Breastfeeding: New Mums To Get Shop Vouchers

Vouchers for Matalan, John Lewis, Mothercare or supermarkets are to be dished out to new mothers if they feed their babies with breast milk.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are examining ways to boost low rates of breastfeeding in parts of the UK.

Mothers will be given shopping vouchers worth up to £120 if their babies receive breast milk until they are six weeks old, and a further £80 if their babies are still breastfed at six months.

If the "feasibility" project is successful, the authors will conduct a national research project into the scheme.

But midwives have warned that financial reward should not be the main motivation for women to breastfeed.

The Department of Health has admitted it is funding the project, however, Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter stressed that he did not believe "financial incentives" were the best way of encouraging mothers to breast feed.

He said: "Breastfeeding has huge health benefits, and it helps to promote a strong bond between mum and baby. But it should be a woman's choice to breastfeed and we know not all mothers are able to. 

"Latest figures show nearly 74% of mums start breastfeeding and we have seen a general increase in recent years.

"We believe the main way to promote breastfeeding is not financial incentives, but to make sure women have all the information they need to make an informed decision."

The new study is to be trialled in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire - in areas where breastfeeding uptake rates are low.

Only 34% of UK babies are breastfed at six months with only 1% exclusively breastfed at this stage, said Dr Clare Relton, senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield.

She said: "Breast milk is perfectly designed for babies and provides all they need for the first six months of their life.

"The scheme offers vouchers to mothers who breastfeed as a way of acknowledging both the value of breastfeeding to babies, mothers and society, and the effort involved in breastfeeding."

The NHS recommends mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of a child's life.

The preliminary study will focus on up to 130 mothers who give birth between November and March.

If the mothers breastfeed their children for a full six months they will receive £200 shopping vouchers - half for supermarkets and half for high street stores.

The vouchers will be paid in five instalments of £40 each.

The initiative is being funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative, a group made up of government departments, medical charities and research companies. 

The initiative will not be rigorously policed and will simply require the participating mother and their health visitor or midwife to sign off to say they are breastfeeding.

Dr Relton said the test would not only look at whether or not the payment improves uptake rates, but also at whether women think they are being "bribed or rewarded" after they receive the vouchers.

Janet Fyle, professional policy adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "Whilst we are not against financial incentives for the right reasons, there is a much bigger social and cultural problem here that needs to be tackled instead of offering financial incentives for mothers to breastfeed.

"In many areas, including those in this study, there are generations of women who may not have seen anyone breastfeeding their baby, meaning it is not the cultural norm in many communities.

"The motive for breastfeeding cannot be rooted by offering financial reward.

"It has to be something that a mother wants to do in the interest of the health and well-being of her child."

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Blackadder Star Sir Tony Robinson Knighted

Sir Tony Robinson - aka Blackadder's Baldrick - has been knighted by Prince William at Buckingham Palace.

The 67-year-old star said a "little bit of Baldrick crept over me" during the ceremony, referring to the manservant character he played in the classic BBC comedy.

Sir Tony said: "I messed it up completely - I forgot that you were supposed to bow at the beginning, I was just stood there and I was looking at HRH and he was looking at me.

"I stepped forward and knelt. Then I went the wrong way."

He also revealed that he has recruited Prince William for a cameo should Blackadder ever make a comeback.

"He said that he was a big fan of Blackadder and was there going to be another series? I said we have always talked about it," revealed Sir Tony, who now presents archaeological dig series Time Team on Channel 4.

"I said to him 'would you be prepared to be in it?' He said 'yes' like a shot.

"I managed to do a bit of casting while he was awarding my knighthood. I think that is probably a first."

Brought up in east London, Sir Tony had appeared in West End productions and movies by the age of 13, and played football with Liza Minnelli in his teens as he appeared in a movie with her mother, Judy Garland.

Sir Tony went on to write a series of books for children to encourage them to show an interest in history.

