Measles: Row Erupts As Cases Increase

The Government has hit back at claims it is to blame for the latest measles outbreak - now the largest the UK has seen for more than a decade.

Andrew Wakefield, the former doctor who caused the MMR scare 15 years ago by linking the vaccine with autism, said ministers were putting the importance of their  vaccination programme above the welfare of children.

He told The Independent that the "British Government is entirely culpable" for the outbreak and accused ministers of "putting price before children's health".

But a Department for Health spokesman refuted his claims, insisting that "Dr Andrew Wakefield's claims are completely incorrect".

"Immunisation advice from the Department has always kept the interests of patients paramount. Measles is a highly infectious and harmful disease," he added.

"If your child has not had two doses of MMR, whatever their age, we urge you to contact your GP surgery and make an appointment."

It comes as more emergency measles clinics are being opened this weekend after the number of cases across the UK has risen to more than 970.

The outbreak is the biggest the UK has seen for more than 10 years, exceeding the 622 cases recorded in Merseyside in 2012.

Health officials have confirmed 693 cases in South Wales, 210 in the North East and 75 in Gloucestershire.

Disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield blames the Government for the outbreak

They have warned the outbreak is unlikely to peak for "two to three" weeks because of the incubation period for the disease, and fear it could spread further as children go back to school following the Easter break.

The escalation in cases has prompted health bosses to renew their plea for unvaccinated people to get their MMR jabs immediately.

Marion Lyons, director health protection at Public Health Wales, said at least 6,000 children remain unvaccinated in the south west Wales county.

"With measles cases at almost 700, with 73 of those reported in the last two days alone, we remain extremely concerned that this outbreak is showing no signs of going away," she said.

"We are delighted to see parents starting to arrange vaccination for their children but the numbers simply aren't high enough to bring the outbreak under control when 6,000 children remain at risk from measles in the Swansea area alone."

Before the introduction of the MMR jab in 1988, about half a million children caught measles each year in the UK. Approximately 100 of those died.

Typical symptoms of measles include fever, cough, conjunctivitis and a rash.

Complications are quite common even in healthy people, and about 20% of reported measles cases experience one or more complications. These can include ear infections, vomiting and diarrhoea, pneumonia, meningitis and serious eye disorders.

The latest round of emergency vaccination sessions will be held between 10am and 4pm at Swansea's Morriston and Singleton hospitals, as well as The Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend and the Neath Port Talbot Hospital.

More information about the sessions can be found at Public Health Wales.

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Four Missing In House Fire In East London

Four people are missing and two men have been taken to hospital after a house fire in east London, emergency services have said.

Fire crews tackled the blaze on Romford Road in Forest Gate in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The roof was destroyed in the fire and a large part of the ground and first floors of the property were damaged.

The building is believed to have been disused.

Firefighters rescued a man from the roof of the building and another man escaped before the fire brigade arrived.

Both men were taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service.

Fire station manager Daniel Alie, who was at the scene, said: "The fire caused severe damage to the house and the roof was destroyed.

"Crews rescued a man from the rear of the house using a ladder. Both men have been taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

"Our fire investigation unit is now working to find out what caused the blaze."

Eight fire engines from Leytonstone, East Ham, Plaistow, Stratford, and Bow fire stations attended the call, which was received at 3.09am.

There were around 60 firefighters and officers at the scene, and equipment included an aerial ladder platform and fire rescue unit.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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North Korea: Defector Reveals Harrowing Escape

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 11:52am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four-day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

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North Korea: Missile Test Could Occur 'Any Time'

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, In Seoul

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in the South Korean capital Seoul as tension mounts over a possible missile test by North Korea.

The crisis on the Korean peninsula is bound to dominate talks between Mr Kerry and his South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se.

Intelligence reports from the Japanese, South Koreans and Americans indicate that a North Korean missile test could take place at any time, though there has been silence from the leadership in Pyongyang.

The focus in the North Korean capital has been on a weekend of celebrations to mark a year in office for Kim Jong Un, which fell yesterday, and the anniversary of Mr Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Song, the founder of the nation.

