16/02/2013 BBC Weekend News

The Chancellor, George Osborne, calls for a global crackdown on

corporate tax avoidance. It comes as Finance Ministers of the G20

industrialised nations promise to try to close tax loopholes.

South African television airs a reality show featuring the woman

allegedly murdered by Oscar Pistorius - it says it's a tribute

to her. Rescue workers in the Pakistani

city of Quetta search for survivors after a bomb attack that's left

scores of people dead. And, in the FA cup, another big

upset as Arsenal are dumped out by Good evening. The Chancellor,

George Osborne, has called for a global crackdown on tax avoidance

by multinational companies. A meeting of G20 finance ministers

agreed that new measures are needed to stop big firms shifting profits

from one country to another so that they pay less tax. The finance

ministers, meeting in Moscow, also promised to refrain from devaluing

their currencies to gain an advantage in global trade, amid

fears of a so called currency war. This report from Daniel Sandford in

Moscow. Beneath the walls of the Kremlin in

the depths of a Moscow winter, the world's finance Ministers gathered

in search of ideas to unfreeze the world's economy. Among them are

joint British, French and German plan to deal with the Starbucks

phenomenon, of global companies avoiding tax. The world economy has

changed very quickly. The tax laws haven't. This means that

international companies don't pay their fair share of taxes and we

want to change that. The issue burst into public view in Britain

when it emerged that Amazon earned �3.4 billion in the UK last year,

but paid just 1.8 million in tax. Similarly, Google earned �386

million but paid just �6 million to the Exchequer.

Most infamously Starbucks, with a revenue of �398 million, paid not a

penny in tax. Starbucks did it by arranging its

business so its UK sales generated profits in other countries, where

taxes were lower than in Britain. And that's what the G20 has now

promised to clamp down on. The finance ministers also addressed

head-on the risk of what's been called a currency war n which

countries would competetively devalue their own currencies in

order to get a bigger slice of the global market.

China and Japan have both been accused of doing just that to

improve sales overseas, prompting concerns other countries may follow

but the IMF said there was and would be no war. Zero currency war,

OK, that's very simple. I have to say it again, I will be happy to

repeat it as often as necessary. the finance Ministers left Moscow

for their own capitals, all were aware that the currency war in the

1930s only made a bad global economy worse.

Our political correspondent Louise Stewart is with me now. This

promise to crack down on tax avoiders plays well with voters.

Tax affairs of huge multinationals have been in the press for months

now when it was discovered they weren't perhaps paying as much as

they might be. In December, the Chancellor said that he would give

more funds for the British authorities to tackle this and

clamp down on it. There is a limit, though, to what individual

governments can do because as you heard there, these large

multinationals can simply move their profits to lower tax regimes.

So, what George Osborne has done now is - come to some agreement

with his French and German counterparts that they'll tackle

this on a more global scale. He wants to seize the initiative, be

seen to be being tough on the big corporations, clamping down on them

perhaps avoiding tax. Now it is a slight gamble because on the one

hand as you say, it plays out well with voters, the fact they would

pay their fair share. On the other hand, at a time when he needs to

promote economic growth it could risk some of those big companies

deciding to take their business elsewhere.

Thank you. A television channel in South

Africa has aired a reality show featuring Reeva Steenkamp - the

girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, who's acccused of murdering her on

Valentine's Day. Her family are understood to have agreed the

programme should be shown. It comes as Pistorius's uncle has said the

Paralympic champion is numb with shock and grief at his girlfriend's

death. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding reports.

In tears today, Oscar Pistorius's sister, the family insisting that

the world famous athlete is not guilty of murder. We deeply regret

the allegations of premeditated murder. We have no doubt here is no

substance for the allegations. court yesterday, Pistorius broke

down when formally accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva

Steenkamp. Today, his family fighting to have him released on

bail, spoke of the couple's blossoming relationship and

Pistorius's trauma. Oscar, as you can imagine, is also numb with

shock and grief. In total pain. Tonight, a controversial broadcast

in South Africa of Reeva Steenkamp starring in a reality television

show, filmed shortly before her death. I am Her family approved the

broadcast but others feel it's in poor taste. She obviously enjoyed

it while shaefs making -- she was making it, so why not show it.

way of of celebrating her life? why not. It shows that we don't

care. Whoever is producing it doesn't care about Reeva Steenkamp

and her family. For all the feverish speculation it's much too

Earl throeu draw any conclusions -- too early to draw any conclusions

about the death of Reeva Steenkamp and yet South Africa is a country

plagued by extraordinary levels of violence against women and that is

what many people here are starting to focus on. It is very, very

difficult to separate Reeva's murder from a larger problem of

violence. It's a huge problem in South Africa? Well, at the moment

we are talking about an epidemic. Reeva Steenkamp will be buried next

Tuesday. Oscar Pistorius is due back in court the same day.

At least 79 people have been killed in a sectarian bomb attack in the

Pakistani city of Quetta - the second major attack there in weeks.

About 200 others were injured when the bomb went off in a crowded

market. Orla Guerin has the latest. Smoke filling the sky after another

devastating attack on the Shia minority in Quetta. They're

targeted regularly by Sunni extremists who view them as non-

Muslims. The massive blast tore through this marketplace and there

are fears that some are still buried in the wreckage. Local

hospitals filled with casualties of this latest sectarian attack. Many

of them women and children, innocent victims of mass slaughter.

I was there, too many people dead and too many people injured.

attack, which killed scores, was claimed by the Sunni militant group

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It's supposed to be banned but operates relatively

openly here. The bereaved wonder if anyone will be held to account.

Usually those who target Shias get off scot-free. In this besieged

community there is growing anger tonight at the continuing failure

of the Government to keep the killers away. This is the second

major attack on Shi'ites in Quetta this year. Many say the Government

has done nothing to protect them in spite of its promises. Human rights

campaigners claim the authorities are either incompetent, or

colluding with the extremists. The Health Secretary has written to

NHS managers in England urging them not to prevent staff from speaking

out about issues affecting patient care. It comes after a former chief

executive of a hospital Trust in Lincolnshire broke a gagging order

to speak to the BBC about his concerns. Here's Tom Barton.

The NHS and how it looks after patients is under profound scrutiny.

When staff at Stafford Hospital struggled to be heard, tragedy

followed. Now, ten days after a report which warned the culture

needs to change, there are fears that some managers are still banned

from speaking out altogether. Writing to every hospital Trust in

England, the Health Secretary has warned that fostering a culture of

openness and transparency is essential to never repeat the

mistakes of Mid-Staffs. The letter has been welcomed by one of those

who says he was banned from speaking out. Gary Walker this week

broke a confidentiality agreement with his former employer to speak

to the BBC. He says Jeremy Hunt must carry out a thorough

investigation. It's very important that he looks at the entire chain

of command from the Department of Health to the Health Authority and

the reason for that is that the threat that I received from the

Lincolnshire Trust was clearly - had information that could have

only come from the Department of Health. Ministers insist the

investigation will be thorough. last thing anyone wants is

accusations of a cover-up yet again. That's the whole thing that we are

trying to avoid and to break any kind of culture of secrecy and lack

of transparency. The hope is that by encouraging staff to speak out,

healthcare will improve in the future.

Police have named the woman who died after a car collided with

spectators at a rally in the Scottish Highlands. She was 50-

year-old Joy Robson from the Isle of Skye. An eight-year-old boy was

also injured in the collision but his injuries are not thought to be

life-threatening. The rally was abandoned.

The Irish Prime Minister has met 17 survivors of the country's infamous

Magdalene Laundries - workhouses in Ireland where thousands of women

and girls were locked up. Enda Kenny met the women, who now live

in Britain, at the Irish Embassy in London. As Sophie Hutchinson

reports, he's expected to issue a full apology in the next few days.

