15/11/2017 BBC News at One

The army in Zimbabwe seizes control

of the country but insists

it's not staging a coup.

Gunfire is heard in

the capital Harare,

as armoured vehicles take

to the streets.

It began last night as the state

broadcaster was taken over

Their security is guaranteed.

We are only targetting

criminals around him

who are committing crimes.

Ninety-three-year-old Robert Mugabe,

President since 1980,

is understood to be

under house arrest.

We'll be live in Zimbabwe for the

latest. Also this lunchtime.

Scotland will become the first

country in the world to set a

minimum unit price for alcohol in a

bid to tackle a worsening health

problem.

The Foreign Secretary

tells the husband of

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

that no stone will be

left unturned" in trying

to secure her release in Iran.

I am hopeful

that he will do everything he can

to bring her home by Christmas.

I am hopeful that he is fully

engaged on trying to bring her back.

Concern for the British explorer

Benedict Allen who has gone missing

in Papua New Guinea,

a search has been launched.

Celebrations as Australians vote

overwhelmingly in favour

of legalising same-sex marriage

in a historic poll.

Coming up in sport: eight days until

the first Ashes Test in Brisbane,

Chris Woakes takes six wickets on

the opening day of England's final

warm up match.

Good afternoon, welcome

to the BBC News at One.

The army is now in control

in Zimbabwe

after taking over the state

broadcaster overnight.

Armoured vehicles are on the streets

but the military have insisted

they have not staged a coup.

President Mugabe is reported

to be under house arrest.

The British embassy in Zimbabwe has

advised UK nationals to stay indoors

until the situation becomes clearer.

Our Diplomatic Correspondent

James Robbins reports.

Snatched video films furtively tells

some of the story, troops on the

streets of Harare, as the generals

take control after 37 years of

President Mugabe's increasingly

dictatorial rule. Heavy gunfire

could be heard in parts of the

capital early this morning, but the

picture overall is of uncertain

quiet. It looks as if the bulk of

the Army has been moving to secure

its hold on Zimbabwe. Soldiers

seized the headquarters of the

straight forecast, so that a general

read out a statement.

The situation

in our country has moved to another

level. Firstly, we wish to assure

the nation that his Excellency the

president of the Republic of

Zimbabwe and commander-in-chief of

the Zimbabwe defence forces, comrade

Robert Mugabe, and his family, are

safe and sound and their security is

guaranteed. We are only targeting

criminals around him who are

committing crimes that are causing

social and economic suffering in the

country in order to bring them to

justice. As soon as we have

accomplished our mission, we expect

that the situation will return to

normalcy.

This was president Robert

Mugabe last week, very frail,

seriously ill, renaming the

country's main airport for himself.

Hoping perhaps to cement still

further a cult of personality and

try to make the succession of his

wife, race, at his side, more

certain. Key military leaders now

seem unwilling to let that happen,

Robert Mugabe is under house arrest,

in office but certainly not in

power. Grace, 40 years his junior,

has helped split the entire ruling

party, Zanu-PF. Ten days ago she was

booed at a rally and the Army

clearly blames her for splitting

factions. She is reported to be out

of the country, apparently seeking

protection in Namibia. This is the

man the Army may favour, the vice

president until he fired him last

week, Army commanders were desperate

to stop the purge and Emmerson

Mnangagwa saw himself as a

frontrunner to succeed until his

sacking and flight into exile, now,

Britain, former colonial power, is

urging calm.

Our ambassador has been

touch because UK nationals that are

worried should get in touch with the

embassy. It is fluid and hard to say

exactly how this will turn out, the

most important point to make is that

everyone wants to see a stable and

successful Zimbabwe, and I think we

appeal for everyone to refrain from

violence, that is being porting

thing.

Harare does appear to be

generally quiet, Zimbabwe and people

will be nervous after enduring

decades of violent row and the

catastrophic economic collapse of a

once thriving economy. Powerful

neighbour South Africa is also

calling for calm and restraint.

