14/02/2013 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: One of the world's best-known athletes, Oscar

Pistorius, is facing a murder charge. He was arrested after his

girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa. He'll appear

in court tomorrow. Police say there have been previous domestic

incidents. I can confirm that there has previously been an incident at

the home of Oscar Pistorius. blade runner made history at London

2012, taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We'll have

the latest from Pretoria as many South Africans struggle to take in

the news. Also tonight: More beef products

withdrawn from sale in the horsemeat scandal and three arrests

are made. An avalanche in the Cairngorms

claims the lives of two people. Another man is in a critical

condition. Ed Miliband announces that a future

Labour government would reintroduce a 10p rate of income tax.

And the young Picasso. A new exhibition explores the influences

in his early life. Coming up in Sportsday on the BBC

News Channel, I will have the Europa League goals from tonight

and this has to be one of the best. Good evening. One of the world's

best-known athletes, Oscar Pistorius, is facing a murder

charge after his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South

Africa. Police revealed that they had been called to the house in the

past to deal with domestic incidents. Pistorius made history

last year when he became the first double amputee to compete in the

Olympic Games. Our correspondent Andrew Harding reports from

Pretoria. There has never been anyone quite like him. The Blade

runner, a global sensation. It is a gold medal again for Oscar

Pistorius. Today the police say that South Africa's Oscar Pistorius

is and murder suspect, accused of killing his girlfriend. The

shooting happened here at his home in a closely guarded suburban

estate. We can confirm that a third year-old woman did die on the scene,

of gunshot wounds. -- 30 year-old woman. The 26 year-old man has been

arrested and charged with murder. The police so that neighbours heard

loud voices and arguments at the home overnight and then gunshots.

The police say they have been previous domestic incidents at the

home. They have distanced themselves from speculation that he

could have shot his girlfriend by accident after mistaking her for a

burglar. The police were surprised to hear over the radio to hear that

allegations have been made to that the deceased had been perceived to

be a burglar. He was surprised and those allegations did not come from

us. The dead woman has been identified as Reeva Steenkamp, a

well-known South African model who had been dating Oscar Pistorius

since the autumn. They are rarely out of the headlines. She was a

really vibrant personality with a wicked sense of humour. The fact

that she was so beautiful was there but that was not the main thing.

She was a great person and fun to hang out with. The news has stunned

South Africa. He is a figure in South Africa, a persona. It is very

difficult to take it all in. Oscar Pistorius was taken to hospital for

full medical examination and he is now being held at the small local

police station. In the morning he will be taken to court and police

are expected to argue that he should not be granted bail. For

Oscar Pistorius it has been a remarkable life. He was born

without fibula bones in his lower legs. They were amputated when he

was a year old. By the age of 17, with the help of revolutionary

prosthetic legs, he blossomed into a successful athlete. Gold at the

Paralympics followed and then in London last year he competed with

able-bodied runners, a watershed moment in sport. But his friends

say that his career has taken its toll. I believe that success and

money has changed a lot of people. For me, personally, Oscar de change,

from the guy that he was 12 years ago to the guy that he is now. I

think he became a very different person. Now Oscar Pistorius is

preparing for his first appearance in court tomorrow, a rather

different arena for one of the world's most iconic athletes. For

the latest, let's go live to Pretoria. As you mentioned,

preparing for that court appearance tomorrow. What has been the impact

of this story in South Africa today? It has been a devastating

blow for South Africa. This country used to produce so many heroes.

These days they are few and far between and if what the police are

saying about these murder charges proves to be correct, then it is a

heavy blow for this country. Of course there is still a lot that we

do not know about this case and tomorrow could be very revealing.

We are hoping to her in court tomorrow whether prosecutors argue

about whether he should be given bail, we are hoping to hear the

details. The case that is being built up against Oscar Pistorius.

We may learn some more tomorrow. We may learn what sort of defence

Oscar Pistorius plans to mount. Thank you.

