27/01/2016 BBC News at Six

Google and its taxes - angry clashes in Parliament

Make the company pay is their message, accusing ministers

Why is there one rule for big multinational companies and another

for ordinary small businesses and self-employed workers?

We'll take a close look at the tax rules that apply to Google

This and other companies will pay more tax in future, more than I ever

played under Labour, where the tax rate for Google was 0%. -- than they

ever paid under Labour. Victory for the family of a disabled

teenager who challenged The race to find a vaccine

against the zika virus - we're with the American scientists

taking on the challenge. UMPIRE: Game, set

and match, Miss Konta. Johanna Konta makes tennis history -

the first British woman to make Hundreds of jobs at risk

as Texas Instruments - one of Scotland's last big

electronics companies - And Andy Murray sets himself up

for a semifinal clash with Canadian Milos Raonic

in the Australian Open. Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six. The row over Google's tax affairs

took centre stage today. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

accused the government of having one rule for multinationals and another

for ordinary taxpayers. He argued that Google's ?130

million tax bill amounted to a fraction of

what they should pay. But the Prime Minister pointed out

that, when Labour was in government, Our Political Editor Laura

Kuenssberg has more. How much tax should big companies

pay? A rather well-known one, many of us use every day, paid ?130

million in tax to cover the last ten years. It sounds like a lot but

when, in just one of those years, sales in the UK were more than 4.5

billion, it doesn't seem quite so much, or maybe very fair. That is

what Jeremiah -- Jeremy Corbyn thinks, anyway. Many people going to

the HMRC offices will say this, why is there one rule for big

multinational companies and another for ordinary small businesses and

self-employed workers? The Prime Minister tried to tough it out. When

I came to power, banks didn't pay tax on all their profits, allowed

under Labour, stopped under the Tories, investment companies could

stop their tax bill by flipping the currency, allowed under Labour,

stopped under the Tories. Companies could fiddle accounting rules to

make companies pay out of thin air allowed under Labour. It is a gift

for this bench because the years that front bench have been among

politicians keen to praise Google's success. When the firm announced

they were finally going to cough up, the Chancellor claimed it was a

victory for the government. He needs to come clean and tell us exactly

what the details are, how and why he has arrived at it and why it is so

little against what other companies are paying, 20 to five -- 20-30%.

What would you do that would be different? We would not have a deal

like this. We would have openness and transparency. Should politicians

publish their own tax returns? Yes. Labour is asking the National Audit

Office to investigate Google but, remember, there is no suggestion

they have broken the law. Big companies' tax bills are not just

calculated by where they do business but by the kind of business they do

in each country. When you are looking at which country get what

tax, if you don't carve it up as to where the sales are under current

rules. The closest thing that simple principle as to how you it up is

where is the value added. Ministers have already changed the law to make

it harder for firms to avoid tax. The government is careful to point

out that the deal with Google was brokered by the taxman at HMRC, not

a deal done in back rooms by ministers. But this is simply too

tempting a political attack for Labour to leave alone. They will use

every chance to embarrass the government to try to make it hurt.

There have been awkward conversations about other big

brands. Dozens of countries have signed up to tighten the rules but

that will not shut down the debate about who pays what and what is

there. As we heard in Laura's report,

globally, there's a move to change the way multinational corporations

like Google are taxed. Our Economics Editor

Kamal Ahmed is here. Let's start with this, what is the

position at the moment? International tax is certainly a

very complicated area. There are two big things which make it difficult

for critics of Google. First is that tax is on profits, not on sales.

However much business Google does as a company here, if it doesn't make

much profit, it won't pay much tax. Secondly, taxes are made on where a

company comes from, the country it comes from, and Google is an

American company. That means that tax law says it manufactures its

products that it sells around the world in America and therefore it

pays tax, the majority, in America, some ?2.3 billion so far. That is

the situation as we have it at the moment. There is talk of a change.

