14/09/2013 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. The United States and Russia have agreed a deal for

the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. A short while ago US

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey

Lavrov attended a joint press conference in Geneva where they

outlined steps to secure the weapons in the region. Providing this

framework is implemented, it cannen end the threat that the weapons

pose, not only to the Syrian people but also to their neighbours, to the

region and because of the threat of proliferation, this framework can

provide greater protection and security to the world.

John Kerry speaking a Mohammed ago. -- a moment ago.

Our World Affairs Correspondent Paul Adams is in Geneva. What is the

timetable we are looking at? This is an ambitious plan. Syria is to hand

over a list of chemical weapons in one week. Inspectors are supposed to

be on the ground by November with the aim of removal or the

destruction of all of Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of

next year. A tight timetable. What happens, Paul, if the Syrians

do not comply with that? All of the violations, by any party, will be

referred back to the UN Security Council for a possible Chapter 7

resolution. That could imply the use of force, but both Sergey Lavrov and

John Kerry, said that sanctions applied by the international

community would be commensurate with the violations. Clearly a wide scope

for debate as the process unfolds. Thank you very much.

Shoppers in England will be charged 5p for plastic bags in supermarkets

Shoppers in England will be charged and large stores from 2015. The

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will make the announcement at the

Liberal Democrat Conference in Glasgow, which gets under way today.

The levy is already in force in Wales and Northern Ireland, and

Scotland is introducing the charge next year. Our Political

Correspondent Robin Brant reports. Some shops do it already, charging

for a bag. Soon, though, you will be asked to pay for five pence a go,

whether it is paper or plastic at all check-outs. Nick Clegg is to

whether it is paper or plastic at announce the bag tax this weekend,

but this is very much a coalition proposal, agreed after the

Chancellor, set aside his concerns about a new tax. Both sides hope it

will bolster the green credentials. We are not trying to tax people but

to change people's behaviour, to encourage more environmental

friendly behaviour. The guarantee that we are not trying to tax

people, is we will not get the money, it goes to charity.

More than 8 billion plastic bags were used by supermarket shoppers in

2012. Charges for the bags are in place in Northern Ireland and

Scotland and Wales. I think that they should be free. What is the

point of the charge for the environment? I think that the charge

is great but five pence is a lot of money. If it is something that takes

-- makes people take their own bags in, though, that is a good thing.

What is not clear if the five pence charge will apply to the nonfood

retailers like this one. The new charge comes in at 2015, but to

some, the idea of charging is wrong. It should be about educating and

encouraging. Not about imposing and legislating. It is not the amount of

money but the imposition of the tax at all.

Will England and the rest of the UK follow countries like Rwanda where

the plastic bags are banned completely? A Government tax

adviser, who was secretly filmed giving tips on how to keep money

"out of the Chancellor's grubby mitts", has resigned. David Heaton

made the comments before he joined a panel that advises Revenue and

Customs on tackling aggressive tax avoidance. The remarks were recorded

by Panorama in a joint investigation with Private Eye. Police in Northern

Ireland have launched a major investigation into the sexual abuse

of children, many of them in residential care homes. More than 20

young people are thought to have been abused by gangs of men. Police

say they've become increasingly concerned for the safety of the

children, some of whom are understood to have gone missing over

the last year and a half. Police in Leicester say there's no evidence

that the victims of a house fire had anything to do with a murder in the

city a few hours earlier. A woman and her three children died in the

blaze early yesterday. Three people have been arrested in connection

with a fatal stabbing in the city centre. Four people have been killed

and at least 80 people are missing after flash floods hit the US state

of Colorado. Authorities have ordered thousands of residents in

the city of Boulder and nearby areas to leave their homes. More than 15

inches of rain, nearly half the region's annual average, has fallen

in a single week. Alastair Leithead reports. Rivers became raging tor

epts, canyons overwhelmed by half a year's worth of rain, falling in a

matter of hours. A unique weather system stranded monsoon-sized storms

over the Rocky Mountains. After days of rain, flash-floods washed away

roads and destroyed buildings. Drivers were caught unaware,

rescuers used a lull in the storm to try to bring people to safety.

We got a call that there was a lot of water coming out. We went

outside, we heard a roar. That is probably when it came down.

But it is not just small mountain town, cities like Boulder in

Colorado have been flooded. Towns cut off by rivers busting their

banks. A vast area has been hit by flooding, breaking all-time records,

cutting communications and stretching the rescue teams.

Communities are isolated. There is no road access, no telephone

information, no power, no water, no sentic, no sewer. So, we have our

hands full. Thousands more people have been told

to leave their homes and to get to higher ground as more rain is

forecast. That's all from me, the next news on

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