Sinkhole opens up on street in UK,St Albans

A massive sinkhole has opened up on a street in St Albans, forcing the evacuation of several families from their homes in the night.

The 66ft (20m) diameter hole spread across a front garden and driveway on Fontmell Close and is 33ft (10m) deep.

Hertfordshire County Council said five homes were evacuated and 20 people were taken to a centre set up at the nearby Batchwood Sports Centre.

Residents are said to have heard a crash before the huge crater appeared.

A spokesman for the fire service said it was previously aware of a small hole that was due to be filled in.

Image copyrightHertfordshire Fire and Rescue ServiceImage captionThe giant hole opened up during the nightImage copyrightSouth Beds News AgencyImage captionCouncil teams were called to the cul de sac collapse at 01:30 BSTImage copyrightSouth Beds News AgencyImage captionFontmell Close was closed off around the hole

Firefighters received a call at 01:30 BST to say the hole had "opened up substantially" overnight.

A Hertfordshire County Council spokesman said: "We were informed about a hole in the footpath last week. It was inspected and barriers put around it on Monday.

"Work was scheduled to fill it in this morning. Following our inspection, there was no reason to suspect that the hole would collapse."

Steve Lynch, who lives nearby, said a postman stepped in the smaller hole.

He said: "My wife saw the local postman pulling himself pretty much out of the hole and dusting himself down... he was rolling around on the street looking quite badly injured."

Highways engineers are currently assessing the scene before the crater is filled in.

Fifty-two homes in the area were without gas, electricity and water, including residents on nearby Bridal Close.

"The return to normal is likely to take weeks and all agencies in Hertfordshire are working together to support families affected," the council spokesman said.

He added no-one had been injured and no homes were damaged.

Rescuers Revive Escape Artist After 'Buried Alive' Stunt Goes Wrong

An escape artist almost suffocated when he was buried alive under six feet of soil and tried to free himself during the climax of a festival in West Yorkshire.

Antony Britton had hoped to better the legendary Harry Houdini by escaping unaided from a grave with his hands cuffed. But his team were forced to dig him out and pull him to the surface unconscious after he failed to emerge within nine minutes.

Some in the audience at Slaithwaite Spa, near Huddersfield, were in tears as helpers cleared soil from Britton’s mouth and throat before paramedics administered oxygen.

He came around after several minutes, and later said he would think very carefully before making another attempt the challenge, despite nearly reaching the surface.

Britton, who is recovering from a cracked rib, scratching and bruises, told the Guardian: “All I remember is, literally your life goes before your eyes. Really. And then I just passed out.

“It was really weird because I’m not saying I heard noises but my family was talking to me. Just before I passed out I could see both my grandfathers talking to me as if I was a kid. It’s quite emotional when I think back what I went through. It fills me up.

“Then I just passed out and the next thing I know they dug me up and dragged me out.”

The stunt was the climax of the Buried Alive festival, hosted by Escape For Life, a non-profit started by Britton and his friends to raise money for charity with affordable events for the public.

Britton attempted to perform the classic version of the escape, in which the escape artist is handcuffed and buried beneath six feet of soil without a casket. His job was to free himself from the cuffs and scrabble out through tons of heavy dirt. However, things quickly began to go wrong.

“The soil was landing on top of me and around the side of me. It was compacting and crushing me. Every single time another bucket came it was getting worse.

“I managed to get an air hole. I remember exhaling and because I collapsed my lungs the soil compacted into that space which meant that when I went to inhale I couldn’t.

“It was not a problem, but I remember then getting my right arm stuck in the soil and I started passing out. At that point all sorts went through my head and I just remember thinking it’s up to the ground crew to do their job.”

Assistants on the ground used a mechanical digger and their bare hands to disentomb Britton after they were no longer able to hear him breathing. “The digger driver was absolutely so skilful, I couldn’t have got anybody better in the digger,” Britton said. “When he got the blade in he could have quite easily cut me in two with the pressure.”

Britton is believed to be only the third person in 100 years to attempt the escape. In 1915, Houdini made it as far as breaking the surface with his hand before assistants were forced to dig him up. Twenty-five years later, in 1940, a British escapologist, Alan Alan, attempted the challenge, and he too had to be rescued.

In 1992 a 32-year-old American magician, Joe Burrus, died in his attempt at a variation of the stunt. He was crushed to death when the perspex casket he was interred in was unable to hold the weight of soil and concrete that he had told helpers to pour on top.

Estelle says: Seriously! Why don't you find another way to generate funds for your charity, this is dumb idea to me.

Queen Elizabeth becomes UK's longest-reigning monarch

Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the throne aged just 25 as her exhausted country struggled to recover from the ravages of World War Two, makes history on Wednesday when she becomes Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

At about 5.30 p.m. (1230 ET), Elizabeth, who now aged 89 is also the nation's oldest ever monarch, will surpass the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne.

