20/03/2014 BBC News at Six

Australia says it's following up new and credible information. Satellite

images show objects in the southern ocean 1,500 miles off Western

Australia. Planes from Australia, America and New Zealand have been

scouring the area today - their search will resume tomorrow. Other

aircraft are continuing the search. We'll be looking at some of the

theories about the plane's disappearance. Also tonight... The

Chancellor made this morning's headlines with his pension promise -

we check the small print and look for the pitfalls. Barack Obama piles

the pressure on Russia after its take over of Crimea - new sanctions

against President Putin's inner circle. Going underground, the

thieves who tunnelled their way into Tesco to steal thousands - police

are hunting for the gang. The royal protection officer who

took a bullet for Princess Anne - he speaks 40 years on since the attack

on her car. On BBC London, the death of a

deportee at Heathrow. Three security guards face manslaughter charges.

And the Met targets mobile phone theft in the capital.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. It's been described as

a new and credible lead in the search for the missing Malaysian

airliner. The Australian government says it has received satellite

images of two objects in the Southern Ocean which could be linked

to the disappearance. It's now 13 days since flight MH370 went missing

with 239 people on board. Four surveillance planes from Australia,

America and New Zealand have been searching for the objects. They are

concentrating on an area 1,500 miles south-west of Australia. The search

will resume tomorrow morning - John Donnison reports from Perth in

Western Australia. This is the latest lead in a mystery

which has run for almost two weeks. To the untrained eye, these pictures

could be anything. Two objects, 124 metres long, 15 metres long,

floating in the Indian Ocean. But here in Australia, they were worth

taking seriously. Following specialist analysis of this

satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have

been identified. Australian military aircraft as well as planes from New

Zealand and America spent much of the Day searching for the debris. It

does not get much more remote, with waves up to 17 metres high. The

first plane on the scene could see nothing through the clouds and

rain. Unfortunately, with the weather conditions, we were unable

to locate any wreckage or debris. But other aircraft are continuing

the search, up until last lights tonight. We know that the plane

turned west, back over the Malaysian peninsulas. Satellite data suggests

it then travelled by the north towards central Asia or south over

the Indian Ocean. It is the search of the second of these two routes

which led to the siting of the debris. In Malaysia, where many

relatives of those missing attended another press conference today, the

government recognised their anguish. For all the families around the

world, the one piece of information that we want most, that they want

most, is the information we do not have, the location of MH 370. This

Norwegian merchant ship was the first vessel to reach the search

area. An Australian Navy ship is two days away, and a British survey ship

is also on its way. There are now 29 aircraft and 18 ships involved in

the wider search area, stretching from the shores of Burma to the far

south. The search operation is being coordinated from this our force base

just outside Perth. The planes are all back here for the night and will

resume again in the morning, in a few hours' time. Officials are

warning of course that the search for this debris could take days, and

even then, it may have nothing to do with the missing plane.

