17/11/2017 BBC News at One

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe

makes his first public appearance

since the country's army took over.

He attended a graduation ceremony

in the capital, Harare,

after being put under house

arrest on Wednesday.

The 93-year-old is reportedly

refusing to step down

but negotiations are continuing

with Zimbabwe's military

and regional envoys.

We will be live in Zimbabwe with the

latest. Also this lunchtime...

Theresa May, at an EU summit,

says she hopes for positivity

in the Brexit talks,

but EU leaders warn

that the clock is ticking.

The missing Dorset

teenager Gaia Pope -

police are still questioning a man

on suspicion of murder.

A Belgian court is considering

whether to extradite the former

Catalan leader for sedition,

after he declared

independence for Catalonia.

And meet Malli, the dog

who helped save soldiers'

lives in Afghanistan -

now honoured with the animal

equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

And coming up in the sport,

it's bad news for England's women

as they lose the Ashes Series

to Australia with a six wicket

T20 defeat in Sydney.

Good afternoon, welcome to the BBC

News at one.

The Zimbabwean leader

Robert Mugabe has been seen

in public for the first time

since the military

takeover on Wednesday.

He's been attending

a university graduation

ceremony in the capital,

Harare.

Earlier, the military said talks

with Mr Mugabe were continuing

and there had been significant

progress in the operation

targeting what it called

the criminals surrounding him.

Ben Brown is in Zimbabwe.

He was supposed to be

under house arrest.

But today it look like business

as usual for Robert Mugabe,

awarding degrees to

university graduates in

Harare and even walking

down a red carpet.

So, after this week's dramatic

military takeover here, is

he still president or not?

Out in the streets,

no-one seems quite sure.

Right across Zimbabwe, millions of

people are waiting and watching to

see what happens next in this

crisis, and whether the rule of

Robert Mugabe, after 37 years, is

finally coming to an end. After

decades of political oppression, and

economic disaster, Zimbabweans are

hungry for change.

Almost any kind

of change. We don't want Mugabe any

more, please, anyone, no one likes

him, this time we are going to tell

you, we don't want you, you must go.

The country has been going

backwards. You can't reinvent the

wheel, before you lads already been

invented, this country is going down

and down and down.

We are tired of

begging food for my baby to put on

the table. No, we say no to that, we

need better things to happen in this

country.

The Zimbabwe defence Force

says significant progress has been

made in that operation...

Robert

Mugabe has been negotiating with the

head of the army here, General

Chiwenga, but it is not clear

whether Mr Mugabe is trying to cling

to power or negotiate a dignified

exit in which he would step down in

return for guarantees about his

safety and that of his family. If

that happened, one scenario could be

a transitional government run by

Zanu-PF but including members of the

opposition. Zimbabwe, once again, is

at a crossroads. Ben Brown, BBC

News, Zimbabwe.

Anne Soy is in Zimbabwe.

From where we sit and watch, it is

quite surreal situation. What is

your best understanding of what is

going on, what is being said to

Robert Mugabe?

Well, what is clear is that the

military is micromanaging what is

going on here in Zimbabwe. They did

allow him to leave his steak house

and go to attend that ceremony, even

though they had said that they had

confined him to his official

residence. What I can read in this

is that they are very keen to show

that it is not Mr Mugabe who has

fallen out of favour with the

military, it is his wife, Grace

Mugabe, who wanted to succeed Mr

Mugabe, and the politicians who

supported her and who we understand

have been detained by the military.

The higher education Minister, he

ought to have been at the ceremony

but was missing, he is one of the

key allies of Mr Mugabe. Up until

now Mrs Mugabe has not been seen in

public, her whereabouts remain

unknown, as well as the former vice

president who was sacked last week

and who fled to South Africa, but we

understand that he may have returned

to the country. So a very delicate

process is going on here, we

understand negotiations are going

on. Many people would rather Mr

Mugabe steps down right now and then

the succession happens from him to a

civilian leader. However, they also

understand Mr Mugabe has insisted

that he wants to complete his term,

that is until next year. Thank you

very much, our correspondent there

with the latest.