He remains best known for his role as Edmund Blackadder's long-suffering sidekick.

The latest investiture was the second carried out by the Duke of Cambridge and also saw former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell made a Companion of Honour, which is awarded for services of national importance.

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Energy Firms In Ed Davey 'Punch And Judy' Jibe

Ed Davey has been accused of dishing out "tit for tat Punch and Judy insults" by the energy industry after comparing firms to bankers who caused the financial crisis.

The Energy Secretary used a speech to the Energy UK conference to tell the energy firms that they had hit their Fred the Shred moment, referring to Fred Goodwin, the ex-banking boss who presided over the collapse of RBS.

He warned the companies over spiralling energy prices saying that customers were not "cash cows to be squeezed in the pursuit of a higher return for shareholders".

Energy Secretary Ed Davey

He said: "Trust between those who supply energy and those who use it is breaking down. It is so difficult for people to work out what exactly they are paying for that they fear the big energy companies are taking them for a ride when bills go up."

Energy UK responded saying: "The energy industry is already working hard to ensure everyone can keep the lights on and stay warm this winter. The best way to do this is for everyone to work together which is why this tit for tat Punch and Judy show of insults is so unproductive.

"The energy industry is vital to the UK. It is a major employer, a serious investor and a significant taxpayer.

"As analysis from UBS shows about 95% of rising energy costs are out of the hands of the energy companies and can be attributed to government policies and other network, social and environmental costs."

The war of words came as EDF became the fifth of the Big Six energy firms to announce a price increase.

However, the 3.9% rise it announced was significantly lower than that of the other four firms, who have announced average price rises of 9.1%.

EDF said it would was not passing on the rising cost of the Government's green schemes, which it claims would have added an extra £50 to the average household bill.

The move will put pressure on David Cameron to come good on his pledge to roll back green energy levies - the charges on a customer's bill used to pay for environmentally friendly energy production schemes.

Mr Davey welcomed the announcement telling Sky News: "EDF has thrown down the competition gauntlet and I think that's good to help people get better deals on their energy prices."

However, also speaking on Sky News, Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said: "What EDF have said is that they will only increase their prices to the amount they have announced if the Government gets rid of its obligations to support people with insulation and also renewables.

"They bring into question the way in which their five other compatriots within the Big Six have been using wholesale prices to justify price increases."

The sixth energy firm, E.ON, is reportedly poised to increase its prices by 6.6%.

The row over energy prices escalated as an industry analyst warned that gas prices could soar this winter if the national supply runs short during another cold snap

Peter Hughes told Sky News that a "perfect storm" last March of extreme weather and the shutdown of two major pipelines caused prices to double.

He added that could happen again because the Government has refused to support the storage of more gas.

Sky's Nick Martin, on a gas platform in the North Sea, said: "North Sea gas won't last forever, the harder-to-reach wells cost tens of millions of pounds to drill.

"Somewhere in the middle of this complex equation, the customer still expects value for money." 

:: Watch a day of special coverage on energy costs all day on Sky News - on Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 82, Skynews.com and Sky News for iPad.

There will also be a special programme on the energy industry on Jeff Randall Live this evening at 7pm.

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Animal Rescuer Kills Herself And 31 Dogs

An animal rights activist who committed suicide also killed 31 dogs she was looking after in a sanctuary at the same time.

Sandy Lertzman was found dead at her home she called Sandy's Safe Haven For All Animals in Moreland Hills, near Cleveland, Ohio, last week.

Alongside her body, which was found by a friend in a car in a garage attached to the property, were the bodies of the dogs.

The 62-year-old had been looking after animals at the centre for more than 40 years before ending her life.

Police said a suicide note was found inside her house.

Moreland Hills interim police chief Dale Canter said although the car's engine was running when her body was discovered, it was unclear how long she had been dead.

One dog was able to escape by jumping out of the car and was later found by police in the garage.

It is understood the surviving dog is recovering at the home with Ms Lertzman's husband Rick.

