12/04/2014 BBC Weekend News

Good evening. Scotland's First Minister has urged voters to set

aside party differences and back independence. Addressing his party's

final conference before the referendum on independence, Alex

Salmond said the momentum was with those campaigning to leave the

United Kingdom. Five months ahead of the crucial vote, the SNP leader

said it would be what he called "our moment to be a beacon of hope". Our

special correspondent, Allan Little, is in Aberdeen now.

This was the last big gathering of the party faithful ahead of that

historic referendum in September . It had more of the character of a

campaign rally than a party political conference. Do were not

debating policy or making key decisions, they were here to have

their morale boosted ahead of those five crucial months of campaigning.

We saw today the kind of ecumenical Alex Salmond, and Alex Salmond

reaching out and breaking through, or trying to break through

traditional party political boundaries, and appealing in

particular not to be converted in the hall, but to those outside in

the country and in particular to people who don't normally vote for

the SNP. He turned the SNP from a party of

protest into a party of government, and now they believe he is about to

lead them to an independent Scotland in little more than 100 days from

now . But to win in September, he needs to persuade hundreds of

thousands of Labour voters in particular to vote yes, so an

independent Scotland would be more just, he said, a fairer, more equal

society. This was a speech aimed not at the party faithful, but at the

SNP's old foes, disaffected Labour supporters now tempted to vote yes.

Independence would be good for Scottish Labour. A Labour Party

freed from Westminster control would have the chance to return to core

values, many of which we in this party agree with, indeed, many of

which we share. And this is the difference. The Westminster

establishment, telling Scots what we can't do, running Scotland down. A

Scottish National Party, stressing what Scotland can do, building

Scotland up. It has been a recurring theme of this conference. He

appealed to voters outside the traditional SNP support base. Alex

Salmond was characterising the yes campaign as a broad-based

coalition, drawing support from across the political spec from all

stop Alex Salmond's opponents say most Scots want to keep their

devolved parliament inside the UK. The majority of Scots want to

continue with devolution. We think it gives us the best of both worlds,

the strength and security of been part of something bigger, alongside

more decisions being made in Scotland on schools and hospitals.

At is what the people of Scotland want. The faithful are undeterred.

Some here have been campaigning for independence for 50 years or more,

and fervently believe their day, at last, is coming. Allan Little, BBC

News, Aberdeen. Concerns have been expressed about

plans by the chancellor, George Osborne, to clamp down on people who

hide their money abroad. Under the proposed laws, it would no longer be

necessary to prove intention to cheat the system. But a former

senior figure in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs said the

proposed laws would probably have a limited impact. Here is our business

correspondent, Joe Lynam. Most ordinary people can't avoid

paying tax, but some very wealthy people have been able to hide their

money away in offshore tax havens. Now the Government wants to tilt the

law in favour of the taxman. We have already done a lot to crack down on

those who don't pay their taxes. Now we are introducing a new criminal

offence for people who hide their money offshore. The message is

simple. If you are hiding your money offshore, we are coming to get you

and the criminal law is going to come and find you. The recent slew

of clamp-downs on tax evasion has not yielded as much as hoped for.

The Government had expected over ?3 billion from undeclared income in

Switzerland, but ended up with only a fraction of that. Labour said that

the failure to raise the expected money from tax clamp-downs simply

wasn't good enough. The Government has made a big play about pursuing

aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion at an international level.

It was the mainstay of last year's G8 summit in Enniskillen. It is

doing so because on its own, Britain cannot pursue these very wealthy and

highly mobile individuals. But will they get the money in from these

clamp-downs as much as they hope they will? The Revenue will be keen,

if these do become law, to have a few example cases within a short

period of time, just to justify to the minister that they are taking it

seriously. But I don't anticipate large queues of people outside the

Old Bailey, waiting to be tried under this new offence. These

proposals will only affect individuals and not large

multinational companies, who have also been accused of aggressively

avoiding tax. Joe Lynam, BBC News. The Ukrainian government has again

called on Moscow to stop what it is calling "provocative actions" in the

east of the country after pro-Russian activists seized police

and government buildings there. In Sloviansk, armed men stormed a

police station and a state security office, while in Donetsk, the police

chief was forced to resign after hundreds of protesters marched on

the police headquarters. Russia denies supporting them.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has criticised the growth of Israeli

settlements while on a visit to the West bank.

Police have revealed that a woman who was injured in a hammer attack

at a hotel in London has been left blind in one eye and badly

brain-damaged. The woman, a tourist from the United Arab Emirates, was

attacked together with her two sisters in the early hours of last

Sunday. A 32-year-old man has been remanded in custody, accused of

three counts of attempted murder. Our correspondent, Ben Moore, is at

St Mary's Hospital now. What more do we know about this woman's

condition? The three sisters were just on holiday on a shopping and

sightseeing tour. One remains seriously ill in hospital tonight.

It is a lounged at Philip Spencer attacked them with a hammer as they

were at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch. One of the women has

severe head injuries and has lost the sight in one eye. Doctors say

she has only 5% of her brain function remaining. The 32-year-old

Spencer was remanded in custody after appearing at a West London

magistrates Court. He is charged with three counts of attempted

murder. All today's Premier League matches

kicked off late this afternoon as they observed a minute's silence to

mark the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium tragedy. 96

fans died at the FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham

Forest on 15 April 1989. All games in England this weekend will observe

the silence, including both FA Cup semifinals at Wembley.

The first of those two FA Cup semi-finals is underway, with cup

holders Wigan taking on Premier League Arsenal. The match is midway

through the second half at Wembley and the score is currently 1-0 to

Wigan, Jordi Gomez scoring for the Championship side with a penalty.

A Pakistani court has dismissed a case against a nine-month-old baby

who had appeared in court last week for attempted murder. Musa Khan was

today again brought before a judge. Our World Affairs correspondent,

Mike Wooldridge, sent this report from Lahore.

If he looks a little bewildered as he waits at a lawyer's offers to

make his second appearance in court, Musa carnies after all here for

attempted murder. Back after a week on bail. That is what an affray in

Lahore led to. But the minimum age of criminal responsible at it in

Pakistan is seven, and Musa is just nine months. Last time, he cried

when police tried to take his fingerprints. Today, he seemed

calmer. Under an intense media spotlight, the case against Musa was

dealt with swiftly inside the courtroom after the police said they

had no interest in investigating or arresting him . The judge ordered

action to be taken against the officer who had handled the case

initially. Afterwards, Musa appeared to feel the need for a celebratory

drink. His grandfather, meanwhile, accused the police of pressurising

and threatening him. An extraordinary affair is now over, at

least as far as little Musa Khan is concerned. But it has left many

questions about how he ended up here in court and was then put on bail at

all. His lawyers are saying that if a toddler can be implicated in a

case like this, what does that say for other people? And so, Musa was

on his way. Adult members of the family continue to face charges over

the January confrontation with the police. It is not the first time

flaws in Pakistan's judicial system have been highlighted. Perhaps never

before, though, by a babe in arms. Mike Wooldridge, BBC News, Lahore.

There's more throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel.