14/09/2013 BBC Weekend News


14/09/2013

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The United States and Russia agree on a plan to destroy Syria's

:00:04.:00:10.

chemical weapons. After three days of talks, Damascus is told to give

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UN inspectors immediate access. of talks, Damascus is told to give

:00:12.:00:24.

The surgeon whose wife and children were killed in a house fire in

:00:24.:00:27.

Leicester has spoken of his grief. And a five pence charge for plastic

:00:27.:00:31.

bags in large stores is to be introduced in England.

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Good evening. The United States and Russia have agreed a plan to destroy

:00:46.:00:51.

Syria's chemical weapons by the middle of next year. The American

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Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei

:00:57.:00:59.

Lavrov, announced that President Assad's government would be given

:00:59.:01:01.

seven days to declare all its stocks, and must provide

:01:01.:01:03.

"unfettered" access to international inspectors.

:01:03.:01:19.

The Russians clearly feel this is their moment. Russian's Foreign

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Minister upstaged the Americans by chatting to journalists ahead of a

:01:23.:01:27.

joint news conference to announce the agreement. The American

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Secretary of State was kept waiting until they finally set out together

:01:30.:01:35.

procedures for the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons

:01:35.:01:40.

programme. It was made necessary, in their words, by the prior use of

:01:40.:01:45.

these weapons in Syria and the volatility of the civil war. The

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world will now expect the Assad regime to live up to its public

:01:49.:01:53.

commitments. As I said at the outset of these negotiations, there can be

:01:53.:01:56.

no games, no room for avoidance or of these negotiations, there can be

:01:56.:02:04.

anything less and full compliance. But Russia's Foreign Minister

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stressed that the deal does not include any automatic use of force

:02:08.:02:13.

if Syria fails to comply. TRANSLATION: In the event that these

:02:13.:02:19.

requirements are not implemented, or in the event that anyone uses

:02:19.:02:24.

chemical weapons, the Security Council will take measures under

:02:24.:02:28.

Article seven of the Charter of the United Nations. Of course, this does

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not mean that every violation that is reported to the Security Council

:02:32.:02:37.

will be taken at face value. We will investigate every case. This does

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feel like a breakthrough. Both ministers have made it clear that

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actions will be more important than words, and the road ahead remains

:02:46.:02:52.

difficult. The US- Russia agreement allows President Assad just seven

:02:52.:02:57.

days to declare a complete list of Syria's entire chemical weapons

:02:57.:03:00.

stockpile. International inspectors are to be on the ground in Syria by

:03:00.:03:05.

November. All stockpiles are to be removed or destroyed by mid-2014.

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And there will be a new UN resolution to enforce this. But the

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two sides differ about what that could mean in practice. But will any

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of this relieve the suffering of Syria's people? The Americans and

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Russians hope it will. Now, they want to attempt something even more

:03:24.:03:28.

difficult, I trying to open peace talks here in Geneva, with all the

:03:28.:03:35.

parties in the civil war next month. Our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen

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is in Damascus. How realistic is this plan? Well, the Russians would

:03:41.:03:50.

not have gone ahead with this kind of timetable, had they not had some

:03:50.:03:55.

kind of promise of cooperation from the Assad regime. After all, the

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Russians sell them weapons, and they also watch their back dramatically

:03:59.:04:04.

at the UN, which means a lot of leverage. I think the Assad regime

:04:04.:04:08.

must regard giving up its chemical weapons as a fair price to pay for

:04:08.:04:13.

the effective cancellation of a regime threatening air strike from

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the Americans. That is why the opposition groups of the Free Syrian

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Army are so angry that this deal is going ahead. They have rejected it,

:04:25.:04:29.

because they wanted that strike to happen. As for the wider issue of

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whether this will springboard into solving the war, the war he has very

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deep roots, and making a deal to end it depends not just on the Russians

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and Americans, but it depends on the regime and the wide range of armed

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groups honour from the Free Syrian Army to the jihadists.

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A father whose wife and three children were killed in a house fire

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in Leicester has spoken of his grief. Dr Muhammad Taufiq Al Sattar

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said he deeply missed his family and hoped justice would prevail. Police

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are investigating whether they were mistakenly targeted in a revenge

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attack. My entire family has passed away. I deeply miss my beautiful

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wife, and three beautiful children. What has happened has happened, and

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wife, and three beautiful children. nothing can be reversed. But I hope

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justice prevails. And in future, this should not happen to any

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family. Our correspondent is in Leicester.

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What are the latest developments in the investigation? As you can see,

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the police cordon has been lifted the investigation? As you can see,

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and we can see the damage this fire caused. On Thursday morning, this

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was just a regular family home, but now it is a murder scene. Half a

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mile away in that direction, another murder scene. A man in his early 20s

:06:05.:06:11.

was stabbed. He has been named locally today. He was a football

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coach. Today, players paid review to him with a minute's silence. Police

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said the family here had nothing to do with what happened to that man,

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but they are try to establish whether the two cases are linked.

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Meanwhile, the local community here feel that this family were targeted

:06:35.:06:41.

under a mistaken identity. There have been queried into the other

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man's death. Three people have been arrested. They are in police

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custody. Shoppers in England are to be

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charged five pence for plastic bags in supermarkets and large stores by

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the end of 2015. The Deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, announced the

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change at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow. Charges are

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already imposed in Wales and Northern Ireland and will be

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introduced in Scotland next year. Nick Clegg came to a nature reserve

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today outside Glasgow, on the first day of his party conference. His

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focus was not the economy or the cost of living, but plastic bags. On

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average, each of us uses 200 every year, and he said that had to stop.

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This is not about seeking to somehow raise costs for shoppers. It is

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about encouraging all of us to use plastic bags less and to reuse

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reusable plastic bags more. Although there is a charge for plastic bags

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in Wales and Northern Ireland and soon to be won in Scotland, an

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astonishing 8 billion are still used across the UK each year. So, from

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2015, there will also be a 5p charge for bags in England in supermarkets

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and large stores with more than 250 staff, with the government

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encouraging, but not forcing shops to give any cash raised to green

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charities. But with the cost of living rising, should the government

:08:13.:08:18.

be adding to shopping bills? They should be free. We have to play for

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plastic bags in France, and it works. People would not go out and

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buy things and expect to pay for the packaging. The Lib Dems are not just

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trying to burnish their green credentials, they are also trying to

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show they can make a difference in government. They said they had to

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work hard to get the Tories to support a plastic bag charge because

:08:38.:08:41.

of fears that it could hit business. But Nick Clegg does not want to

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spend a week attacking the Tories, he also wants to highlight the

:08:45.:08:59.

success of the coalition. But not everyone has got the message. David

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Cameron. Call me soft, but am I the only Liberal Democrat who just wants

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him to be a bit better? If he wants to be a statesman, a bit of

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consistency would be brilliant. So, a bit of policy and a bit of

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politics on this first day of conference. Plenty more to come.

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A leading government tax adviser has resigned after being secretly filmed

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giving advice on how to keep money, in his words, "out of the

:09:22.:09:25.

chancellor's grubby mitts". David Heaton, who went on to advise

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Revenue and Customs on tax avoidance, was filmed at a London

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conference during an investigation by BBC's Panorama and Private Eye.

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The conference was called 101 tips for personal tax, and David Heaton

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was one of the star speakers. He delivered a series of tax ideas, and

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spelled-out the advantages of one. As part of his speech, he advised on

:09:54.:09:57.

how to use the rules on maternity As part of his speech, he advised on

:09:57.:10:01.

pay to cut tax bills. He called it his bumper plan. -- bump plan. The

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scheme he recommended would effectively reduce the tax on a

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bonus from about 42% to around 8.5. When we described the scheme to Her

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Majesty's Revenue and Customs, they told us it would be an abuse, and

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they would challenge it. The problem is, Mr Heaton has been working for

:10:34.:10:38.

them. Two months after that conference, he joined a panel

:10:38.:10:44.

advising HMRC and the courts on what is acceptable tax avoidance. The

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chairwoman of the Parliamentary spending watchdog says it shows the

:10:47.:10:52.

flaws in the system. I am shocked by what you have told me. This is a

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classic example of where the government passes a law with a

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particular intent, and the tax advisers then abuse that. I told the

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tax minister about Mr Heaton's comments. The advisory panel is to

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identify the aggressive, artificial behaviour. We would not expect them

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to be coming forward with proposals that were aggressive and

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artificial. Mr Heaton sells he does not sell a schemes and has not done

:11:30.:11:34.

anything wrong, but his resignation was announced last night and

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anything wrong, but his resignation welcomed by the Treasury.

:11:36.:11:44.

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