The longer the hunt for the plane goes on, the greater the speculation

about exactly what has happened to flight MH370. Our transport

correspondent Richard Westcott looks now at some of the theories about

its disappearance. After nearly two weeks of chasing

shadows, the trail now leads to an ocean in one of the most remote

corners of the globe. At 24 metres, the biggest piece of debris

photographed seems too big to be a floating sea container, and this is

roughly the area where the aircraft would have run out of fuel. That it

could be a false alarm. So, if this is the Malaysian flight, how did it

get there? One of the passengers or walk route could have deliberately

sabotaged the flight. There is no obvious motive, but the Malaysians

are convinced that two important communications systems, Dukinfield,

and the transponders, were switched off intentionally to hide the

aircraft. Plus, there was no distress call. Many pilots are told

that even during an emergency, you would normally have time to radio in

a Mayday. Alternatively, there could have just been a catastrophic

problem with the aircraft, a crisis which knocked out all the systems

and caught the crew by surprise. Let's take a look again at the first

part of the flight. Some pilots suggest that this term may have been

a last desperate lunge for the nearest runway, around 200 miles

away, before everyone lost consciousness. Even if they have

found parts of the Malaysian airliner, and it is still a very big

if, they probably will not tell us the full is Tory. It does not mean

to say that there will be a lot of information to be gained from the

floating wreckage. --. We. If there had been a fire on board, there

might be some visible fire damage. When a French airliner came down in

the Atlantic five years ago, they found floating wreckage days

afterwards, but it took them a further 2.5 years to find the rest

of the aircraft, including the crucial black boxes. So, the

agonising wait for the relatives goes on. It may be months, even

years, before they solve the mystery.

You can keep up to date with all the latest developments on the missing

plane on our website. A day after the Budget, there's

agreement on all sides that the Chancellor's reform of the pension

system amounts to the most radical change for nearly a century. Being

able to cash in all your pension savings will work for some, but as

our chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym, reports, some financial

experts have been raising their concerns.

It could prove to be the most radical and long-lasting initiative

of George Osborne's time in Downing Street. The media coverage of the

pensions shake-up reflected that. Giving people more choice over their

retirement money and lifetime savings was at the heart of the

Budget. I wanted to help people who had worked hard and saved hard.

These pension changes, and support for savers, it is all about building

a stronger, more resilient economy. When people retire, they face hefty

penalties if they want to get hold of their pension pot all at once.

Many people in effect have to buy an annuity, which pays a guaranteed

income for the rest of their lives. Those incomes have been falling. But

from next year, they will be allowed to withdraw all their pension money

if they want without the penalties, which will give them much greater

that civility over how they use their retirement savings. These

changes do not apply to employer, salary linked schemes. Andrea is a

florist, who runs her own business. She has saved with a pension plan.

When she retires, she will benefit from the new freedom to take all her

money upfront. You can do whatever you like with your money. You earn

it, you save it, now you can do whatever you want, or blow it. But

the Treasury's policy may have unexpected consequences, according

to some experts. If fewer people buy annuities, the annual incomes for

those who do want them could be lower than they would have been. A

lot fewer people will buy annuities than has been the case, probably

people buying annuities will be those who think they have got a

pretty good chance of living a long time. If the annuity providers

think, average life expectancy of the people we are selling these two

has gone up, then they will only be able to offer a lower return. Labour

argued that people might be misled into making the wrong decisions

about their pensions. We need to make sure that what the Chancellor

is proposing, which is welcome in terms of choice and flexibility,

does not end up with a return to the past misselling scandals. And what

if people decide to spend their pension money on fast cars which are

marked the costume was put to the pensions minister, who said it was

up to them. If people know that they will end up living just on the state

pension, buying a fast car, then that is their choice. The Treasury

says the new flexibility on pensions will provide better deals, and there

is no reason why as with so many policies, it will take time for the

full impact to become clear. The pressure on Russia over its

intervention in Ukraine got personal today - President Obama has imposed

new sanctions against President Putin's inner circle and financial

backers. The move came as David Cameron joined other European

leaders in Brussels to decide what THEY should do following Russia's

annexation of Crimea. Matthew Price is in Brussels for us this evening.

