23/01/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10.00: another defeat in the House of Lords for the

Government's welfare plans. The main proposal is to cut benefits

for every household. Ministers insist public opinion is on their

side. It's a basic issue of fairness. Should people really be

able to earn more than �26,000 just through benefits alone? I don't

think they should, and I think the overwhelming majority of people in

this country would back that. But some of those affected claim they

and their children could be made homeless by the changes. I don't

have relatives here to support me - going to a new place where I don't

know anybody. Why is this cruel decision being imposed on me?

be looking at the Government's chances of reversing the defeat

within days. Also tonight:

The tycoon Asil Nadir is accused of stealing millions from his business

empire. Excessive pay in the board room -

how businesses want it curbed by giving more to the shareholders.

Businesses recognise there is a disconnect between top pay and

company performance and that something must be done. Under

pressure - the Iranians face a new oil embargo because of their

nuclear programme. And in the skies over Britain, a

rare glimpse of one of nature's Good evening. Ministers have

suffered another defeat in the House of Lords over plans to change

the benefits system. Peers voted to take Child Benefit out of the

calculations on welfare payments to individual households. But

Ministers say they're determined to reverse the defeat, and they reject

the view that their policy will force some children into poverty.

Our political editor Nick Robinson has the details.

The peers versus the people - the bishops versus the Government -

that's how Ministers are presenting another defeat in the Lords for

their welfare proposals. My Lords, they have voted contents, 252, not

contents, 257. So the contents have it. Today we saw a battle of two

moralities here in the House of Lords - the bishops versus the

Government. The bishops saying no- one should be driven out of their

homes by benefit cuts, the Government insisting there simply

had to be limits on what anybody could get in hand-outs to the state.

Is it moral that we're deliberately pushing families with children

below the level of income that Parliament has decided is necessary

to meet their most basic needs? course people will have to move.

That's what people in the private sector do, but I question the

morality of actually having a benefit system which gives people

infinitely more money than the take-home pay of people on average

earnings. The bishops led a coalition of Labour peers and Lib

Dem rebels who said a flat cap on benefits took no account of the

cost of bringing up children. cannot be right for someone who

becomes unemployed not only to lose their job and have their assessed

benefit cut, but also to be told that your children no longer have a

right to Child Benefit. Luciana Sena is a single mother who

lives in South London with two children. Her high rent puts her

benefits claim over the proposed cap. She says it would leave her

struggling with her bills. I am in low-pay rent. I don't have

relatives here to support me, going to a place where I don't know

anybody - why is this cruel decision being imposed on me?

Government's plan is for a cap of �26,000 a year on what any family

can claim where the parents or parent don't work and aren't

disabled. They estimate that 67,000 families could be affected. The

Lords today voted to add Child Benefit to that cap. This is one

public spending cut where David Cameron believes the public is

firmly on his side. Are you happy that your taxes are

going towards families where no-one is working, and they're earning

over �26,000 in benefits? Is that fair? No, I don't think it's fair

either. That's why it's right to have a - thank you for that. That's

why it's right to have a welfare cap. Next up in this battle of

competing moralities - the Commons will be asked to overturn tonight's

decision of the Lords. So the question, Nick, is, is this

latest defeat going to lead to any change of policy? If the Lords were

to get their way it would mean instead of 67,000 families being

hit by a benefit cap, that number would reduce to 40,000 instead of

the Government saving �290 million in a year. They would be saving

�120 million less than that. In truth, Huw, though, it's not really

about numbers at all. That's Ministerial small change. It is

about half the sum it costs the Government to persuade councils to

clear the bins weekly instead of every fortnight. What it is about

is the signals the welfare system is sending, and David Cameron is

determined, as you saw in my report, to stick to his guns, and therefore,

no, I think the Government will not back this change. They'll try and

overturn it in the Commons because their view is that they are on the

public's side. Watch out, though, that after that happens the real

debate in Whitehall that'll happen between Ministers is about this -

how much should they spend on so- called transitional arrangements -

not the sort of stuff that's debated here in the House of Lords

today, but the money that is paid to help the system be less brutal

than otherwise for some people it might be. Thank you very much.

