24/01/2013 BBC News at Six

Crime figures for England and Wales are the lowest for more than 30

years. Whether it's murder, anti- social behaviour or burglary, there

is less of it. Youth crime is down too. Is that because youngsters are

spending more time on social media than on the streets? There is

evidence to show that when people are bored they are more likely to

get into trouble and do something that is antisocial or minor crime.

Also: David Cameron makes another big speech, this time its on tax

dodgers. He can't get away from questions about that EU referendum.

The Libyan city that led the uprising against Gaddafi, now

Benghazi is too dangerous for British citizens. A Foreign Office

warning to get out. Two cars carrying four members of the same

family crash into a river. The father dies while the mother and

children escape. A kick that left a ball boy in pain and a Chelsea

player sent off has sparked a row that has divided football. And

coming up later on the BBC News Channel. All the sport, including

the man waiting in the final. World Number One, Novak Djokovic will

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six o'clock. The overall

level of crime in England and Wales has dropped to its lowest level for

more than 30 years. There are two sets of figures out today, a survey

of the public and the number of crimes reported to the police. Both

sets of figures show a drop across most categories, whether it's

murder or Antony social behaviour. As Mark Easton reports, experts are

struggling to work out what is driving this decrease in crime.

Crime has been a profound concern for generations with many people

still believing that it's rising. Today's figures for England and

Wales reveal something remarkable. The chance of being a victim of

crime is now at its lowest level since we started measuring, more

than 30 years ago. By asking people about their actual experience of

crime, it has been calculated that overall crime has fallen 8% in a

year, a significant drop. Violent crime down 12%, household crime

down 7%, vandalism down 14%. The survey suggests crime has actually

halved since 1995, 10 million fewer crimes a year. Crimes reported by

police have also fallen, although the Office for National Statistics

suggests police figures may sometimes overstate the reduction

because of inconsistent recording systems. All the data though tells

a story of crime at historically low levels. The great crime mystery

of our times is why? One theory is that a number of anti-crime

measures have cipbted. Improved locks and security means cars are

harder to steal, homes more difficult to burel. --burgal.

has been an improvement in science and DNA detection. There might be

wider changes that are taking place in society about the way that

people behave towards each other. Another theory is that the internet

is playing a part. Bored youngsteres who might once have

hung around on the street getting into trouble are more likely to be

online or on their mobile. They spend as much time on the web as

they do on TV. What we don't know is exactly what impact that has on

youth crime. We do know that when young people are bored there is

evidence to show when they are bored they are more likely to get

into trouble. Another theory is a ban on lead in petrol and paint. A

number of respected stud yisz have found strong correlations between

exposure and violent crime rates. Why has crime been falling in every

developed nation over the same period regardless of economic or

crime policies. It may be that the answer is technological, not

political. Mark is with me now. Most of the time we think that when

times get tough, crime goes up. This seems to suggest the opposite?

Go back to 2008, I remember clearly the Crime Minister stating it was

blindingly obvious as the economy went down, crime would go up.

Preparing us for the worst. That is not what happened. Crime continued

to fall through those years. In the last year it has been falling even

faster. It's not just a story in the UK. As I suggested in that

report, it's happening all over the world. It doesn't seem to matter

what the economic situation has been or indeed what crime policies

countries have. We will have to rewrite those criminology textbooks.

Thank you. David Cameron says it's high time governments around the

world tackled the problem of tax dodging by multinational companies.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davox,

Switzerland. He's met several European leaders there, including

Germany's Angela Merkel. As our economic editor, Stephanie Flanders

reports, questions about his pledge to give the British people a

referendum on EU membership were high on the agenda. We will bring

you that story in a moment. A quarter of schools and colleges in

England failed to produce any pupils with the top A-level grades

needed to get into the country's leading universities. Figures

collated by the BBC showed that nearly 600 schools and colleges had

no-one achieving the two A grades and the B in the subjects preferred

by the so-called Russell Group of universities. There is a long way

to go with pupils limiting their options by choosing the wrong

subjects. The figures show that nearly a quarter of the 2,500

schools and colleges teaching A- levels no pupils achieved the 2A

and one B grades in the subjects sought by the top universities.