What is suggested? As Laura said, the government have put in what's

called a diverted profits tax, so more have to be booked in the

company -- country you operate in. Google will pay more tax because of

that. A bigger piece of work is being done by the OECD, which

represents the biggest economic countries in the world. They think

that transparency will help. Every company will have to publish by

country the revenue it makes, the sales it does in a country, the

amount of profit it makes and the amount of tax. Then at least the

public can compare these companies. Google last year paid ?46 million of

tax in the UK. Facebook, ?4000. I imagine some of the focus will start

moving quite quickly onto those other companies who have been caught

in this controversy. Well, the Prime Minister also came

under pressure today over the way Our deputy political editor,

James Landale, was listening What is the fuss about? When most

politicians talk about immigration, they tread carefully, except, it

would appear, the Prime Minister. Last year he caused some offence

when he talked of a swarm of people coming over the Mediterranean and

today he prompted a similar reaction when he used the phrase a bunch of

migrants when he attacked the Labour leadership.

Look at the record over the last week.

They met with the unions and they gave them flying pickets.

They met with the Argentinians - they gave

They met with a bunch of migrants in Calais -

they said they could all come to Britain.

The only people they never stand up with are the British people

That phrase prompted swift anger across the chamber and on social

media. Labour MPs said it was inflammatory and unacceptable,

particularly on Holocaust Memorial Day. Downing Street said that the

Prime Minister was simply arguing that Labour immigration policy would

encourage more people to come to Calais. Some MPs detected a

strategy, leading -- the Prime Minister tried to highlight the

Labour position before his own EU reforms. The truth might be more

mundane, that this is just the language the Prime Minister uses

when he gets a bit hot under the collar on the floor of the house.

In the last few minutes there has been a new development

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Tom Symonds is here.

This is from Surrey Police, who say that they arrested a man on

suspicion that he was involved in the abduction and the rape of Milly

Dowler, who was murdered in 2002. In the course of that investigation,

they spoke to the man convicted of her murder, Levi Bellfield, and he

for the first time admitted that he had abducted, raped and murdered

Milly Dowler in 2002. She was 14 and she was walking home from school. It

is most likely he abducted her as she passed his house in Walton on

Thames, where she was walking home. He wasn't arrested and charged until

detectives connected him with two other horrific murders, and the

attempted murder of another young woman. This admission today makes

little difference. Despite admitting what he has done, he is serving what

is called a whole life tariff, so he will never be released.

The grandparents of a severely disabled teenager and a victim

of domestic violence have both won their legal challenges

to the government's spare room subsidy -

The Court of Appeal ruled that the changes to housing benefit

unlawfully discriminated against them.

The government says it will challenge the verdict.

Our legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman reports.

Because of a rare genetic disorder, he can't

His grandfather, himself disabled, helps

They live in a specially adapted three-bed bungalow.

The third room is used for an overnight carer

but it counts as an extra bedroom under the spare room subsidy

The government just do not care, and I don't care what they say

about, "We have given money for this to

They have left us and people like us in so much stress and fear.

The family challenged the bedroom tax, along with a female

victim of domestic violence who was raped and stalked

and at such extreme risk that her home was adapted to create

Since 2013, those in social housing deemed to have a spare bedroom lose

The law applies across the UK but Scotland has set aside funds

to mitigate its impact and in Northern

Ireland the policy hasn't yet been implemented.

Today, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the so-called

bedroom tax unlawfully discriminates against members of these two highly

As soon as the judgments were given, the government

I have just heard this minute that the government

are going to appeal which, to me, is just

ridiculous, because people like us don't need to be constantly,

constantly applying for stuff, begging for stuff.

The appeals will be heard at the Supreme Court in March.

For families like these, the battle over

President Obama has called for urgent action to combat the zika

virus, which has been linked to brain damage in babies.

The World Health Organisation has warned the virus is likely to spread

to most countries in the Americas, including the United States.

Our correspondent James Cook sent this report from the University

of Texas on the medical researchers leading the search for a vaccine.

It is the latest virus to send shivers around the world.

There is no vaccine for Zika, no treatment.

And in the past few months, it has been spreading fast to more

than 20 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Last year when it reached Brazil, it really exploded in the Americas

and has spread very quickly infecting probably a couple

Should people be frightened, especially pregnant women?

If I had a daughter of child-bearing age who was planning a spring

vacation to the Caribbean in the next few months,

I would strongly urge her not to go there at this point.

