19/11/2017 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon.

President Mugabe has been dismissed

at the leader of Zimbabwe's

ruling Zanu-PF party -

a day after tens of thousands

marched on the streets

calling for him to go.

He's been replaced by the former

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa,

who's sacking by Mr Mugabe sparked

this political crisis.

Robert Mugabe remains, for now,

President of the country,

but this latest move

means his control has

been further weakened.

From Harare, our correspondent

Shingai Nyoka reports.

Senior military commanders have met

President Robert Mugabe to further

pressure him to step down from

government. His own party held a

historic meeting to dismiss him. It

is a humiliating end for the

decorated war hero and the party's

longest serving leader.

Our people,

colleagues, are demanding from us

government here to give effect to

their demands for the recall of

President and first secretary of

Zanu-PF from his position in the

party and government.

Bruising in

fighting for power has taken its

toll, an empty top table, no Robert

Mugabe, and no First Lady. This is

the beginning of an end of an era.

President Robert Mugabe will no

longer had the party he has led for

more than 40 years. The question now

is, who will take his place? The

Central committee has sacked the

president and also the First Lady as

the leader of the women's wing, but

she still remains the head of

government. Parliament are expected

to impeach him if he refuses to

resign. Veterans who fought

alongside him in the war of

liberation have warned of an

undignified exit if he digs in.

He

will need to give in, tender his

resignation, and leave.

The Vice

President he sacked for disloyalty,

Emmerson Mnangagwa, has been

recalled to lead the party. It is an

extraordinary end for a man whose

name has been phenomenal is not only

with Zimbabwe, but also this party,

since 1975.

A dramatic day for Zimbabwe, and a

humiliating moment for a man once

seen as the symbol of liberation.

What happens next?

It is a very

significant event, as we have seen

over the last couple of days.

President Mugabe fired from his

position and reduced to an

ordinarily card-carrying member,

which is the lowest ranking within

the party. Essentially, they have

stripped him of his ability to

influence proceedings within

Zanu-PF. This process has been

relatively swift. If he refuses to

resign, and as we understand, about

a mile from now, he is having a

meeting with Army generals, who will

try to apply further pressure on him

to step down so he can have at least

have a dignified exit. If he refuses

to do that, government will tomorrow

begin the process of trying to

impeach him through a Parliamentary

process. According to the

Constitution, a Vice President would

take over, and the grounds for

impeachment are ill health or wilful

misconduct. Really, options are open

to him. Grace Mugabe has borne the

brunt of the hatred in this process,

Reuters is reporting that the

Central committee has recommended

that she be prosecuted for

corruption, along with other people

who have surrounded Robert Mugabe.

These events are moving very

quickly. It appears more and more

that President Mugabe and his wife

will have an undignified exit from

power.

Thank you very much.

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond,

says there's no silver bullet

to solve Britain's housing crisis.

But he told the BBC that

a range of measures -

to be set out in this week's Budget

- will help to get 300,000

homes built a year.

Mr Hammond also dismissed

suggestions the government should

borrow tens of billions of pounds

to fund a massive house

building programme.

Here's our political

correspondent, Emma Vardy.

This is what Phillip Hammond wants

to see and is calling time on

so-called land-hoarders,

saying it is no longer acceptable

to have so many sites with planning

permission that

aren't being built on.

Today he told the BBC

the state would intervene.

There are, in London alone, 270,000

residential planning permissions

that have not today been built.

We need to understand why these

planning permissions that are going

up all over the country, that

will continue to increase across the

country, why they are

not being built out.

On Wednesday Philip Hammond

will announce £5 billion of

new investment for housing and he

will reveal a range of measures not

only designed to encourage the big

construction firms but also schemes

such as government backed loans

for small developers too.

There could also be help

for first-time buyers

on things like stamp duty.

The drive for more housing has

cross-party support.

But Labour said today

the Government isn't doing

enough for public services.

Shadow Chancellor

John McDonnell argued

this could be funded by ending tax

cuts for the wealthy, not through

borrowing.

Stop giving the tax cuts

to the corporations and the rich and

recognise you have an emergency out

there in terms of public services.

Invest in those public services.

And will these be

on our roads by 2021?

Philip Hammond said driverless cars

are the future and is setting up

plans for new investment

for technology and artificial

intelligence.

But will robots eventually put

millions of us out of work?

Mr Hammond said that won't happen,

but had to clarify his

comment that suggested

there is zero unemployment.

Where are all these

unemployed people?

There are no unemployed people...

There are a lot

of unemployed people.

We have created 3.5 million

new jobs since 2010.

This economy has

become a jobs factory.

This budget, says Philip Hammond, is

also about building a country that's

fit for a post-Brexit world.

But don't expect anything

too controversial.

That slim majority means

the government just doesn't

have strong enough foundations

to take many risks.

Emma Vardy, BBC News.

Police in Dorset say they're

treating the death of the

teenager Gaia Pope as unexplained.

The 19-year-old's body was found

yesterday afternoon close

to a coastal path near Swanage.

She was last seen alive

on the 7th of November.

Our correspondent,

James Ingham, is there.

James, what's the latest?

Sophie, the police are trying to

establish the circumstances around

Gaia's death. When she went missing,

she was said to be in a distressed

state when she was last seen, and

didn't have the medication for

epilepsy she needed. Detectives

believe she may have been killed.

They have questioned three people on

suspicion of her murder, but all

have since been released. On fields

behind me here, closed the coastal

footpath, forensic teams are at

work, near to where Gaia's body was

found. They are hoping to an Earth

clues that will be able to guide

their future enquiries, together

with the postmortem investigation.

This has really shocked the town

here. Hundreds of volunteers turned

out to help. Tonight, prayers will

be held at a local church service,

as this small town comes to terms

with her death.

There's hope today that an Argentine

submarine that's been missing

since Wednesday, with 44 crew

on board, might have been located.

The San Juan was returning

from a routine mission

near the southern-most tip

of South America, when contact

was lost with navy command.

Now signals have been detected

after an international search,

in which the UK has

been taking part.

Dan Johnson reports.

This is a vessel designed to play

hide and seek in the deepest depths.

So finding the San Juan,

its crew and the 22

torpedoes it carries

is a real challenge.

Fresh satellite signals,

albeit weak ones,

have revived hope of rescue.

So help is on its way.

The US Navy is loading deep sea

rescue equipment and flying

it to Argentina.

The submarine left the southern port

of Ushuaia on Monday

after a routine mission.

It was making the 2,000 mile

journey back to its base

in Mar del Plata, not far

from Argentina's capital.

The search is focused

around halfway in the San

Jorge Gulf where the sub

last made contact.

But it's a huge area

and poor weather has made

difficult search even harder.

TRANSLATION:

We have

to consider that it

might be on the surface

of the water, as protocol says it

should, because it would be easier

for the submarine

to get help that way.

One of the 44 crew members is

Argentina's first woman Sub Mariner,

the best hope of finding her and her

crewmates alive is that a power

failure knocked out

the submarine's communications.

Britain is now one of five

countries helping the

Argentine navy in the massive search

to find the San Juan.

Dan Johnson, BBC News.

Just a reminder you can see more

on all of today's stories

on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC

One is at 5:50pm.

Bye for now.