According to the website of the organisation she founded, Animal Rescue Foundation, Ms Lertzman also looked after cats, horses, deer, racoons, squirrels, geese, ducks and other birds.

The local paper said the other animals are being cared for by a worker at the foundation.

A statement on her foundation's website said: "We sadly mourn the passing of our founder, Sandy Lertzman.

"Sandy Lertzman, for over 45 years, was a pioneer in animal rescue. She woke every day to help all of god's beautiful creatures.

"Sandy's dogs were all formerly abused dogs that no one wanted or could not be adopted.

"Blind dogs, dogs with severe disabilities, dogs who could not be socialised - all the dogs found her love and compassion

"She obviously feared that upon her death, these abused dogs would be placed in harm's way."

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John 'Junior' Gotti: Ex-Mafia Boss Stabbed

Former Mafia boss John "Junior" Gotti has been stabbed in a car park on Long Island after what he said was his attempt to break up a fight.

Gotti reportedly drove himself to a Long Island hospital with a bleeding gut on Sunday night.

He had allegedly been assaulted outside a CVS store in Syosset.

The elder John Gotti was known as Teflon Don and Dapper Don

Police are investigating the incident and his claim that a stranger stabbed him in the stomach after he got in the middle of a fight.

The New York Post and other reports said he has declined to provide any more information to police.

Gotti, 49, was the reputed head of the Gambino crime family for much of the 1990s while his father, the late mobster John "Dapper Don" Gotti, was in prison.

The elder Gotti - who had avoided conviction for a long time, earning the nickname of "Teflon Don" - died in prison in 2002.

His son said he left organised crime in 1999, when he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges that sent him to prison for six years.

Since 2005, Gotti has been tried several times for racketeering. Each trial ended in a hung jury.

He says he now manages properties on Long Island.

His wounds are not life-threatening and he is said to be recovering at home.

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Phone Hacking: Parlour Worker 'Warned Rooney'

Wayne Rooney was told to "pull his hat down" and leave a massage parlour to avoid ruining his career, jurors in the phone-hacking trial have heard.

Details of the footballer's alleged visits to the Liverpool parlour emerged as the Old Bailey was shown newspaper reports about his "suggested use of prostitutes" in 2004.

Notes made by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who has admitted phone hacking for the News Of The World, showed the England international was among the celebrities he targeted, the court was told.

Kate Middleton, Delia Smith and Angelina Jolie featured in Mulcaire's notes

The Duchess of Cambridge appeared on Mulcaire's "target evaluation" list, while the personal details of actress Angelina Jolie, chef Delia Smith and model Abi Titmuss featured in his notebooks, prosecutors said.

The jury heard that pages from the notebooks contained information about Rooney's mother and a beauty consultant at Harrods called Laura Rooney, who is not related to the footballer.

Patricia Tierney, a receptionist at the massage parlour who was wrongly reported as having taken money for sex with Rooney, told the court that the Manchester United star had visited the property "with a number of other males".

Mulcaire has admitted phone-hacking charges

When he returned on his own, she said, she "pushed him into a room" and told him to "pull his hat down and get out before he was destroyed and his career was over".

The story about Rooney first appeared in the Daily Mirror and was later chased by The Sun.

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, and ex-News Of The World editor and spin doctor Andy Coulson, also 45, from Charing, Kent, are among those on trial at the Old Bailey.

Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks are among those on trial

They both deny conspiring with others to hack phones between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006.

The trial continues.

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Typhoon Survivors Expect Long Wait For Help

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Cebu

For hour after hour, driving into the heart of typhoon-stricken northern Cebu, it was the same picture.

Hundreds of families, picking through the remains of their destroyed homes, hoping to find some treasured keepsakes; and children lining the roadside, for mile after mile, pleading for water, food and money.

It has been four days since Typhoon Haiyan - or Yolanda as it is known in the Philippines - swept across the centre of the country, destroying homes and livelihoods in its path.

