:00:26. > :00:29.Good afternoon. The Government has repeated its threat to withdraw its
:00:29. > :00:35.offer on public sector sengs pence pensions if a major strike planned
:00:35. > :00:40.for Wednesday goes ahead. Schools, hospitals and airports are planning
:00:40. > :00:44.for major disruptions. 7 one of the big trade unions ha told the BBC it
:00:44. > :00:48.had hoped that a new agreement is reached by the end of the year.
:00:48. > :00:52.In the final days before the walk- out, the words from the top of
:00:52. > :00:57.Government are getting tougher. The Treasury Minister, Danny Alexander
:00:57. > :01:02.says that the timing of the strike is bizarre, saying that the unions
:01:02. > :01:06.have to persuade their members, who they have marched up the hill to
:01:06. > :01:09.look at the agreement and the nature of the deal on offer is a
:01:09. > :01:15.good one, but both sides in the dispute accept that the strikes
:01:15. > :01:18.will almost certainly go ahead. No last-minute talks are planned. 2
:01:18. > :01:23.million people could stay away from work. The Government says that the
:01:23. > :01:28.public pensions have to change and the improved offer is a good one.
:01:28. > :01:33.It is time for them to fine the index-linked pensions in the state
:01:33. > :01:36.sector, that we want to maintain are not available to the vast
:01:36. > :01:39.majority of people in the private sector. They have to be fair to the
:01:39. > :01:43.taxpayers funding them. Part of the National Health Service
:01:43. > :01:48.is to be affected on Wednesday. Thousands of planned operations are
:01:48. > :01:53.postponed. Although doctors and most nurses are not striking.
:01:53. > :01:57.The services will be disrupted. It will be an upset for some
:01:57. > :02:01.patients, but we are working to attend Emergency Services, but
:02:01. > :02:07.services for outpatient appointments or tests that take
:02:07. > :02:12.place, or follow-up appointments will be delayed.
:02:12. > :02:16.Heathrow Airport is predicting huge queues and 12-hour waits if border
:02:16. > :02:21.staff don't show up. The transport neck across Northern Ireland is
:02:21. > :02:27.likely to shut down. Ministers repeated the warning that the offer
:02:27. > :02:29.could be withdrawn if the strikes go ahead, but talks in the teaching
:02:29. > :02:33.and the Civil Service are said to be progressing.
:02:33. > :02:38.It is said that they hope to get something done by the end of the
:02:38. > :02:42.year. The Pakistani army says that NATO
:02:42. > :02:46.helicopters attacked one of its checkpoints in north-west Pakistan,
:02:46. > :02:50.killing at least 26 soldiers. The army spokesperson said that the
:02:50. > :02:53.attack took place near the border with Afghanistan, which was
:02:53. > :02:55.unprovoked. There is an investigation into the
:02:55. > :02:59.incident. The international security
:02:59. > :03:04.assistance for this is investigating an incident that
:03:04. > :03:07.acured this morning in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
:03:07. > :03:13.The commander of the International Security Assistance Force has
:03:13. > :03:18.stated that he is personally paying the highest attention to this
:03:18. > :03:25.matter. That he is committed to investigate and determine the facts.
:03:25. > :03:30.Well, now to Orla Guerin who joins us live from the Pakistani border.
:03:30. > :03:34.Anymore more details emerging of what happened? Question aring being
:03:34. > :03:38.asked about how this attack took place. Officials here are stressing
:03:38. > :03:41.that the checkpoints with clearly marked. They are emphasising that
:03:41. > :03:46.there was no militant activity in the area at the time. So they are
:03:46. > :03:51.saying that this could not have been a case of mistaken identity.
:03:51. > :03:55.The army is insisting that the attack was unprovoked, that the
:03:55. > :03:58.soldiers were literally killed by NATO in their sleep. We have seen
:03:58. > :04:01.angry statements coming from the political leadership here and from
:04:01. > :04:08.the military leadership and NATO has been left with a lot of
:04:08. > :04:11.questions to answer. They have said that there will be a very thorough
:04:11. > :04:16.investigation, but a great deal of anger here.
:04:16. > :04:19.This comes on top of a troubled relationship in recent months? It
:04:19. > :04:22.is a fraught relationship. Tremendous damage was done to the
:04:22. > :04:27.trust and the co-operation between the two sides after the killing of
:04:27. > :04:32.Bin Laden in May. It was starting to improve, we were seeing better
:04:32. > :04:36.co-operation, only yesterday, the head of Pakistan's armed forces sat
:04:36. > :04:42.down with a meeting -- for a meeting with the head of the
:04:42. > :04:47.Natural skp security forces to talk about the border zone, but within
:04:47. > :04:49.hours, the crossing of the Khyber Pass was closed. This is a pressure
:04:50. > :04:56.point that Pakistan can use to use pressure on NATO.
:04:56. > :05:00.Thank you very much. There have been more clashes in the
:05:00. > :05:04.Egyptian capital, Cairo, wean the - - between the police and the
:05:04. > :05:08.protesters demanding an end to military rule. One person was
:05:08. > :05:11.killed today. Thousands of protesters continue to occupy
:05:11. > :05:15.Tahrir Square in opposition to the Prime Minister put in place by the
:05:15. > :05:20.military. Northern Ireland's First Minister,
:05:20. > :05:23.Peter Robertson says he wants to see the end of segregation of
:05:23. > :05:28.Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren. He is to tell
:05:28. > :05:33.delegates there must be closer ties between the pupils of different
:05:33. > :05:37.religious. The school system is still largely separate despite the
:05:37. > :05:40.peace process. Thomas Cook has reached a deal to
:05:40. > :05:45.help to alleviate its financial problems.
:05:45. > :05:51.It has been struggling. Its banks have agreed to double its overdraft
:05:51. > :05:57.to �200 million. Let's get more from this from Joe
:05:57. > :06:02.Lyneham. Does this ensure Thomas Cook's future? It will reassure
:06:02. > :06:05.investors, but crucially, the customers, they are thinking of
:06:05. > :06:11.booking summer holidays and they would book it after Christmas, if
:06:11. > :06:17.they thought a company was in trouble, they may not do so. So
:06:17. > :06:22.this provides ereassurance. There are heavy rates of interest, though,
:06:22. > :06:28.but the question, though, is the future, the era of a package
:06:28. > :06:33.holiday is coming to an end. The internet provides bespoke holidays.
:06:33. > :06:37.In terms of giving up a lot of its shares for the deal as well?
:06:37. > :06:40.provided warrants for the shares, so that there is access to the
:06:40. > :06:43.shares for the banks if things go wrong.
:06:43. > :06:46.Thank you very much. Well, that is all of the news for
:06:47. > :06:49.now. Of course, you can get lots more on