I'm

hoping that the defence force will

not move and do more damage, that

they will be able to respect the

constitution of Zimbabwe, as well as

the people of Zimbabwe, so that this

situation does not go beyond the

situation where it is now.

This

morning's newspaper headlines on the

streets of Harare highlights tension

between the army chief, Chiwenga,

and President Mugabe, but events

have moved a long way since those

words were printed.

It seems President Robert Mugabe has

finally lost his grip on power

after nearly four decades.

The 93-year-old has ruled

Zimbabwe since independence

from the UK in 1980.

But the economy of the country has

descended into chaos,

with thousands of people

reduced to poverty.

Our correspondent

Milton Nkosi reports.

I, Robert Gabriel...

Robert Gabriel Mugabe

was a revolutionary leader

who fought in the liberation

struggle against

white minority rule.

And bear true allegiance

to Zimbabwe...

His tight grip on power earned him

the title of being the oldest head

of state in the world.

The 93-year-old leader has been

in power since Zimbabwe's

independence in 1980.

He has continued his life

as an international statesman,

despite a diminishing reputation

as Zimbabwe's economy crumbled

amid corruption and violence.

Mugabe's rise to power began in 1979

when the Lancaster House agreement

ended white minority rule.

At first he protected

minority rights.

But in the 2000s he changed tack.

He led a chaotic land

reform programme including

redistributing land from white

farmers without compensation.

The country's economy collapsed

with runaway inflation figures.

The central bank printed

money on a massive scale.

Supermarket shelves were empty.

A loaf of bread would cost

you

trillions

to buy.

Mugabe's misrule prompted widespread

protests,

that was the birth

of the opposition MDC,

led by trade unionist

Morgan Tsvangirai who later entered

into power-sharing agreements

with Mugabe following

a disputed election.

The economic climate was unbearable,

something it is still

struggling to recover from.

Millions of Zimbabweans cross

the border into neighbouring

South Africa looking

for a better life.

And now the end seems near.

As he tried to pave the way

for his wife Grace Mugabe

to be his successor.

The Army found that unacceptable

saying that this is not a dynasty.

Our correspondent Shingai Nyoka is

in Harare. What is the mood?

The

mood is very quiet, the

million-dollar question among

Zimbabwe ands is what happens next,

a lot of uncertainty around that, we

were in the street earlier, there

was gunfire and explosions and that

has been replaced by calm, but there

is still a heavy military presence

in the central business district. --

Zimbabweans. I personally witnessed

tankers and some parts of the

capital are in lockdown, tankers

have sealed off access to president

Robert Mugabe's office, his

administrative office, as well as

key buildings like Parliament and

the courts, many of the people

moving around town they did not seem

to be any fear in them, they were

calm, in spite of the fact that the

military is there.

You can follow all the latest

developments from Zimbabwe as it

happens. That is on our website, you

can get live updates, analysis and

much more.

Scotland will become the first

country in the world to set

a minimum unit price for alcohol.

The Supreme Court has ruled

that the Scottish government can

proceed with its plan to set

a minimum price for alcohol

of 50p per unit.

Currently some alcohol can be bought

for as little as 18p a unit.

It follows a five-year legal battle

with the Scotch Whisky Association,

which had claimed the policy

was a "restriction on trade".

Other parts of the UK could now

follow Scotland's example.

Here's our correspondent

Catriona Renton.

The Scottish Government says the

problem with drink in Scotland is so

significant that ground-breaking

measures are required to save lives,

the law to introduce a minimum price

for alcohol was passed more than

five years ago, but a lengthy battle

in the courts with the Scotch Whisky

Association has stopped it from

being in fermented until now.

The

2012 act does not reach EU law,

minimum pricing is a proportional

means of achieving a legitimate aim.

The idea of minimum pricing is

simple, the more alcohol a drink

contains, the stronger it is, and

therefore, the more expensive it

will be. The government wants to set

it at 50p per unit, that means, four

cans of 5% strength lager would cost

at least £4.40. And a bottle of

wine, £4 50. And a 70 cents a litre

bottle of whiskey, could not be sold

for less than £14. Almost all

alcoholic drinks bought in pubs sell

for well above the minimum price, so

they will not really be effective.