"On the agenda for their talks would be the topics related to the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, how to cope with North Korea's threats and how to deter the North's provocations," foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said.

The level of rhetoric to emerge from North Korea is unprecedented.

A US agency believes that Kim Jong Un does have nuclear weapons

Over several weeks, the regime has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US.

Mr Kerry arrives in the region as confusion surfaced in Washington over the true status of North Korea's nuclear capability.

The broad consensus is that while Kim Jong Un does poses nuclear devices and has crossed the "nuclear threshold", he does not have the capability to launch a nuclear missile.

However, at a congressional hearing on Thursday night, it emerged that one US government agency believes that Kim Jong Un does have nuclear weapons which could be placed inside a ballistic missile and fired.

"[The] Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however the reliability will be low," said Republican US Representative Doug Lamborn, quoting from a March 2013 DIA report which was inadvertently labelled "unclassified".

North Korea is celebrating a year in office for Kim Jong Un

The Pentagon was quick to issue a written clarification on the matter.

"In today's House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defence budget, a member of the committee read an unclassified passage in a classified report on North Korea's nuclear capabilities," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

"While I cannot speak to all the details of a report that is classified in its entirety, it would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage."

North Korea has said that it does possess advanced nuclear devices.

President Barack Obama, speaking after White House talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said "nobody wants to see a conflict".

Flower displays for the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's death feature missiles

He added: "We both agree that now is the time for North Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking.

"It's important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe basic rules and norms."

This whole crisis stems from Pyongyang's desire to pursue a nuclear programme which it says it needs to defend itself from "American aggression".

By manufacturing this crisis, Kim Jong Un is likely to be demonstrating strength domestically and thus bolstering his legitimacy.

Internationally, he is determined that his country is taken seriously as as a nuclear power.

He would want an acceptance from the Americans that he is part of the 'nuclear club' as a pretext to any negotiations to end this crisis.

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South Africa Rhinos Under Threat From Poaching

By Alex Crawford, At Kruger National Park, South Africa

Officials at South Africa's National Parks say they are "under siege" from rhino poachers and if the killings go on at the current rate the animal will be extinct within decades.

Despite a range of tactics like deploying the army, mounting helicopter patrols and even using drones in the past few months to try to pinpoint the poachers, the killing of rhinos for their horns is continuing at an alarming rate.

More than 200 rhinos were killed in South Africa in the first three months of this year.

The total for 2013 therefore looks set to top last year's figure, which was a record with more than 600 rhinos being slaughtered. And the 2012 figure was a dramatic increase on the previous year's record of 448.

The worst hit by far is the country's flagship Kruger National Park which shares a long 221-mile (356km) border with Mozambique, from where the vast majority of the poachers come.

Kruger saw more than 70 incursions last month by heavily-armed teams of poachers crossing from Mozambique.

Typically the teams are made up of between two and five hunters who find it very easy to slip across the border illegally.

About 20,000 white rhinos are believed to remain in the wild

They arrive carrying multiple weapons according to SANParks (South African National Parks) officials and can spend up to a week in the park, which is more than two million hectares - roughly the same size as Israel.

Ken Maggs, Chief of Staff of Operation Rhino at Kruger told Sky News: "This is a war we are fighting - against an enemy which has no rules."

He was talking whilst overseeing a training exercise which involved teams of armed rangers in camouflage gear using sniffer dogs to track down the poachers.

"We have very specific rules of engagement and we do not operate a shoot-to-kill policy. We are not allowed to just shoot at a poacher. We have to physically grab him and bring him in for arrest," he said.

The poachers are becoming more sophisticated and audacious - using silencers on their weapons to try to avoid detection and recruiting help from within the park to establish where the rhinos are.

The increase in rhino poaching has been driven by demand from the Far East for rhino horn which is believed to have healing and other properties - and is now more expensive than gold on the black market.

"We want to get the message across that rhino horn is just keratin, like our finger nails," Ranger Andrew Desmet said.

"It has no such qualities at all."

Rangers search the carcasses for bullets to use as evidence

We trekked more than two hours into the bush with one of the Kruger's investigation teams who had been alerted to more dead rhinos. The animals had lain undiscovered in the park for four days.