Theresa May says she hopes the EU

will respond positively

to her efforts to push forward

the Brexit talks, as she meets other

EU leaders at a summit in Sweden.

But the President of the European

Council Donald Tusk said

it's not a given that

negotiations on a trade deal

will begin next month.

Meanwhile, the Brexit Secretary

David Davis has claimed the EU has

not offered as many 'creative

compromises' as the UK to try to

resolve the current sticking points.

This report from our political

correspondent Leila Nathoo contains

some flash photography.

If only the path to

Brexit was this clear.

The Prime Minister

in Sweden with a push

to convince EU leaders to allow

negotiations to move on to trade.

Making the case that Britain has

already offered enough money

to separate from the European Union.

I was clear in my speech in Florence

that we will honour our commitments

but of course we want to move

forward together, talking

about the trade issues and trade

partnership for future.

I've set out a vision for that

economic partnership.

I look forward to the European Union

responding positively to that.

Across the continent,

her minister in charge of delivering

Brexit in Berlin to speak

to business leaders,

armed with a warning to EU member

states not to put politics

above prosperity, and telling

the BBC it's now Brussels' move.

On the citizens' rights front,

we've made all the running,

you know, we've made the running

in terms of things like the right

to vote, where the European Union

doesn't seem to be able to agree.

Everybody involved, 3 million

Europeans in Britain,

a million Brits abroad,

should be able to vote,

they can't do that,

so we have been offering some

quite creative compromises.

We haven't always got that back.

And in Dublin the Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson arguing the Irish

border question can't be settled

until negotiations turned

to future arrangements.

But he was met with

a now-familiar riposte - Britain

hasn't yet gone far enough.

Yes, we all want to move on to phase

two of Brexit negotiations,

but we are not in a place right

now that allows us to do that.

It's just weeks before European

leaders must decide whether

to give the green light to trade

talks beginning, but so far in all

quarters the view's the same.

The clock is ticking.

I hope that we will be able to come

to an agreement as far as

the divorce amount is concerned

in December, but work

has still to be done.

And so, for now, the diplomatic

effort continues.

Both sides are entrenched.

They know, though,

to make a breakthrough,

something has to give.

Leila Nathoo, BBC News.

In a moment we'll speak

to our political correspondent

Ben Wright in Westminster,

but first to Kevin Connolly

in Gothenburg, where EU

leaders are meeting.

Not for the first time, we keep

hearing that phrase, the prop is

ticking.

Yes, it was good to hear one of the

European Union's greatest hits

again, the clock is ticking, the

catchphrase of this whole process

from the European point of view. I

think behind the scenes, pretty

sharp disagreement because the UK is

failing that, in effect, the next

move has to come from Brussels, from

the EU 27, that the UK has put other

is on the table, made compromises,

and now it is time for the EU to do

something in return. That goes

to the difficulty, which is that the

view from EU leaders, with

increasing clarity, is that this is

not a situation where there is a

mutual opportunity to do a good

deal, this is a problem in the

European perspective of Britain's

own making and it is up to Britain

to come up with the solutions to

that problem. Leo Varadkar, the

Irish Prime Minister, put it pretty

clearly and critically when he said

to me early on, look, I sometimes

wonder so far into the Brexit

process whether the people who were

so keen on the Brexit project had

really thought everything through.

So there is no guarantee that the

progress of the EU -- that the EU

wants to see by December is going to

be there, no guaranteed the UK will

get that shift onto talks about

trade in the future.

Kevin, thank you. Let's talk to Ben

Wright as well. When you listen to

that, that is precisely the tone and

language that Theresa May, David

Davis and others do not want to

hear?

