22/01/2016 BBC News at Ten

Google reveals to the BBC that it has agreed to pay ?130 million

The move follows widespread criticism and a six-year inquiry

by tax authorities - but Google says the payment

isn't an admission it has done anything wrong.

We are following the rules. We want to move fast because we want to

ensure that we pay the right amount of tax.

We will be asking if this represents a good deal for the Treasury -

and what it means for other multinationals whose tax affairs

have caused controversy. Also tonight...

More tragedy in Europe's migrant crisis,

as 44 people drown off the Turkish coast, including

The east coast of America braces itself for what could be

This is a city and region in shock down, with millions of people being

told to stay indoors and not venture out until the storm passes on

Monday. The babies born deformed in Brazil -

pregnant women are advised to avoid South America after an outbreak

of the Zika virus. And the statues growing in stature -

listed status for our best modern works, but do we know

they are there? We spend so much time looking down

at our digital devices that we forget to look up and see what is

around us. Guilty of promoting terrorism -

two men face prison for handing out "pro-Isis" leaflets on Oxford

Street. And the parents of an eight-year-old

with cerebral palsy are told the NHS Google has tonight revealed

to the BBC that it has agreed to pay ?130 million in retrospective taxes,

after an audit of its accounts The company has acted

after controversy over the low level of tax paid by giant multi-national

companies that operate in the UK, but which have their

headquarters abroad. Google maintains that its payment

now is not an admission that it avoided paying tax in the past,

but an acknowledgement Here's our economics

editor, Kamal Ahmed. It is the company that

says, don't be evil. OK, Google, what's the quickest

to way home by bike? Until it comes to tax and a toxic

row on how much one of the most portable companies in the world

pays, or more precisely doesn't pay, You are a company which says you do

no evil and I think you do do evil. We will make sure

the big multinational The technology giant

is attempting to leave that controversy behind,

saying it will pay more tax Rules are changing

internationally, and the UK Government is taking the lead

in applying those rules, so we will be changing

what we are doing here. And we are paying ?130 million

in respect of previous years, when the rules were

to pay in respect of We have agreed to pay

more tax going forward, and that we are paying the right

amount of tax with the tax authority in the UK

after a thorough, routine, Google has agreed the payment

after a six-year inquiry In 2009, HMRC opened

its inquiry into the company. It looked at ten years

of tax payments between Google has now agreed to pay ?130

million of taxes for those ten years A rather more uncomfortable

time for Mr Brittin, questioned by MPs over

Google's tax affairs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer

has also expressed his While we offer some of the lowest

business taxes in the world, we expect those taxes

to be paid, not avoided. Mr Brittin, whose company makes

billions of pounds of profit and actually pays most

of its tax in America, said it was time to

make a new settlement. I think it is right that

where there is public concern, politicians and the press

are concerned about international companies, not just

us, when the rules change, that you should change with them,

and we have done that. Does that not show that your critics

were right, that you were avoiding No, we were applying

the rules as they were, and now we are applying

the new rules, which means I spoke to him here at

the World Economic Forum in Davos. It might seem apt -

it has been many of the companies here which have been

criticised for not paying what has been described

as their fair share of tax. One of those is

Facebook, which caused controversy after paying just ?4000

in corporation tax in 2014. The US giant Google has

decided to increase Let's talk to Kamal,

who is at the World Economic Forum Some might say ?130 million over

several years is loose change I think there will be a number of

a victory for the Treasury or not? I think there will be a number of

organisations claiming at least partial victory today. It is a

relatively small number but still significant politically. One of

those claiming victory I think will be George Osborne, the Chancellor.

He has been campaigning on this for two or three years. And of course,

it is a little bit more money for the public finances. A second grip,

HMRC, the tax authority, which will be pleased they have got some form

of deal with Google, showing that they can at least have some degree

of a crackdown with big, global, multinational companies. Another

winner, those politicians who have been complaining about this issue

for so many years. And finally, well, probably Google itself. At

least it now feels it has made a proper agreement with HMRC. It will

pay more taxes in the future. And it puts the spotlight on its

competitors. Starbucks and Amazon have also had controversies around

tax, and they have said they are looking at paying more. One outlier

left, Facebook, still paying very small amounts of corporation tax in

the UK, and not looking like they are going to change that position.

