BP’s top executive admitted today it was unprepared to fight a catastrophic deep water oil spill as engineers were forced yet again to rejig plans for their latest attempt to control the Gulf of Mexico blow-out.

The BP oil slick drifted closer to the coast of the Florida Panhandle today as a risky gambit to contain the leak by shearing off the well pipe ran into trouble a mile under the sea.

Robot submarines made another risky attempt to control the underwater Gulf oil leak today as the the surface pollution spread, closing in on Florida.

BP crews raced to protect the Gulf of Mexico coastline as a remote sub tried to shut off an underwater oil well gushing 42,000 gallons a day from the site of a wrecked drilling platform.

Justin Gatlin is making another challenge against his drug suspension tomorrow in a bid to be allowed to compete at the USA Olympic trials in Eugene beginning next weekend.

Argentina centre Martin Gaitan is resigned to missing the World Cup following the heart problems he suffered in Cardiff on Saturday.

Argentina back row forward Lucas Ostiglia is confident he will recover in time to play in this year’s World Cup.

Argentina have returned to Buenos Aires to resume their preparations for the World Cup after a 14-day training camp in the United States.

Eight former US guards at a state-run military style boot camp for juvenile offenders have been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of a teenage boy, who was roughed up by the guards during an altercation caught on videotape, a special prosecutor said today.

Republican control of Congress was on the line today in a US election coloured by voters’ dismay over the Iraq war and misbehaviour in Washington.

FLORIDA and the Caribbean islands were last night braced for the first hurricane of the season, although scientists believe that there will be no repeat of last year’s record-breaking devastation.

The crash site of a missing US Navy jet with four aviators aboard has been found, but none of the passenger’s survived the crash, US Air Force Special Operations Command spokesman Matt Durhan said today.

A Florida legislator wants the state to close its military-style boot camps for juvenile delinquents after a 14-year-old boy died just hours after entering one of the facilities.

US President George Bush hopes his tour of Gulf Coast communities battered by Hurricane Katrina will boost the spirits of increasingly desperate storm victims and their tired rescuers.

Hurricane Dennis roared quickly through the coastal areas of Alabama and north-western Florida with a 120 mph bluster of blinding squalls and crashing waves, but shellshocked residents emerged to find far less damage than when Ivan took nearly the same path 10 months ago.

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy who lost a leg following the second shark attack in three days along the Florida Panhandle was in critical condition yesterday and doctors were hoping he hadn’t suffered any brain damage from the blood loss.

TIM DICUS was surfing when he heard the scream. He turned and saw a girl swimming as fast as she could - and another one face down in a bloody circle of water.

RELIEF workers fanned out across Florida and Alabama yesterday to hand out ice, water and meals to frustrated victims of Hurricane Ivan who faced another day digging through debris and waiting in lines as tempers began to flare.

HURRICANE Ivan extended its deadly march across the Southern United States yesterday, destroying homes, swamping streets and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas.

A Florida activist with ties to anti-abortion violence again insisted he was innocent of molesting a 15-year-old girl from Northern Ireland as a judge sentenced him to more than 18 years in prison.

An associate of two men who murdered abortion doctors in the 1990s has gone on trial accused of molesting a teenager from Northern Ireland at a home he ran for troubled girls and women.

TESTIMONY will be obtained in Northern Ireland for a child abuse trial of a Florida-based anti-abortion protester , if Britain lets him travel to Belfast.

Florida

A former US church minister who murdered an abortion doctor and his bodyguard claiming he was trying to save the lives of unborn babies, was executed by lethal injection tonight.

An unrepentant Paul Hill said on the eve of his execution for the murder of an abortion doctor: “I expect a great reward in heaven.”

Thousands of people have rallied in support of President George W Bush and US troops in a possible war against Iraq, turning their criticism to anti-war protesters and France’s opposition to military force.

A WOMAN who beat an Irish priest to death with a concrete block has been jailed for 40 years in Florida.

A woman who beat an Irish priest to death has been jailed for 40 years in Florida.

Tropical Storm Barry raked parts of the US coast early today, bringing drenching rainfall and the possibility of flooding to northwestern Florida and parts of Alabama and Georgia.

Tornadoes and rain from Tropical Storm Allison have lashed north Florida, causing at least four deaths.