26/11/2011 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. The Government has repeated its threat to withdraw its

offer on public sector sengs pence pensions if a major strike planned

for Wednesday goes ahead. Schools, hospitals and airports are planning

for major disruptions. 7 one of the big trade unions ha told the BBC it

had hoped that a new agreement is reached by the end of the year.

In the final days before the walk- out, the words from the top of

Government are getting tougher. The Treasury Minister, Danny Alexander

says that the timing of the strike is bizarre, saying that the unions

have to persuade their members, who they have marched up the hill to

look at the agreement and the nature of the deal on offer is a

good one, but both sides in the dispute accept that the strikes

will almost certainly go ahead. No last-minute talks are planned. 2

million people could stay away from work. The Government says that the

public pensions have to change and the improved offer is a good one.

It is time for them to fine the index-linked pensions in the state

sector, that we want to maintain are not available to the vast

majority of people in the private sector. They have to be fair to the

taxpayers funding them. Part of the National Health Service

is to be affected on Wednesday. Thousands of planned operations are

postponed. Although doctors and most nurses are not striking.

The services will be disrupted. It will be an upset for some

patients, but we are working to attend Emergency Services, but

services for outpatient appointments or tests that take

place, or follow-up appointments will be delayed.

Heathrow Airport is predicting huge queues and 12-hour waits if border

staff don't show up. The transport neck across Northern Ireland is

likely to shut down. Ministers repeated the warning that the offer

could be withdrawn if the strikes go ahead, but talks in the teaching

and the Civil Service are said to be progressing.

It is said that they hope to get something done by the end of the

year. The Pakistani army says that NATO

helicopters attacked one of its checkpoints in north-west Pakistan,

killing at least 26 soldiers. The army spokesperson said that the

attack took place near the border with Afghanistan, which was

unprovoked. There is an investigation into the

incident. The international security

assistance for this is investigating an incident that

acured this morning in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The commander of the International Security Assistance Force has

stated that he is personally paying the highest attention to this

matter. That he is committed to investigate and determine the facts.

Well, now to Orla Guerin who joins us live from the Pakistani border.

Anymore more details emerging of what happened? Question aring being

asked about how this attack took place. Officials here are stressing

that the checkpoints with clearly marked. They are emphasising that

there was no militant activity in the area at the time. So they are

saying that this could not have been a case of mistaken identity.

The army is insisting that the attack was unprovoked, that the

soldiers were literally killed by NATO in their sleep. We have seen

angry statements coming from the political leadership here and from

the military leadership and NATO has been left with a lot of

questions to answer. They have said that there will be a very thorough

investigation, but a great deal of anger here.

This comes on top of a troubled relationship in recent months? It

is a fraught relationship. Tremendous damage was done to the

trust and the co-operation between the two sides after the killing of

Bin Laden in May. It was starting to improve, we were seeing better

co-operation, only yesterday, the head of Pakistan's armed forces sat

down with a meeting -- for a meeting with the head of the

Natural skp security forces to talk about the border zone, but within

hours, the crossing of the Khyber Pass was closed. This is a pressure

point that Pakistan can use to use pressure on NATO.

Thank you very much. There have been more clashes in the

Egyptian capital, Cairo, wean the - - between the police and the

protesters demanding an end to military rule. One person was

killed today. Thousands of protesters continue to occupy

Tahrir Square in opposition to the Prime Minister put in place by the

military. Northern Ireland's First Minister,

Peter Robertson says he wants to see the end of segregation of

Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren. He is to tell

delegates there must be closer ties between the pupils of different

religious. The school system is still largely separate despite the

peace process. Thomas Cook has reached a deal to

help to alleviate its financial problems.

It has been struggling. Its banks have agreed to double its overdraft

to �200 million. Let's get more from this from Joe

Lyneham. Does this ensure Thomas Cook's future? It will reassure

investors, but crucially, the customers, they are thinking of

booking summer holidays and they would book it after Christmas, if

they thought a company was in trouble, they may not do so. So

this provides ereassurance. There are heavy rates of interest, though,

but the question, though, is the future, the era of a package

holiday is coming to an end. The internet provides bespoke holidays.

In terms of giving up a lot of its shares for the deal as well?

provided warrants for the shares, so that there is access to the

shares for the banks if things go wrong.

Thank you very much. Well, that is all of the news for

now. Of course, you can get lots more on