think the Government in everything that they are doing are

concentrating on the top 20%. The Government need to remember there

is a range of students out there with a wide range of abilities and

disabilities. We need to cater for all of them. A-level students in

England study a wide variety of subjects, everything from religious

studies to biology. The Russell Group of leading universities,

including Bristol, York and Nottingham, say they most commonly

look for high grades in subjects like maths, physics, modern or

classical languages. Other subjects may be acceptable or even desirable

according to the course, but sometimes only in combination with

at least two of the others. These are the subjects that enable you to

keep your options open. They prepare you well for a wide range

of subjects. It's important that students take advice and it's

important that many of them study at least some of those facilitating

subjects. The new data also shows that over 200 schools failed to

reach a new Government target which requires them to have 40% of pupils

achieving five good GCSEs or show significant improvement. The

Department for Education says whether students take an academic

or vocational route or mix of both, standards must be high. More

details of the school league tables for England can be found on the BBC

News website: We can go back to that story about David Cameron who

says it's time governments around the world tackle the problem of tax

dodging by multinational companies. There are statesmen at Davenport

and there are salesmen. Today, the Prime Minister was trying to be

both, a day after a speech that raised big questions about

Britain's place in Europe. He is chairing the G8 this year, Mr

Cameron said he wanted to use that to make sure big global companies

were paying their fair share of tax. I'm low-tax Conservative, I'm not

that companies should pay no tax Conservative. In the last 24-hours

you have told any business thinking about investing in the UK that we

might not be in the European Union in five years' time and this

morning you have told them that if they do come to the UK, they will

be put under enormous moral and public pressure to pay more tax?

you look at the 55 very major business leaders who have written

to the Times this morning say, they say this is a sensible approach.

You are quite right to raise this issue about tax avoidance and some

of the moral issues attached to it. Part of the reason for raising this

at the G8-level is this is a problem for all countries, not just

for Britain. You might expect the boss of Goldman Sachs to be

interested in all this. The investment bank got into bother

when it considered delaying some staff payments to help them avoid

paying the top 50p rate. He said the public pressure had helped to

change their mind. There is a limit. Are you going to hold people to

public opinion because a house they could have sold in January, instead

they sell in May because there was a profit to be made on that house

because the selling price was higher than the purchase price? If

you do that, you are going to criminalise every right thinking

person who organisationers her affairs in a sensible way. Some of

the business leaders who maybe read about the speech for the first time

this morning were bewildered by it and many were concerned about the

uncertainty it would bring and the effect it might have on the UK

economy. At least one head of a major company with a lot invested

in the UK told me David Cameron was right, the uncertainty was already

there. I think UK in EU has been a good thing for everyone and will

continue to be. I'm for it. I don't like uncertainty, but suppressing

uncertainty is not the same thing as resolving it. The Prime Minister

met privately with the German, Dutch, Italian and Irish leaders

today for the first time since his speech. The general feeling here in

Davenport is that the worst of the crisis is over, but Europe has a

difficult few years ahead of it. David Cameron may feel the same way.

The Foreign Office has told all UK nationals to leave the Libyan city

of Benghazi immediately. Officials said they were now aware of a

"specific and imminent threat" against westerners. The city, which

was the birthplace of the uprising against Colonel Gaddafi, has since

become a dangerous place for foreign nationals. Today -- today's

warning comes days after the end of the hostage crisis in neighbouring

Algeria. Gordon Corera joins me now. What do we think lies behind this

warning? The Foreign Office have been advising against all travel to

Benghazi. In the last few days they received intelligence of a

significant and immediate threat to westerners. They have told Britons

to leave. Not just Britons are being targeted. It it is Europeans,

Germans and the French and Dutch have asked their citizens to leave.

It is a broader threat. In September the US Consulate was

attacked and the US ambassador to Libya was killed, Chris Stevens. In

the last few weeks we have seen the hostage crisis and the deaths of

many in Algeria. There is not thought to be a direct link to

Algeria. It is not thought to be the same group behind the

alAlgerian attack. There are a large number of terrorist groups

operating across North Africa who are a threat. The Libyan

authorities tonight have said that they are unhappy at this warning.

They are surprised by it. It came out of the blue to them. They don't

know what it is based on. Immigration inspectors say they

have uncovered a backlog of 16,000 cases which haven't been dealt with

by the UK Border Agency. Most were requests to settle through marriage

and include people waiting a decade to hear if their partner had

permission to live in the UK. The Chief Inspector of immigration,

John Vine, described the situation as "unacceptable". An Irish nanny

living in Boston charged with violently assaulting a one-year-old

baby, who later died, could now be charged with her murder according

to prosecution lawyers in America. Aisling McCarthy Brady has denied

assaulting Rehma Sabir, whose father is British. Flowers outside

the home of Rehma Sabir, a little girl who had turned one. She died

after an alleged assault by her own nanny. This is 34-year-old Aisling

McCarthy Brady, wh comes from Ireland and had been living in

America illegally looking after children. The diagnosis for the

injuries is abuse of head trauma, consistent with a violent shaking

of a child. Prosecutors have described the severe injuries the

child suffered. In her room officers found bed clothes and baby

wipes stained with blood. A neighbour had heard what was

described as "extreme crying." when the police arrived they found the

girl breathing, but unconscious. She died in hospital two-days'

later. She did nothing wrong. It's a horrible tragedy for everybody,

the parents, the family. A sad day. Aisling McCarthy Brady came to

America in 2002. She was permitted to stay for a period of time.

was always attentive to the children in her care. The case

awakens memories of the British nanny found guilty 16 years ago of

killing a baby boy. She was freed after her murder conviction was

reduced on appeal. The family of Rehma Sabir have asked for privacy.

The girl's father was born in Britain. After pleading not guilty

to assault, the accused nanny was remanded in custody with bail set

The changing face of war - the change allowing American women to

fight on the frontline. In the business news - a game of

two halfs. Latest figures show that bank lending on mortgages has gone

up, while personal loans are down. The IMF has warned Britain to ease

Jordan has called for emergency international aid to help deal with

an influx of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees T Foreign Minister

said it is struggling to cope with an unprecedented exodus of people

fleeing the Syrian conflict. Our correspondent has been to the

border, where every day thousands more men, women and children arrive

looking for help. This report does contain some upsetting images.

Small figures in a vast crisis. Every night they come in their

thousands. Most are women and children, terrorised by war. And

for the children, how frightening is it - the war? They keep on

screaming. They can't sleep. They cry all the time. In the distance,

in the country behind them, smoke rises from an explosion. On this

side of the border, they meet soldiers who try to help, not kill.

At each border crossing our forces are there to receive them - I am

told. We take them somewhere safe, to restore their sense of security.

This is the place of safety - Zatari camp where refugees are

being cared for by the Jordanian Government and the UN. All day

people are continuing to arrive here. Some 3,000 in the past 24

hours. We are told there are tens of thousands more waiting on the

other side of the border. All of this is putting a huge strain on

the resources of the camp. There are 50,000-60,000 ready to cross

into Jordan. We know we've done as well as we can, given the resources

we've got. Which is we've no resources any more. We need money

to expand this camp as well as open two others. So far, the UN has

raised just 3% of what it needs to care for the refugees in Jordan

over the next 12 months. Help of all kinds is needed. This woman

cares for her severely disabled nephew.

Her own husband was killed in Syria. People do what they can to create

some dignity in their surroundings. Among many of the refugees there's

a sense the world beyond the camp has abandoned them. This is a

disaster. A disaster. There's no value for a

child, for a human being. No value at all.

Where's the humanity? These are images of one day in the life of

Zatari camp. The new comers struggle with flinty

ground. The young learn quickly the burdens

of an adult world in turmoil. The men mourn a three-month-old

baby who died a few days after arriving here. It was a tragedy

that might easily have happened in home in Syria, but to bury their

child in exile deepens the grief. At twilight the people keep coming

by any means they can. We watched as families boarded boats on the

Syrian side. With their numbers growing and scant international aid

promised, for how much longer can A father has died after two cars

carrying four members of the same family crashed into a river at

Buxton. Our correspondent is at the hospital in Stockport, where the

family were taken. Judith, what more do we know about what

happened? Well, George, this is a terribly sad story. An 11-year-old

girl and her nine-year-old brother were being taken to school this

morning in two separate cars. Incredibly both of the cars came

off the road at Buxton and went into the river. The whole family

were airlifted here to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, where

the mother and children were released. Very sadly, the

children's father died. These two cars skidded into the

river near Buxton just after 8.30am. They were being driven by parents

who left the same house in convoy to take their two children to

different schools. Father and daughter came off the road first.

Then the car being driven by mother and son drove into the water. The

mother and children managed to escape. For 40 minutes the father

was stuck in the freezing water. People from further up the road,

who live nearby the family gave assistance. Entered the water to

try and get the gentleman out of the vehicle. When the police and

Fire Service came, they went into the water and managed to release

the gentleman that was still in the vehicle. The 42-year-old man was

airlifted to hospital in Stockport, but was pronounced dead there.