In shops like this, let's take this

bottle of strong cider, at the

moment, selling for £4 50, but it

will go up to £11 25. What do people

make of that?

It is dear enough as

it is now, and they make enough

money from it.

People will get

together and they will buy cider,

that is the most popular thing for

them. That is four or £5. They will

not be able to pay for it.

, be

quite a good thing, I work as a

psychiatric nurse, we get a lot of

people addicted to alcohol and

things like that.

It will probably

be a positive thing from my point of

view. The Scotch whiskey association

argued the policy goes against EU

trade rules but the Scottish

Government says it will change

lives.

Policy is by its very nature

controversial because, again, this

is an example of Scotland leading

the world. It will continue to have

its critics. But it is the kind of

bold and necessary policy that we

need to tackle a public health

challenge.

Campaigners in other

parts of the UK will have been

closely watching today's ruling, and

this may well have an influence.

The Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has held his first

meeting with Richard Ratcliffe,

the husband of the British-Iranian

woman detained in Iran.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed

for five years in April

last year for spying,

which she denies.

Tom Burridge is at Westminster.

He has been separated from his wife

and young daughter for a yet and a

half. This morning, a meeting at the

Foreign Office. Richard Ratcliffe

was troubled when the Foreign

Secretary suggested his wife might

not have been purely on holiday in

Iran, as Boris Johnson apologised,

today, Mr Ratcliffe was able to ask

the Foreign Secretary whether he

could join him on his trip to Iran

next month.

We talked about his trip

to Iran, in the meeting, he said it

is not quite confirmed when. We

talked about whether I would be able

to accompany him, he said he was

keen to take me, but it is a

question to resolve with the advice

of the Foreign Office and also in

the A 's on with the Iranianss.

This

was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe a week

before her arrest, her daughter now

only gets to see her during prison

visits. She has dual British and

Iranians citizens, and was arrested

at terrain airport, after visiting

her parents. -- citizenship.

People

here in the Foreign Office and

across government have been working

very hard over the last 19 months to

secure the release of Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and indeed to

solve some other very difficult

consulate cases in Iran. And we will

continue to do that and we will

leave absolutely no stone unturned.

Richard Ratcliffe says his wife is

in poor health and on the verge of a

nervous breakdown. Their daughter

cannot travel to Britain to be

reunited with her father. This

morning he was able to press the

Foreign Secretary on all of those

issues, and asked that his wife be

granted diplomatic protection.

Diplomatic protection would

essentially turn her plight from an

individual consulate issue into an

official dispute between Britain and

Iran. Officials here at the Foreign

Office have been trying to work out

whether that move would have a

positive impact on the case in Iran.

According to Mr Ratcliffe, the

Foreign Secretary expressed

reservations about granting

diplomatic protection. He still

hopes his wife will be home in time

for Christmas.

The interim leader of

the Scottish Labour party,

Alex Rowley, has stepped down

from the post because of allegations

about his past conduct.

He's referred himself

to the party's investigations unit

following newspaper allegations

that he sent abusive text messages

to an ex-girlfriend.

He denies all the allegations.

The winner of the party's leadership

contest is due to be

announced this weekend.

At least five people have died

in Greece after a storm

last night near Athens.

A sudden downpour in towns around

the capital left roads

flooded and trapped people

in their homes an cars.

The fire brigade says three men

and two women were found dead

in or near buildings.

A British backpacker and her

Canadian friend have been found dead

in Hotel in Cambodia. It is thought

the 22-year-old from Bedfordshire

her friend became ill after buying

counterfeit medicines from a

pharmacy in Cambodia.

Unemployment has fallen again.

It dropped by 59,000

between July and September.

But the new figures show that

average earnings are still failing

to keep up with inflation.

The official figures also show

that the number of people born

outside the UK joining

the workforce has fallen sharply,

as Our Economics Correspondent

Andy Verity reports.

The service industry may have slowed

down but has not stopped churning

out jobs. With fewer unemployed

workers are claiming a larger slice

of the pie with wages edging up. The

boys this food manufacturer in West

Yorkshire are struggling to find

enough people to do the work to make

their orders.

On the factory

workforce we are seeing that the

labour market is more difficult to

get good workers.

The number of

people classified as unemployed

dropped slightly from July to

September to 1.4 million, a rate of

4.3% of the working population,

unchanged from last month. The

number in work is now estimated at

32.1 million, slightly less than the

last count, the first drop in two

years. The figures today reveal a

big change in the supply of labour

from outside the UK. Last year

430,000 non-UK born workers found

work here. This year is just 130

2000. That drop in the supply of

labour from abroad has implications

not just for jobs but wages.

The

drop in non-UK born workers is

significant particularly for wages.

In 2000 1690% of the increase in

employment came from migrant workers

and small proportion from domestic

workers, that is dropping off as

workers have been deterred from

coming here from overseas or maybe

have gone home in light of Brexit.

Maybe wages will start to pick up on

the back of that.

Today's official

figures also show a marked change in

productivity. The amount the economy

produces per worker. After falling

for six months that is estimated to

have grown by more .9%. Many each

worker is producing a little more.

If that figure is accurate it may

not be, it is good news for the

chance ahead of the budget next

week. The more each worker produces

them or their firms can afford to

pay them and more taxes the

Chancellor receive. -- could

receive.

Our top story this lunchtime.

The army in Zimbabwe seizes control

of the country but insists

it's not staging a coup.

And coming up.

A home for a pound?

But be ready to do

some renovations...

Coming up in sport.

Australia are the latest team

to qualifiy for next year's

World Cup in Brazil.

They've beaten Honduras

3-1 in the 2nd leg

of their play off in Sydney,

Aston Villa's Mile

Jedinak with a hatrick.

Thousands of people have been

celebrating in cities

across Australia, after the country

voted to legalise same-sex marriage.

More than 60 percent of voters

backed the proposal in what was

a non-binding postal referendum.

But the Prime Minister called it

a 'vote for love' and says he plans

to introduce legislation before

the end of the year.

From Sydney, Hywel Griffith reports.

So now to the final count...

After months of divisive debate,

finally Australia has its answer.

CHEERING.

Numbers confirmed what the opinion

polls have said all along.

That the majority of Australians do

support same-sex marriage.

But for Veronica and Louise,

it means everything.

It is huge.

It is huge.

It is equality, it is everything.

It is just being recognised

as being just like everyone else.

It is freedom, it is acceptance.

All of that.

The eight-week vote was according

to the government meant to prompt

respectful discussion.

It didn't always work out that way.

Go home, homophobes!

Both sides have been accused

of demonising each other.

Faith groups say their right

to religious freedom

has been diminished.

And they will carry on fighting

to ensure people who oppose gay

marriage have a legal right

to do so.

The way in which we have

seen the Western world

and other democracies,

the coercive effect of changing

the definition of marriage has been

to restrict people's ability to hold

a different point of view.

Everyone knows this is not

the end of the line.

It is not done and dusted

until Parliament passes legislation.

That, they hope, will be

done before Christmas.

But that is a concern

for another day.

Today is about celebrating,

getting the party started.

There's very few photographs...

Not everyone was out

dancing in the streets.

But for John and Arthur,

the moment is just as sweet.

After 50 years together as a couple,

they can now plan their wedding.

It just gives our relationship

exactly the same status,

exactly the same dignity

as the relationships

of our heterosexual friends,

of whom we've got many.

And we will just feel we are first

class citizens and not

second-class citizens.

Many who have campaigned

for same-sex marriage did not

want their relationships put

to a public vote.

But today's result means they should

soon have the law on their side.

Hywel Griffith, BBC News, Sydney.

A search has been launched

for the British explorer,

Benedict Allen, after his family

said he went missing

during an expedition

to Papua New Guinea.

The 57-year-old's wife says

he missed his flight home,

and hasn't been heard

from for the past three weeks.

Earlier this year he'd appeared

in a documentary with the BBC

correspondent Frank Gardner -

in which they travelled

to Papua New Guinea in search

of birds of paradise.

Frank joins us now.

How worried are you? I'm keeping an

open mind because all travel

schedules go out of the window in

Papau New Guinea with mudslides,

landslides, torrential rain, bridges

fall down, anything could have

happened to delay him. The most

likely explanation is probably the

line. It is possible that he has

been invited to stay on to some

tribal ceremony and out of

politeness and not to risk insulting

his post he has stayed on. The

darker side though is that he has

gone to visit quite a war like

tribe, it is completely unknown what

state they're in, there's a lot of

intertribal warfare, the risk is

that he could have taken someone

with them one tried considered to be

an enemy by another. It is very

territorial and when we went last

year our location scout checked it

all out in advance to make sure we

do not have a hostile reception. He

has not had that luxury Sophie is

going on his own with no mobile

phone, he was dropped by helicopter

in already a pretty depressed place

where missionaries had abandoned it

and there is a lot of malnutrition.

So quite a dangerous part of the

country but he is a resourceful guy

and absolutely love this kind of

thing. He will be in his own little

paradise doing this so I really hope

that he is fine and chances are he

will be but until he makes contact I

think many people will be very

worried.

Thank you.

Almost 400 individuals

and organisations have been given

the right to participate

at the Grenfell Tower inquiry.

The decision could give them

the right to provide opening

statements, highlight evidence

or suggest lines of questioning.

Meanwhile officials

from the inquiry, which is being led

by the retired judge

Sir Martin Moore-Bick, say they have

yet to finish taking statements

from residents and firefighters.

Global leaders are in Germany this

afternoon for the start

of the annual world talks

on climate change.

They're trying to finalise

the details from the big climate

change agreement in Paris

two years ago.

But there's anger that

the United States will be promoting

fossil fuels at the conference -

including what they

call 'clean coal' .

Here's our environment analyst

Roger Harrabin reports.

Are we changing the climate?

Well, scientists are more convinced

than ever that it's mainly our fault

that the planet is heating.

13 US agencies say there is no

other realistic cause.

Scientists say carbon dioxide

emissions from our society

didn't trigger the California

wildfires, for instance,

but it did make them worse.

The oceans are also absorbing

some of that carbon dioxide

and that is making sea

water more acidic.

Scientists warn that all marine

life will be affected.

The vast majority of the countries

in the world understand that

climate change is real,

that it's caused by humans,

that it's already doing great

damage to life, health,

property, economies and ecosystems.

And that it's in everybody's

interest to work together

to reduce the threat.

So what are we doing about it?

In Paris, world leaders promised

to hold the world's temperature rise

as close as possible to 1.5 Celsius.

That is thought to be

a danger point.

That would mean very steep cuts

in greenhouse gases.

But look, this is what

the politicians' pledges

in Paris will give us.

A steadily increasing level

of greenhouse gases.

So there's a huge gap

between what politicians are doing

and what they admit they need to do.

And unless things improve,

scientists think we're heading

for a dangerous temperature rise

of three Celsius.

So what is this meeting about?

This year, governments, led by Fiji,

have gathered to agree

the fine print

of the Paris Climate Accord.

Every nation is on board,

except the USA.

My administration is putting

an end to the war on coal.

We're going to have clean

coal, really clean coal.

But environmentalists are furious

that President Trump

is trying to promote coal

at the climate talks.

Some developing countries do want

the energy that coal can bring.

But scientists are clear

that the climate cannot be

stabilised if nations invest

heavily in coal.

Nobody said it was easy.

Roger Harrabin, BBC News.

The actor Keith Barron has

died at the age of 83.

He was best known for his role

in the 1980s sitcom Duty Free.

He also stared in the 1975 Hollywood

film 'The Land That Time Forgot'.

His agent said he'd enjoyed

a "long and varied career".

Sir Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky

will face no charges,

following an investigation

into the contents of

a package delivered

to the record-breaking cyclist.

The investigation was opened

in September last year,

after newspaper reports that

a mystery package had been

delivered to Wiggins' doctor,

at the end of a race

in France in 2011.

UK Anti-Doping says it has been

unable to prove the package

contained a banned substance.

A new home for a pound.

It sounds far too good to be true.

But in Stoke on Trent the council

is selling a handful

of homes for just that.

It's all part of an attempt

to breath new life into old homes

that are lying empty.

Frankie McCamley has been

to Stoke-on-Trent to find out more.

A normal street in Stoke-on-Trent

with a very unusual way

of solving the housing crisis.

Thanks to a project by the local

council, it costs just £1 to get

a key to one of these front doors.

What did you have to do here?

Yes, so in here it was the same

again, so had to get

all the flooring in...

Gavin took up the offer

and bought his first home

after the council spent £30,000

partially renovating it.

He had to do the rest.

It was quite a shock

when you came in first.

Just because it was just

plaster everywhere.

But I had to get family members

and friends in to come and help.

Put in all new flooring,

all new lights everywhere,

appliances, furniture,

that kind of thing.

He has to pay the money the council

spent back but says he would never

have been able to afford

the property by himself.

A lot of friends were quite

jealous because you know,

they have bought houses

in the more traditional way.

So it took them a lot longer

and it is a lot more

expensive to get somewhere

about the same calibre.

OK, this is one of the properties

for the new scheme...

And after the success of the first

round, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

is launching the scheme again,

offering up to 25 homes

in the same area.

We want to help this community,

we want to improve the area.

The thing is the City Council

have a real commitment to improving

private sector housing areas.

So areas where there is high numbers

of private rented properties,

areas where there is a high number

of empty homes.

For anyone who wants to take part

in this second phase of the scheme,

there is going to be a very

strict selection process.

People need to either live,

work or have a very strong

connection to the city,

earn a certain amount

of money, and they must not

own a property already.

Whilst a scheme like this one

won't solve the problem alone,

it's a creative part of the puzzle.

Frankie McCamley, BBC

News in Stoke-on-Trent.

In a surprise move Frist has been

named as the host nation of the 2023

Rugby Union World Cup. South Africa

had been recommended by Walden Rugby

board by the council members voted

in favour of the French bid. Ireland

had also entered a bid to stage the

tournament. -- the world Rugby

board.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Lucy Martin.

Here's Lucy Martin.

While we had brighter conditions in

the north than the south and moving

through the rest of the day we start

to see some outbreaks of rain moving

into North West of Scotland. That

rain pushing south and east through

the night bringing some heavy rain

at times and a strong wind in

Northern Ireland and far north of

England. Elsewhere in England and

Wales it is cloudy with some mist

and fog developing. So rush hour

tomorrow, some good spells of

sunshine, some showers which could

fall as snow. Cooler and brighter in

Northern Ireland and rain across the

North of England and far north of

Wales. Further south cloudy start,

temperatures largely in double

figures. Some patches of mist and

fog around which should lift as we

move through the morning. Tomorrow

dominated by this cold front moving

south and east. It brings a spell of

rain for a time but by the time it

gets to the south it should be liked

and patchy. Behind that we are

dragging in colder air replacing

that milder air in the South. So

turning cooler as we move through

Thursday and into Friday as well.

The weather front continues to sink

South east through the day tomorrow.

Behind that some brighter

conditions, some showers in the far

north that could fall as snow over

the hills. A bit of a contrast to

the temperatures tomorrow, behind

the front temperatures largely in

single figures but in the South

highs of around 14 degrees. So a bit

above average for the time of year.

That clears overnight tomorrow

night, high pressure pushing in,

some tight isobars in the north so

still some strong wind but that cold

start to Friday, many of us could be

breaking up to some frost again

first thing. A bit of a shock across

England and Wales, cloudy and mild

with some good spells of sunshine

and some showers just pushing into

the far north and west later in the

day in Northern Ireland and far

north of England. Across-the-board

temperatures back into single

figures. And that takes us