At the Old Bailey the businessman Asil Nadir has gone on trial

accused of stealing milions of pounds from his former company,

Polly Peck International. Mr Nadir built Polly Peck from a small

company into a conglomerate in the 1980s, but when it collapsed, he

fled to northern Cyprus. He denies all the charges. This report by our

home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds contains some flash

photography. Asil Nadir, accompanied by

bodyguards, arriving to finally face an Old Bailey jury. Dark-

suited, appearing relaxed, he greeted reporters waiting outside

the courtroom. This was Asil Nadir in the 1980s in the years before

the fraud investigation began, and he in the prosecution's words, fled

from Britain. The Turkish Cypriot tycoon had built up a huge and

thriving business empire. Polly Peck International, PPI, was a

network of companies ranging from electronics to fruit production.

During the 1980s, it was the most successful company in the FTSE 100,

and Mr Nadir was firmly in charge. Opening the case against him,

Philip Shears QC, described him as a dominant force who had "abused

that power and helped himself to tens of millions of pounds of PPI's

money. He maintains direct control over its operations, directing its

affairs in an autocratic manner and refusing to tolerate rival sources

of power or to accept constraints on his actions". The prosecution

alleged Mr Nadir could transfer money from the company with a

single signature, his signature. Often he filtered the cash from

Britain to companies in Turkish Cyprus, companies owned by Polly

Peck International that he had direct control of. From there, it's

claimed, he could use the money to buy shares, property, pay his tax

bill and even buy his wife a Mercedes. And this isErs ain Tatar,

once a treasure of Polly Peck International. The jury was told he

helped in the fraud, telling a member of staff who found out to

keep his mouth shut. Asil Nadir will argue the money he took out of

company accounts was matched by money he paid in. He denies fraud.

Proposals to curb excessive pay have been outlined by Ministers.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable said he wanted shareholders to be

able to block some salary and bonus packages. Mr Cable said it wasn't

right that chief executives' pay was rising at 13% a year, while the

performance of companies on the stock exchange was much less

impressive. But opponents say the proposals are weak and that Mr

Cable has missed a great opportunity, as our business editor

Robert Peston reports. Tough at the top? Possibly not, as

bosses of big companies continue to scoop big pay rises and bankers

pocket multi-billion-pound bonuses, while most British people endure

the squeeze on living standards for at least 60 years.

Vince Cable wants to curb the board room excesses. The evidence is very

clear that business and investors recognise that there is a

disconnect between top pay and company performance and that

something must be done. Shareholder power is at the heart of the

Business Secretary's reforms. Investors will be able to veto pay

policies they see as either too generous or not linked to the

performance of companies. I think that Mr Cable has put forward some

good propose which do give shareholders the tools to do the

job. They have felt limited in the range of options they have had up

until now, so what we're seeing today and tomorrow do give us some

cause for optimism. But not everyone agrees that

shareholders will rise to the challenge. I think the response of

corporate Britain tonight will be nothing serious is going to change.

We're going to be able to carry on with business as usual, and that's

a real political failure from the Government. It's in the past decade

that executive pay has really taken off. Since 2000, those who run our

biggest companies have typically seen our pay or remunerations soar

from around �1 million to around �4 million. That includes a pay

increase of 12% for them over the past year when the economy has been

so flat, when for the rest of us pay has risen just 1.4% to just

over 26,000 pounds for a typical employee a year.

Publishing simpler, clearer pay information, such as a single

number for how much an executive is expected to earn is the second

reform. It's perfectly justifiable, which - pay a lot of money to a

footballer or a pop Starks but what is not acceptable is to reward

failure or give out lots of money for a mediocre performance. Finally,

Vince Cable want employee's views on pay to be taken into account

when executives' rewards are decided, though he isn't going as

far as Labour would like. Why will he not back moves for employees to

sit on the remuneration committees? Employees play this type of role in

Europe and on the board of one of our most successful companies, John

Lewis. The Government is the big investor in Royal Bank of Scotland,

but Vince Cable said it was above his pay grade to block

controversial plans for RBS to pay a �1 million pay bonus to the Chief

Executive, which perhaps shows that investors won't find it easy to

rein in pay. The pressure on Iran has

intensified with a European ban on all imports of Iranian oil. The

measure was agreed by EU Foreign Ministers in protest at their

nuclear programme. The EU's second biggest market. Ire hans again

threatened to close the strait of Hormuz if it is interrupted. It has

a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels in 2011, more than 20% of

all the oil tradeed worldwide. Our World Affairs Editor sent this

report from the strait. Tankers laden with oil from the

Gulf headed today towards the Strait of Hormuz and the open sea

beyond. Immediately after the European Union's decision to stop

buying Iran's oil today, some politicians inside Iran itself were

threatening to block the Gulf at this point, as we found when we

went out on a local boat from the Armani port of Kassab, these waters

are vulnerable. This is it, the Strait of Hormuz. If the weather

was better, you could see the mountains of Iran just over there.