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, arriving at the country's

Embassy in London today. He came to meet more than a dozen women who

had been forced to work in the Magdalene laundries in Ireland and

to hear their accounts of the suffering they experienced. The

Magdalene laundries, run by nuns, were harsh places. For more than 70

years, some 10,000 women and girls were incarcerated and forced to

work there without pay. They included unmarried mothers, women

guilty of petty crimes, or simply girls from broken homes. The women

who came to meet the Irish Prime Minister here today now all live in

the UK. Last week's report said after being released from the

laundries, some of the women feared reimprisonment and fled abroad to

places like Britain for safety. Today's meeting was one of a series

the Irish Prime Minister is conducting with women here and back

in Ireland. Afterwards, these women gave their reaction to his visit.

It was a very warm meeting, it was really significant for us. Last

week a report found the Irish state complicit in the running of the

laundries. Today, the women described what had happened and

what they wanted. The nuns, it's them that should be apologising to

us, nobody else. Because they put us through hell. They starved us.

They were eating big turkeys and everything and we had nothing.

was locked up in - for six years for doing nothing wrong. They never

did tell me why they put me in there. So, closure, there never

will be, when I decide maybe. the -- when I die, maybe. The women

are seeking compensation. They also say they expect the Irish Prime

Minister to make a full apology next week.

Sport now. Good evening. Arsenal have been knocked out of the FA Cup

by Blackburn. It's the first time during Arsene Wenger's tenure that

the Premier League side have made an exit at the hands of lower

League opposition. There was another surprise result today when

League One's Oldham forced a replay against Everton with a last-minute

goal. While Millwall and Barnsley booked their quarter-final places

with wins over Luton and MK Dons respectively. Patrick Gearey

watched all the action. The Rovers Return, Blackburn lost

their place in the spotlight with relegation last season. The Cup is

their comeback tour. Now a League below Arsenal they competed with

them as equals and ended up more than that. Richards scored the

opening goal against the club he grew up supporting. He must be the

only Guners fan happy this evening. Now it's just the Champions League

and the mood's hardly optimistic. It was more jovial at Oldham.

They've made a specialty of making light of liver liverpudlians.

Against Everton you can never settle. Everton knew they were in a

battle but weren't flinching. No one at Boundary Park was giving

up. Oldham's incredible journey was extended for one more game.

There was plenty of security around the game with Luton and Millwall

and none in the Hatters' back line. They gifted the opening goal for

the championship side. Luton had beaten Norwich to get to this point

but couldn't deal with Millwall's quality.

An unlikely angle. Now a likely result. This was about staying calm

and taking chances. They did that with a third.

Millwall have safely avoided what could have been a very nasty fright.

Celtic remain 18 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier

League table after they thrashed Dundee United 6-2. There were also

wins for Kilmarnock, Ross County and Hibernian. Motherwell beat

Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-0 and in doing so leapfrogged over

them to move into second place. The pick of Motherwell's goals came in

the 56th minute when Michael Higdon volleyed in for his second goal of

the day. In today's Aviva Premiership Harlequins won a

thrilling game against Leicester. Their 25-21 victory means they move

to the top of the table while Leicester drop from first to third

place. England scrum-half Danny Care produced an excellent solo

effort at the start of the second half as Harlequins came from behind

to complete a league double over Leicester. And there were wins for

Bath, Northampton and Saracens won the first Premiership match to be

played on artificial turf. Double Olympic champion Mo Farah has

revealed he will take part in this year's London Marathon but will

only run half the course. He may make his debut over the full

distance next year. This afternoon, Farah made a winning start to this

season taking the 3,000 metres title at the British Grand Prix in

Birmingham. And, Britain's Chris Froome has won

the Tour of Oman, it's his first major race victor That's all from

the Sports Centre. The main news tonight: The