It has launched a plan to update and co-ordinate national tax laws.

There was criticism in the UK earlier this year when it emerged that Google, Starbucks and Amazon paid little tax despite having big UK operations.

Following that criticism Starbucks agreed to pay more tax.

The OECD came up with the plan at the request of the G20 group of leading nations. Finance ministers from the G20 are meeting in Moscow.

OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria said: "International tax rules, many of them dating from the 1920s, ensure that businesses don't pay taxes in two countries - double taxation.

"This is laudable, but unfortunately these rules are now being abused to permit double non-taxation."

It is calling for greater international co-operation to close gaps that allows income to "disappear" for tax purposes.

The OECD also said that tax income should reflect the economic activity it generates.

That would address some of the criticism aimed at big companies.

Earlier this year, Google was fiercely criticised by UK MPs for routing £3.2bn of UK sales through Dublin and paying little tax as a result.

Starbucks has been questioned for transferring money to a Dutch sister company in royalty payments.

And Apple's chief executive Tim Cook was questioned by US lawmakers about the billions of dollars his company keeps in its Irish divisions.

The companies point out that these schemes are legal and they have a duty to their shareholders to minimise their tax bills.

Corporate responsibility

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "delighted" the OECD had produced the report.

"Taxpayers, governments and businesses all suffer when some companies manipulate the tax system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes," he said.

The OECD hopes its recommendations will be put into action over the next two years and is working on an international legal structure that would help countries introduce the new rules quickly.

"Multinationals still have not grasped that tax honesty is an integral part of corporate responsibility," said Florian Wettstein, professor of business ethics at the University of St. Gallen, based in Switzerland.

"As a result, the public increasingly perceives them as hypocritical and untrustworthy."

Campaigners say that aggressive tax policies are particularly hard on poorer nations, who need all the tax revenue they can generate.

ActionAid tax campaigns manager Chris Jordan said: "For the developing countries that lose billions of dollars each year to aggressive tax avoidance, the stakes couldn't be higher.

"It's vital that they have a seat at the table, so global tax rules aren't stitched up by the major powers."

More than 1,000 people protested outside the governing Popular Party (PP) headquarters in the capital.

There is widespread anger over allegations of illegal cash payments to members of the conservative PP.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is under pressure to give an explanation to parliament. He denies wrongdoing.

The demonstrations on Thursday night caused disruption to traffic in central Madrid.

Protesters held placards calling on the government to resign. There was also a protest outside the PP offices in Valencia.

The corruption allegations coincide with Spain's worst economic crisis for decades, with record unemployment and many Spaniards struggling to make ends meet.

The PP's former treasurer, Luis Barcenas, is in custody facing trial for corruption and tax fraud. He denies the allegations.

He says he made numerous bonus payments - in cash - to Mr Rajoy and other senior party members, out of the party slush fund of illegal donations by businesses.

Ledgers detailing such payments, and apparently written by Mr Barcenas, have been published in two Spanish newspapers - El Pais and El Mundo.

Mr Rajoy and other PP members have repeatedly denied that they received illegal payments.

The prime minister has accused Mr Barcenas of blackmail.

For now at least there is no sign that Mr Rajoy might resign over the scandal, the BBC's Tom Burridge reports from Madrid. The PP has a comfortable majority in parliament.

Stem cells can become any other part of the body - from nerve to bone to skin - and are touted as the future of medicine.

Researchers in Japan will use the cells to attempt to treat a form of blindness - age-related macular degeneration.

The announcement was described as "a major step forward" for research in the field.

There are already trials taking place using stem cells taken from embryos. But this is ethically controversial and the cells will not match a patient's own tissues, so there is a risk of rejection.

Induced pluripotent stem cells, however, are made by coaxing a sample of the patient's skin to become stem cells, so there should be no risk of rejection.

Japan's health minister, Norihisa Tamura, has ruled that the cells can now be tested in patients.

The trial will by run by the Riken Center for Developmental Biology and the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation Hospital in Kobe.

Initially, six patients will receive transplants of cells to see if the procedure can restore their damaged vision.

Prof Chris Mason, an expert on regenerative medicine at University College London said: "This was expected, but it's obviously a major step forward.

"They are beneficial for two main reasons. One, they are from the patients themselves so the chance of rejection is greatly reduced and there are the ethical considerations - they do not have the baggage which comes with embryonic stem cells.

"On the down side we are a decade behind on the science. Induced pluripotent stem cells were discovered much later, so we're behind on the safety."

In 2012, Prof Shinya Yamanaka shared the Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for his discovery that adult human tissue could be coaxed back into a stem cell state.

Police allege the politician, Arsal Khan Khichi, hired a cook to poison food at his cousin's home last month.

Mr Khichi had lost to his cousin in a recently-held local election in Punjab.

However, police say his rival was not at home when the poisoning took place. Mr Khichi is thought to be in Dubai and has not commented on the allegations.

The BBC was unable to reach his family for comment.

Police believe the poisoning plot was the result of a political feud between two branches of the family.

They are questioning a cook, Mohammad Rafiq, who says he was paid to poison the food by Arsal Khichi.

"Cook Rafiq has confessed that he poisoned the food after getting 100,000 rupees [about $1,000] from Arsal Khichi," district police officer Vehari Sadiq Ali Dogar told BBC Urdu.

Police were seeking a warrant for the arrest of Arsal Khichi who had "escaped to Dubai on 15 July", he added.

"Arsal had gone to Dubai before the confession of the cook. He runs a business there, so we need to investigate if he was expecting this confession or he went overseas on a routine trip."

The poisoning in the town of Mailsi, about 70km (45 miles) south-east of Multan, took place on 9 June, police say.

It followed followed recent provincial elections in which Arsal Khan Khichi had lost to his cousin Jehanzaeb Khan Khichi, they add.

About 50 people fell ill after the meal, with 22 people dying.

Police say they waited until medical reports confirmed poisoning before they arrested the cook.

"If Arsal Khichi claims he is not involved in this case, he must come back, face the court and prove himself innocent," Jehanzaeb Khan Khichi told BBC Urdu.

Football's governing body Fifa announced that the cheapest ticket for overseas fans for the final on 13 July was $440 (£288) and the most expensive $990 (£650).

The tournament starts on 12 June next year, with the first game being played in Sao Paulo.

Tickets will go on sale from 20 August.

Fans have until 10 October to apply and a ballot will be held to decide which of these applications are successful.

Only later will tickets be sold on a first come, first served basis.

In total about three million tickets will be available for fans.

For Brazilian nationals the cheapest tickets start at $15. These are only available for students, those aged over 60 and people on social welfare programmes. For other Brazilians tickets start at $30.

The lowest price paid for a ticket in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was $20, also for group stage matches in the special category set aside exclusively for residents.

The governing body had previously said that tickets in Brazil would be the "cheapest ever".

The Fifa ticket website will include a map of the ground that shows the location of different categories of tickets.

This meant there would be "no surprises" over where fans would end up sitting, said Fifa marketing director Thierry Weil, who is in charge of ticketing strategy.

Supporters can request a maximum of four seats per match, and for a maximum of seven matches.

He said there would be a reselling system run by Fifa, if people were unable to attend games for which they had bought tickets.

At least 400,000 tickets will be reserved exclusively for residents of Brazil, with about 50,000 for construction workers who were involved in building and upgrading the grounds for the tournament.

The news came as Mr Rudd set out an overhaul of asylum policy ahead of a general election expected shortly.

Australia has seen a sharp rise in the number of asylum-seekers arriving by boat in recent months.

Following the news, rioting reportedly broke out at an asylum centre in Nauru. It was unclear if there was a link.

"Police have been called in to help with a major disturbance at the asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

The cause of the disturbance, involving 150 detainees, had not been established, ABC added.

Mr Rudd had said the "hard-line decision" was taken to ensure border security. It was also aimed at dissuading people from making the dangerous journey to Australia by boat.

"Our country has had enough of people-smugglers exploiting asylum-seekers and seeing them drown on the high seas," he said.

'No chance'

The deal - called the Regional Settlement Arrangement - was signed by the Australian and PNG leaders on Friday.

Mr Rudd, who ousted Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader amid dismal polling figures last month, made the announcement in Brisbane flanked by PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

"From now on, any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as a refugee," Mr Rudd said.

Under the agreement, new arrivals will be sent to PNG - which is a signatory to the United Nations Refugees Convention - for assessment and settled there if found to be a refugee.

To accommodate the new arrivals, an offshore processing centre in PNG's Manus island will be significantly expanded to hold up to 3,000 people. No cap has been placed on the number of people Australia can send to PNG, Mr Rudd said.

"The new arrangements will allow Australia to help more people who are genuinely in need and help prevent people smugglers from abusing our system."

The rules would apply to all those arriving in Australia by boat from today, Immigration Minister Tony Burke said.

In return, Australia is to channel aid to PNG, including to a major regional hospital and the university sector, The Australian reported. No costs were disclosed in connection with the deal.

Boat arrivals have soared in the past 18 months, with most asylum seekers coming from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They make their way to Indonesia and from there head to Christmas Island, the closest part of Australian territory to Java.

They travel in boats that are often over-crowded and poorly-maintained. Several have sunk in recent months, killing passengers.

Last year, the Australian government reintroduced a controversial policy under which people arriving by boat in Australia are sent to camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing.

But the policy has so far failed to deter boat people, who are arriving in increasing numbers. It has also been strongly criticised - most recently by the UNHCR - for the conditions which asylum-seekers face at the camps.

Late on Thursday, Indonesia said it had agreed to stop giving Iranians visas on arrival as part of the measures to ease the problem.

'Turned its back'

Asylum has become a key election issue in Australia and polls must be called before the end of November.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott - whose party looked on course to trounce Labor at the polls before the leadership change - has said he will turn boats back to Indonesia when safe to do so.

Responding to this agreement he said: "While this certainly is a very promising development in offshore processing, it is about processing boat people, it's not about stopping the boats and that in the end is what we have to have."

Human rights advocate David Manne, meanwhile, said Australia had signed up to international conventions to protect "people who come to its shores, not exposing them to further risks elsewhere".

"The fact remains that Australia hosts only 0.3% of refugees worldwide and yet what we see here is a policy designed not only to deter asylum seekers from coming and seeking refuge in Australia, but one that also proposes to shift our responsibilities on to others," ABC quoted him as saying.

Rights group Amnesty International's regional refugee co-ordinator Graeme McGregor said the move would be marked "as the day Australia decided to turn its back on the world's most vulnerable people, closed the door and threw away the key".

As airports go, Kazakhstan's Almaty International has not much going for it. It's small, and there's not much to keep travellers entertained.

For Mohammed Al Bahish being stuck there for 120 days has been an excruciating ordeal.

He does not even have access to the duty free or the overpriced cafes.

The 26-year-old Palestinian refugee, born in Iraq, is confined to what officials call "the sterile zone" for travellers and airport staff - he's the only one who belongs in neither category.

He cannot enter Kazakhstan because he has no visa, but nor does he have a visa to enter any other country. Israel won't allow him to travel to the Palestinian territories, and the UN accepts that with no living relatives in Iraq, it would be unsafe for him to return to the country of his birth.

Every day he wakes up to the same monotonous female voice announcing flight details, gate closures and a lengthy monologue - regularly repeated - on Kazakh customs regulations.

"I feel like I am going slightly crazy," he says.

Already pale and puffy-faced, he is confined to a windowless 2m by 3m room inside the arrivals hall.

It reeks of cigarette smoke. There is a bunk bed, a shabby sofa, and a Koran on a table by the wall.

Through the door, which is slightly ajar, new arrivals stream past on their way from the landing gates to passport control.

Intensifying Mohammed's sensation of limbo, he is fed on meals prepared for passengers on Kazakhstan's national air carrier, Air Astana.

"They bring aeroplane food three times a day - tiny boxes of salad and cakes," he says. "For the entire month of June I ate beef and mushroom stroganoff. I don't think I will ever eat beef again."

Airport security controls his every movement outside the room. Occasional coffee runs to a drinks dispenser are permitted, as are visits to the showers used by staff in the luggage department.

Wherever he goes, police or security guards accompany him.

His only opportunities for fresh air are walks to a porch area overlooking the runway.

His only contact with the outside world comes when the airport's irregular free wi-fi signal flickers into life. Then he uses Skype.

"I talk to my cousin Yaser, he lives in Norway. I don't have any other close family, my parents died in Iraq when I was 16, and I don't have any brothers or sisters," he says.

It was the desire to make his own family that brought him to Kazakhstan to live with his girlfriend, Olesya Grishenko, now pregnant with their first child.

The Kazakh national met Mohammed on holiday in Dubai when he was working there as an interior designer.

In Kazakhstan, while registering their intention to marry, Mohammed's refugee travel documents went missing, and his Kazakh and UAE visas expired.

He later flew to Turkey in the hope of renewing his Kazakh visa, but was turned back at the border.

"I was deported from Istanbul for lack of a valid visa, and they sent me back to Almaty. But here I also did not have a valid visa so they sent me straight back to Istanbul. Four times I flew back and forth between the two cities," Mohammed says.

Kazakh immigration is keeping Mohammed in the airport's transit area, which legally is not considered Kazakh territory.

Last month, the Kazakh authorities turned down his application for asylum.

Mohammed says he has been preoccupied with a single thought since becoming trapped - how to escape.

"I miss the sunshine, I miss being outside," he says.

"I see all these people leaving the building, and I am just stuck here, I can't go anywhere," he says.

We walk through the sliding door on to the steps where passengers board and disembark from shuttle buses. But Mohammed can go no further.

The sound of plane engines fills the air. Behind Almaty, mountains glisten.

"I get too angry when I come out here," he says. "Because I truly feel that I am in jail."