Three men were arrested earlier this evening on suspicion of fraud

as part of the investigation into horsemeat labelled as beef. Police

said a man had been arrested at a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire

and two more at a site in West Wales. Both premises were searched

by the Food Standards Agency on Tuesday. During the day some beef

products were taken off the shelves by the supermarket Asda, as our

correspondent Fergus Walsh reports. The scale of this processed food

scandal keeps growing. Until now, all of the products affected have

been frozen, but tonight ASDA withdrew a fresh beef bolognese

sauce after it tested positive for wars make. Three other beef

products have been withdrawn as a precaution. -- tested positive for

horsemeat. This is one of two men are arrested in Wales on suspicion

of fraud, along with another from Yorkshire. They are accused of

passing off horsemeat as before but both firms deny wrongdoing. It has

also been found that a significant amount of horsemeat contaminated

with the drug bute may have been entering the food chain overseas

for some time. Six horses from this abattoir and Somerset were sent to

France in recent days and could be included. Labour says the

Government is paralysed by incompetence. The ministers have

been asleep on the job on this. They cannot kick on hiding behind

the Food Standards Agency officials. They have been catastrophically

slow to act. In fact all horses sent the export will be required to

have a negative bute test. Bute is an equine painkiller which is also

used to treat serious arthritis in humans but serious side-effects are

rare. Health officials say you would need to eat 500 horsemeat

burgers to get a single dose of this drug. The Chief Medical

Officer at said no processed foods containing horsemeat had tested

positive for bute in the UK but if that happened it would not be a

threat. If phenylbutazone has got into the diet through horsemeat,

then the level will be so low that it is unlikely to impact on human

health. Human health, please don't worry. The yuck factor is another

matter and whether there are criminal issues is a third. Food

scares are nothing new. In 1948, Britain was shocked to discover

that black market profiteers had been passing off horsemeat as

before. Tomorrow the Food Standards Agency will reveal the results of

standard tests on beef products and consumers will find out if yet more

have been contaminated with horsemeat.

A meat processing plant in the South of France, whose meat ended

up on the shelves of Tesco and Aldi as well as in some Findus products,

has been accused by the French government of knowingly selling

horsemeat labelled as beef. Ministers claim the firm Spanghero

has been engaged in fraud, as our correspondent Christian Fraser

reports. They pointed the finger at the

Romanians, criminal fraud in the shadowy reaches of the European

Union. Tonight it was the French company Spanghero in the dock. The

Minister for Consumer Affairs, Benoit Hamon, said the audit

Romanian horsemeat and sent it out as European beef. -- at they

ordered Romanian horsemeat. Spanghero were the first to stamp

horsemeat as beef. An investigation shows that they knew they were

Labour link beef meat which was strongly suspected to be horsemeat.

-- labelling beef meat. The volume of the January shipment was 42

tonnes and they made half a million euros from the fraud, it is

estimated. The owner of the company believes that they received beef

and sold back what they thought was beef. The horsemeat in question was

sourced at two abattoirs in Romania, travelling through this cold

storage facility in Breda in the Netherlands. They believe they

ordered the horsemeat and processed it as beef for Comigel in

Luxembourg, who supplied for Findus. These would be 100% horse. Another

figure in that chain, Jan Fasen, a Dutch meat trader. In January 2012,

Jan Fasen was convicted at this court house in Breda for the

fraudulent mislabelling of meat as part of a criminal network. The

court said that he labelled imported Mexican and Brazilian

horsemeat as halal beef. They also said the buyer knew that the

documents had been fortified and an appeal is pending. Jan fuss and did

not return our calls but his lawyer says that he denies wrongdoing and

is not the suspect. -- Jan Fasen. He has parked 200 tonnes of horse

trimming at this facility with the retail value of 1 million euros. He

has never been suspended from trading. But you knew he was under

investigation? Yes, four years ago. Did you stop trading with him?

Why not? It was not necessary because the law says that he can do

his business. Even though he is under investigation, the

authorities continued to give him the green light? Yes. So in France

and Britain, yet more evidence tonight of the systemic failure in

Europe's meat-processing industry. The convoluted supply chain

involves some unscrupulous companies and at the end of that

line is the consumer. It is their trust that is being tested.

Police in the Scottish Highlands have confirmed tonight that a man

and woman have died following an avalanche in the Cairngorms.

Northern Constabulary also say that a man is in a critical condition at

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. It is understood all three were buried in

snow when rescuers found them. Lorna Gordon is close to where the

avalanche happened. Tell us more about what we know of the events

It happened in a valley just off this road. There were 12 walkers

and climbers in two separate groups when the snow land ice shifted.

Three were buried in the snow. Mountain Rescue teams, a number of

them, as well as two helicopters and Serge dogs were in the area

very quickly. They found the first individual and got them out within

one hour. Some time afterwards, all three of them were airlifted to

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. This evening, the tragic news that two

have died. The other nine were walked off the mountain unhurt. The

conditions were said to be sunny and a little bit windy. There had

been warnings of the potential for avalanches in the area. Tonight,

the tragic news that two have died and it is yet another reminder of

just how dangerous the Scottish Ed Miliband, the Labour leader,

says he wants to reintroduce a 10 pence starting rate of income tax.

He said it would be funded by a new property tax on homes worth more

than �2 million. He admitted that the last Labour government had made

a bad mistake when it scrapped the band in 2008. Downing Street said

that the remarks were a stunning admission of economic incompetence.

Ed Miliband believes his response to the squeeze on living standards

could be the key to winning the next election. The Labour leader,

visiting a training centre in Bedford, said that his priority was

to help those struggling to pay the bills. He was also facing up to bad

decisions that he and others had made in power. We will put rise a

mistake made by Gordon Brown and the last Labour government. We

would use the money raised by a Mansion Tax to reintroduce a lower

10 pence starting rate of tax. It would move Labour one from the past

and put Labour where it should always have been, on the side of

working people. The so-called Mansion Tax was first mooted by the

Liberal Democrats. Critics say it would mean a costly re-evaluation

of all properties. Labour estimate there are around 70,000 houses with

more than �2 million, most of them in London. A Mansion Tax set at 1%

on these properties would raise about �1.7 billion. On average,

that would mean a bill of �24,000 a year per property. If the money

raised is used to pay for a 10 pence income tax band, it would add

up to a tax break of �100 a year for basic-rate taxpayers. It is

hard to see what the rationale is for a 10 pence tax rate, when you

could achieve an almost identical result in a simpler way by further

increasing the tax free allowance in income tax. In the 50s, Harold

Macmillan came to Bedford. An economic boom led this Tory Prime

Minister to observe that most people had never had it so good. Ed

Miliband Said today people would wonder if they would habit so good

again. At this hairdresser's, they have noticed costs going up and

they think that the rich could pay a bit more. I think it's a good

approach. It depends how it is done, but it is something that should be

debated. Every day, household things are costing more,

electricity and gas is costing more. Everything. There is a squeeze on

people, really. Bedford is a seat that Labour must win if Ed Miliband

is to become Prime Minister. Privately, the party acknowledges

that to do that they will have to come up with a clearer message on

the economy. Simply opposing government cuts will not be enough.

Today was about Ed Miliband saying that he is on the side of those

struggling to make ends meet. The Conservatives say Labour's record

on tax speaks for itself. Labour has no credibility on this issue at

all. It was Ed Miliband and Ed Balls that got rid of the 10 pence

tax rate in the first place. Miliband hopes that broadening

Labour's message on the economy will strike a chord with voters.

Still to come: Enjoy it while you can. The Picasso masterpiece on its

From April, a controversial reform affecting millions of people will

see the Disability Living Allowance phased out and a new benefit,

called the Personal Independence Payment, phased in. Campaigners

claim it will result in real hardship for some. Ministers say

the current system is out-of-date and is not reaching those that need

it most. In the first of a series of welfare reform, Alison Holt

considers the arguments for and against.

These letters are now being sent to more than 3 million people in the

UK, who currently get Disability Living Allowance. The benefit is

being replaced by a Personal Independence Payment. The

Government says it is essential reform. Many people with

disabilities view it as cost- cutting at the expense of those

that can least afford it. The idea behind Disability Living Allowance

is that it is a benefit that helps people with the extra costs of

their disability. They may choose to spend it on support at home,

specialised equipment or the additional costs of getting out and

about. Personal Independence Payment has the same job to do. It

also means that all of those of working age that get disability

living allowance will be reassessed. For many players here at this

London basketball session, it is already causing real anxiety.

mobility allowance is a lifeline for people. What they are doing is

a blitzkrieg. They are basically blowing up a system and hurting a

lot of people to get to a few. I think that is wrong. This wouldn't

happen, basically. We would not be here playing basketball, having fun,

haven't I independence. Everybody is in the same boat and worrying

about it. The Government insists that the current system is not

sustainable. Disability Living Allowance costs more than �13

billion each year. They had been a 34% increase in claims in less than

10 years, partly due to disabled children living longer and an

ageing population. Its estimate the reforms will save two. Twenty-five

billion pounds. It estimated 4005 - - 450,000 people will be affected.

Stephen Duckworth gets Disability Living Allowance himself and

understands the concerns. He says that many of their staff will also

understand, as they also have disabilities. We haven't been set

any targets to cut benefits. We've been set targets to improve quality,

service improvements targets. For those that are most in need, the

funding will be there and available for them. But Ian Clarkson, who has

Parkinson's, will take a lot of convincing. Past battles over

benefits have left him, like many others, with little confidence in

what he sees as tick box assessments for PIP. If you have

been diagnosed by consultants and they know to what stage of the

disease you will be at 10, 12, 15, 18 years, I cannot see how any body

that has not got medical knowledge can make a better decision.

Government says that there will be independent reviews of the system

to insure it works as well as A business consortium that includes

the American billionaire investor Warren Buffett is buying Heinz. The

company, known around the world for ketchup, soup and baked beans. It

is worth �18 billion and is believed to be the biggest deal in

the history of the food industry. The takeover has been approved by

the company's board but still needs to be backed by shareholders.

The recession in the eurozone has deepened, according to official

figures, for the last quarter of 2012. The combined output of 17

countries shrank by 0.6%, the third consecutive quarter that GDP has

fallen. Stephanie Flanders is with me to tell us how bad the figures

are. We were not surprised by the fact the eurozone has shrunk. We

knew that they were still in recession in the last three months

of 2012. This is a bigger fall than people were expecting. It is the

worst decline since the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

Although it is worse in countries like Portugal, even Germany, the

German economy has shrunk by 0.6% with these figures, the first time

German national output has shrunk in over one year. I guess it

reminds us that, amidst this optimism we have seen in the last

few months about the euro, among policy makers at these meetings and

also most particularly in the financial markets, it really hasn't

fed through to the real economy yet. That is what is going to be crucial

if you think of the pressure Ron George Osborne. The positive things

he is lucky for this year that might help the economy, the

eurozone, the recovery in the eurozone is central to that. It is

still not quite there yet. We still have more pieces of the puzzle when

it comes to things like banking union. We still have to wait for

confidence to feed through to these economies, even on the most

optimistic scenario. It could be quite a long time before large

parts of the eurozone seek positive The A55 year-old woman has died

after a coal lorry crashed into her flat in the village of Fairlie in

Ayrshire while she was watching television. The woman's husband and

that lorry driver were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The incoming BBC Director General Tony Hall has announced his first

major changes to the senior management of the corporation.

Former Culture Secretary James Purnell is to take on a new role

overseeing strategy. Director of news Helen Boaden becomes director

of radio. She stepped aside during the review into why Newsnight

dropped an inquiry into the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Pablo Picasso's path to greatness is one of the most acclaimed

figures of 20th century is the focus of a new exhibition at

London's Courtauld Gallery. It is a year in a life story of a

relatively unknown teenager who embarks on a remarkable life.

This is Pablo Picasso, aged 19 in 1901. Ambitious and precocious,

with those famous the PSNI is. A young Spanish artist in Paris,

preparing for his first exhibition. Producing up to three paintings a

day, often inspired by the art he had seen in the French capital.

Here is a hot march to Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec's Moulin Rouge.

This one is to Edgar Degas. This one represents his anxiety. You can

see the influence of Vincent Van Gogh's heightened reality. He also

brought knowledge of artists from native Spain, such as El Greco. In

this painting, a combination of all of those influences brought

together, perhaps. A young men it starts to find his own voice. The

echo of which is still heard by artists today. They are fiercely

modern, because of his refusal to consent to acceptable style. I

think he has the confidence and ability to push things beyond A-

level he is comfortable with. He launches himself into the void. In

this show, you see that. It is like a broken egg for the beautiful

omelette that you have to make. mother said if he had gone into the

Army he would have become a general, into the church and he would have

become the Pope. He says he chose painting and became Picasso.

painting like the Harlequin behind me is the moment where he finds his

own artistic voice, fully in command of line and colour.

Choosing a subject that was quite traditional in French art, but

totally reinventing it. Absinthe drinkers, but instead of real

drinkers he adopts the motif of the Harlequin. This is the last

painting in the exhibition, Child with a Dove. For years, it was

hanging in a National Gallery, free for all to see. Those days are over.

The individual that owns it sold it. Two experts believe it was a buyer

might be the last time it is seen in this country. Enjoy it when you