not require surgery", the others may need to be operated on.

The 68-year-old insisted his withdrawal was "unavoidable" and said his attention is now focussed on his fellow explorers, who are hoping to become the first people to make the 2,000-mile (3,219km) across Antarctica during winter.

"The team are brilliant," he added. "I'm very pleased and proud of them ... everything's on schedule."

Sir Ranulph treks through snow in Argentina during a previous challenge

Sir Ranulph developed frostbite after he had an accident while skiing and attempted to repair his ski bindings in temperatures as low as -33C (-27F).

Speaking at a press conference at Heathrow Airport, he said: "I tried fixing them with my big over-gloves on but I couldn't do a thing. You couldn't even peel a banana with those on. So I took off my inner mitts in order to be able to do the bindings up.

"People will say, 'surely you know you musn't take your mitts off completely?' But if it didn't, I'd have sat there, gone nowhere and died of cold. It's just one of those things."

Sir Ranulph had a double heart bypass in 2003 and suffered a heart attack two years later as he came agonisingly close to the summit of Mount Everest.

He became the oldest Briton to reach the top in 2009, when he completed the trek on his third attempt, aged 65.

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Mortar Bomb Plotters 'Absolutely Reckless'

Police in Northern Ireland have condemned a foiled mortar bomb plot as "absolutely reckless".

Army bomb disposal experts were called to the Letterkenny Road area of Londonderry after the four live devices were discovered in the back of a van last night and around 100 homes were evacuated.

"These people were absolutely reckless," said Chief Superintendent Stephen Cargin.

"They were prepared to drive a van with four live mortar bombs, ready to go, through a built-up area in Derry city, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk.

Chief superintendent Stephen Cargin said the plot was "absolutely reckless"

"It doesn't even bear thinking about what we could have been looking at today in terms of the consequences of these devices had they exploded."

Sky's Ireland correspondent David Blevins said: "It would appear that police have managed to thwart yet another attempted attack by dissident republicans.

"A huge security operation has been under way for several hours after Sky sources confirmed that police intercepted at least three mortars."

Three men have been arrested, including two 37-year-olds and a 35-year-old.

A bomb disposal robot pictured at the scene

Blevins said: "We are being told by local people in the Letterkenny Road area that police stopped the van and there is some suggestion they stopped a motorbike at the same time before they made the arrests.

"The police realised very quickly that they had intercepted the mortars primed for an attack in the vehicle which has a Southern Irish registration number plate."

He added: "The foiled attack bears the stamp of dissident republicans who are opposed to the political settlement in Northern Ireland.

"Until recently, there were three different factions - the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann (soldiers of Ireland) - but they are reported to have amalgamated into one group calling itself The New IRA."

The discovery was made on the outskirts of Londonderry

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman said: "Police are currently dealing with a security alert in the Letterkenny Road area of Londonderry, following the discovery of a suspicious object in a vehicle.

"Approximately 100 homes have been evacuated and army technical officers are at the scene.

"Detectives from PSNI serious crime branch are dealing with the incident and are linking it with dissident republican activity."

Blevins said: "The timing of any attack would be significant given that we are just four days away from a Westminster by-election in Northern Ireland in the mid-Ulster constituency - the seat which was formerly held by Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

"That indeed may have been why a possible attack was being planned by those opposed to the peace settlement."

The four contenders for Thursday's by-election are Sinn Fein Assembly Member Francie Molloy, independent Nigel Lutton, the Social Democratic and Labour Party's Patsy McGlone and Eric Bullick of the cross-community Alliance Party.

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No Mandate For Police To Seek Right To Strike

Police officers have voted to seek the right to take industrial action as their relationship with the Government continues to sour.

However, just under half of the Police Federation's members took part in the ballot which is not enough to seek a mandate under its rules.

The result does put officers in England and Wales on a new collision course with the Government on a collision course following rows over spending cuts.

Police Federation officials said 20% cuts to policing and "attacks" on pensions, pay and conditions have sparked "unprecedented discontent and low morale".

Relations have been further damaged after a report by former rail regulator Tom Winsor recommended that police forces should face changes to pay, conditions and recruitment.

Suggested reforms included cutting pay for new constables by £4,000 to £19,000 and creating a fast-track to inspector scheme.

Chief constable roles should also be opened up to foreign candidates for the first time, according to the report.

Home Secretary Theresa May has said she is minded to press ahead with the radical overhaul proposed by the civilian lawyer.

A recent survey indicated just over half of police officers would consider looking for another job because of concerns about the changes.

The online ballot by the Police Federation, which has over 130,000 members, was conducted by Electoral Reform Services.

The vote was open to all officers from police constable to chief inspector.

It is currently illegal for police officers to take industrial action - the last official strike was believed to be in 1919.

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Mokhtar Belmokhtar: Gas Terror Chief 'Killed'

Belmokhtar: Profile Of Mr Marlboro

Updated: 12:54am UK, Sunday 03 March 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

He was known as Mr Marlboro because of his cigarette smuggling. The French intelligence service called him "The Uncatchable".

Born in central Algeria in 1972, Mokhtar Belmokhtar grew obsessed with Jihadi ideology in his teens. At 19 he volunteered to fight alongside the mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

He missed most of the fighting there as the Soviets withdrew as he arrived but he did encounter senior members of what was to become al Qaeda - receiving training in a Jalalabad base.

In the early 1990s he returned to Algeria to join Islamic militant groups. He served them as a quartermaster - rapidly rose to dominate operations in the south of the country during the Algerian civil war.

Described by the then head of France's Territorial Surveillance Directorate (Direction de la surveillance du territoire – DST) as Algeria's link to al Qaeda, Belmokhtar maintained strong links to the movement's core in Pakistan.