They don't, but listened to David

Davis speaking to the BBC and he has

an undimmed, affable swagger as he

approaches negotiations and he said

again that in his view the UK had

made compromises, they have moved

far on the question of guaranteeing

the right of each use it isn't in

the UK, for example, and he said

smaller EU countries like Holland,

Spain, wanted to crack on with trade

talks and transition discussions

right now and suggested it was

France and Germany holding things

up, a brave thing, I think, for

David Davis to say, whereas it is

clear that so far the EU has

remained solid on how they are

approaching these talks. As Kevin

said, the key issue for

them to get that green light in

December and begin to talk about

trade is to find more clarity from

the UK about the financial

obligations the UK is prepared to

stump up. Theresa May said in

Florence she would effectively put

20 billion euros on the table, the

EU guarantees it will be more if

they are to give the green light to

talks and that remains the big

difference between the big sides. It

is clearly also buried politically

contentious in Westminster, and so

is the date of Brexit. The

Government wants that to be cemented

into UK law and MPs will vote on

that next month, but about two dozen

of their own Tory MPs are concerned

about that and today the Prime

Minister's spokesman insisted that

remained the Government's

intention, to persuade MPs to vote

for that day to be in law, but this

lunchtime a cross-party group of MPs

has said there are real problems

with that. In their view it could

create significant difficulties if

EU negotiations go down to the wire.

Then, thank you very much. Ben

Wright and Kevin Connelly.

Police are continuing to question

a 49-year-old man about the murder

of a missing teenager from Dorset.

Gaia Pope, who's 19,

was last seen in the coastal town

of Swanage ten days ago.

Ian Palmer reports.

Gaia Pope went missing ten days ago.

Clothes similar to the ones

the teenager was wearing

when she disappeared were found

yesterday in coastal fields.

The area was sealed off by police.

Officers searched the scene in

an attempt to discover what happened

to the missing 19-year-old.

We continue to investigate

whether Gaia has come to harm

through an act of crime,

or whether she is missing,

and we will continue to do so.

Gaia lives in a village

near Swanage.

She was last seen in Morrison Road

by a family friend.

Shortly before she was captured on

camera in a petrol station buying

ice cream.

Two people were arrested and

released pending further enquiries.

Yesterday, in a country park,

some clothing was found

by a member of the public.

Miss Pope has severe epilepsy

and needs regular medication.

Her family say she likes

being at home, and her

absence is hard to bear.

Mum and younger sister Maya

are basically holed up in the house,

trying to keep away from upsetting

conversations, keep away from social

media, keep away from the stuff that

has been in the press,

parts of the press,

which has been extremely

distressing for the family.

They're just trying

to look after each other.

The man being questioned

on suspicion of murder by police has

been identified by his father

as Paul Elsey, who is 49 and lives

in the Swanage area.

He's the third person

to be arrested.

Ian Palmer, BBC News.

Our correspondent Jon

Donnison is in Swanage.

Explain what is happening where you

are?

Police said they continue to keep an

open mind about what might have

happened, not ruling out the

possibility that Gaia might still be

alive but obviously becoming

increasingly concerned. The focus of

the search now is this clifftop area

behind me. Up to 50 officers

involved, not just from the police

but from the fire service and

Coastguard, searching the area at

the bottom of those clips. This is

where those items of clothing were

found yesterday, items the police

say were similar to what Gaia was

wearing the last time she was seen.

She was last seen at a property

belonging to the family of Paul

Elsey, who police are continuing to

question. The family of a Pope

obviously extremely upset,

concerned. Her father Richard again

making an appeal this morning for

information to come forward, and

he's saying, look, she did suffer

this problem with epilepsy, she

didn't have her medication, and I

think the family still hoping this

might have been some sort of medical

incident rather than anything more

sinister, but I think the police now

are increasingly worried. John

Gunnarsson in Swanage in Dorset,

thank you.

The former Catalan regional

president, Carles Puigdemont,

is appearing in court

in Belgium this lunchtime.

