:00:00. > :00:00.A row breaks out over Google's payment of ?130 million
:00:07. > :00:14.The sum covers money Google owed since 2005.
:00:15. > :00:19.The Chancellor said it vindicated the Government's approach to tax.
:00:20. > :00:22.A mammoth snowfall in the eastern United States leaves at least 11
:00:23. > :00:26.people dead and paralyses road and rail links.
:00:27. > :00:29.Calls tonight for an independent investigation, after allegations
:00:30. > :00:33.that Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service tried to cover
:00:34. > :00:42.up evidence of corruption amongst some officers.
:00:43. > :00:44.And Johanna Konta joins Andy Murray in the last 16
:00:45. > :00:47.of the Australian Open, the first British woman to go
:00:48. > :01:12.A row has broken out in Westminster over Google's deal with the tax
:01:13. > :01:15.authorities to pay ?130 million in retrospective tax
:01:16. > :01:22.Labour called the sum "derisory" and they want it investigated
:01:23. > :01:28.But the Chancellor, George Osborne, said the deal was a vindication
:01:29. > :01:31.Here's our business correspondent, Joe Lynam.
:01:32. > :01:35.OK, Google, how much tax does Google play in Britain?
:01:36. > :01:39.Google's tax affairs are quite a popular search item in the UK,
:01:40. > :01:45.especially now it's agreed to pay ?130 million of back taxes to HMRC,
:01:46. > :01:48.but there are some who feel that's a fraction of what should
:01:49. > :01:53.I've been campaigning on this issue for the last 15 years.
:01:54. > :01:56.Under the last Government and this Government,
:01:57. > :02:06.But, to be frank, it looks as though what independent assessors have
:02:07. > :02:08.said, this is only paying about 3% of tax.
:02:09. > :02:11.Most corporations are paying 20%, ordinary individuals are paying much
:02:12. > :02:15.So, I think, most people will just think it's unfair.
:02:16. > :02:18.Google enjoyed sales of ?4.6 billion in the UK in 2014.
:02:19. > :02:20.Under normal circumstances, companies would have paid 21% tax
:02:21. > :02:25.Because Google routes its UK sales via Ireland and then
:02:26. > :02:28.on to the Caribbean, it pays much less each year
:02:29. > :02:35.than this ?130 million tax deal, which covers a decade of accounts.
:02:36. > :02:38.So does Google now accept it had been paying too little?
:02:39. > :02:41.We were applying the rules as there were, that was then.
:02:42. > :02:44.Now we're going to be applying the new rules,
:02:45. > :02:46.which means we will be paying more tax.
:02:47. > :02:49.Britain accounts for 10% of Google's total sales but only a sliver
:02:50. > :02:54.Is getting the company to pay more tax merely an effort
:02:55. > :03:00.When I became Chancellor, there were some companies that paid
:03:01. > :03:06.That rightly caused a lot of public anger.
:03:07. > :03:11.Now we have companies like Google paying tax,
:03:12. > :03:13.and I want the message to go out that in Britain,
:03:14. > :03:17.taxes are low, but they have to be paid and I expect more companies
:03:18. > :03:23.Apple - the world's largest company, Amazon -
:03:24. > :03:26.the biggest online retailer, Starbucks - the number-one coffee
:03:27. > :03:29.franchise, are all under the spotlight.
:03:30. > :03:31.Facebook paid only ?4,000 in UK corporation taxes last year.
:03:32. > :03:35.It may take a while to close the book on creative tax
:03:36. > :03:42.Let's join our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed, who led with the story
:03:43. > :03:45.and who's at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
:03:46. > :03:52.How fair is the criticism of the deal?