Conditions in the area today were treacherous. An investigation has

been launched to find out how the accident happened. With the weather

conditions, quite a lot of standing snow and ice on the roadway. At

times it does get very close, the road to the river edge. It looks as

though at this stage there's been a very low speed disappearance of the

vehicle from the road as it has gone around one of the bends.

cars were pulled out of the water and will be examined into why a

daily school run turned into such tragedy.

Women in the United States military are to be allowed to serve in

combat roles after the Pentagon said it would overturn a rule

preventing their deployment. It could open hundreds of front-line

positions for women. Could it happen here? Thousands of women in

the US military have been facing daily dangers in the frontline in

Iraq and Afghanistan. When it comes to the fighting, it has mostly been

done by men. Women have been trained to kill, but prevented from

joining infantry units,. Women are fighting, they are dying. They have

shown they have great skills. As the services look at this, the one

thing they will probably look at is not changing training standards to

accommodate women. Now President Obama wants to

overturn the ban. He's got the backing of US military chiefs to

break down all barriers, already being contested in the courts. And

for this woman who's done two tours of Afghanistan, says it is not

about gender. I want to make the point we're not looking to reserve

spots for women. We are giving people a chance to compete. Some

women definitely can't do it like some men can't. Now it means they

will have a chance to prove themselves. Here in London the

Ministry of Defence says the vast majority of Britain's armed forces

have been opened up to women, but there is still one significant

exception - women continue to be barred from what's called close-

combat roles. In the British armed forces women are flying fighter

jets, they are also serving on warships and soon be allowed on

submarines. On the ground they are working as bomb disposal experts.

In Afghanistan, three British service women have already lost

their lives. This is one retired general who does not believe they

will ever be equal in battle. cannot afford to have anything but

the strongest, the fittest, the most determined people engaging the

enemy. I would reject -- regret the day when we find ourselves lowering

standard to be and I realise it's not the right expression, to be

nice and correct and not sexist to people. America is opening the way

for woman to serve in combat. In Britain, the MoD says it has no

plans to follow, it will be hard to ignore the changes of its closest

ally. Chelsea's Eden Hazard may face

further punishment after being sent off for kicking a Swansea City ball

ball. Eden Hazard since apologised but the FA are reviewing the

incident. Officially in football, the ball

boy is neutral, but his role can be tactical. When the home team is on

top, time is running out. 17-year- old Charlie Morgan had it.

Chelsea's Eden Hazard wanted it - situation resolved by a boot to the

ribs. Hazardous indeed! The boy just put his whole body on

to the ball. I tried to kick the ball. I have apologised.

There was no appearance from the ball boy in Wales today. No comment

for the hopeful media near his home. Outside Swansea City, measured

sympathy. I can see why Chelsea are angry over it. These things happen,

don't they? I thought that the ball boy was out of order. Hazard should

never have done that. Chelsea, the European champions, desperately

needing positive headlines. Their players have been involved in

controversies recently. There are some who feel that Eden Hazard was

the injured party at swn sea. The -- Swansea. The billion boy's

job is to give the ball back. I think his behaviour is disgraceful.

The FA are reviewing the incident. Hazard faces a three-match ban. As

for Charlie Morgan, he admitted on Twitter that time wasting is part

Wintry and wet. Certainly wintry for the next 24 hours. We have got

an amber warning in force for heavy snow. It is for the second half of

tomorrow. It is worth bearing in mind it will be tricky to travel

before this cold snap ends. Ahead of that, fairly cold tonight. A

wide-spread frost. There'll be ice around once again. Snow into the

far north-west of Scotland. This is all rain out west. Temperatures

will start to rise by the start of the day tomorrow. Six Celsius in

Plymouth w rain approaching. Head further north and east, you are

back into the cold weather again. Minus five and minus six Celsius in

parts. Four or five Celsius and rain in Northern Ireland at this

time of the day. That snow will melt very, very quickly. The rain

will edge in across Scotland - it is hitting cold air so turning into

snow. It is across Scotland we will see the effects oh that snow.

-- of that snow. Western areas - temperatures rising

all the while. Head further east and it is chilly.

It will feel raw through the afternoon. With that cold air in

place though, this weather front continues to move eastwards, we get

that snow piling in for a time during Friday evening. If you have

got travel plans, the earlier you can travel the better to avoid that

snow. It clears through, but there is likely to be travel disruption

for a time during Friday and Friday night. The travel pages of the BBC