:00:24. > :00:26.Good afternoon. WHITE Lord Heseltine, the
:00:26. > :00:28.Government's adviser on economic growth, has warned David Cameron
:00:28. > :00:33.that holding a referendum on Britain's relationship with the
:00:33. > :00:36.European Union would be, "an unnecessary gamble". He said it
:00:36. > :00:41.could drive away investment because of what he called, "a cloud of
:00:41. > :00:44.uncertainty". The Prime Minister is expected to announce details of his
:00:44. > :00:52.proposals in a speech later this month. Our political correspondent
:00:52. > :00:56.Alan Soady reports. Is David Cameron the Prime Minister who is
:00:56. > :00:59.to give voters a referendum on Europe? He will set out later this
:00:59. > :01:03.month the plans on Britain's future relationship with the European
:01:03. > :01:08.Union and it is expected he will give the public a vote for the
:01:08. > :01:11.first time since the 1970s. But the Conservative former Deputy Prime
:01:11. > :01:16.Minister, Lord Heseltine, now the Government's adviser on economic
:01:16. > :01:19.growth, is worried. In a newspaper interview, Lord
:01:19. > :01:25.Heseltine says, to commit to a referendum about a negotiation that
:01:25. > :01:29.has not begun, on a timescale, you cannot predict, on an outcome that
:01:29. > :01:34.is unknown, where Britain's appeal is an inward investment market is
:01:34. > :01:38.the centre of the debate, seems an unnecessary gamble.
:01:38. > :01:42.David Cameron favours renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership,
:01:42. > :01:46.but he did not rule out the possibility of leaving the EU in
:01:46. > :01:50.the future. His Chancellor, George Osborne, has also raised the
:01:50. > :01:56.question of EU membership, saying he would like Britain to stay in
:01:56. > :02:00.but on new terms. Renegotiation would rely on the willingness of
:02:00. > :02:04.other EU leaders, like the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, but a
:02:04. > :02:08.senior member of her party warned Britain could be making a mistake
:02:08. > :02:12.if it chose to leave the European Union. Lord Heseltine has been on
:02:12. > :02:16.the pro-European wing of the Conservative Party. There are those
:02:16. > :02:21.Euro-sceptics who may say this is a case of he would say that, wouldn't
:02:21. > :02:27.he? But David Cameron did hire him as the adviser on growth. There may
:02:27. > :02:31.be some MPs on the Prime Minister's side who has sympathy for what Lord
:02:31. > :02:36.Heseltine is saying. The Liberal Democrats Business Secretary, Vince
:02:36. > :02:40.Cable, has warned that the debate over Europe is disruptive and
:02:40. > :02:43.unhelpful, but the debate goes on, and with it public divisions at the
:02:43. > :02:46.heart of Government. Four police officers have been
:02:46. > :02:49.injured during another night of violence linked to Union flag
:02:49. > :02:52.protests in Northern Ireland. Police fired plastic bullets as
:02:52. > :03:02.rioters threw more than 30 petrol bombs. From Belfast, Chris Page
:03:02. > :03:03.
:03:03. > :03:08.reports. Politicians, the police and the business people said it
:03:08. > :03:13.should stop, but last night the rioting returned after two nights
:03:13. > :03:18.of peace. In the Rathcoole estate on the outskirts of north Belfast,
:03:18. > :03:25.the loyalists attacked the police with petrol bombs, rocks and
:03:25. > :03:29.firebombs. In Carrickfergus there was more rioters with more than 3
:03:29. > :03:33.petrol bombs thrown. The police responded by using water canons.
:03:33. > :03:36.Four officers were injured. There were a number of other
:03:36. > :03:41.demonstrations that were peaceful, but while the vast majority of
:03:41. > :03:45.people have not seen street violence, many have been affected
:03:45. > :03:49.by roadblocks, traffic was prevented from passing down several
:03:49. > :03:52.main roads. The company that runs public transport says it is losing
:03:53. > :04:00.out badly. Yesterday we had to withdraw
:04:00. > :04:04.services to most parts of Belfast. Only services running to airports
:04:04. > :04:06.were open. All other roads were blocked. We had to look after the
:04:06. > :04:10.safety of our staff and the customers.
:04:10. > :04:14.The violence that has caused this disruption has been confined to
:04:14. > :04:19.small areas, but it has cost the police and the businesses here
:04:19. > :04:26.millions of pounds. Almost six weeks into the dispute, there is no
:04:26. > :04:28.sign of the demonstrations ending. More details have emerged of the
:04:28. > :04:32.Government's plans for a flat rate pension, for people retiring after
:04:32. > :04:35.2017. Its expected to be �144 a week. Some people are expected to
:04:35. > :04:38.benefit from the change such as women who take long career breaks
:04:38. > :04:40.to bring up children but that others will have to pay hundreds of
:04:40. > :04:50.pounds more in national insurance during their working lives. The
:04:50. > :04:52.Government's white paper will be published on Monday.
:04:52. > :04:56.Government forces in Mali have regained territory from Islamist
:04:56. > :04:58.militants following air strikes by the French military. France has
:04:58. > :05:04.sent troops into the West African country to help the government
:05:04. > :05:07.repel an advance by the rebels. The French president Francois Hollande
:05:07. > :05:13.described the militants, who are linked to Al-Qaeda, as terrorists
:05:13. > :05:17.threatening Mali's very existence. Firefighters in Australia are
:05:17. > :05:21.continuing to tackle more than 100 bushfires. Gusty winds are making
:05:21. > :05:30.it hard to control the blazes, in the states of New South Wales,
:05:30. > :05:35.Tasmania and Victoria. Nick Bryant reports. The forecast was for the
:05:35. > :05:39.temperatures in the whos and a return to angry winds of earlier in
:05:39. > :05:44.the week. So the helicopters were in the skies early, dumping water
:05:44. > :05:50.from the planes. Of the 100 or so fires, three blazes posed a risk to
:05:50. > :05:55.the communities. For a time this fire front outside of Cooma, south
:05:55. > :06:02.of Canberra, threatened 15 properties, but relief came with a
:06:02. > :06:07.drop in temperatures and friendly winds. That's the story across New
:06:07. > :06:13.South Wales. Here, the fire crews deliberately set alight to the bush
:06:13. > :06:17.land. Such are the dry conditions, that in a matter of minutes it was
:06:17. > :06:22.ablaze. The crews are playing a guessing game with the fire, trying
:06:22. > :06:27.to predict its path and to deprive it of fuel. It's been a torrid week
:06:27. > :06:31.for the teams trying to contain the blazes, but given the catastrophic
:06:31. > :06:37.conditions, it is amazing that there has not been more destruction.
:06:37. > :06:40.Mate, the conditions we have had in the last several days, considering
:06:40. > :06:44.were was catastrophic fire danger and there has been no property loss
:06:44. > :06:48.it is remarkable and a credit to the firefighters who are all
:06:48. > :06:52.volunteers. Fires on the eastern side of this
:06:52. > :06:56.vast Continent are seeing this gigantic antic wall of dust close
:06:56. > :07:01.to the coastline. It looks like a creation of Hollywood, rather than