A judge is considering a request

by the Spanish authorities

to extradite Mr Puigdemont

and four former ministers.

They are wanted in Spain on charges

of sedition and corruption

for declaring independence for

Catalonia.

Damian Grammaticas is following

the case in Brussels.

It is due to begin around now.

What is happening?

It is under way,

it began a short time ago. We are at

the huge, very grand Court complex

in the centre of Brussels. Mr

Puigdemont slipped in through a side

door out of view of the cameras, got

into the courtroom without being

seen. His lawyers came in too. The

court case began, or the hearing

began. The Belgian judge is now

deciding whether that Spanish

extradition request, the European

arrest warrant, has legal merit,

whether it stands and whether he

will honour it and send Mr cellar

Carles Puigdemont back. Lawyers are

Carles Puigdemont have argued this

will be a political case, a

political prosecution, an attempt by

the Spanish government to shut down

a political opponent. They might

find that a difficult argument to

win because the judge will simply

examine this on its legal merit. We

do know that Mr Puigdemont has said

if a decision comes, and it could

come as early as today, to send him

back, he will appeal. That could

take several levels of appeal,

perhaps 60 more days. The earliest

we could hear is this afternoon,

possibly within the next week to ten

days.

Thank you, Damian Grammaticas.

Our top story this lunchtime...

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe

makes his first public appearance

since the country's army took over.

And coming up...

Accessing the archives -

the campaign to get us

unearthing our own family history.

Coming up in sport, the former

England women's goalkeeping coach

Lee Kendall admitted to using a fake

Caribbean accent towards striker

Eni Aluko, before stepping down

from his role yesterday.

A military dog who helped

save the lives of British and Afghan

troops in Afghanistan is to receive

the animal equivalent

of the Victoria Cross -

the Dickin Medal.

Mali was seriously wounded in 2012

when he entered a building in Kabul

under fire to sniff out

explosives and insurgents.

His new handler, Corporal

Daniel Hatley, says Mali

was exceptionally brave.

Richard Lister reports.

Meets Mali. He is an eight-year-old

Belgian Malabar, and a war hero. He

has been recognised with the highest

award for gallantry and animal can

get, the Dickin Medal for his

bravery in Afghanistan, where he

helped clear the building overrun by

Taliban fighters.

A massive gun battle hardened stewed

with coalition forces, Mali was sent

in ahead of the troops to search for

IEDs and enemy fighters. The noise,

the dust and smoke, it must have

overloaded the senses. He received a

blast injuries from two grenades

thrown down the stairs at him,

multiple injuries to his face, body

and hips.

Again, still carried on.

After

treatment, Mali made a full

recovery. The Ministry of Defence

says there is no doubt his work in

Afghanistan helped save lives.

Britain's Armed Forces have some 500

dogs in a variety of roles, from

sniffing out explosives to hunting

down

insurgents.

Despite the technological advances

another aspect of the military,

dogs, it seems, are irreplaceable.

I

think there is a long way to go

before we can get something that

will do all the great things that

dogs can do. The dog is an extremely

good detector, very agile, it can go

on all sorts of places and they are

very good for morale as well.

Mali is now part of the canine

training Squadron, which teaches

dogs and their handlers about their

role in the military.

Soldier and dog face the same

dangers on the battlefield, and the

charity which introduced the Dickin

Medal exactly 100 years ago says it

is important to acknowledge that

animals can be heroes, too.

I think the Dickin Medal is there to

recognise animals and the devotion

to duty. It raises the role that

they play, the vital role that they

play. What I see more and more is

these citations of the incredible

bonds between the handler and the

animals.

In recent years the Dickin Medal has

been awarded almost exclusively to

dogs, a sign of their continuing

importance to the modern military.

But when it was created in the

Second World War, among the other

recipients with 32 pigeons, four

horses and a ship's cat.