:03:53. > :03:58.Well, Rita, I rather difficult to talk about
:03:59. > :03:59.fairness, a rather subjective word, when you're talking about
:04:00. > :04:01.fairness, a rather subjective word, when you're talking about tax law. I
:04:02. > :04:05.suppose Google always thought to itself it might get a bit of
:04:06. > :04:11.criticism after making this announcement last night. HMRC
:04:12. > :04:15.probably similar. Probably Google of course -- the problem with Google is
:04:16. > :04:19.that it makes billions of pounds of profit all over the world. So ?130
:04:20. > :04:23.million doesn't seem like that much. It's the kind of figure it might pay
:04:24. > :04:27.senior executives over the same amount of time. Google, when it
:04:28. > :04:30.comes to fairness, might point out a couple of things, though. It is an
:04:31. > :04:34.American company. That means it is taxed in America. That's where it
:04:35. > :04:38.pays the majority of its tax. That would be the same in fact for any
:04:39. > :04:42.British business operating abroad. British businesses pay most of their
:04:43. > :04:48.tax in the UK. That's how the global tax system works. Google, of course,
:04:49. > :04:53.also operates in the European Union, out of London. That means it is
:04:54. > :04:57.allowed to head quarter in Dublin, where the taxes are far lower.
:04:58. > :05:02.That's part of the EU single market. No laws broken there. Also the
:05:03. > :05:09.question is, it's not just Google that is facing controversy over the
:05:10. > :05:13.issue of tax. Amazon, Facebook, Starbucks would probably finish
:05:14. > :05:19.Google with one point, 2014 Google paid over ?20 million of corporation
:05:20. > :05:24.tax to HMRC in that same year. Facebook paid ?4,000. A question of
:05:25. > :05:25.fairness, Google might point to those numbers and say there's quite
:05:26. > :05:29.a difference. Many thanks. Emergencies have been
:05:30. > :05:31.declared in 11 US states, by a huge blizzard,
:05:32. > :05:37.in which at least 11 Parts of the eastern United States
:05:38. > :05:42.have received as much as 28 inches Road, rail and air travel has been
:05:43. > :05:47.paralysed, and tens of millions Our correspondent, Laura Bicker,
:05:48. > :05:56.is in Washington. Laura, how much worse is it likely
:05:57. > :06:04.to get? I think that's the question many people are trying to ask. Here
:06:05. > :06:09.we are, 30 hours in, and we're still in blizzard-like conditions. As for
:06:10. > :06:15.the amount of snowfall, at Dulles airport, we had over 23 inches of
:06:16. > :06:19.snow. In Virginia over 30 inches. These are near record-breaking
:06:20. > :06:22.amounts and still it continues to fall.
:06:23. > :06:27.The battle has begun as this blizzard enters its final hours,
:06:28. > :06:32.there are attempts to try to clear-up to two feet of snow
:06:33. > :06:42.In New York, where the snow's been worse than forecast,
:06:43. > :06:45.All travel is now banned in the city.
:06:46. > :06:48.If you drive on the roads, you'll be arrested.
:06:49. > :06:51.People have to heed these warnings now and immediately get home
:06:52. > :06:55.and again the NYPD will enforce this travel ban.
:06:56. > :06:58.In New Jersey, the fight Waz against flooding.
:06:59. > :07:01.Freezing waters from a high tide, not seen since Hurricane
:07:02. > :07:08.Sandy, flowed into seaside resorts and thousands lost power.
:07:09. > :07:13.Airports along the east coast felt abandoned as over 7,000 flights
:07:14. > :07:16.were cancelled and those who tried to drive struggled.
:07:17. > :07:21.In Kentucky, 3,000 cars were stuck on a motorway for hours.
:07:22. > :07:26.There were similar scenes in Pennsylvania where motorists had
:07:27. > :07:30.been stuck since Friday night, including a college basketball
:07:31. > :07:36.The bus just stopped and we're told, yeah, there's an accident up ahead
:07:37. > :07:41.and we're going to be sitting here for a while.
:07:42. > :07:44.The snow is really picking up I've never seen snow like this,
:07:45. > :07:46.like coming from England, so I didn't really know
:07:47. > :07:50.The snowstorm has transformed the landscape of 20 states.
:07:51. > :07:53.One in seven Americans will wake up to around a foot of snow.