It's only 18 miles away, yet through this narrow strip of water

passes a fifth of all the world's oil supplies - not surprising

Iran's tempted to try to cut off this artery, but no surprise either

that the Western world simply can't let it happen.

Yesterday, this ship, the massive USS Abraham Lincoln, which can

embark as many as 90 aircraft, came through the Strait of Hormuz with

the British frigate, a French warship and other American ships.

Three weeks ago, Iran's Navy carried out a ten-day drill in an

effort to show it could block off these waters if it chose. That

might look like cutting off its nose to spite its face. Plenty of

Iran's own exports of oil come through here. Still, if the price

of oil shoots up, that would suit Iran very nicely. There is more to

this confrontation than just oil, though. The EU sanctions are

intended to head off their nuclear ambitions. Iran continues to defy

UN Security Council Resolutions and enriches uranium to 20% calm for

which there is no plausible civilian explanation, and so I

think it's very important for us to agree these measures today to

increase the peaceful legitimate pressure on the Iranian Government.

But whatever happens here in the Strait of Hormuz, it's hard to see

Iran giving up its nuclear programme. Its leaders believe that

if Iran becomes a nuclear power, that would give it strong

protection against the West. It's a complex standoff, and it's starting

to make the entire region very Coming up on the programme:

The Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp appears in court on charges of tax

evasion. Syria has rejected a plan byle rab

league for a new government of national unity to end the months of

violence. The proposal that requires President Bashar al-Assad

to engage in proper dialogue with the opposition has been dismissed

by the regime as interference. There were more deaths today in the

city of Homs, which has seen some of the most serious fighting.

Our Middle East correspondent was there today.

In Homs, the regime was burying its dead. Three soldiers who, officials

said, died in an ak bush that killed 11. In almost a year of

rebellion, the regime says that 2,000 of its people have been

killed. President Bashar al-Assad claimed

last spring without convincing evidence, that he faced a violent

uprising. 2012 feels very different already.

On the edge of Damascus more foun rals of 11 antiPresident Bashar al-

Assad demonstrators. The UN says more than 5,000 protesters have

been killed by regime. And many more have been wounded.

Back in Homs, the regime's casualties were coming into the

Military Hospital. Three dead soldiers as well.

The damage is being inflicted by the men's former comrades,

defectors from the regime's forces. They were killed an hour ago said

the ambulance driver, during a fight with armed men and terrorists

it is not a war in Syria. But in parts of Homs this is

starting to look like a war. We believe that everyone should

anybody peace, but it takes time. There is a lot of shooting here?

have gotten used to that. What do you think about President

Bashar al-Assad? TRANSLATION: I want to finish my

life with my family. Something that I cannot tell. Don't ask me about

our President! Don't ask me about him! Homs feels exhausted and

despairing. The violence that is now part of

the uprising, the protesters say, is a back lash against so many

civilian deaths. There is a terrible example here a

few hours' drive from here of what can go wrong in the Lebanon in the

'70s and the '80s, the country was torn apart by a Civil War. The big

fear is that in Syria, that something like that could happen

here. The challenge now, to find a way to

stop the slide into a future that no-one wants.

The Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, has appeared in court to

face charges of tax evasion. He was accused of setting up on off-shore

tax account to avoid payments on bonus payments. Harry Redknapp

denies the charges. He was tipped to be a future

England manager. There is a flash photography in this report.

Harry Redknapp, one of English football's biggest characters, but

today in the spotlight for very different reasons. Arriving at

court to face charges of tax evasion.