British Prime Minister David Cameron led tributes to the queen.

"Over the last 63 years, Her Majesty has been a rock of stability in a world of constant change and her selfless sense of service and duty has earned admiration not only in Britain, but right across the globe," Cameron said.

"It is only right that today we should celebrate her extraordinary record, as well as the grace and dignity with which she serves our country."

Those close to the queen say she is fairly blase about the milestone, believing it represents little more than the fact she has lived for a long time.

"It's business as usual as far as she is concerned," said one senior aide.

Initially she did not even intend to mark the event publicly, but she has bowed to public pressure and will now undertake an official engagement in Scotland, where she traditionally spends her Summer holiday.

Along with her husband Prince Philip, who has been at her side throughout her reign, she will take a journey on a steam locomotive to mark the opening of the longest domestic railway to be built in Britain for more than 100 years.

Britain Will Be Forced To Take 'Fair Share' Of Refugees, Swedish Minister Warns

Britain will eventually be forced by the European Union to take its fair share of migrants, Sweden’s immigration minister has warned.

Refugees coming to Europe will at some point have to be divided amongst all EU member states - including the UK - according to population, GDP and unemployment level, as proposed by the European Commission in May, Morgan Johansson, the justice and migration minister told the Telegraph.

"Every country that is a part of the EU should do their share, and that goes for everyone,” he said. "Sooner or later there will be a mechanism that makes it compulsory for all countries to do their share, because that’s the way Europe works."

Sweden takes in more refugees per head that any other EU country, with over 8,400 applicants per million people in 2014, compared to less than 500 applicants per million to the UK.

Mr Johansson was critical of Britain’s insistence in May that it would exercise its opt-out from EU justice and home affairs legislation to avoid participating in a binding, compulsory system.

“When the UK is not doing their share, that creates bigger problems for the rest of us,” he said.

"I can compare it to the Irish approach. They also have the possibility to opt out if they want to, but at the meeting we had this summer, they said, ‘we don’t have to do this, but we are ready nevertheless to take this responsibility’. They did that in order to make it easier for the rest of us."

Just days after Chancellor George Osborne travelled to Stockholm to win over Sweden’s support for the UK’s programme of EU reform, Mr Johansson warned that Sweden was unlikely to back proposals for a four-year ban on EU migrants claiming in-work benefits, a key UK demand.

"If it would mean problems for Swedish people going to the UK to work, then of course it would be a problem for us,” he said. “If they were to change that, we would really have to raise that issue with our British colleagues."

Mr Johansson also criticised Mr Cameron for describing immigrants as “a swarm” in June.

"You must ask David Cameron why he uses rhetoric like that," Mr Johansson said. “I think you should have a constructive approach when you are dealing with matters concerning life and death."

He said that at a time of the highest refugee numbers since the Second World War, it was the responsibility of political leaders to convince voters that immigration was necessary despite the short-term costs, “both for humanitarian causes, but also because our country will benefit from it in the long run”.

“That calls for political leadership instead of running away because they are being faced by some extreme Right-wing rhetoric,” he said.

While he admitted that the refugee situation for Sweden and the rest of Europe was “not sustainable”, Mr Johansson stopped short of describing it as a “crisis”.

“You can’t talk about a crisis as far as Sweden is concerned. Sweden can cope with the number that we are receiving,” he said.

“We should remember that immigration is not just about the downsides, it has upsides also. Europe is an ageing continent. More people are growing older and older and that means that in the long run we need people.”

Source: Telegraph

UK's Cameron Suffers Parliamentary Defeat Over EU Referendum Rules

 British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered an embarrassing defeat in parliament on Monday after Euroskeptic members of his Conservatives joined forces with opposition lawmakers to reject proposed rules for a European Union membership referendum.

It was Cameron's first parliamentary defeat since he was re-elected in May with a slim majority and highlighted the historic splits over Europe in his Conservative Party that contributed to the downfall of two of his predecessors.

Cameron, who plans to reshape Britain's relationship with the bloc ahead of a membership vote by the end of 2017, has said he wants to stay in a reformed EU but rules nothing out if his renegotiation is unsuccessful.

While overall legislation paving the way for the referendum easily passed to parliament's upper house following a vote in the House of Commons in the early hours of Tuesday, the government will now have to accept changes after lawmakers voted 312-285 on Monday against some of the bill's proposed rules.

Cameron made two concessions last week over the referendum, agreeing to make the wording of the question more neutral and to accept some limits to government activity in the run-up to the vote.

While lawmakers from Cameron's party back the idea of holding the referendum, many Euroskeptic Conservatives argued the concessions did not go far enough and said a full period of "purdah", barring the government from publishing anything that could influence the outcome, must be applied.