:07:54. > :07:56.In Washington the blizzard has been one of the worst
:07:57. > :08:00.Turning its famous view of the White House into
:08:01. > :08:06.But there are some who simply cannot hide their joy at a snow day.
:08:07. > :08:09.This is one of the few enjoying himself and doing his own particular
:08:10. > :08:16.dance through the worst of this weather.
:08:17. > :08:22.The forecast is for this snow to continue into the early hours of
:08:23. > :08:28.Sunday morning. Then the sun comes out. But that is when the clean-up
:08:29. > :08:30.must begin. And that could take both some time and be expensive.
:08:31. > :08:37.Thank you very much, Laura. There are calls tonight
:08:38. > :08:39.for an independent investigation, after allegations that Scotland Yard
:08:40. > :08:42.and the Crown Prosecution Service tried to cover up evidence
:08:43. > :08:44.of corruption amongst some officers. The claims were made by the defence
:08:45. > :08:47.in a long-running trail which has With the details, here's our home
:08:48. > :08:51.editor, Mark Easton. There is some flash
:08:52. > :09:00.photography in his report. Did Scotland Yard officers take
:09:01. > :09:03.thousands of pounds in corrupt payments from private detectives?
:09:04. > :09:06.And did police and the Crown Prosecution Service then cover up
:09:07. > :09:12.the scandal? Those are the questions left hanging, after a court case was
:09:13. > :09:15.sensationally dropped. Here at Southwark Crown Court last Thursday,
:09:16. > :09:20.the Crown Prosecution Service suddenly announced they were
:09:21. > :09:25.abandoning their 18-month long case against a former solicitor. Now he'd
:09:26. > :09:30.been accused of forging documents to make it look as though Scotland Yard
:09:31. > :09:34.detectives were taking bribes. But defence lawyers said far from trying
:09:35. > :09:38.to pervert the course of justice, and even though Gohil previously
:09:39. > :09:42.pleaded guilty to money laundering, he was trying to expose corruption
:09:43. > :09:47.within the Metropolitan Police. I was a whistle-blower. Instead of
:09:48. > :09:52.investigating what I had uncovered and put forward, I was persecuted.
:09:53. > :09:56.You claim to be innocent? I do, yes. In court, defence lawyers allege
:09:57. > :10:00.there was clear and compelling evidence of police accepting bribes
:10:01. > :10:04.in return for unlawfully providing sensitive information to private
:10:05. > :10:08.detectives, that Scotland Yard's own investigation into the affair was
:10:09. > :10:12.deliberately designed to find no evidence of corruption. And that
:10:13. > :10:16.prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence, which undermined their
:10:17. > :10:22.case, misleading the Court of Appeal in the process. These allegations
:10:23. > :10:27.were disputed. The case goes back over four years when Mr Gohil
:10:28. > :10:32.anonymously sent documents to public officials and journalists. Among the
:10:33. > :10:35.bundle were what purported to be invoices, detailing payments to
:10:36. > :10:40.confidential sources, bribes for Metropolitan Police officers it was
:10:41. > :10:44.suggested. Having received the documents in August 2011, Scotland
:10:45. > :10:48.Yard's department of professional standards or DPS, was asked to
:10:49. > :10:53.conduct an investigation into the allegations and journalists began to
:10:54. > :10:57.ask questions. I was among a small group of reporters invited here to
:10:58. > :11:01.New Scotland Yard in 2012 for an off the record briefing from officers
:11:02. > :11:08.leading the corruption inquiry, a tape was made of that meeting, a
:11:09. > :11:12.recording later used in court, which Mr Gohil's team said shows the Met
:11:13. > :11:16.was not interested in investigating the corruption. When it emerged
:11:17. > :11:19.officers had not made even basic calls after more than six months, I
:11:20. > :11:24.suggest today was because they feared evidence emerging that would
:11:25. > :11:27.jeopardise a long-running and high-profile fraud case.