The wonder will be now if that pressure will grow on Facebook.

More than 40 people, including 20 children,

have become the latest to lose their lives in the freezing

The latest tragedy came as France warned that the scale of the migrant

crisis is threatening to destroy the European Union.

Last year more than a million people arrived.

Already this month, another 36,000 have made the journey.

Today, Germany urged Europe to unite to tackle the crisis.

These people were trying to reach Greece.

In the last 24 hours, more than 40 have died trying

This baby was rushed to intensive care but did not

Europe's leaders barely agree on how to help.

Today, the German Chancellor met the Turkish

TRANSLATION: Deep inside I am convinced that the problem

of illegal migration can only be solved

if we work together in fighting the root causes

Europe's leaders have yet to fully implement a controversial quota

system to relocate 120,000 migrants across

They are setting up so-called hotspots, special

reception centres in Italy and Greece, from which migrants can

be sent on to other countries or turned

And they have offered Turkey more than ?2 billion in return

TRANSLATION: I want to tell the people in Germany and the EU,

this is not a German crisis or a European

We cannot just pass this crisis onto each other.

We have to solve it together, in Syria and in Iraq.

Germany WAS the promised land of Europe.

These people told us they have waited here for days.

I am so sorry for Germany, what's happened.

Germany say, welcome to Germany, these people.

And they couldn't manage these people.

And across Europe, attitudes are hardening.

Germany, after the Cologne sex attacks, is divided.

What I think is that Germany has got it half right

I think we have to help the refugees, by all means,

but not by opening the gates and allowing millions to come.

You cannot plan when war is in a country.

But the journey is not over yet, and Europe's doors are closing.

Politically, this crisis continues to expose the fault lines running

through Europe, as, one by one, member states prioritise national

interests over European ones. There is our concern at the highest level,

that the crisis is no longer simply straining the European Union, but

threatening to destroy it altogether.

David Cameron has been in the Czech Republic

pressing his case for EU reform ahead of a possible

This evening he went for a pint with the Czech Prime Minister,

who earlier suggested allowing countries to close their borders

temporarily as an "emergency brake", if their welfare system

Mr Cameron had said he would welcome alternative proposals to his plans

A woman from east London who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years

in prison for killing a convicted paedophile has had her sentence

Sarah Sands, a mother of five, stabbed her neighbour

Michael Pleasted, who was 77, in November 2014.

Three Appeal Court judges ruled the original sentence given

Sarah Sands took a knife to a neighbouring man's flat

Last September, the judge had described her case as exceptional.

She lived with her five children on this east London estate.

In November 2014, she was caught on CCTV on her way to 77-year-old

He was on bail, charged with sexually abusing

And it emerged later, he was a convicted paedophile.

She stabbed him eight times, severing an

CCTV shows her leaving his flat 20 minutes

later with the knife clearly visible.

She was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of loss of control,

Today, at the Court of Appeal, the Attorney-General

successfully argued that the original sentence

was unduly lenient, highlighting that Sarah

Sands took the knife with her when she went

to Michael Pleasted's flat, that she made attempts to cover up

what she had done and that she had not called the emergency services

Three Appeal Court judges today more than

doubled Sands' sentence to 7.5 years.

The offender took with her to the scene a knife which was used

in the infliction of fatal injuries, when the jury was sure that

at the time, she intended to cause at least

Appearing in court via a video link from prison, Sands appeared shocked

It would be devastating for her, because she has had her time

She would have been warned that it was possible but plainly

would have hoped that it would not come to pass.

That is what the Court of Appeal is there for,

however, to make these kind of decisions in these very difficult

Members of Sands' family were in court.

She was expected to be released this summer,

but can now expect to stay in jail for at least the next two years.