Matthew. Is Europe agreed on what it should do? I think it is a lot

harder for Europe to reach agreement. Obviously, President

Obama, once he has got the backing of Congress, can press ahead with

sanctions, which is what he did today on several senior Kremlin

officials. Russia, interestingly enough, said those sanctions would

hit America like a boomerang, and sure enough, shortly afterwards, the

Kremlin announced travel restrictions on several senior

American officials, who can no longer go to Russia. It is likely to

despite the divisions in Europe, that tonight at this summit, I think

they will agree on more measures against individuals in Russia. And

yet there are divisions, which will probably prevent them from doing

what some, especially Eastern European, countries would like them

to do, which is hitting Russia hard with economic sanctions. Germany and

Britain are pretty clear that economic sanctions will only come

into play if Russia further worsens the situation, in other words, sends

troops into Eastern Ukraine just one other important thing to look out

for, there are those here in Brussels who believe that the EU is

on the verge of a seismic shift in its relationship with Russia. At the

moment it depends a great deal on Russia some say today could mark the

beginning of several years of turning away from Russia in terms of

looking for alternative supplies of energy and alternative places to

trade with. A man who alleges he was raped by

the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Nigel Evans has

denied that it was consensual sex. The alleged victim, in his early

20s, told the jury he had agreed to share a bed with the MP because he

considered him a friend. Mr Evans denies charges of rape and assault

against seven man. A gang of thieves has got away with ?80,000 after

reading a 50ft long tunnel under a Tesco store, to raid the cash

machine. Police are looking for witnesses in the Salford area. For

days and nights, this team of these slowly dug their away underground. A

50ft long tunnel was dug. Here, they negotiated pipes and electricity

lines until they reached the bottom of the store. Police said it would

have taken weeks of labour. This is where they began their journey, from

the wasteland outside the store. They started to dig into by inch,

month after month, through the soil, concrete and foundations of the

store, until they finally reached the cash machine. ?80,000 was taken.

The gang would have needed machinery and manpower. But still no one

noticed a thing. Very, -- very clever, very slick. It is

unbelievable, really. Nobody suspected anything? No, I did not

hear anything about it. It is crazy. It is pretty shocking, to be honest,

that anyone would go through that much hassle. Experts say whoever dug

the tunnel knew what they were doing. They must have been

professional in order to do this, with plenty of experience. They must

have had the drills, a generator to operate it, and plenty of equipment,

shovels and buckets as well. This is the second time thieves have gone

underground for a cashpoint in Greater Manchester. Two years ago,

this tunnel made its way to a video store, and ?6,000 was stolen. Police

want to know if the same gang is responsible.

The time is very nearly 6:15pm. Our top story this evening: The missing

Malaysian plane - the search moves off the Australian coast after

satellite images show objects in the ocean.

And coming up: The dangers of live munitions left on the World War One

battlefields of France and Belgium. Later on BBC London: The family of a

woman who died at a private hospital are given permission to apply for a

new inquest into her death. And cash-strapped, fragmented and

unravelling - the controversial verdict of a report into the NHS in

London. The high street looks set to see a

changing of the guard. The latest sales figures from the fashion chain

Next suggest it's poised to overtake Marks Spencer. Pre-tax profits at

Next are up by 12% to ?695 million. The figures were boosted by its

directory and online business - which grew by the same amount.

Here's our business correspondent Emma Simpson.

It's had a stellar year. Next is now on course to make more money than

its bigger rival. M - it still sells more clothes than anyone else

but it's set to lose this profits race. Another milestone on a

fast-changing high street. So, what's the secret of Next's success?

One leading fashion editor told me it's simple. Next absolutely know

their customer. Season after season, they produce the clothes

that they know they're going to love and they know they're going to come

back and buy. Interestingly, this is also the area where Marks Spencer

has been struggling recently. Cutting edge it ain't - but it is

popular. It's good quality and it's got a lot of range for the children.

Next mainly, cos I don't really very often go to Marks Spencer. It's

classed as a bit old-fashioned but it's not, though, is it? The

business only started in the early '80s but it managed to tap into a

new generation of aspirational shoppers, adapting to their every

need. And here's what's been pivotal to its success - the Next Directory.

It was ground-breaking when it first came out and it meant... When the

business moved online, that know-how came in very handy. And Next has

powered ahead. Order tonight, get it delivered

tomorrow. Logistics which certainly gave next an edge over Christmas.

That sort of investment takes a lot of forward thinking and planning and

that's the beauty of Next - the management continuity they have. The

way they've evolved for their shop but really stands in good stead for

this business. So what next for Next? It predicts profits will

continue to grow this year but the boss did sound a note of caution

about the economic recovery, saying that any rise in interest rates

could hurt its customers and their willingness to spend.