:11:28. > :11:31.Irritatingly it emerges during the latter stages of that investigation,
:11:32. > :11:35.that actually some officers in this building took bribes or at least
:11:36. > :11:39.there's a very serious... No, no. The paper trail suggests they may
:11:40. > :11:44.well have done. Hang on, if I took that line from the outset Eric
:11:45. > :11:49.multimillion pound trial, fraud trial, with good evidence would have
:11:50. > :11:55.been scuppered. Exactly my point. There's the problem. No, no. You've
:11:56. > :11:58.got the DPS more worried about a multimillion pound trial than about
:11:59. > :12:06.corrupt police officers. No, it's not. We consider there are very
:12:07. > :12:09.serious questions for both the Director of Public Prosecutions and
:12:10. > :12:12.the chief commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to answer about
:12:13. > :12:17.all aspects of this affair. Scotland Yard has said the allegations of
:12:18. > :12:24.corruption were investigated but no misconduct was identified. The CPS
:12:25. > :12:28.has only confirmed that the case against Mr Gohil has been dropped.
:12:29. > :12:32.However they're not allegations they'll be able to ignore tore long.
:12:33. > :12:34.With all the sport, here's Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes at the BBC
:12:35. > :12:40.It's been a fascinating day in the Premier league.
:12:41. > :12:42.Highlights are on Match of the Day after the news.
:12:43. > :12:45.So, if you don't want to know what happened, you know what to do.
:12:46. > :12:48.Louis Van Gaal said Manchester United fans were right
:12:49. > :12:50.to boo, after his side lost 1-0 at home to Southampton.
:12:51. > :13:01.Southampton's new signing, Charlie Austin, scored
:13:02. > :13:11.Possibly the game of the season was at Norwich, where Liverpool won
:13:12. > :13:16.Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic beat St Johnstone.
:13:17. > :13:19.Bottom-placed Dundee United thrashed Kilmarnock,
:13:20. > :13:22.Johanna Konta has become the first British woman to reach
:13:23. > :13:25.the fourth round of the Australian Open tennis for 29 years.
:13:26. > :13:27.Andy Murray also eased into the last 16 in Melbourne
:13:28. > :13:30.but then had to rush to hospital, after his father-in-law collapsed.
:13:31. > :13:44.Playing professional tennis is a strange occupation. For hours you're
:13:45. > :13:50.insulated from the outside world. Andy Murray's used to that and used
:13:51. > :13:59.to his opponent. He played him three times last year. He used that to his
:14:00. > :14:03.advantage. Sousa is known as conquistador, he is capable of
:14:04. > :14:07.reclaiming ground. In the second set he took full advantage of a Murray
:14:08. > :14:10.slump. The world number two was lured into a fight. He's more than
:14:11. > :14:16.capable of handling himself. The significance of this blow in the
:14:17. > :14:19.first game of the third was clear. Sousa's serve was broken. His
:14:20. > :14:25.resistance would follow. Murray finished the job in four sets. While
:14:26. > :14:29.he'd been playing, outside the bubble, his father-in-law, Nigel
:14:30. > :14:33.Sears had collapse odd on another court. Murray visited him in
:14:34. > :14:36.hospital, where he's said to be recovering. In Johanna Konta
:14:37. > :14:41.hospital, where he's said to be the second week of grand slams.
:14:42. > :14:46.Konta is ranked above her opponent. the second week of grand slams.
:14:47. > :14:51.who was boss. Konta broke and won the first set 6-2. The British
:14:52. > :14:54.number didn't face a single break point, so assertive was her
:14:55. > :15:00.performance. The second went the same way as the first. For the first
:15:01. > :15:05.time in 29 years, a British woman's into the last 16 in Melbourne. Could
:15:06. > :15:08.Johanna Konta go still further? Patrick gearery BBC News.
:15:09. > :15:10.Bath are out of Rugby Union's European Champions Cup,
:15:11. > :15:15.after losing to defending champions Toulon.
:15:16. > :15:24.They're into the quarter-finals, thrashing the three times champions
:15:25. > :15:28.And England's cricketers are 337 runs behind South Africa
:15:29. > :15:32.going into the third day of the final Test in Pretoria.
:15:33. > :15:40.You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel.