:00:13. > :00:16.Tonight at 10.00: another defeat in the House of Lords for the
:00:16. > :00:21.Government's welfare plans. The main proposal is to cut benefits
:00:21. > :00:26.for every household. Ministers insist public opinion is on their
:00:26. > :00:31.side. It's a basic issue of fairness. Should people really be
:00:31. > :00:34.able to earn more than �26,000 just through benefits alone? I don't
:00:34. > :00:38.think they should, and I think the overwhelming majority of people in
:00:38. > :00:43.this country would back that. But some of those affected claim they
:00:43. > :00:48.and their children could be made homeless by the changes. I don't
:00:48. > :00:52.have relatives here to support me - going to a new place where I don't
:00:52. > :00:56.know anybody. Why is this cruel decision being imposed on me?
:00:56. > :01:00.be looking at the Government's chances of reversing the defeat
:01:00. > :01:06.within days. Also tonight:
:01:06. > :01:09.The tycoon Asil Nadir is accused of stealing millions from his business
:01:09. > :01:15.empire. Excessive pay in the board room -
:01:15. > :01:19.how businesses want it curbed by giving more to the shareholders.
:01:19. > :01:21.Businesses recognise there is a disconnect between top pay and
:01:21. > :01:25.company performance and that something must be done. Under
:01:25. > :01:28.pressure - the Iranians face a new oil embargo because of their
:01:28. > :01:38.nuclear programme. And in the skies over Britain, a
:01:38. > :02:09.
:02:09. > :02:12.rare glimpse of one of nature's Good evening. Ministers have
:02:12. > :02:15.suffered another defeat in the House of Lords over plans to change
:02:15. > :02:17.the benefits system. Peers voted to take Child Benefit out of the
:02:17. > :02:19.calculations on welfare payments to individual households. But
:02:20. > :02:22.Ministers say they're determined to reverse the defeat, and they reject
:02:22. > :02:30.the view that their policy will force some children into poverty.
:02:30. > :02:33.Our political editor Nick Robinson has the details.
:02:33. > :02:38.The peers versus the people - the bishops versus the Government -
:02:38. > :02:46.that's how Ministers are presenting another defeat in the Lords for
:02:46. > :02:52.their welfare proposals. My Lords, they have voted contents, 252, not
:02:52. > :02:56.contents, 257. So the contents have it. Today we saw a battle of two
:02:56. > :03:00.moralities here in the House of Lords - the bishops versus the
:03:01. > :03:04.Government. The bishops saying no- one should be driven out of their
:03:04. > :03:10.homes by benefit cuts, the Government insisting there simply
:03:10. > :03:15.had to be limits on what anybody could get in hand-outs to the state.
:03:15. > :03:19.Is it moral that we're deliberately pushing families with children
:03:19. > :03:24.below the level of income that Parliament has decided is necessary
:03:24. > :03:28.to meet their most basic needs? course people will have to move.
:03:28. > :03:31.That's what people in the private sector do, but I question the
:03:31. > :03:35.morality of actually having a benefit system which gives people
:03:35. > :03:39.infinitely more money than the take-home pay of people on average
:03:39. > :03:42.earnings. The bishops led a coalition of Labour peers and Lib
:03:42. > :03:46.Dem rebels who said a flat cap on benefits took no account of the
:03:46. > :03:52.cost of bringing up children. cannot be right for someone who
:03:52. > :03:57.becomes unemployed not only to lose their job and have their assessed
:03:57. > :04:03.benefit cut, but also to be told that your children no longer have a
:04:03. > :04:08.right to Child Benefit. Luciana Sena is a single mother who
:04:08. > :04:11.lives in South London with two children. Her high rent puts her
:04:11. > :04:16.benefits claim over the proposed cap. She says it would leave her
:04:16. > :04:20.struggling with her bills. I am in low-pay rent. I don't have
:04:20. > :04:24.relatives here to support me, going to a place where I don't know
:04:24. > :04:29.anybody - why is this cruel decision being imposed on me?
:04:29. > :04:33.Government's plan is for a cap of �26,000 a year on what any family
:04:33. > :04:37.can claim where the parents or parent don't work and aren't
:04:37. > :04:43.disabled. They estimate that 67,000 families could be affected. The
:04:43. > :04:47.Lords today voted to add Child Benefit to that cap. This is one
:04:47. > :04:52.public spending cut where David Cameron believes the public is
:04:52. > :04:57.firmly on his side. Are you happy that your taxes are
:04:57. > :05:01.going towards families where no-one is working, and they're earning
:05:01. > :05:05.over �26,000 in benefits? Is that fair? No, I don't think it's fair
:05:05. > :05:10.either. That's why it's right to have a - thank you for that. That's
:05:10. > :05:13.why it's right to have a welfare cap. Next up in this battle of
:05:13. > :05:19.competing moralities - the Commons will be asked to overturn tonight's
:05:19. > :05:23.decision of the Lords. So the question, Nick, is, is this
:05:23. > :05:28.latest defeat going to lead to any change of policy? If the Lords were
:05:28. > :05:33.to get their way it would mean instead of 67,000 families being
:05:33. > :05:38.hit by a benefit cap, that number would reduce to 40,000 instead of
:05:38. > :05:46.the Government saving �290 million in a year. They would be saving
:05:46. > :05:50.�120 million less than that. In truth, Huw, though, it's not really
:05:50. > :05:54.about numbers at all. That's Ministerial small change. It is
:05:54. > :05:59.about half the sum it costs the Government to persuade councils to
:05:59. > :06:02.clear the bins weekly instead of every fortnight. What it is about
:06:02. > :06:07.is the signals the welfare system is sending, and David Cameron is
:06:07. > :06:11.determined, as you saw in my report, to stick to his guns, and therefore,
:06:11. > :06:16.no, I think the Government will not back this change. They'll try and
:06:16. > :06:21.overturn it in the Commons because their view is that they are on the
:06:21. > :06:25.public's side. Watch out, though, that after that happens the real
:06:25. > :06:28.debate in Whitehall that'll happen between Ministers is about this -
:06:28. > :06:33.how much should they spend on so- called transitional arrangements -
:06:33. > :06:37.not the sort of stuff that's debated here in the House of Lords
:06:37. > :06:42.today, but the money that is paid to help the system be less brutal
:06:42. > :06:45.than otherwise for some people it might be. Thank you very much.
:06:45. > :06:48.At the Old Bailey the businessman Asil Nadir has gone on trial
:06:48. > :06:51.accused of stealing milions of pounds from his former company,
:06:51. > :06:54.Polly Peck International. Mr Nadir built Polly Peck from a small
:06:54. > :07:02.company into a conglomerate in the 1980s, but when it collapsed, he
:07:02. > :07:04.fled to northern Cyprus. He denies all the charges. This report by our
:07:04. > :07:10.home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds contains some flash
:07:10. > :07:16.photography. Asil Nadir, accompanied by
:07:16. > :07:19.bodyguards, arriving to finally face an Old Bailey jury. Dark-
:07:19. > :07:25.suited, appearing relaxed, he greeted reporters waiting outside
:07:25. > :07:33.the courtroom. This was Asil Nadir in the 1980s in the years before
:07:33. > :07:38.the fraud investigation began, and he in the prosecution's words, fled
:07:38. > :07:41.from Britain. The Turkish Cypriot tycoon had built up a huge and
:07:41. > :07:45.thriving business empire. Polly Peck International, PPI, was a
:07:45. > :07:50.network of companies ranging from electronics to fruit production.
:07:50. > :07:56.During the 1980s, it was the most successful company in the FTSE 100,
:07:56. > :08:00.and Mr Nadir was firmly in charge. Opening the case against him,
:08:00. > :08:06.Philip Shears QC, described him as a dominant force who had "abused
:08:06. > :08:12.that power and helped himself to tens of millions of pounds of PPI's
:08:12. > :08:17.money. He maintains direct control over its operations, directing its
:08:18. > :08:23.affairs in an autocratic manner and refusing to tolerate rival sources
:08:23. > :08:26.of power or to accept constraints on his actions". The prosecution
:08:26. > :08:32.alleged Mr Nadir could transfer money from the company with a
:08:32. > :08:35.single signature, his signature. Often he filtered the cash from
:08:35. > :08:38.Britain to companies in Turkish Cyprus, companies owned by Polly
:08:38. > :08:43.Peck International that he had direct control of. From there, it's
:08:43. > :08:50.claimed, he could use the money to buy shares, property, pay his tax
:08:50. > :08:53.bill and even buy his wife a Mercedes. And this isErs ain Tatar,
:08:53. > :08:59.once a treasure of Polly Peck International. The jury was told he
:08:59. > :09:03.helped in the fraud, telling a member of staff who found out to
:09:03. > :09:13.keep his mouth shut. Asil Nadir will argue the money he took out of
:09:13. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:18.company accounts was matched by money he paid in. He denies fraud.
:09:18. > :09:21.Proposals to curb excessive pay have been outlined by Ministers.
:09:21. > :09:28.The Business Secretary Vince Cable said he wanted shareholders to be
:09:28. > :09:31.able to block some salary and bonus packages. Mr Cable said it wasn't
:09:31. > :09:33.right that chief executives' pay was rising at 13% a year, while the
:09:33. > :09:36.performance of companies on the stock exchange was much less
:09:36. > :09:39.impressive. But opponents say the proposals are weak and that Mr
:09:39. > :09:45.Cable has missed a great opportunity, as our business editor
:09:45. > :09:51.Robert Peston reports. Tough at the top? Possibly not, as
:09:51. > :09:54.bosses of big companies continue to scoop big pay rises and bankers
:09:54. > :09:59.pocket multi-billion-pound bonuses, while most British people endure
:09:59. > :10:05.the squeeze on living standards for at least 60 years.
:10:05. > :10:09.Vince Cable wants to curb the board room excesses. The evidence is very
:10:09. > :10:14.clear that business and investors recognise that there is a
:10:14. > :10:19.disconnect between top pay and company performance and that
:10:19. > :10:24.something must be done. Shareholder power is at the heart of the
:10:24. > :10:28.Business Secretary's reforms. Investors will be able to veto pay
:10:28. > :10:33.policies they see as either too generous or not linked to the
:10:33. > :10:36.performance of companies. I think that Mr Cable has put forward some
:10:36. > :10:39.good propose which do give shareholders the tools to do the
:10:39. > :10:43.job. They have felt limited in the range of options they have had up
:10:43. > :10:49.until now, so what we're seeing today and tomorrow do give us some
:10:49. > :10:54.cause for optimism. But not everyone agrees that
:10:54. > :10:57.shareholders will rise to the challenge. I think the response of
:10:57. > :11:03.corporate Britain tonight will be nothing serious is going to change.
:11:03. > :11:08.We're going to be able to carry on with business as usual, and that's
:11:08. > :11:13.a real political failure from the Government. It's in the past decade
:11:13. > :11:17.that executive pay has really taken off. Since 2000, those who run our
:11:17. > :11:22.biggest companies have typically seen our pay or remunerations soar
:11:22. > :11:27.from around �1 million to around �4 million. That includes a pay
:11:27. > :11:34.increase of 12% for them over the past year when the economy has been
:11:34. > :11:40.so flat, when for the rest of us pay has risen just 1.4% to just
:11:40. > :11:43.over 26,000 pounds for a typical employee a year.
:11:43. > :11:48.Publishing simpler, clearer pay information, such as a single
:11:48. > :11:58.number for how much an executive is expected to earn is the second
:11:58. > :11:58.
:11:58. > :12:02.reform. It's perfectly justifiable, which - pay a lot of money to a
:12:02. > :12:08.footballer or a pop Starks but what is not acceptable is to reward
:12:08. > :12:12.failure or give out lots of money for a mediocre performance. Finally,
:12:12. > :12:15.Vince Cable want employee's views on pay to be taken into account
:12:15. > :12:20.when executives' rewards are decided, though he isn't going as
:12:21. > :12:26.far as Labour would like. Why will he not back moves for employees to
:12:26. > :12:31.sit on the remuneration committees? Employees play this type of role in
:12:31. > :12:34.Europe and on the board of one of our most successful companies, John
:12:34. > :12:38.Lewis. The Government is the big investor in Royal Bank of Scotland,
:12:38. > :12:43.but Vince Cable said it was above his pay grade to block
:12:43. > :12:47.controversial plans for RBS to pay a �1 million pay bonus to the Chief
:12:47. > :12:52.Executive, which perhaps shows that investors won't find it easy to
:12:52. > :12:58.rein in pay. The pressure on Iran has
:12:58. > :13:02.intensified with a European ban on all imports of Iranian oil. The
:13:02. > :13:08.measure was agreed by EU Foreign Ministers in protest at their
:13:08. > :13:15.nuclear programme. The EU's second biggest market. Ire hans again
:13:15. > :13:20.threatened to close the strait of Hormuz if it is interrupted. It has
:13:20. > :13:25.a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels in 2011, more than 20% of
:13:25. > :13:33.all the oil tradeed worldwide. Our World Affairs Editor sent this
:13:33. > :13:38.report from the strait. Tankers laden with oil from the
:13:38. > :13:42.Gulf headed today towards the Strait of Hormuz and the open sea
:13:42. > :13:47.beyond. Immediately after the European Union's decision to stop
:13:47. > :13:52.buying Iran's oil today, some politicians inside Iran itself were
:13:52. > :14:01.threatening to block the Gulf at this point, as we found when we
:14:01. > :14:05.went out on a local boat from the Armani port of Kassab, these waters
:14:05. > :14:09.are vulnerable. This is it, the Strait of Hormuz. If the weather
:14:09. > :14:13.was better, you could see the mountains of Iran just over there.
:14:13. > :14:18.It's only 18 miles away, yet through this narrow strip of water
:14:18. > :14:22.passes a fifth of all the world's oil supplies - not surprising
:14:22. > :14:26.Iran's tempted to try to cut off this artery, but no surprise either
:14:26. > :14:32.that the Western world simply can't let it happen.
:14:33. > :14:38.Yesterday, this ship, the massive USS Abraham Lincoln, which can
:14:38. > :14:42.embark as many as 90 aircraft, came through the Strait of Hormuz with
:14:42. > :14:47.the British frigate, a French warship and other American ships.
:14:47. > :14:52.Three weeks ago, Iran's Navy carried out a ten-day drill in an
:14:52. > :14:57.effort to show it could block off these waters if it chose. That
:14:57. > :15:02.might look like cutting off its nose to spite its face. Plenty of
:15:02. > :15:07.Iran's own exports of oil come through here. Still, if the price
:15:07. > :15:11.of oil shoots up, that would suit Iran very nicely. There is more to
:15:11. > :15:17.this confrontation than just oil, though. The EU sanctions are
:15:17. > :15:24.intended to head off their nuclear ambitions. Iran continues to defy
:15:24. > :15:28.UN Security Council Resolutions and enriches uranium to 20% calm for
:15:28. > :15:32.which there is no plausible civilian explanation, and so I
:15:32. > :15:37.think it's very important for us to agree these measures today to
:15:37. > :15:42.increase the peaceful legitimate pressure on the Iranian Government.
:15:42. > :15:46.But whatever happens here in the Strait of Hormuz, it's hard to see
:15:46. > :15:50.Iran giving up its nuclear programme. Its leaders believe that
:15:50. > :15:55.if Iran becomes a nuclear power, that would give it strong
:15:55. > :16:05.protection against the West. It's a complex standoff, and it's starting
:16:05. > :16:06.
:16:06. > :16:11.to make the entire region very Coming up on the programme:
:16:11. > :16:20.The Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp appears in court on charges of tax
:16:20. > :16:24.evasion. Syria has rejected a plan byle rab
:16:24. > :16:27.league for a new government of national unity to end the months of
:16:27. > :16:31.violence. The proposal that requires President Bashar al-Assad
:16:31. > :16:36.to engage in proper dialogue with the opposition has been dismissed
:16:36. > :16:45.by the regime as interference. There were more deaths today in the
:16:45. > :16:49.city of Homs, which has seen some of the most serious fighting.
:16:49. > :16:55.Our Middle East correspondent was there today.
:16:55. > :17:00.In Homs, the regime was burying its dead. Three soldiers who, officials
:17:00. > :17:03.said, died in an ak bush that killed 11. In almost a year of
:17:03. > :17:06.rebellion, the regime says that 2,000 of its people have been
:17:06. > :17:09.killed. President Bashar al-Assad claimed
:17:10. > :17:17.last spring without convincing evidence, that he faced a violent
:17:17. > :17:22.uprising. 2012 feels very different already.
:17:22. > :17:26.On the edge of Damascus more foun rals of 11 antiPresident Bashar al-
:17:26. > :17:34.Assad demonstrators. The UN says more than 5,000 protesters have
:17:34. > :17:38.been killed by regime. And many more have been wounded.
:17:38. > :17:43.Back in Homs, the regime's casualties were coming into the
:17:43. > :17:48.Military Hospital. Three dead soldiers as well.
:17:48. > :17:54.The damage is being inflicted by the men's former comrades,
:17:54. > :17:57.defectors from the regime's forces. They were killed an hour ago said
:17:57. > :18:04.the ambulance driver, during a fight with armed men and terrorists
:18:04. > :18:09.it is not a war in Syria. But in parts of Homs this is
:18:09. > :18:14.starting to look like a war. We believe that everyone should
:18:14. > :18:18.anybody peace, but it takes time. There is a lot of shooting here?
:18:18. > :18:24.have gotten used to that. What do you think about President
:18:24. > :18:31.Bashar al-Assad? TRANSLATION: I want to finish my
:18:31. > :18:37.life with my family. Something that I cannot tell. Don't ask me about
:18:37. > :18:40.our President! Don't ask me about him! Homs feels exhausted and
:18:40. > :18:46.despairing. The violence that is now part of
:18:46. > :18:50.the uprising, the protesters say, is a back lash against so many
:18:51. > :18:55.civilian deaths. There is a terrible example here a
:18:55. > :19:01.few hours' drive from here of what can go wrong in the Lebanon in the
:19:01. > :19:04.'70s and the '80s, the country was torn apart by a Civil War. The big
:19:04. > :19:08.fear is that in Syria, that something like that could happen
:19:08. > :19:17.here. The challenge now, to find a way to
:19:17. > :19:21.stop the slide into a future that no-one wants.
:19:21. > :19:28.The Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, has appeared in court to
:19:28. > :19:32.face charges of tax evasion. He was accused of setting up on off-shore
:19:32. > :19:36.tax account to avoid payments on bonus payments. Harry Redknapp
:19:36. > :19:41.denies the charges. He was tipped to be a future
:19:41. > :19:46.England manager. There is a flash photography in this report.
:19:46. > :19:50.Harry Redknapp, one of English football's biggest characters, but
:19:50. > :19:53.today in the spotlight for very different reasons. Arriving at
:19:53. > :19:59.court to face charges of tax evasion.
:19:59. > :20:04.He is on trial with Milan Mandaric, seen here in the middle, who is
:20:04. > :20:07.accused of I lift payments to Harry Redknapp for his share in the
:20:07. > :20:12.profits of multi-mill player transfers. This all dates back to
:20:12. > :20:16.2002, whether the pair worked together at Portsmouth FC as the
:20:16. > :20:22.chairman and the manager. So, what are the allegations? The
:20:22. > :20:28.prosecution alleged that Harry Redknapp received �189,000 in two
:20:28. > :20:35.payments between 2002 and twin. The court heard how the money was
:20:35. > :20:41.deposited in a secret bank account in Monaco, an account he called
:20:41. > :20:45.Rosie 47, a combination of his pet dog's name and the year of his
:20:45. > :20:50.birth. The prosecuting counsel claimed that the payments were a
:20:50. > :20:55.bonus, that the party had no intention of paying taxes for.
:20:55. > :21:00.Harry Redknapp has since move on to Tottenham, where he is enjoying the
:21:00. > :21:03.best period of his management career, with Spurs flying high and
:21:03. > :21:07.well set for a place in the Champions League. Harry Redknapp is
:21:07. > :21:10.the most successful English manager in the Premier League. He is the
:21:10. > :21:15.favourite to take over as the English boss when Fabio Capello
:21:15. > :21:19.stands down in the summer, but his future and indeed that of the
:21:19. > :21:23.England team could now rest on the outcome of this trial. Harry
:21:23. > :21:27.Redknapp, who denies the charges will be back in court tomorrow.
:21:27. > :21:36.At a crucial time in the season, he is instead facing the distraction
:21:36. > :21:40.of questions from his past. The police force which investigated
:21:40. > :21:45.the disappearance of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has
:21:45. > :21:49.admitted it was told that her phone had been hacked in 2002. In a
:21:49. > :21:55.letter to MPs, Sussex Police say that the officers were told that a
:21:55. > :22:00.News of the World journalist had admitted illegally accessing her
:22:00. > :22:04.messages but the force did not investigate. Patricio Mebaha of the
:22:04. > :22:09.BBC Trust told the Leveson Inquiry that politicians in the past had
:22:09. > :22:14.been guilty of allowing newspaper owners and editors to have too much
:22:14. > :22:20.influence. He said that some party leaders had demeaned themselves to
:22:20. > :22:24.the point of gofling. He's been the chairman of the BBC
:22:24. > :22:28.Trust, the corporation's governing body and regulator for almost a
:22:28. > :22:33.year. Back in the year, he was Patricio Mebaha, the Government
:22:33. > :22:37.minister and Conservative Party chairman. In the '90s he was
:22:37. > :22:41.Britain's last governor of Hong Kong, then in 2003, appointed the
:22:41. > :22:46.Chancellor of Oxford University. Today as Patricio Mebaha he brought
:22:46. > :22:48.his experience to the Leveson Inquiry. The first target, party
:22:49. > :22:54.leaders for cosy relationships with media executives.
:22:54. > :22:59.I think that political parties and their leaders over the last 20 to
:22:59. > :23:03.25 years have often demeaned themselves by the extent to which
:23:03. > :23:08.they have paid court on prop identityors and editors. Of course,
:23:08. > :23:12.I'm in favour of talking to editors and journalists, but I'm not in
:23:12. > :23:15.favour of grovelling. As the chairman of the BBC Trust he
:23:15. > :23:23.said that he had little contact with political leaders.
:23:23. > :23:27.I have seen the Prime Minister once. I would, presumably, have seen the
:23:27. > :23:31.Prime Minister and the other party leaders more frequently if I had
:23:31. > :23:34.been a News International executive. Then, the central question of
:23:34. > :23:39.regulation. Patricio Mebaha said that unlike broadcasters,
:23:39. > :23:45.newspapers should be left to sort out their own problems without new
:23:45. > :23:48.laws from Parliament -- Lord Pat en. I think that if possible
:23:48. > :23:56.politicians should be kept from these areas. Unless the press,
:23:56. > :24:02.owners and the edtofrs come up with a convincing scheme, that will be
:24:02. > :24:05.presumably drawn in that direction. Coming from someone with Lord
:24:05. > :24:11.Patten's experience, those comments will have weight to the efforts by
:24:11. > :24:14.the newspaper groups to -- groups to resist fort of control. Earlier,
:24:14. > :24:21.Mark Thompson told the inquiry that there was no evidence of phone
:24:21. > :24:25.hacking at the BBC. Now, many of Britain's amateur
:24:25. > :24:30.astrologers were out in force, hoping to catch a rare glimpse of
:24:30. > :24:36.one of nature's most spectacular displays, the Northern Lights. A
:24:36. > :24:40.view of the night sky usually seen in the Arctic Circle. Last night
:24:40. > :24:44.the lights were visible in the north of Scotland and large parts
:24:44. > :24:51.of the north of England. The Northern noncan be seen dancing in
:24:51. > :24:55.the skies of the high northern latitudes. Last night, this
:24:55. > :24:59.geomagnetic activity was so intense it was seen in northern parts of
:24:59. > :25:07.the UK with photographers capturing colourful light has in the night
:25:07. > :25:11.sky over a wide area. This one with its green and orange was taken at
:25:12. > :25:17.TannInn. High in the Pennines. Tonight they are hoping for a
:25:17. > :25:22.repeat here. It was very special. Numerous
:25:22. > :25:26.people go to Finland, yet you can see them in Yorkshire. It was
:25:26. > :25:32.probably one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in my life.
:25:32. > :25:37.I would like see it again. It was just a special moment in someone's
:25:37. > :25:41.life. This natural phenomena is caused by highly charged particles
:25:41. > :25:44.from solar storms hitting the earth's atmosphere. This evening,
:25:44. > :25:49.the people are scanning the sky to get a glimpse of a natural wonder
:25:49. > :25:52.that is a rare sight this far south. The Northern Lights happen when a
:25:52. > :25:57.stream of particles from the sun come from the atmosphere to make
:25:57. > :26:01.the atmosphere glow. They happens rarely from our latitudes, every 11
:26:01. > :26:04.years or less, because of the solar activity.
:26:04. > :26:09.The conditions are perfect for seeing the Northern Lights. There
:26:09. > :26:12.are clear skies and a view of the northern horizon. The displays can
:26:12. > :26:18.last anything from a few minutes to hours on end, but they are
:26:18. > :26:24.dependant on the weather in space. Experts say that is unpredictable.
:26:24. > :26:29.So far this evening, people have been seeing them, but not here at