In the past few minutes, we've been getting reports that gunmen have

entered a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and gunfire has been

heard. Police say up to three gunmen have entered the hotel via the back

door. The hotel is popular with foreign visitors and was the subject

of a bomb and gun attack in 2008, in which six people were killed.

A care worker who raped three vulnerable women has been jailed for

four years. Colin Stopes attacked his victims, who all had learning

disabilities and needed round-the-clock care, in

Gloucestershire. A court heard he did night shifts and was allowed to

work alone because of staff cutbacks. The judge said he was

depraved and demonstrated no moral boundaries. Lawyers acting for

several Iraqi families who claim British soldiers unlawfully killed

several families there ten years ago today said they don't believe

there's enough evidence back up those allegations. The move came on

the last day of inquiry which has lasted more than four years and cost

the taxpayer more than ?22 million. Our security correspondent Frank

Gardner is at the ministry of defence. People will want to know

why this has taken so long. Well, I think the answer to that is that it

depends on who you talk to. If you talk to. If you taught to the

military, they will say there was never any foundation for these

allegations and that they're fairly cross that these allegations were

made so repeatedly for quite so long. It's taken all this time to

actually lay them to rest. But if you talk to one of the lawyers

acting on behalf of those Iraqi relatives, they will say that if the

military, particularly the Government, had been more

forthcoming with the information at the beginning it wouldn't have

needed to take so long to reach this point. It is quite significant

day-to-day because these were really serious allegations that British

soldiers murdered 20 Iraqis not on the battlefield but in custody.

That's been found a database include not true. Allegations of abuse and

mistreatment have still got to be resolved. -- that's been found to

day compared to day computing the not true.

The Japanese firm Hitachi is moving the headquarters of its global rail

business to Britain. The company won a multi-billion-pound contract last

year to build new intercity trains and will open a plant at Newton

Aycliffe in County Durham next year, employing 750 people.

Every year, hundreds of tonnes of unexploded First World War shells

are found on the battlefields of France and Belgium. Two workmen were

killed in Ypres yesterday when one blew up on a building site. Angus

Crawford went to meet one victim and discovered that despite the terrible

dangers there is still an illegal trade in this lethal ammunition.

My boyfriend lives in Antwerp... Meet Meite. She's 30 and a fan of

hip-hop music. She doesn't look like a casualty of the First World War.

So it was cut off here. Her leg was almost severed by a British bomb

made in 1918. It exploded as she slept by a campfire on a trip to the

woods with friends. Waking up having pain and getting back to sleep.

That's all I remember. Just yesterday on a building site close

to her home, two workers were killed and one critically injured when a

bomb exploded. This field has been ploughed since the First World War.

-- hasn't been ploughed. Maarten Otte is an amateur historian. He

knows the legacy of war lies just below the surface. That's a German

shell. And is still potentially lethal. It's still got its

detonator. This is 100 years old. Even the propellant still burns.

Look at that! High-explosive shells like these ones found almost every

day around here and they're left by the side of the road for

bomb-disposal teams to pick up. But there's increasing evidence that

some collectors are going out, digging up these kinds of bombs and

then trying to sell them. What they're doing is illegal but it's

clear collectors have been digging here. Diggers try to find pits like

this to find valuable stuff to sell or to put in their own collections.

Every week I find new pits so they are very active. Is it more now than

it used to be? It's more, yeah. Much more. But there are risks. Here, old

bombs are destroyed in a controlled explosion. The Belgian military

finds more than 150 tonnes a year. The shells become more dangerous as

they deteriorate over time. The commander of the unit is appalled by

what the collectors are doing. Totally stupid, I think. Because

this is playing with their own life and also the life of other

civilians. Dangerous relics are still scattered across these

battlefields, feeding an unscrupulous - and potentially

lethal - trade. Angus Crawford, BBC News, eastern

France. Three former employees of the G4S

security group are to face manslaughter charges over the death

of a man while he was being deported from Britain. Jimmy Mubenga, who was

46, died three and a half years ago. An inquest found he had been

unlawfully killed. The local government Association

says council employees being paid around ?40,000 are being offered a

1% pay increase this year. Those on lower salaries are getting a

slightly higher in Greece. The union Unison says it will consult members

over possible industrial action. A former royal protection officer

has spoken about a failed attempt to kidnap Princess Anne which took

place 40 years ago today. Inspector Jim Beaton was shot three times when

Ian Ball, who had a history of mental illness, tried to abduct the

princess from her car in the Mall in central London. Inspector Beaton

praised the princess for not panicking during the attack. Here's

our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell.

The Mall, near Buckingham Palace. A royal limousine abandoned at the

roadside, its windows shattered by gunfire. An armed man has just tried

to kidnap Princess Anne. 40 years on, James Beaton, the man who was

then Anne's police protection officer, has been describing what

happened. How he'd confronted the driver of the white car which had

pulled in front of them. And just as I came out, he shot at me. Until

then, nothing had been further from my mind. So I went back a little bit

behind the car and took my gun out. I was authorised to carry a gun on

that duty, and I tried to shoot at him. But because I'd already been

hit in the chest, which was not very painful but, obviously, made my arm

floppy a bit... I wasn't able to hit him. I thought, "well, there is a

proper method using two hands". I tried the two hands but then the gun

jammed. Inspector Beaton was shot twice more as he tried to protect

the princess. The attacker, a man called Ian Ball, tried to drag her

out of the limousine. Anne was having none of it. Her actions were

extremely good. She was cool, calm and collected. And, in fact, she did

everything that we would tell people to do and that people would be told

to do nowadays. She spoke to him. She didn't panic, she didn't shout,

she didn't scream. The events of that night led to big changes in

royal security. Until that point, royal vehicles - even the one

carrying the Queen - didn't even carry two-way radios. If you put a

radio in a car you needed lots of aerials and things like that and it

was deemed that, on a royal car, it would have spoiled the look of it so

we didn't have them. Ian Ball, the royal assailant, was ordered to be

detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. James Beaton, the

royal bodyguard, received the highest civilian award for bravery,

the George Cross. Time for the weather with Jay Wynne.

A big contrast in the weather earlier - 16 degrees in Norwich

ahead of a band of squally rain. Behind the rain, only five degrees

in Stornoway. It's that cold air that's going to win out in the next

few days, bringing a cold night and they called a field of things. The

cold air is pushing behind this band of squally rain which will clear

from the southeastern corner and then skies will clear for many of

us. But there are still some showers to be found in Northern Ireland and

Scotland. It will turn quite cold, well into single figures across the

board, well into single figures across northern spots. There is a

risk of some icy patches in Scotland. But still some showers

around. Showers are still quite wintry on fairly modest hills but

some spells of sunshine in the south and east of Scotland. Northern

Ireland, the risk of icy patches in the morning but bright and breezy.

Maybe some early showers. Bright and breezy across central and eastern

England. Quite cold with many places only up to five, six or seven. Cloud

toward the west bringing early showers. It will turn bright and

breezy with sunny spells and showers. Some in the afternoon could

be quite heavy with hail and thunder. Wintry weather still to be

found in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Despite sunshine, top

temperatures of seven, eight and nine for many, 12 or 13 in the

southeastern corner. In the evening, showers working from west

to east which sets us up for the weekend. Low pressure in charge so

quite cool and breezy with winds coming down from the North. As

pressure builds on Sunday, showers fade away. A cold feel to things

through the weekend. There will be some wintry showers and gardeners

take note because there will be some cold nights in the forecast and some

frost so look out for. A reminder of our main story: The

search for the missing Malaysia plane moves of the Australian coast

after satellite images show objects in the ocean.

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me and, on BBC

One,