These young mothers in Brazil did not have that choice.

The Zika virus apparently attacks the brains of unborn children and it

And so scientists from this high Security lab in Texas have been

gathering samples in Brazil to find out more.

Some mosquitoes have tested positive or negative for Zika and right now

we are really at the beginning stages and this is the forefront

of the work that you are seeing us doing.

The ultimate aim is to produce a vaccine, although that work has

only just begun, scientists say they could have one ready

But winning approval from regulators could take much longer.

Developing an effective vaccine would take a short period of time,

but it would take a longer time in the process of passing it

through the FDA and other regulatory agencies to allow it for public use.

That could take up to ten or 12 years.

And working with insects that can carry such a dangerous virus

There are around 15,000 mosquitoes in this room from a dozen different

countries and they are kept under very tight security conditions

to make sure that none of them can escape.

This mosquito passes the virus from person to person,

but people carry it from country to country, meaning Zika

could spread anywhere the insects are present,

including right here in the southern United States.

James Cook, BBC News, Galveston in Texas.

Angry clashes in Parliament as Labour criticises ministers over

They say they go soft on big business.

And still to come: Two men in a boat and the nine times they needed

And coming up on Reporting Scotland at 6.30: The Forth Road Bridge

inquiry hears engineers warned five years ago that the component

which forced December's closure should be replaced.

And a flood threat in the Borders meant hundreds of people

Ever since the modern computer was invented there's been one

Well, in the latest round of the man versus machine contest a computer

has beaten a professional player at Go.

It's a Chinese game that is even more complex than chess

and is played by more than 40 million people around the world.

Our technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones has more.

It is 2500 years old and the rules are simple, but Go is a game of huge

complexity and no computer has come close to beating a human champion

until now. This is the European champion, but five times in a row he

played a computer programme called Alpha ago and lost. The programme

was developed by the British artificial intelligence company two

years ago. Its creator is himself a Go player and said the computer

first studied the pattern is repeated in games. After it has

learnt it has got to a reasonable standard to locate a professional

games, it plays different versions of itself millions of times. Each

time it gets incrementally slightly better and learns from its mistakes.

As computers have advanced they have taken on more and more complex

games. In the 1950s they beat Notts and crosses, a game with 350 2000,

880 possible positions. In the 1990s they crashed chess after just three

moves. But Go is a completely different scale. This is the figure

of how many different movements can even be in one game. Amongst those

trying to build advanced artificial intelligence beating Go is being

seen as a key moment. There have been teams from around the world in

universities and companies all trying to solve this problem. It is

seen as a landmark for artificial intelligence research and it is very

impressive they have managed to get the people and the resources to

resolve this. There is a lot of human brainpower employed to develop

a strategy to win at Go. Now computers have learned to do this,

they will move on to even more complex tasks.

Five City brokers have been cleared of helping the convicted trader

Now, you may not be aware that if your husband or wife dies young

or before pension age, the spouse left behind is entitled

These consist of a lump sum of ?2,000 and a weekly allowance

of ?112 pounds for a year, or longer if you have dependent children.

But there's a problem - you're only entitled to these

benefits if you were married or in a civil partnership.

Today MPs have been discussing whether that should change.

Simon Gompertz has been talking to a woman who recently

Gary was a very happy, funny person. I never met anyone who did not like

him. He was so full of life, which is ironic now that he has gone. He

loved life. When we found out he had cancer, before we knew it was

terminal we said that we would get married, just us and the kids. It

never happened because Claire from Milton Keynes lost her partner so

suddenly in a matter of weeks when he was just 36. She did not qualify

for bereavement benefits because they had not married. To have to

stress about financial things and worry about things like that when

you are going through the process of planning a funeral, it is a shock, a

massive shock. And then to lose the love of your life, the person you

plan to grow old with and have that relationship turned into nothing

more than he was just your boyfriend is very hurtful, it is very hurtful.