But he was a vital element in the expansion of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). A franchise of the Jihadi movement AQIM was seen as the poorly performing franchise during the last decade. 

But Belmokhtar forged links with Tuareg rebels in the south Sahara from Mali to Niger and into Mauritania.

He rapidly expanded a criminal empire to fund his political and military operations from smuggling cigarettes, diamonds, drugs and people into Europe.

He further stuffed his war chest with funds from hostage taking operations. In 2003 he was implicated in the kidnapping of 32 Europeans in the Sahara.

In 2008, he took control of negotiations for the release of two Austrian hostages. And in 2009 took control of two Canadians kidnapped in Mali and released by him for allegedly £3m and freedom for several of his associates from Malian jails.

Robert Fowler was a UN special envoy in Mali when he was kidnapped and then handed on to Belmokhtar.

He described the man who has now projected himself on to the world stage from the relative obscurity of the Saharan wastes.

"He is very cold. Very business-like. I was afraid for my life all the time. I was afraid for my life when I woke up in the morning and when I went to sleep at night. He is a very serious player," Mr Fowler told ABC News in the US.

Belmokhtar's movement got a huge boost from the collapse of the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

The Tuareg fighters he had employed from Niger, Mali and Chad, fled his service carrying with them vast stockpiles of heavy weapons and bringing many years of combat experience.

This influx of new weapons and fighters allowed for al Qaeda-related groups to capture much of northern Mali and establish closer links between groups from Mauritania to Somalia and into the Arabian Peninsula.

Some intelligence agencies believe that Belmokhtar fell out with the AQIM leader in the north of Africa, Abdulmalek Droukel.

But al Qaeda is a franchise. Its strength lies in fragmentation. A devolved series of groups are harder to infiltrate or destroy than one large organisation.

Al Qaeda expert Aaron Zelin describes this as "controlled fragmentation".

French intelligence services had been trying to kill or capture Belmokhtar for more than a decade. They believed that he had the capacity to mobilise French citizens with their roots in North Africa for terror operations inside Europe.

After France launched its war against Islamists in Mali, many of whom are connected to Belmokhtar, his organisation which calls itself "The Masked Ones", vowed to continue attacks against western targets in Africa and beyond.

Belmokhtar's attack in Algeria meant his name was heard more widely as his movement posed a strategic threat to Europe's energy supplies.

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Sinkhole Swallows Man: House To Be Demolished

A house where a man was swallowed up by a sinkhole that opened up under his bedroom is due to be demolished.

It comes after rescue teams called off their efforts to find Jeff Bush's body as they considered it too dangerous to continue.

They feared the "seriously unstable" house could collapse on them if they tried to search for him.

"Our data has come back, and there is absolutely no way we can do any kind of recovery without endangering lives of workers," said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico.

Before the search was abandoned, engineers found the soil in the slowly growing sinkhole around the home was very soft and believed the entire property could eventually be swallowed up.

"At this point it's really not possible to recover the body," Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill said, adding "we're dealing with a very unusual sinkhole".

Jeff Bush is presumed dead after being swallowed by the hazard

Mr Bush, 37, who is presumed dead, vanished when the ground opened up in Seffner, east of Tampa Bay.

It dragged him down along with everything else in the bedroom.

Five other people were at the property as the floor began to fall through into the hole estimated to be six metres across and six metres deep. But no-one else was injured.

Jeremy Bush, who tried to rescue his brother, lay flowers and a stuffed lamb near the house and wept.

Crews will try pulling part of the property away from the sinkhole intact so some of the residents' keepsakes can be retrieved.

They have been testing the unstable ground surrounding the home and have evacuated two nearby houses as a precaution.

Sisters Soliris and Elbairis Gonzalez, who live on the same street, said neighbours were worried about their safety.

"I've had nightmares," Soliris Gonzalez, 31, said. "In my dreams, I keep checking for cracks in the house."

They said the family has discussed where to go if forced to evacuate, and they have taken their important documents to a storage unit.

Jeff Bush's cousin Kyle Balcom (L) and brother Dustin Bush

"The rest of it, this is material stuff, as long as our family is fine," Soliris Gonzalez said.

"You never know underneath the ground what's happening," added 30-year-old Elbairis Gonzalez.

Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.

They are so common that state law requires home insurers provide coverage against the danger.

Mr Bush said someone visited the home a couple of months ago to check for sinkholes and other things, apparently for insurance purposes.

"He said there was nothing wrong with the house. Nothing. And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole," he said.

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Devizes: Man And Woman Found Shot Dead

The bodies of a man and woman have been found shot dead at a house in Devizes, Wiltshire police say.

The discovery was made at a house on Moonrakers Estate, shortly before 11am on Saturday.

It is being described as an "isolated incident" and no-one else is at risk.

The families have been informed but formal identification has not yet taken place.

A spokesman said: "We can confirm that at shortly before 11am on Saturday, March 2, officers were called to a property at Moonrakers Estate, Devizes.

"On arrival the bodies of a man and a woman were found. An investigation into the circumstances of their deaths is under way.

"This is an isolated incident and we have no reason to believe that anyone else is at risk."

Cordons have been placed around the scene as investigators continue their enquiries.

More follows...

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Britons In Coach Crash In Kenya

A number of Britons were travelling on a coach which crashed in Kenya, the Foreign Office has said.

Around 15 people were believed to have been in the vehicle when the accident happened in the coastal city of Mombasa.

The number of Britons involved is not yet known.

There are thought to be some injuries but they are not believed to be life-threatening.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There has been a coach crash that we are aware of.

The number of Britons involved is not yet known

"We believe there are British nationals involved, and there are some injuries.

"We are sending staff there now and we'll have more details later.

"Indications are the injuries are not life-threatening but we won't know for certain until our people are on the scene."

People stand at the side of the road following the crash

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