:00:24. > :00:27.Good afternoon. The Government has confirmed that an improved offer on
:00:27. > :00:30.public sector pensions could be withdrawn if an agreement with
:00:30. > :00:34.unions can't be reached. More than two million workers are preparing
:00:34. > :00:37.to strike on Wednesday and the leader of one of the biggest unions
:00:37. > :00:45.involved accused the Government of misinformation. Our Political
:00:45. > :00:48.correspondent, Robin Brant has more details. Trade union members have
:00:48. > :00:52.taken to the streets already this year. If Wednesday's walkout goes
:00:52. > :00:55.ahead, it will be the biggest protest in a generation, two
:00:55. > :00:59.million could stay at home. But as that day approaches, the talk from
:00:59. > :01:03.the top of Government's got noticeably tougher and ministers
:01:03. > :01:06.have repeated the warning that they could withdraw their improved offer.
:01:06. > :01:11.These days of action are very damaging to the economy. They cost
:01:11. > :01:13.money. We don't want this thing going into 2012. We need to get an
:01:14. > :01:19.agreement reached. We're very close to agreement with the trade unions
:01:19. > :01:21.on the basis of what is a generous offer. That's why we've said it's
:01:21. > :01:25.conditional. It's clear that two distinct views of what comes next
:01:25. > :01:30.are now emerging, an the leader of one of the country's biggest unions
:01:30. > :01:34.says they're not close to a deal. The misinformation that is coming
:01:34. > :01:37.from the Government is absolutely criminal. When you look at what is
:01:37. > :01:41.actually happening to public service workers and the impression
:01:41. > :01:47.that being given that in some way this improved offer is so good that
:01:47. > :01:49.it should be taken by everybody, but where is the improved offer?
:01:49. > :01:54.Thousands of National Health Service non-emergency operations
:01:54. > :01:59.could be postponed. At Heathrow, they're preparing for delays of up
:01:59. > :02:02.to 12 hours. In Northern Ireland, the entire public transport network
:02:02. > :02:06.will shut down. Widespread disruption, but there's some
:02:06. > :02:10.support. I'm willing to take the pain of a day without a few of the
:02:10. > :02:15.services for them to support what they need in future. They need to
:02:15. > :02:19.stand up for what they think is right. I can see how it's justified.
:02:19. > :02:22.I think perhaps it could have been a bit more negotiation going on
:02:22. > :02:27.when the last offer went on the table and then to think about what
:02:27. > :02:30.to do. People are living longer and the Government believes taxpayers
:02:30. > :02:33.can't afford to fund the current deal. But the unions see the
:02:33. > :02:38.proposals as a kind of retrospective robbery. Wednesday's
:02:38. > :02:41.strike will show the scale of their anger. One union negotiator has
:02:41. > :02:46.told the BBC, let's get Wednesday out of the way, then hope to get
:02:46. > :02:49.something done by the end of the year.
:02:49. > :02:54.There's been a furious response from Pakistan after NATO
:02:55. > :02:58.helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts on
:02:58. > :03:02.Pakistani territory. At least 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in
:03:02. > :03:06.the incident, near the border with Afghanistan. Islamabad has
:03:06. > :03:15.retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes. From there,
:03:15. > :03:20.Orla Guerin sent this report. It was in this remote terrain that
:03:20. > :03:23.NATO struck. This is Mohmand in Pakistan's tribal belt. The army
:03:23. > :03:32.says the area has been cleared of insurgents and there was no
:03:32. > :03:35.militant activity when NATO struck. No excuse for mistaken identity.
:03:35. > :03:40.Pakistan says NATO helicopters and fighter aircraft opened fire on two
:03:40. > :03:45.check posts. NATO knew the location of the check posts, according to a
:03:45. > :03:49.senior Pakistani official. "We gave them the grid references," he said.
:03:49. > :03:53.NATO commanders have offered condolences and promised to
:03:53. > :03:57.investigate. We have to look into this case as it happened in a very
:03:57. > :04:00.rugged part of the country, a very deserted part of the country and in
:04:00. > :04:04.the middle of the night, where it was pitch dark. We have to look
:04:04. > :04:12.into the incident in detail, come to the conclusion and then talk to
:04:12. > :04:16.the Pakistani side. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani,
:04:16. > :04:22.says his country's independence and sovereignty have been attacked.
:04:22. > :04:26.Within hours Pakistan hit back, sealing its border to NATO traffic.
:04:26. > :04:30.Convoys crossed Pakistan with crucial supplies, making their way
:04:30. > :04:37.to the Afghan capital, Kabul. And to Kandahar, the second largest
:04:37. > :04:41.city. Now the trucks are blocked and NATO has lost a lifeline. The
:04:41. > :04:47.Pakistan army says all options are on the table and it reserves the
:04:47. > :04:52.right to retaliate. Pakistan says this was an unprovoked attack.
:04:52. > :04:57.Afghan and NATO sources have told the BBC the helicopters were on an
:04:57. > :05:01.operation when they came under fire from the Pakistani side. Either way,
:05:01. > :05:09.this episode has created a new crisis in Pakistan's relations with
:05:09. > :05:13.the West. A series of bomb attacks in Iraq
:05:13. > :05:17.has killed at least 15 people. The first explosions happened west of
:05:17. > :05:21.Baghdad in a mainly Sunni area, where labourerers wait for work.
:05:21. > :05:26.Later, three more bombs went off in the city centre. It's the second
:05:26. > :05:30.wave of attacks in Iraq this week. There have been more clashes
:05:30. > :05:34.between pro-democracy protesters and security forces in Egypt. Riot
:05:34. > :05:38.police have been firing volleys of tear gas and demonstrators are
:05:38. > :05:43.throwing stones and petrol bombs. The latest violence comes ahead of
:05:43. > :05:48.elections due to be held on Monday. Northern Ireland's First Minister,
:05:48. > :05:52.Peter Robinson, says he wants to see an end to segregation between
:05:52. > :05:58.Catholics and Protestants. Speaking at the annual conference in Belfast,
:05:58. > :06:01.he called for a shared education system and the end of the "them and
:06:01. > :06:05.us" society. Mark Simpson has this report, which does contain some
:06:05. > :06:09.flash photography. A Protestant party for Protestant people, that's
:06:09. > :06:14.how many viewed the DUP, but in recent years it's been reaching out.
:06:14. > :06:20.And now Ian Paisley's successor, Peter Robinson, is trying to go
:06:20. > :06:22.further. He says he wants to end the segregation between prop stants
:06:22. > :06:31.and Catholics in Northern Ireland schools. And in society here in
:06:31. > :06:37.general. Conflict of this last 40 years created terrible divisions.
:06:37. > :06:43.It became a case of them and us. That attitude deepened divisions
:06:43. > :06:51.even further. If we want a better society, it can't be them and us.
:06:51. > :06:56.It can only be all of us. APPLAUSE
:06:56. > :07:00.Peter Robinson knows that talking about change in Northern Ireland is
:07:00. > :07:06.easy. Delivering it will be much more difficult. The divisions still
:07:06. > :07:09.run deep, especially in parts of Belfast. The city has 49 walls
:07:09. > :07:14.which keep Catholics and Protestants apart. The education
:07:14. > :07:19.system is divided too, with only around 5% of schools fully
:07:19. > :07:24.integrated. There are even two different transfer tests from
:07:24. > :07:28.primary to secondary school, one taken mainly by Protestant kids,
:07:28. > :07:32.the other mainly by Catholics. Do people believe that more
:07:32. > :07:39.integration would actually work? think it's a really good idea. It's
:07:39. > :07:43.definitely possible. No, never. Definitely not. People just need to
:07:43. > :07:47.realise how similar we actually are and that when we do work as a team,
:07:47. > :07:53.magical things can happen. It will take a decade, maybe, but the main
:07:53. > :07:57.thing is to get it started now. Some believe it will take much
:07:57. > :08:03.longer than that, maybe generations. But at least the political debate
:08:04. > :08:09.has begun. An elderly widow has died after
:08:09. > :08:13.trying to stop a mugger stealing her handbag, in which she kept her
:08:13. > :08:16.husband's ashes for 17 years. Nellie Gerraghty, who was 79, was
:08:16. > :08:21.found unconscious with head injuries in an alleyway in Oldham.
:08:21. > :08:24.Two boys, aged 14 and 17, have been arrested.
:08:24. > :08:27.The travel company Thomas Cook has made a deal with banks to ease its
:08:27. > :08:31.financial problems. The company has been hit by a fall in the number of
:08:31. > :08:35.customers for holidays in the Middle East. It's reached agreement
:08:36. > :08:41.to double its overdraft to �200 million.
:08:41. > :08:49.An unmanned rocket, carrying the Curiosity probe heading for Mars