16/01/2014 BBC News at Six

seen their pay lose its value. 1.3 million stand to gain from an

increase. I believe Britain can afford an above inflation increase

in the mid-wage, so we restore its real value for people and we make

sure we have a recovery fall, and that work always pays. -- a recovery

fall. We'll be looking at the impact on

workers, the government and business.

Also tonight: Missing - the Edinburgh three-year-old Mikaeel

Kular, who hasn't been seen since he went to bed last night.

The British scientists behind a new technique to stop the partially

sighted going blind. A message from the Taliban - we'll

be back in charge when your troops pull out of Afghanistan.

And Roger Lloyd-Pack, Trigger in Only Fools And Horses, has died.

On BBC London, the Mayor's office says demands for an estuary airport

aren't being taken seriously. But the Prime Minister tells us the

proposals are being treated fairly. Good evening and welcome to the BBC

News at Six. George Osborne says he's now in

favour of an above-inflation rise in the minimum wage. Speaking

exclusively to the BBC, the Chancellor says the economic

recovery means the country can afford a rise. He's recommending an

increase to the Low Pay Commission, which sets the rate. At the moment

the minimum wage is ?6.31 per hour. It's paid to at least 1.35 million

people. That means full-time workers have a take home salary of just over

?11,000 per year. Our political editor, Nick Robinson, reports now

on the Chancellor's announcement and the arguments over the cost of

living. It is perhaps his most controversial

and, to some, his most irritating claim. At the Chancellor insists it

is more than just a sound bite to say we are all in it together, which

is why on a visit to this high-tech manufacturing centre in Coventry, he

told me this. I believe that written macro can afford an above inflation

increase in the minimum wage, so that we restore its real value for

people, make sure we have a recovery fall and that work always pays. What

figure are we talking about? The exact figure has to be set by the

low pay commission. But if, for example, it had kept pace with

inflation it would be ?7 by 2016. Nearly 1.5 million jobs, mostly in

retail and catering, pay the minimum which the law allows. The people who

get that wage have noticed it buying power falling in recent years.

Everything has gone up. Prices in the shops have gone up a lot more

than the minimum wage has gone up. Has that forced you to make

difficult choices? Yes. Sometimes you cannot afford quite as much. The

value of the minimum wage after inflation is taken into account

shows the change since the economic crisis. After years of increase,

look how it drops in recent years. It now stands at ?6 31 per hour. The

Chancellor cannot set a rate but he is suggesting it would need to

increase to ?7 to restore its original value. That may worry small

employers, like the man who was a partner in this shop. I think it is

probably at the right level at the moment. I would not like to see it

increase above inflation. Because? I am not sure exactly where it

benefits the low paid. I think the taxation system needs looking at.

Not many years ago, the Tories would have agreed, opposing the minimum

wage as a destroyer of jobs. People might say you present yourself as a

friend of the working poor, and yet you have just told us that you will

make 12 million pounds more in benefit cuts, much of which goes to

people in cuts. The working poor are the people who suffer most when the

public finances get out of control, when the economy collapses, when the

banking system is not properly regulated. The government I am part

of has got on top of these problems and the whole country benefits, and

I want to make sure the working poor benefit as part of it. I want to

make sure we are all in this together. There are people all

around the country who will either laugh at the phrase, or scream at

the TV or radio to say, it simply is not true. The whole country was

afflicted by a great recession that made the whole country poorer.

Everything I have done has been to try and fix that problem. The job is

not done and I know it has been very difficult for people, but the fruits

of it are that we are creating economic security and peace of mind

for the people of this country, and the prospect that their lives for

our children and grandchildren will be better than the lives that we

have today. Just down the road, Labour run Coventry Council has

decided to pay its workers the so-called living wage, a higher wage

than the minimum. The party is scathing about today's announcement.

He is all over the place on this. Yesterday we put forward a motion in

the House of Commons to see the value of the minimum wage restored

and better enforcement to take place, which he and the government

voted against. Today they are saying they agree with us. This is a

government that does not know where it is going on this very important

issue. It is a sign of changing political times, a sign of the

importance of the living standards debate, that eight Chancellor from

the conservative part, which opposed the creation of them on wage, is now

fighting for some of the credit for the fact that it may soon be rising

again in real terms. Our Chief Economics Correspondent,

Hugh Pym, is here. Obviously this is good for low paid workers, but what

about the overall impact of an increase? It is interesting. The

Treasury are saying that an above inflation increase in the minimum

wage would be neutral for the public finances. There would be gains in

some areas and losses in others. And the losses are interesting. The

Treasury acknowledged there could be a slight rise in unemployment

relative to what it would have been if this measure goes through.

Company profits would be down a bit, so benefit payments would go up.

They are emerging that they would be a bit of an impact, negatively, on

various businesses. Various organisations have come out this

evening against the idea. The Forum of Private business have said the

last thing we need is an inflation busting increase in the minimum

wage, which will cost jobs. The TUC, though, the union movement, are

saying it is a good idea. They think it will not hit the economy. All of

this has to be considered by the low pay commission. They will look at

the Chancellor's ideas as well. They have to come up with the final

recommendations. Police have launched a major search

for a three-year-old boy who has gone missing from his home in

Edinburgh. Mikaeel Kular hasn't been seen since he went to bed last

night. Our Scotland correspondent Lorna Gordon is in Edinburgh for us

now. Mikhail Kool are's mother is said to

be distraught at his disappearance. He usually shares a room in this

flat on this estate with his twin sister but last night he slept

alone. When she went to wake up this morning she discovered he had

disappeared from the family home. Mikhail cooler are, three years

old, last seen almost 24-hour cigar and now the focus of a huge police

search. Locals here are trying to help find the missing boy. Children

can get absolutely anywhere. This is a three-year-old child. Basically,

everywhere has to be searched. I thought we would get the

neighbourhood and go on a walk and see what we could see. We have been

checking the bushes, the bins, bucket shoots. Inside the bins. The

family live in a modern block of flats with apparently good security.

It is not yet clear how he got out of the building, or whether he was

helped. Neighbours say his mother is always careful about his safety. You

usually see him on the stairs, up at the window, playing on the stairs.

Mother does not really let the kids out. Tonight, as the search locally

continues, the appeal for help was widened. It is something we are

prioritising. We have all of the resources we would want to help

assisting us. Again, I would appeal for those members of the public who

live in the locality to again bash it is getting dark, we can see that,

it is getting colder, so please help us. As light faded, coastguard and

lifeguard teams continue to scour the coastline looking for the little

boy, but with two bridges dropping, concerns must grow about what has

happened to him and where exact years. -- with temperatures

dropping. A short while ago, police released a few more details. They

say he has never gone missing before. They say there have been no

arrests as yet but a number of people are helping with their

enquiries. The jury in the trial of the former

Radio One DJ, Dave Lee Travis, has been hearing from two more alleged

victims. One was a former colleague who says the 68-year-old indecently

assaulted her when she was working at a local radio station. The court

was also told that Travis assaulted a 15-year-old in a caravan at a pop

concert. He denies all of the 14 charges against him.

The trial of the Coronation Street star William Roache has been hearing

from a witness who, now in her 60s, says she was raped by the actor at

his house when she was a teenager. The woman says she didn't say

anything at the time because she thought it was her fault. William

Roache denies two counts of rape and five of indecent assault. Judith

Moritz has been following the case. William Roache arrived at court for

the third day of his trial, knowing that the jury would be hearing from

the woman who says that he raped her nearly 50 years ago. He walked into

court, flanked by his daughter and two of his sons, who sat in the

public gallery, listening to the evidence. The actor has played

Coronation Street's Ken Barlow since the first episode in 1960. At the

time, he owned this bungalow in Lancashire. It now belongs to

someone else. This is where, in a bedroom in 1967, the actor was

accused of raping a teenage girl. Now aged 60 to the woman, whose

identity is protected, appeared by video link. The court will surely

take of an interview she did with police last year. Of the first rape

she said, I can just remember thinking, God, I just want to get

out of here. I did not know what to make of it. I was just so scared.

The court then heard that a few months later, in a different house

in Haslingden, also owned by William Roache, the actor raped the girl

again. The woman says she kept quiet about both rapes. Of the first she

said, I thought it must be my fault. I did not know why it had

happened. I had gone round there in all innocence. The defence will

continue to cross the woman tomorrow. Liam Roach is also accused

of indecently assaulting four other women who were under the age of 16

in the 1960s and early 70s. He denies all of the charges against

him. Explaining further why she had stayed silent about the rapes, the

woman said, I didn't think I'd be believed, for a start. Things like

that didn't happen in those days, or I didn't think they did. She told

the court she finally contacted the police last year after a

conversation with her son in the wake of the Jimmy Savile and Cyril

Smith's gambles. It was then, she said, it all started to unravel,

after eating away at her for so long.

The Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is to stand trial on

charges of bribery. The trial relates to an alleged payment of

millions of pounds to a German banker and is expected to begin in

April. Mr Ecclestone, who has run Formula One for nearly 40 years,

insists that he did nothing illegal but is stepping down from the F1

board while he contests the case. A British team of doctors say they've

achieved a huge advance in the treatment of some forms of

blindness. By injecting genes into the affected eyes they've improved

the vision of patients who were almost certainly going to go blind.

As our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports, the technique could,

eventually, offer hope to thousands of patients affected by other forms

of blindness. Two years ago, Jonathan Wyatt was

going to go blind. That is a fantastic improvement because when

you first did the test you could not see any of these lines. I can go

down again. Thanks to a genetic therapy by his doctor Professor

Robert MacLaren, his site has improved. I had come to the edge of

the abyss, looked down at total blackness. Professor McLaren had

tapped me on the shoulder and said, come this way, it is possible to see

again. In 2011, BBC News reported on Professor McLaren's pioneering

operation on Jonathan. In a delicate procedure he injected DNA into his

eye. So how does the gene therapy work? Let's have a look inside the

human eye. Right at the back, there are cells that detect light and

enable us to see. In Jonathan's case, because of a faulty gene,

sells at the back of his I had been dying, leaving only the ones in the

middle. Doctors had managed to stop these from dying by injecting new

working copies of the faulty gene. Not only that, the genes have

revitalised some of the cells that have stopped working, and so the

treatment has actually improved his vision. Jonathan has a very rare

form of blindness. More common forms, such as age-related

blindness, which affects millions worldwide, involve many genes, and

will be more context to cure with gene therapy. But Professor McLaren

believes it will be possible. We are very excited. We are very much at

the threshold of a new treatment which I believe will come in for

many types of retinal disease. We are delighted with the results for

Jonathan. To have an improvement in vision sustained in monitoring in

the trial is the best possible result we could have hoped for.

Younger sufferers, such as Wayne Thompson, have most to gain from

gene therapy. When he was first diagnosed, doctors told him he would

not see his daughter grow up. Now, following the treatment, he hopes to

see his grandchildren. The time is 18:16pm. Our top story this evening:

The Chancellor George Osborne backs an above-inflation rise in the

minimum wage saying the country can afford it. Coming up: there he is.

Tributes from Del and Rodney to the Only Fools and Horses actor Roger

Lloyd Pack who's died aged 69. Later on BBC London: Turning the

black cab green. Cabbies give their verdict on zero-emission taxis of

the future. And why London's the most popular it's ever been. The

tourists coming to the capital in their millions. That, and more,

coming up at 6.30pm. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has issued a warning to

Britain and America. A senior figure has told the BBC that they are

confident of re-taking control of the country once foreign troops pull

out. British troops began operations in Afghanistan in October 2001.

Since then, 447 British service personnel have been killed in action

there, most recently in December. The withdrawal of British troops

will be complete by the end of this year. Our World Affairs Editor John

Simpson has obtained a rare recorded interview with a Taliban spokesman,

and sent this report from Kabul. This is the year that will decide

Afghanistan's future. Kabul It is doing well these days, but people

remember when the Caliban ruled it, the economy collapsed and ferocious

punishments were inflicted daily -- the tally ban. -- the Taliban.

Recording an interview with the Taliban is difficult these days, but

their spokesperson agreed to speak to us via phone. The first question

was about Afghanistan's security. The American forces on the ground

have kept the Taliban pinned down, but they are getting bolder, and

their spokesman wants to give the impression that the foreign troops

are being driven out with their tails between their legs. In the

remote parts, everywhere is Mujahideen Taliban. They move around

and have control over the finishes -- villages. They have their own

administrative centre, limited parts or under foreign control, but they

cannot really get out of there. The foreign forces in particular are so

scared that they are confined to their bases. And, according to you,

the same is true in Helmand province. Yes, vast swathes of

Helmand are under our control. Next, what about the coming

elections? In April, people will vote for a successor to President

Karzai who took over in 2001 when the Caliban government -- Taliban

government collapsed. The Taliban leadership is set against

consensus. It is a fake process taking place under the occupation.

Whatever the foreigners want, will happen. The objection -- election is

not legitimate and neither are the candidates. What will the future be?

Most people hope it will not lie with the Taliban. They created the

most extreme religious government honour. Televisions and video tapes

were not just banned, they were hanged from the lamp posts as a

warning. The law of ie from and I was applied literally. Would the

Taliban bring back the same extreme punishments that were obvious in

Afghanistan? There cannot be changed because the Islamic law is constant.

When there is a crime, we have to implement that sharia law. There

will be changes in behaviour, but the law will be the same as before.

We are sure that society is ready for this. But it clearly isn't. In

Kabul, most people are haunted by the past, scared that the Taliban

could come part cash back. They are night they oppressed people, people

could not work. In the name of Islam, they killed hundreds of

people every day. I am 100% worried, and the people are worried. Everyone

is concerned, young and old. The people of Afghanistan are worried

about the Taliban coming back. The Taliban say they are confident of

victory, although most people here would not agree. This country is far

more stable nowadays, but it is still deeply worried about any

returned to the past. Yesterday we record -- reported on

the child abuse carried out to order online by British men on vulnerable,

young children in the Philippines. Today came new details of the police

operation to smash the paedophile ring behind the story. Five men have

been jailed, another 17 arrested, and the National Crime Agency says

it has identified more than 120 other British suspects. There are

some disturbing details in Angus Crawford's report.

This is operation Endeavour in action. Philippine police raid house

and rescue 12 children. The youngest was just six years old. They had

been sexually abused by their own parents in front of a webcam,

directed from thousands of miles away in Britain. The raid was

launched after the arrest of this man, Timothy Ford. He offered other

paedophiles the chance to watch the abuse as well. Men like Thomas Owen

from Merseyside. The records of their online conversations released

today show Ford offering Owen what he calls live shows. And describing

some of the children is really cute. Police arrested 29 people in 12

different countries and have identified many more suspects. There

are over 700 suspects around the world. Over 100 of them are here in

the UK. That is shocking, isn't it? Very shocking. People need to

realise something. Let's call this what this is. This is not an

Internet crime, it is a crime facilitated by the Internet. It is

child sexual abuse. This is a new crime, fuelled by rising demand in

the West and is a growing problem, especially in the Philippines. In

some of the poorest slum areas, whole communities have been taken

over by the trade. Families forced their children to perform sex acts

in front of webcams for foreigners who are prepared to pay. This trade

is driven by poverty. This girl was 15 when she was forced by her own

aunt to work in what she calls a cybersex then. -- den.

Operation Endeavour has been a success, but charities say the

police need to do much more to protect the tens of thousands of

children who remain at risk. Greater Manchester Police are being

charged with breaching health and safety laws following the shooting

of an unarmed man in Cheshire. Anthony Grainge,r who was 36, was

shot dead by an armed officer nearly two years ago during an operation to

arrest a group of men suspected of plotting an armed robbery. Our Home

Affairs Correspondent Matt Prodger is here. Matt, this is a fairly

unusual move? It is unusual, but not a first. Back in 2007 the

Metropolitan Police were successfully prosecuted over the

police shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes and again, like this one,

they were prosecuted under health and safety regulations, Greater

Manchester Police are said to be responsible for serious deficiencies

in the preparation of the operation that led to his death. The Chief

Constable is the one named in the charge, and it is effectively the

police as a body that are really being prosecuted.

12 Years a Slave and its British director Steve McQueen have been

nominated for nine Oscars. The film tells the story of a man sold into

slavery during the middle of the 19th Century. Philomena, starring

Steve Coogan and Judi Dench, has also been nominated for Best Film.

They'll compete against space adventure Gravity and the comedy

American Hustle, both of which have ten nominations each.

He helped to bring us some of the funniest moments in British TV

comedy. The character actor Roger Lloyd Pack, best known for his role

as Trigger in Only Fools and Horses, has died. He was 69. Lizo Mzimba

looks back at his life. Play nice and cool, Simon, you know what I

mean? As the hapless track -- as the hapless Trigger in Only Fools and

Horses, he was part of one of TV's most successful shows. He played the

role the more than 20 years. How much? For you, ?17 each. Audiences

knew they could rely on his deadpan stupidity. Nine, eight. Done. This

afternoon, said David Jason said: one of his early screen appearances

was on Play for Today. It is all good work for the Tom Brown 's of

this world. Although he was best known the teamwork, -- TV work, he

was a rather trained actor. He was a prominent campaigner for the causes

he felt passionately about. Many will remember him for playing the

socially awkward father Owen on Vicar of Dibley. But it is the

intellectually challenged Trigger he will be best remembered. My name is

Rodney. I thought it was Dave. Basil, are you going to get this

meeting started? Me and Dave have been waiting here all night.

The actor, Roger Lloyd-Pack who died today, aged 69.

Time for a look at the weather. Here's Darren Bett.

A lot of showers around today across many parts of the UK, and overnight

there will be more showers, probably anywhere. Some of the heavier

showers and more frequent showers will be across southern parts of

England and Wales where the wind is a little stronger, but the showers

could turn a bit heavy across Northern Ireland, close to the area

of low pressure. Where we get good breaks in the cloud in Scotland the

risk of icy patches. It will be milder further south where we have

heavy showers and stronger winds as well. Through the day while we might

start with heavy showers, they will ease away from Scotland, Wales and

the South West. A little bit of sunshine to come in Scotland, the

risk of some fog patches, particularly early in the morning.

The fog never really cleared from some parts of the Moray Firth.

Patchy parts across Northern Ireland and a few showers in the afternoon.

Generally parts of England and Wales should see showers in the afternoon.

We could see frequent showers in the south-east, but it looks like the

steady rain will be across the Channel and conditions should

improve across Wales on the south-west and we get more sunshine

in the afternoon. The details for the weekend keep changing though. It

looks like this at the moment, a lot of cloud and rain never too far

away. Scotland may start right away from the fog in the morning on

Saturday. We will see some rain moving towards the north. Probably

the heavier rain developing across the more western areas, and again,

temperatures between six and 10 degrees. Western parts may cheer up

on Sunday with some sunshine, possibly some showers, but further

East has persistent rain, especially north-east England, Scotland, and

that will be combined with strong winds.