So far, in northern Cebu at least, very little aid has reached those who need it most.

Stephen was born a month early during the storm

Supplies of water and rice are trickling through from independent charities but as we drove north, the scene of destruction worsening the further we went, there was no evidence of any food convoys and no airstrips are operational in the area.

Thankfully there was no storm surge in northern Cebu, but the winds struck with a savagery which stunned residents well used to typhoons, believed to have been in the region of 250 miles per hour.

Bonifacio Reviero said: "We hid in the house with our grandchildren but we could hear the telephone and electricity poles snapping like twigs outside, and branches smashing into the roof. It lasted hours.

"When it was over, the roof was gone and the house was ringed by huge trees, which had crashed down but not on us. I don't know how we were so lucky."

One village lost 12 fishermen when four boats capsized in the storm.

In the hills, miles of banana trees have been uprooted or ripped in half. The coconut trees stand bare and broken. There will be no harvest here for a very long time.

Bonifacio Reviero sits outside what remains of his home

More than 90% of the homes in northern Cebu, an area hundreds of miles square, have sustained considerable damage; many pancaked, storey on storey. 

No one expects help to come any time soon, hence the pleading with passing motorists for money, to buy new building materials as soon as possible. The remnants of their old walls and roofs are spread across the nearby fields.

The injured line the walls of the only medical facility in Bogo City, many of them young children.

In one jam-packed ward of the tiny Severo Verallo Memorial District Hospital the very youngest patients lie four to a bed. Since Saturday the hospital has delivered 40 newborns.

Curled up around them on the beds are their hollow-eyed parents, who know they should be celebrating one of the happiest moments of their lives but are unable to amid the chaos and destruction outside; worries about injured relatives, and the knowledge for many that they have no home to take them to. 

Two-day-old Stephen's mother, Maria Janairo, who went into labour a month early during the storm, said it would be a very strange feeling when so many children in the town were celebrating their birthday together every year.

"On the one hand I will be happy that we survived for them to be born, but on the other it will be a haunting reminder of everything we lost."

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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Anxiang Du 'Massacred Ding Family In Revenge'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

A Chinese businessman "massacred" a family of four in revenge for a lengthy legal battle which left him "faced with ruin", a court has heard.

University professor Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, wife Ge "Helen" Chui, and daughters Zing, 18 and Alice, 12, were stabbed to death at their home in Wootton, Northants, on April 29, 2011, the day of the Royal Wedding.

Northampton Crown Court heard that Anxiang Du, 54, took a kitchen knife to the Dings' house, stabbed the parents to death, then found their daughters "cowering in a bedroom" upstairs and "cold bloodedly stabbed them".

A post-mortem examination found the four family members were knifed a total of 51 times.

The prosecution said it was "quite simply revenge" after a business relationship between the Du family and Ding family "turned sour", and ended with Du owing £88,000 in costs, following a lengthy legal battle.

Proceedings were relayed to Du with the help of an interpreter. At times, he appeared to be in tears as the prosecution opened the case.

The jury was told that after Du killed the family, he stole their car, and went looking for another business associate in Northamptonshire, but he was not at home.

He then went "on the run" and drove to London, took a coach to Paris, travelled to Spain, then took a boat to Morocco.

He was tracked down at a building site and was extradited to the UK in February this year.

The court heard that despite a 20-second 999 call to police from Alice's mobile phone, where "more than one female" could be heard screaming, the bodies were not discovered for two days, when neighbours became "suspicious" about the lack of activity at the house.

Alice was found on the floor of a bedroom with her phone near her head. Her sister was on the bed in a "prayer position". All four had suffered wounds to their chests.

The jury were told that on the day of the killings, Du was "a man on a mission".

He travelled from his home in Coventry to his Chinese medicine shop in Birmingham and left a note which said "everyone has to say farewell some day".

