• British shops ration baby formula as Chinese demand surges

    Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

    A sign limiting the purchase of formula hangs on the shelf in a supermarket in London, on April 10.

    By Peter Griffiths and Dasha Afanasieva, Reuters

    LONDON -- British shops are rationing sales of baby formula after a surge in sales thought to have been caused by the demand in China, where many parents fear the local versions are dangerous.

    The British Retail Consortium, whose members account for 80 percent of the sector, said many stores had imposed a two-box limit on each customer to deter the "unofficial exports" to China.

    Demand for foreign formula has been high in China since at least six infants died and 300,000 fell ill in 2008 after they drank milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

    The scandal sapped consumer confidence in Chinese-made food and led to shortages of formula in Hong Kong and Australia as people bought boxes to export to China.

    The rise of the middle-class Chinese working mother has greatly increased sales of formula in the world's most populous country.

    Fast-growing markets like China support a global baby-food market worth an estimated $30 billion a year.

    "The major retailers of baby milk -- supermarkets, chemists -- are restricting sales," said BRC spokesman Richard Dodd. "They have done this in response to some customers buying unusually large amounts. The irregular buying patterns are thought to be a result of unofficial exporting to China."

    Sporadic shortages
    The buyers include Chinese tourists and students who take a few cartons home with them or post them to relatives. There are also organized groups who buy large amounts of formula to export to China, one businessman involved in the trade told the U.K.’s Sky News.

    "There are three types of people like us. The first you get (are) students or visitors who get asked to send one or two tins back to family or friends. Then you get small and medium businesses like me," the man, based in northern England, told Sky News.

    "The third group of people are the biggest sellers. They buy directly from health distributors -- the kind of people who supply supermarkets,” he added.

    Some supermarkets in Britain have put up signs telling people that they can only buy two boxes of formula per visit.

    Shoppers in London said they had noticed sporadic shortages and had had to visit different chains to find a preferred brand.

    "On Sunday, we couldn't get any in [leading supermarkets] Asda or Tesco and we had to go to Sainsbury's," said Lyn Patterson, walking with her grandson Jacob in Oxford Street, one of the capital's busiest shopping areas. "They're sold out all the time. But we've never run out - we always have a carton on standby."

    Boxes of formula costing around $15 in Britain are on sale on Chinese websites for up to three times as much.

    French food group Danone, which makes the Aptamil and Cow & Gate brands, apologized to British consumers and said it had increased production.

    "We understand that the increased demand is being fuelled by unofficial exports to China to satisfy the needs of parents who want Western brands for their babies," it said.

    Nestle, the world's biggest food company, said its milk products were unaffected.

    Bulk buying in Hong Kong earlier this year prompted the government to restrict the amount of formula mainland Chinese could take back with them. It followed complaints of shortages and rocketing prices.

    Beijing has tried to reassure people that formula and dairy products in China are now safe and rigorously tested. However, lax regulatory enforcement is still a problem. 

    Related:

    A 'worrisome' risk: Most babies are fed solid food too soon, study finds

    1 in 8 low-income parents waters down formula, study finds

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • British soldier in Afghanistan gives birth at base attacked by Taliban

    By Ian Johnston, NBC News

    A British soldier serving in Afghanistan has given birth to a baby boy at a NATO compound attacked by the Taliban just a few days earlier, the U.K. government confirmed Thursday.

    The child was born Tuesday at a field hospital in Camp Bastion in the war-torn Helmand province, the government said in a statement.

    The mother, a gunner with the Royal Artillery, arrived in Afghanistan in March after the child was conceived, a U.K. spokeswoman confirmed. The woman only discovered she was pregnant and about to give birth when she complained of stomach pain.

    On Friday night, two U.S. personnel were killed and several others wounded in an attack on the adjoining Camp Leatherneck. The Taliban has also promised to do everything it can to kill the U.K.'s Prince Harry, who is based at Bastion.

    Two US service members killed at Afghan camp where Prince Harry is based


    The government statement said that "mother and baby are both in a stable condition in the hospital and are receiving the best possible care." 

    It said that a specialist pediatric retrieval team was being prepared and "will deploy in the next few days in order to provide appropriate care for mother and baby on the flight home."

    'Not military policy'
    The statement added that the U.K.'s defense ministry was unaware that the woman was pregnant and stressed that it was "not military policy to allow service women to deploy on operations if they are pregnant."

    "As with all medical cases, when the need arises individuals are returned to the U.K. for appropriate treatment/care," it said.

    Four US soldiers killed in Afghan 'insider' attack

    Four U.S. troops fighting with the NATO-led alliance were killed in another suspected "insider" attack in southern Afghanistan.  NBC's Atia Abawi reports.

    Lieutenant Colonel Andrea Lewis, commanding officer of the hospital, said the birth was “a unique occurrence, but my team is well rehearsed in the unexpected and they adapted brilliantly to this situation as a result.”

    “I am pleased to report that mother and baby are doing well and we are all delighted at the outcome,” she added.

    The U.K. spokeswoman told NBCNews.com that they were not currently releasing any more information about the mother and that she was not currently available for interview.

    "As I'm sure you can understand, having just had a baby she needs a bit of space," she said in an email.

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  • Coroner: Dingo took baby in notorious case

    An emotional day for Australian mother Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Decades after contesting an accusation of murdering her 9-week-old baby, a coroner has finally ruled that baby Azaria had been killed by a dingo. NBC's Sarah James reports.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    A 32-year legal mystery over the death of a baby in Australia's outback took a new twist on Tuesday when a coroner ruled that infant Azaria Chamberlain was stolen by a dingo, bringing closure to a case that split national opinion and attracted global headlines. 

    A Northern Territory coroner told a packed courtroom Tuesday that a dingo or dingos took Azaria Chamberlain from a campground near Uluru - a haunting monolith formerly known as Ayers Rock - ABC News Australia reported.


    Her parents always maintained their daughter was taken by a dingo, an Australian native wild dog. Her body was never found. 

    Her mother Lindy Chamberlain served three years for murder. Her father, Michael Chamberlain, was given a suspended sentence for being an accessory. Both were exonerated  in 1987 but Azaria's official cause of death remained undetermined until now.

    The case was made into a major motion picture, “A Cry in the Dark,” starring Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain, in 1988.

    "Obviously we are relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga," Lindy Chamberlain, now known as Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, told reporters outside the court.

    Michael Chamberlain told reporters in the Northern Territory capital Darwin that the report gave those involved a chance to move on.

    Patrina Malone / EPA

    Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, speaks with media, as her ex-husband Michael Chamberlain (right) watches on outside the Darwin's Magistrate Court in Darwin, Australia, June 12.

    "This has been a terrifying battle, bitter at times, but now some healing, and a chance to put our daughter's spirit to rest," he said.

    'Attacked and taken by a dingo'
    Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris found evidence from the case proved a dingo or dingoes were responsible for nine-week-old Azaria's death and ruled that her death certificate should read "attacked and taken by a dingo." 

    "What occurred on 17th August, 1980, was that shortly after Mrs Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, took Azaria and carried and dragged her from the immediate area," Morris said. 

    In an emotional finding, Morris then offered her condolences to the Chamberlains and one of their sons, who were in the Darwin court room. 

    AAP via EPA

    A handout photograph made available by the Australian news agency AAP showing the camping area, including Lindy Chamberlain's tent, where her daughter Azaria went missing, near the Uluru sandstone rock, Northern Territory, central Australia, Aug. 17, 1980.

    "Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special loved daughter and sister Azaria. I am so sorry for your loss," she said to the family. "Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child." 

    A first inquest in 1981 supported the parents' account but, a second inquest in 1982 overturned that finding and recommended Lindy and Michael Chamberlain stand trial over Azaria's death. 

    Lindy Chamberlain, then pregnant with her fourth child, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael Chamberlain was convicted of being an accessory and given a suspended sentence. 

    A judicial inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, overturned the convictions in 1987, leading to Lindy Chamberlain's release. A third inquest in 1995 returned an open verdict. 

    The latest inquest, however, heard new evidence of several dingo attacks on humans, including details of how a nine-year old boy died in Queensland after being attacked in 2001. 

    Msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Thai police arrest man after babies' bodies found roasted, wrapped in gold leaf

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Thai police arrested a British man Friday after discovering six human babies which had been roasted and wrapped in gold leaf in preparation for a type of black magic ritual, according to reports.

    Police said Friday that they found the corpses packed into suitcases in Bangkok's Chinatown on Thursday, the AFP news agency reported. Chow Hok Kuen, a British citizen born in Hong Kong of Taiwanese parents, was being held for possession of human remains.


    Kuen had reportedly bought the corpses several days before for 200,000 baht ($6,400) and planned to smuggle them into Taiwan. It was not reported where he bought them, but police speculated it was in Thailand.

    Although some media reports indicated that the bodies were fetuses, Wiwat Kumchumnan of Bangkok police's children and women protection unit told Reuters that the bodies were of children "between the ages of two and seven months. Some were found covered in gold leaf." 

    2,000 fetuses discovered at Bangkok temple

    Kamchamnan told the AFP that Kuen planned to sell the corpses to "clients who believe they will make them lucky and rich." 

    He faces a fine of 2,000 baht ($64) and up to one year in prison.

    Watch world news videos on msnbc.com

    Kuen was staying at a hotel in Khao San Road, Bangkok's backpacker area, but that the bodies were found in a separate hotel.

    Police had received a tip-off that infant corpses were being offered to wealthy clients through a website advertising black magic services. 

    Black magic rituals are still practiced in Thailand, where street-side fortune tellers offer ceremonies to reverse bad luck. According to reports, the ritual of enshrining fetuses is practiced in some Chinese communities.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Newborn girl rescued from toilet pit in China

    Jhphoto / jhphoto - Imaginechina

    A sanitation worker shows the squat toilet dug out to save the newborn, in Beijing, China

    By msnbc.com staff

    A newborn girl who fell into a toilet pit when her mother gave birth in a public bathroom is in good condition, according to media reports in China.

    Cai Qulin, 36, went into labor early on Saturday afternoon, nine days ahead of her due date, and said she urgently needed to use the bathroom before going to the hospital in Beijing, the English-language China Daily reported.

    Unexpectedly, the child was born as Qulin squatted at the public toilet, and the infant girl fell into the pit, it said.

    "My sister-in-law and niece are both OK now. As soon as doctor permits it, we'll bring the baby home," said Zhang Zhenghua, the baby’s aunt.

    "It's not often that a mother will give birth to a baby in an unexpected place like the toilet, but older mothers who have already given birth before may have a bigger chance of doing so," Wang Linhong, head of National Center for Women and Children's Health, told China Daily.

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  • Australia inquest hopes to solve 1980 mystery 'dingo baby' case

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    SYDNEY -- A coroner on Friday opened Australia's fourth inquest into the most notorious and bitterly controversial legal drama in the nation's history: the 1980 death of a 9-week-old baby whose parents say was taken by a dingo from her tent in the Australian Outback.

    Azaria Chamberlain's mother, Lindy, was convicted and later cleared of murdering her and has always maintained that a wild dog took the baby. She and her ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain, are hoping fresh evidence they have gathered about dingo attacks on children will convince Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris and end relentless speculation that has followed them for 32 years.

    Anne Lade, a former police officer hired by the court to investigate the case, told a packed courtroom at the Darwin Magistrates Court in the Northern Territory that in the years since Azaria disappeared, there have been numerous dingo attacks on humans, some of them fatal.

    Rex Wild, a lawyer assisting the coroner, described several of the attacks and said he believed the evidence showed that a dingo could have been responsible for Azaria's death.

    'Balance of probabilities'
    The Australian newspaper reported that the court was told there have been 239 recorded attacks by dingoes in Queensland between 1990 and 2011.

    "Although it (a dingo killing a child) may have been regarded as unlikely in 1980 ... it shouldn't be by 2011-12," Wild said. "With the additional evidence in my submission, your honor should accept on the balance of probabilities that the dingo theory is the correct one."

    AP Photo / File

    Michael and Lindy Chamberlain leave Alice Springs courthouse on February 2, 1982. Lindy Chamberlain, who was accused and later cleared of killing her infant daughter Azaria, said a dingo took the baby.

    Morris adjourned the hearing without issuing a decision, and did not say when she would release her findings.

    Azaria's death certificate still lists her cause of death as "unknown." The Chamberlains say they want to set the record straight on behalf of their daughter.

    "It gives me hope this time that Australians will finally be warned and realize that dingoes are a dangerous animal," Lindy said outside the courthouse in the Northern Territory capital, Darwin. "I also hope that this will give a final finding which closes the inquest into my daughter's death, which so far has been standing open and unfinished."

    According to the Australian Associated Press the Chamberlains’ lawyer Stuart Tipple said on ABC Radio before the inquest began Friday that the couple were not bitter.

    "What they really want to do is to get the message out there and to make sure that this sort of tragedy never ever happens again," he said.

    Fear and paranoia
    Azaria vanished from her tent in the Outback on Aug. 17, 1980, during a family vacation to Ayers Rock, the giant red monolith now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru. Fellow campers told police they heard a low growl followed by a baby's cry shortly before Lindy — who had been making dinner at a nearby barbecue area — went to check on her daughter.

    Lindy said she saw a dingo run from the tent and disappear into the darkness. There were dingo prints outside the tent, and spots of blood on the bedding inside. Upon seeing Azaria's empty bassinet, Lindy screamed, "The dingo's got my baby!" — a line made famous by the Meryl Streep movie, "A Cry in the Dark," based on the case.

    Azaria's body was never found, though her torn and bloodied jumpsuit turned up in the surrounding desert.

    AAP via EPA

    The camping area, including the Lindy Chamberlain's tent, where her daughter Azaria went missing near Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in Australia's Northern Territory on August 17, 1980.

    Officials, doubtful that a dingo was strong enough to drag away a baby, charged Lindy with murder. Prosecutors said she slit Azaria's throat in the family car — which initial forensic tests said was splashed with baby's blood — and buried her in the desert. Lindy was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

    Years later, more sophisticated tests found that the "blood" in the car was a combination of milk and a chemical sprayed during manufacture. Three years into Lindy's prison sentence, a jacket Azaria had been wearing was found by chance near a dingo den. Lindy was released from prison and her conviction was overturned.

    Still, three separate coroner's inquests have failed to agree on a cause of death for Azaria. The last inquest, held in 1995, returned an inconclusive finding, with the coroner saying there was not enough evidence to prove a dingo was responsible.

    In court, Michael Chamberlain fought back tears as he spoke of the nightmarish aftermath of his daughter's death.

    "Since the loss of Azaria I have had an abiding fear and paranoia about safety around dingoes," he said. "They send a shudder up my spine. It is a hell I have to endure."

    Australians have followed the case closely since it began, and most have strong opinions. Although public support for Lindy has grown over the years, many still doubt that a dingo could have killed Azaria.

    "I think that the people that don't think for themselves aren't ever going to be convinced, and it really doesn't matter what you show them," Tipple told the AP. "I could show them a video of the dingo taking the baby and it wouldn't convince them — because they've made their mind up."

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    Msnbc.com staff, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.