The numbers living together have doubled to 6 million in recent

years, giving bereavement benefits to the thousands of them to lose

their partners would cost ?80 million a year. It would not cost an

enormous amount of money to extend bereavement benefits to cohabiting

couples. You could argue a fairer system would treat married couples

and cohabiting couples the same, but by means testing the benefit rather

than making it available to all. Claire now works as a therapist but

struggles to support the family. The government says it is modernising

the benefits to make them simpler and more upfront, but it has no

plans to give the money to cohabiting couples.

Now, it could be a run of really bad luck, but two amateur sailors have

had to call rescue teams nine times in just seven months.

The two Americans, who are in their seventies,

set off from Norway last July and are hoping,

Our correspondent Jon Kay caught up with them in Cornwall.

Still smiling, Bob and Steve, two old friends in search

of adventure, and what an adventure they have had.

They and their boat Nora have been rescued nine times in six months,

We have had to call for help, but they have been very helpful

to us and they guided us in and they helped us out.

The people everywhere are great, I have had so much fun.

Well, since setting off last July they have been rescued twice

in the North Sea by both the Norwegian and

Then on two separate occasions the RNLI's Wick lifeboat came

They ran aground near Belfast and again in County Wexford.

Since arriving in Cornwall, their boat has tipped over

and they have had a fire on board, but the pair say

It costs money and potentially put lives at risk for those people

who have to come out and help you.

You walk out the door and put lives at risk for that reason.

At that point another calamity, a broken ladder and damage on deck.

You are not capable of managing a ship.

Many local people are exasperated by the pair and tonight more

criticism from one of the world's most accomplished sailors.

It is not fair to all these rescue services to spend a fortune.

They will do it, they are duty bound to go to their assistance,

but these people have a responsibility not

The rescue services are not criticising Bob and Steve directly,

but they do say the pair should learn some lessons before sailing

High winds and stormy seas mean Nora cannot go anywhere for the next few

days and during that time the authorities will check

But Steve and Bob say the boat is ready for the long journey home

and they insist their own seaworthiness is not an issue.

Johanna Konta has become the first British woman to reach a Grand slam

after winning her quarter finals match at the Australian Open.

Britain now has two contenders in the singles semi-finals

for the first time since 1977 after Andy Murray also went through.

Johanna Konta stepped into the Rod labour arena looking to make history

and become the first British woman to reach a grand slam semifinal in

more than 30 years. If she was feeling the pressure of the weight

of the nation, she did not show it. She took the first set against the

Chinese qualifier Zhang 6-4, and breezed through the second 6-1. The

Australian-born 24-year-old who only took British citizenship in 2012 now

finds herself in the final four. When I was a little girl I dreamt of

winning grand slams and being number one in the world and that dream

stays the same as long as you are doing the career that you are on.

Next on court was Andy Murray, for whom quarterfinals and beyond have

become much more routine. The Scot, who has been runner-up in Melbourne

for times, got past the Spaniard David Ferrer to book his place in

the semifinals and give British fans double reason for cheer. We have

lost the sunshine in Melbourne, but that has done little to dampen the

spirits of British fans. A truly great day for British tennis, two

players into the semifinals of a grand slam tournament and how often

Time for a look at the weather with Louise Lear.

At times it was miserable today. Some wet and windy weather and some

of the rain produced further localised flooding. This is in the

Scottish Borders. In Job there is still a severe flood warning in

force and there is the potential for rain over the next couple of days.

But today's wind and rain is starting to ease away and under

clearer skies temperatures are falling away. Ice could be an issue

with frequent showers in the far north and west of Scotland, still

wintry on higher ground. For England and Wales it is three or 4 degrees.

That will be a shock to the system and hopefully there will be sunshine

to compensate. Central and eastern areas will stay sunny throughout the

day. In the afternoon there is sunshine in the Midlands and the

East and temperatures will recover after a chilly start. But all the

time the wind is strengthening and there will be showery rain in

south-west Wales and north-west England quite a miserable afternoon

to come. By the end of the afternoon the wind could strengthen yet again

to gale force. The best of brightness in eastern Scotland, but

the wind will be the driving force behind the story on Friday. Maybe

storm Force gales moving through Scotland and it will bring further

wet and windy weather and that on top of saturated ground could cause

further problems. Keep watching the weather forecast. I will have more

details throughout the evening.