He is on trial with Milan Mandaric, seen here in the middle, who is

accused of I lift payments to Harry Redknapp for his share in the

profits of multi-mill player transfers. This all dates back to

2002, whether the pair worked together at Portsmouth FC as the

chairman and the manager. So, what are the allegations? The

prosecution alleged that Harry Redknapp received �189,000 in two

payments between 2002 and twin. The court heard how the money was

deposited in a secret bank account in Monaco, an account he called

Rosie 47, a combination of his pet dog's name and the year of his

birth. The prosecuting counsel claimed that the payments were a

bonus, that the party had no intention of paying taxes for.

Harry Redknapp has since move on to Tottenham, where he is enjoying the

best period of his management career, with Spurs flying high and

well set for a place in the Champions League. Harry Redknapp is

the most successful English manager in the Premier League. He is the

favourite to take over as the English boss when Fabio Capello

stands down in the summer, but his future and indeed that of the

England team could now rest on the outcome of this trial. Harry

Redknapp, who denies the charges will be back in court tomorrow.

At a crucial time in the season, he is instead facing the distraction

of questions from his past. The police force which investigated

the disappearance of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has

admitted it was told that her phone had been hacked in 2002. In a

letter to MPs, Sussex Police say that the officers were told that a

News of the World journalist had admitted illegally accessing her

messages but the force did not investigate. Patricio Mebaha of the

BBC Trust told the Leveson Inquiry that politicians in the past had

been guilty of allowing newspaper owners and editors to have too much

influence. He said that some party leaders had demeaned themselves to

the point of gofling. He's been the chairman of the BBC

Trust, the corporation's governing body and regulator for almost a

year. Back in the year, he was Patricio Mebaha, the Government

minister and Conservative Party chairman. In the '90s he was

Britain's last governor of Hong Kong, then in 2003, appointed the

Chancellor of Oxford University. Today as Patricio Mebaha he brought

his experience to the Leveson Inquiry. The first target, party

leaders for cosy relationships with media executives.

I think that political parties and their leaders over the last 20 to

25 years have often demeaned themselves by the extent to which

they have paid court on prop identityors and editors. Of course,

I'm in favour of talking to editors and journalists, but I'm not in

favour of grovelling. As the chairman of the BBC Trust he

said that he had little contact with political leaders.

I have seen the Prime Minister once. I would, presumably, have seen the

Prime Minister and the other party leaders more frequently if I had

been a News International executive. Then, the central question of

regulation. Patricio Mebaha said that unlike broadcasters,

newspapers should be left to sort out their own problems without new

laws from Parliament -- Lord Pat en. I think that if possible

politicians should be kept from these areas. Unless the press,

owners and the edtofrs come up with a convincing scheme, that will be

presumably drawn in that direction. Coming from someone with Lord

Patten's experience, those comments will have weight to the efforts by

the newspaper groups to -- groups to resist fort of control. Earlier,

Mark Thompson told the inquiry that there was no evidence of phone

hacking at the BBC. Now, many of Britain's amateur

astrologers were out in force, hoping to catch a rare glimpse of

one of nature's most spectacular displays, the Northern Lights. A

view of the night sky usually seen in the Arctic Circle. Last night

the lights were visible in the north of Scotland and large parts

of the north of England. The Northern noncan be seen dancing in

the skies of the high northern latitudes. Last night, this

geomagnetic activity was so intense it was seen in northern parts of

the UK with photographers capturing colourful light has in the night

sky over a wide area. This one with its green and orange was taken at

TannInn. High in the Pennines. Tonight they are hoping for a

repeat here. It was very special. Numerous

people go to Finland, yet you can see them in Yorkshire. It was

probably one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in my life.

I would like see it again. It was just a special moment in someone's

life. This natural phenomena is caused by highly charged particles

from solar storms hitting the earth's atmosphere. This evening,

the people are scanning the sky to get a glimpse of a natural wonder

that is a rare sight this far south. The Northern Lights happen when a

stream of particles from the sun come from the atmosphere to make

the atmosphere glow. They happens rarely from our latitudes, every 11

years or less, because of the solar activity.

The conditions are perfect for seeing the Northern Lights. There

are clear skies and a view of the northern horizon. The displays can

last anything from a few minutes to hours on end, but they are

dependant on the weather in space. Experts say that is unpredictable.

So far this evening, people have been seeing them, but not here at