Tens of millions of people on the US East Coast have been warned

to prepare for a huge blizzard which is expected to leave

In Washington DC, more than 2 foot of snow is forecast to fall

A state of emergency is already in place there,

as it is in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,

Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, is in the capital,

Yes, this is the rush hour, or what would normally be the rush hour.

Traffic would normally be back up all along here, but Washington is in

shutdown. All federal buildings closed, and the administration has

said people should stay indoors between now and when the storm ends

on Monday morning, and as you can see the snow is falling heavily.

NEWSREADER: A massive blizzard takes aim at 75 million Americans.

The north-eastern seaboard of the United States is bracing

itself for a once in 100 years event.

The District of Columbia is expected to be hit the hardest this morning.

This is West Virginia, where the storm arrived this

morning, and it's gradually making its way north,

with Washington forecast to be hit hardest by a combination of epic

snowfall driven by hurricane force winds.

Folks need to understand this is a life-threatening type of storm.

So if you do not need to be out, we are asking folks by three o'clock

today you need to be where you are going to be

I want to be very clear with everybody.

It has life and death implications and all the residents

of the District of Columbia should treat it that way.

And people are taking heed, if the lines in food shops

By yesterday afternoon, this supermarket in Washington

And hardware shops too have been doing a roaring trade.

We are getting our snow shovels and we are getting provisions,

all kinds, and we're going to hunker down.

It was crazy scenes, there was no bread, no organic milk,

and I thought, oh my goodness, it's like Snowmagedden,

like we had years ago, everyone is taking everything

A little snow fell on Wednesday and it caused total chaos

This driver found himself the subject of some

Not even the passenger from this flight.

The President returned from Detroit to find it slippery underfoot

His armoured limo, the Beast, and the rest of his motorcade,

Two foot is forecast to fall over the next 36 hours.

Pregnant women are being urged to seek advice before travelling

to many countries in Central and South America, due to a major

outbreak of Zika virus, a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes.

The illness is rarely serious in adults.

But it's thought to cause severe birth defects,

affecting brain development, in newborn babies.

More than 20 countries are struggling to control the epidemic.

Some are advising women to delay pregnancy.

Around 4000 newborn babies there have suffered brain damage

Our correspondent Wyre Davies has sent this report,

Trying to be strong for the sake of their babies.

These young mothers were all told several months

into their pregnancies that their sons and daughters

would be born with abnormally small heads, having suffered restricted

What was once an extremely rare condition is now increasingly

common, affecting thousands of families in Brazil.

It is feared but not yet confirmed the cause may be linked to the Zika

virus, passed on by the same tiny mosquito responsible

Specialists here say the challenge now facing Brazil is on a scale

similar to other recent global health crises.

We have newborns, thousands of newborns, with microcephaly,

and we don't know what is to come, so we are in an emergency situation.

Without a vaccine for Zika, in the worst affected parts

of Brazil, fumigation and clean water management

It's thought the Zika virus may have arrived in Brazil

during the World Cup in 2014, and since then it has exploded

It's transferred by these small mosquitoes, larvae of which have

been pulled out of these pools in Salvador and across the country.

Out of control in Brazil and now present in more than 20 countries,

The US has warned pregnant women not to travel to infected regions,

and some governments have even advised women

The timing could hardly be worse for Brazil,

with thousands of visitors arriving for Carnival and the Rio Olympics.

The public health advice is too late for Mila Mendonca,

she gave birth to Gabriel seven months after contracting Zika.

"Right up until he was born, nobody could tell us how bad things

She remains positive about her son's microcephaly,

but theirs is an increasingly common story, in many parts of Brazil.

A police officer and community support officer have been sacked

over how they dealt with a Bristol man who went on to be murdered in a

vigilante attack. Avon and Somerset Police said PC Kevin Duffy should

have known that the man was in danger, but he refused to speak to

or visit him. Last month, he and Andrew Passmore were convicted of

misconduct in public office. The Syrian army has been making

gains against opposition forces in the west of the country -

with air strikes by Russia playing Russian forces have taken our

correspondent Steve Rosenberg to Salma in Latakia province -

a town which had been in rebel In the mountains above Latakia,

there's been heavy fighting. The Syrian army has

been on the offensive. But it's Russia's military

which is driving us here in one They are taking us

to this town - Salma. The Russians have told us

that the Syrian army retook this town from rebels a few days ago,

but we've been told we can only spend a short time here

because there are buildings which are booby-trapped,

and security is still In Salma you can see

the scars of war, and you can There were battles raging

here only days ago. It was Russian air power that helped

the Syrian army take back this town. "Russia has helped us so much,"

the local governor tells me, "by destroying terrorists,

their weapons and their command Nearly four months of Russian air

strikes have helped the Syrian army More than 200 towns and villages

according to Moscow. That doesn't mean President Assad

is winning this war, but for now Russia has

stopped him from losing it. It's not only Russian air

power that is bolstering It's Russian warships too,

in the Mediterranean. We were allowed on board

the Vice-Admiral Kulakov, a Russian destroyer

off the Syrian coast. And behind these hatches, missiles,

for destroying submarines. Not that so-called Islamic

State has any of those. "We face plenty of potential threats

above the water too," the ship's captain tells me, "like

terrorists in speedboats. So we need to protect

all the Russian warships that Russian force from the air

and from the sea - it's a statement that Russia sees

itself once again as a global power. To the west, the message

from Moscow is clear. You may not like us,

but you can't ignore us if you want to solve crises

like the conflict in Syria. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts

said tonight it plans to double the number of its minority

and female members by 2020 - following criticism of the lack

of black nominees for this year's The move came as the British actress

Charlotte Rampling described the campaign to boycott this year's

awards as "anti-white racism". Nominated in the Best Actress

category for her role in the film 45 Years, the actress said perhaps

black actors didn't deserve on merit A number of public sculptures

by some of England's greatest artists have been given

protected status. They were designed to bring our

public spaces back to life They include works by Henry Moore,

Dame Barbara Hepworth and Sir Antony Gormley -

his first to be listed. Our arts editor Will

Gompertz has the story. Here are some of the 41 newly listed

postwar public sculptures. They were chosen because they

captured the mood of the country. They'll all a far cry

from the old heroes on horses Historic England, who advised

on the listing process, described them as brave new art

for a brave new world. Four of the pieces, including

Wild Boar by Elisabeth Frink, can be found in Harlow, Essex,

which was built after the war and now calls itself

the "Sculpture Town". Modernism abounds among

the listed works. Some of which, such as this abstract

sculpture on London's South Bank, are more popular now

than when they first appeared. Frankly I was rather depressed,

it was rather negative. The critics weren't particularly

enthusiastic and I didn't get a great feedback from the public,

but as the years have gone by I do get a strong impression that it has

gained the affection of quite a wide The trouble with a lot of public

sculpture is it tends to become It's either so familiar

that we can no longer see it, or it gets obscured by new buildings

and street furniture, or we spend so much time looking

down at our digital devices that we forget to look up

and see what's around us. This work, which clings to the wall

of the John Lewis store in Oxford Street, is by the late

great Dame Barbara Hepworth, designed, as she said,

to make people feel airborne OK, but you do have

to look at it first. The listening man by Antony Gormley

becomes the first listed work by the artist, who is perhaps most

famous for this - An outdoor work of art so successful

that councils and companies across the country rushed

to commission their own reputation-enhancing

monumental public sculpture. But for every winner

there was many a dumb bronze. So says the artist who made this

sculpture, recently installed Why do we get so much

bad public sculpture? I mean, there is a lot of not good

work around, absolutely. I think it's because probably

something has been made and just dumped there, it's not made

for the space, it's not related to the site at all, it's just

a thing dumped on the ground. There are currently 15,000 outdoor

sites dedicated to showing public That's a lot of art,

free to see, in what amounts to a national massive

museum without walls. Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.