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A cash reward offered by police for information leading to the capture of gunman Raoul Moat has been paid out, it has been confirmed.

Police offered a £10,000 reward after the former nightclub doorman went on the run.

Moat, 37, shot his former girlfriend, her new partner – who died – and a police officer before vanishing and taunting police.

Northumbria Police offered the reward five days after the first of the shootings in Birtley, near Gateshead, on July 3. They have confirmed a reward has been paid but would not reveal who has received the money or whether they got the full amount.

“The police have paid out a reward regarding the apprehension of Raoul Moat,” a force spokesman said.

Moat shot himself in Rothbury, Northumberland, on July 10 after a six-hour stand-off with armed police.

Lily Allen has confirmed what many have suspected. The singer has announced that she and boyfriend Sam Cooper are expecting a baby.

The chart topper, 25, told reporters that she is three months pregnant.

She said: “It brings me great pleasure to tell you that Sam and I are expecting our first child. It goes without saying that we are both absolutely delighted.”

Lily, who is taking a break from pop to set up a vintage fashion store, has spoken of her desire to settle down and start a family with builder Sam. The pair have been dating since last year.

The star’s recent appearances in floaty outfits and reportedly refusing alcohol at the Wireless Festival had many guessing that she was about to become a mum.

In December 2007 she revealed she was pregnant with then boyfriend Ed Simons, from the Chemical Brothers. But a month later she suffered a miscarriage.

Pakistan’s biggest floods in eight years threaten to inflict widespread suffering in Sindh province after the unpopular government failed millions of people ravaged by the disaster in other parts of the country.
Raging waters have spread from the northwest to the Punjab agricultural heartland and then down to the southern province of Sindh.

So far, the floods have killed more than 1,600 people and officials say the toll was likely to climb. More than 4 million have also lost their livelihoods and homes.

The government’s lacklustre response has reinforced the view among Pakistanis that civilian administrations, perceived as corrupt and weak, are unable to handle big crises, leaving the army to step in. The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its turbulent history.

Children, their homes swept away, helped parents to set up temporarily shelters of clothes and plastic sheeting on a roadside in Sukkar, bunkering down to wait for rescue, or aid. Elderly villagers puffed on traditional water pipes in an attempt to regain some normalcy.

President Asif Ali Zardari, already squeezed by a Taliban insurgency, chronic power cuts and many other critical issues, is on the political defensive once again after his decision to travel abroad during the catastrophe drew fierce criticism.

The United States wants Zardari’s government to bring political and economic stability to Pakistan, an ally it believes can help ease a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, where an American troop pullout starts next summer.

Unable to rely on authorities, Pakistanis must innovate to survive, using makeshift, hand-operated pulleys to move people on wooden planks above rivers where waters brought down bridges.

Authorities in Sindh said treacherous conditions were hampering evacuation efforts, but added that villagers were reluctant to leave their homes.

In a country that heavily relies on foreign aid, this disaster is likely to have a crippling effect on the the economy. At least 1.3 million acres of crops have been destroyed in the Punjab agricultural heartland alone, relief officials said.

A cover-up by Sir Winston Churchill is among hundreds of close encounters described in previously top-secret files released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

More than 5000 pages of material spanning from 1995 to 2003 holds hundreds of other-worldly experiences with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and apparent aliens across Britain.

Sir Winston Churchill was accused of covering up a close encounter between an RAF aircraft and a UFO during the Second World War. Details emerged after one his former bodyguards wrote to the MoD in 1999 about comments he had overheard Britain’s war leader making.

The former prime minister allegedly ordered that the unexplained incident over the east coast of England should be kept secret for at least 50 years because it would provoke “mass panic”.

This is just one of hundreds of the bizarre reports received by the police, military and Government, suggesting that the truth might be out there after all.

This sixth instalment released under a three-year project between the MoD and The National Archives consists of 18 files of UFO sightings letters and Parliamentary Questions.