He was then filmed on CCTV getting a train to Northampton, then a bus to Wootton.

The prosecution said there was "no dispute" Du was responsible for the killings, his fingerprints were found in blood at the scene.

He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and is expected to claim he should only be convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The prosecution said it was a "clear case of murder".

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Typhoon Haiyan: Appeal For £190m In Aid

Aid agencies have launched a joint emergency appeal to get food, water and shelter to victims of the devastating Philippines typhoon.

The United Nations estimates that $301m (£190m) will be needed in aid.

"We've just launched an action plan focusing on the areas of food, health, sanitation, shelter, debris removal and also protection of the most vulnerable with the government and I very much hope our donors will be generous," humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in the capital Manila.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), made up of 14 aid charities, said its members were already responding to the crisis but the scale of the destruction meant there was "huge unmet need".

People wait to be evacuated from Tacloban

A "huge injection" of funds is needed to get aid through to victims after the typhoon, known locally as Yolanda, made roads impassable and put airports out of action, the DEC said.

The British public has donated more than £1.5m in the first 15 hours of the appeal.

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "We have been overwhelmed by people's generosity.

"To raise such a huge amount of money in so little time - even before the celebrity-backed appeals have aired - is quite staggering."

Police stand next to body bags near Tacloban

The appeals, fronted by musician Myleene Klass and presenter Kirsty Young, will be broadcast at the end of evening news programmes this evening.

Although the official death toll stands at 1,774, around 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the city of Tacloban alone.

The UN said 673,000 people have lost their homes while a further 11.3 million could be affected after the typhoon, said to be the strongest ever to make landfall, hit the southeast Asian nation.

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay is in Hagnaya in Cebu where he said people are begging on the streets because supplies from NGOs have not yet reached them.

He said nearly 100% of the buildings in the town have been damaged.

Homes on a hillside in Tacloban have been obliterated by the storm surge

"There's concern that there is another weather front likely to hit the area with a lot of rain forecast in the next couple of days."

Authorities said they had evacuated 800,000 people ahead of the typhoon, but many evacuation centres proved to be no protection against the wind and rising water.

The Philippine National Red Cross, responsible for warning the region and giving advice, said people were not prepared for a storm surge.

Although weakened, the typhoon, has also killed eight people and devastated farmland since making landfall in southern China. 

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "The destruction in Tacloban city, on the east coast, is said to be reminiscent of the Boxing Day tsunami.

People in the devout Philippines still try to use a badly flooded church

"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages.

"DEC members are doing all they can to get aid through but they need a huge injection of funds in order to do so.

"The priorities are getting food, water and shelter to people in desperate need."

Sky's Asia correspondent Mark Stone, on the island of Leyte, said up to 20 people had been killed by falling bags of rice in the scramble to get to aid supplies from a warehouse.

Stone said he had travelled to the island with people who did not know if their family members were alive or not: "There's no mobile phone network here, no way of communicating."

The DEC includes the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children.

All of its members will support the appeal and 13 of the 14 are responding either directly or through partner organisations.

The UK is deploying a Royal Navy warship, HMS Daring, and donating £10m of humanitarian assistance in aid for the victims, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The ship carries equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in southwest China, killing eight people

Britain will also deploy RAF military transport aircraft in aid of recovery efforts, earmarking at least one C-17 cargo plane to move humanitarian aid and large equipment.

And a 12-strong team of British surgeons and paramedics is being sent to help with the aid effort.

Meanwhile, Australia announced assistance of £5.8m and the US government has pledged $20m in immediate aid and has ordered the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the sail to the Philippines.

Japan said it will fly a relief team over to the ravaged country and Taiwan is sending £125,000 in aid.

The United Nations World Food Programme has also allocated $2m (£1.25m) and Unicef is sending emergency supplies.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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World Trade Center Is US' Tallest Building

An expert committee of architects has confirmed that New York's World Trade Center is the nation's tallest building.

More follows...

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