We saw the vultures first, circling overhead, and then as we approached, we noticed the odour.

"That is the smell of a dead rhino," one of the rangers said.

The two carcasses lay 300m apart. We came across the bones of the calf first, stripped bare by scavengers, its hide left like a folded mat.

It did not take the investigations team long to find the cartridge of a bullet hidden among the bones. It was swiftly bagged. It could be crucial in securing a conviction later. The cartridge will be sent to the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Veterinary Science which is building up a rhino DNA bank which could link the suspects to the dead animals.

Senior investigator Frik Rossouw moved onto the other carcass. This one was virtually intact - apart from a gaping hole where its horn had been.

Again, his colleagues used metal detectors in a circle around the dead animal, then over the animal itself. A beeping noise indicated metal inside the rhino's shoulder.

It took two of the investigations team, using knives to cut through the hide. They found what they were looking for: more evidence - this time a bullet which had remained lodged inside the animal.

"This animal didn't die instantly," Mr Rossouw said.

"The rangers who found them said there were marks indicating the rhino had probably been hit with her calf. She ran for her life before they caught up with her and fired again.

"These poachers just don't care. They want to get out of here as quickly as possible. They know if they get caught, they're in trouble."

The South African judiciary has handed out some tough penalties for rhino poaching recently.

Last year a Thai man was sentenced to a 40-year jail term for overseeing a racket which involved women posing as hunters so he could sell the rhino horn in powder form in the Far East.

SANParks is offering huge rewards, 100,000 South African rand (£7,300), for any information which could lead to the arrest of a poacher and one million rand if you can give police information which could bust a syndicate.

But so far, even the lure of a reward has not done enough to curb the poaching.

"When the sheer numbers keep going up daily, weekly, monthly, sometimes I am not so sure we are winning," special operations ranger Bruce Leslie said.

"It's a lot of pressure on us, our families, everybody involved in this war, but we have to do something and keep going because if we don't, if the world doesn't help, then the rhino will be gone forever."

Donations can be made to help protect rhinos at www.sanparks.org.

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Welfare Cuts 'Will Widen North-South Divide'

People living in northern England will be hardest hit by the Government's welfare reforms, which will take nearly £19bn out of the economy every year.

Researchers say adults in Blackpool will lose an average of £910 a year each - more than anywhere else in Britain - because of changes to Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance and Child Benefit, as well as Tax Credit and Council Tax Benefit.

Former industrial areas including Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Glasgow will also be disproportionately affected.

However, wealthier areas, such as Cambridge, parts of Surrey and the Cotswolds, are expected to see the smallest financial losses.

Cambridge will be among the places least affected, researchers say

Westminster, with its high cost of living, will be the worst-affected London borough, with the average adult losing £820 in annual benefits.

Professor Steve Fothergill, of Sheffield Hallam's Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, which led the study, said: "A key effect of the welfare reforms will be to widen the gaps in prosperity between the best and worst local economies across Britain.

"Our figures also show the coalition Government is presiding over national welfare reforms that will impact principally on individuals and communities outside its own political heartlands."

Professor Fothergill found that, on the whole, the more deprived the local authority, the greater the financial impact.

Former industrial towns such as Middlesbrough are likely to feel the pinch

Collectively, the North West, North East, Yorkshire and Humberside stand to lose £5.2bn a year in benefit income.

However, a spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Around nine out of 10 working households will be better off by, on average, almost £300 a year as a result of changes to the tax and welfare system this month.

"Raising the personal allowance to £10,000, we will have lifted 2.7 million people out of income tax since 2010.

"Our welfare reforms, including reassessing people on incapacity benefit, will help people back into work, which will benefit the economy more than simply abandoning them to claim benefits year after year.

"These changes are essential to keep the benefits bill sustainable, so that we can continue to support people when they need it most across the UK."

Changes to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Disability Living Allowance have already been made.

A benefit cap of £500 per week for a family and £350 for a single person will be introduced on April 15, while Universal Credit, which replaces a number of means-tested benefits, will be rolled out from October.

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North Korea: South On Alert For Missile Launch

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 8:37am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

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