"If the public detect that the referendum has been rigged to help one side, the public will not feel it's legitimate, they will not feel that the debates are straight and whatever the result is, many of them will not accept it," Conservative lawmaker and former minister Owen Paterson told parliament.

Britain's election watchdog has also expressed concerns about not implementing purdah in full, a change the government has argued was needed to prevent a situation whereby British officials were unable to react to international events concerning Europe for fear of breaching regulations.

'RUSHED THROUGH'

The opposition Labour Party, which voted against the government's proposed rules, described the defeat as "humiliating" for Cameron.

"The government should never have rushed through its flawed plans to play fast and loose with the rules on the referendum," Labour foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn said in a statement following the vote.

The defeat at the hands of 37 rebels within his own party will ring alarm bells for Cameron, signaling that deep historical divisions within the Conservatives over Europe still exist.

In the early 1990s, a prolonged and bitter rebellion over Britain's implementation of the EU Maastricht treaty weakened former Conservative Prime Minister John Major's government - which also had only a slim majority - and contributed to his eventual election defeat.

In a boost to Euroskeptics, an opinion poll published on Saturday showed a majority of Britons now favored leaving the European Union amid concerns over immigration, the first time that series of polls had found a lead for the "out" campaign since November 2014.

Pollsters Survation also said a "significant minority" of voters who favor remaining in the EU would consider changing their minds should Europe's migration crisis worsen.

The migration crisis and initial reluctance by Britain, which is not part of the EU's Schengen zone of open border travel, to accept more Syrian refugees, has threatened to overshadow Cameron's ongoing renegotiation efforts.

"It's true the UK isn't in the Schengen zone and so it has some possibilities that the rest of Europe doesn't have. But that doesn't exempt it from making an effort in solidarity," French President Francois Hollande told a news conference on Monday.

"Everyone must understand: You can't ask for solidarity when there's a problem and then exempt yourself from doing your duty when there is a solution," Hollande said.

Source: Reuter

Dance Teacher Jailed For Violating Minor

A dance studio owner has been jailed after being caught having sex with a 17-year-old boy by her husband's private detective reports the UK Mirror.

Dance teacher Amber Telford, 33, romped with the 17-year-old student in her studio as well as in her car and at her mum's house.

But the illicit affair was uncovered when a private detective hired by her estranged husband caught the pair together at the dance studio.

The pair were said to have been found under a blanket with their clothes 'strewn all over the floor'.

Police in Taylorsville, Utah, arrested Telford - a former NBA cheerleader with Utah Jazz - and she has now been jailed for 30 days after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Local news station KSL said in exchange for her plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss six other identical charges.

A court document stated the pair began flirting together before the relationship developed as she bought him clothes and paid for him to go to Disneyland for a dance competition.

It said: "She started by flirting with (the teen) and eventually began a sexual relationship with him that occurred at her home, her mother's home and also in a vehicle belonging to Amber."

The report also claims Telford would pick the boy up for in the middle of the night and drive him to various locations for sex.

The court also ordered her to perform 150 hours of community service, complete probation and register as a sex offender.

The affair was discovered late November, around two months after Telford had filed for divorce from her husband.

The studio - Colette's Dancing School - is no longer in operation. The business is now run by different management under a new name.

UK Sentences Nigerian To Jail For Murder

A 39-year-old Nigerian, Adebayo Ekun, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in London over the murder of 18-year-old Marcus Hall in 2001.

Ekun was said to be part of a gang that beat and stabbed Hall to death 14 years ago, leaving him dying in the street, according to a report by the Daily Mirror UK.

After committing the murder, Ekun was said to have fled to Nigeria in an attempt to evade arrest.

The report said five people out of the gang were convicted for the murder, but Ekun avoided arrest and fled the United Kingdom, after he was identified in a Closed-Circuit Television footage of the attack, which took place outside the Atmosphere nightclub in Luton, London because of a distinctive checked coat he was wearing.

It was said that detectives went to a designer clothes store in London where it was discovered that the jacket was one of only nine sold in the UK – and Ekun was listed as one of the buyers.

When the police raided his London home, he had already left the country.

However, the 39-year-old was eventually located and arrested in Nigeria in February, 2015 and he was extradited back to the UK.

He admitted to the killing at Luton Crown Court on Friday and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years.

A detective sergeant, who was one of those who hunted Ekun, Mark Devine, said the ruling had proved that no criminal could evade justice in the country.

He said, “The conviction of Adebayo Ekun today highlights the fact that if you commit, or are involved in serious crime such as this, then there is literally no place to hide. Despite the passing of 14 years, Bedfordshire Police has continued the hunt for the final outstanding offender to this vicious and brutal murder.”