It is not entirely clear what Mali

makes of this medal. Corporal Daniel

Hatley says he was quite keen to eat

it at first. But for those who might

owe Mali their lives, it is a

fitting tribute.

More than a million credit card

users who are struggling financially

have had their credit limit

increased in the last year

without being asked,

according to the charity Citizens

Advice.

It's calling on the Chancellor

to ban unsolicited increases

in the Budget next week.

Our personal finance correspondent

Simon Gompertz is here.

How on earth does this happen? What

is going on?

It is the last thing

you need if you are having trouble

managing your debts, for your credit

card company to say here is a whole

lot more you can borrow by using

your card. Cards are useful for

people who are good at paying them

back quickly or have the financial

resources so it doesn't matter, but

to give you an idea of the sort of

increases people are being given

without asking for them, the average

is almost £1500, but for one in ten

it is £3000 or more. What Citizens

Advice says is that according to

their estimates, which is from a

survey of people using credit cards,

1.4 million who are struggling

financially are being given these

increases without their consent.

And so is anything going to be done

to change that system?

There is a voluntary code of

conduct, we will hear more details

about that in a few weeks. That is

basically the card companies saying

if they see that within people's

monthly repayments most of it is

being swallowed up by interest or

charges over a 12 month period,

people will not be offered a higher

credit limit or given one. But what

Citizens Advice says is it would be

so much easier to have a clear ban

on unsolicited credit card limit

increases for everyone, that is what

they are asking the Chancellor to

bring in.

Thank you, Simon Gompertz.

The electric car maker,

Tesla, has unveiled

the prototype of a new lorry -

the latest in its growing

range of vehicles.

The company's chief executive,

Elon Musk, says the vehicle

could travel 500 miles

on a single charge.

He also unveiled a new sports car,

which he said would make traditional

vehicles look like a steam engine.

Our business correspondent

Theo Leggett reports.

It certainly looked the part -

emerging gleaming out of the

darkness, appearing every inch

the king of the road.

This is the new Tesla Semi,

a big rig trailer that

Silicon Valley

entrepreneur Elon Musk

thinks can revolutionise

the

haulage industry.

Tesla has made its name

producing high-end electric

cars, and this is an

all electric truck.

So will it leave conventional

lorries struggling in its wake?

Tesla has high hopes

for its new zero emissions lorry.

For a start, it will be equipped

with self-driving technology so that

one-day convoys of trucks will be

able to

travel close together.

In theory, that should

reduce running costs and

improve safety.

Tesla says it will also be cheaper

to run per mile than

conventional models.

But it will only have

a range of 500 miles.

Existing lorries can do double that

on a single tank of diesel.

And the technology as yet

is still relatively unproven.

Tesla will be able to

make its electric Semi.

Whether they'll be able to make it

at scale and to the production

timetables that they set out

is very much in question.

They haven't been able

to do it on any of their

models so far.

Assuming the new lorry can be

produced in numbers, will

hauliers actually want to buy it?

Tesla is promising low running costs

and a high degree of driver comfort,

but that may not be enough.

The problem with

electric lorries is the

price point.

A new lorry, a diesel lorry,

costs us £85,000 each at the

moment.

These new Teslas are probably

going to be around the

£200,000 mark.

That's way beyond the budget

of most hauliers in the UK.

Tesla is already struggling to turn

itself from a niche luxury car-maker

into a mass-market producer

with its new Model 3.

And hidden in the back

of the electric lorry was yet

another new project, a hi-tech

roadster which Tesla says will be

the quickest production

car on the planet.

Now analysts are worried the company

may be trying to go too for

too fast.

Theo Leggett, BBC News.

Australia have retained

the Women's Ashes, with an emphatic

six-wicket victory over England

in the first Twenty20

international in Sydney.

Victory gave the holders

an 8-4 lead in the series,

meaning England can only draw

if they win the final two matches.

Our sports correspondent

Andy Swiss was watching.

England knew it was win or bust for

the Ashes hopes. Not the moment for

one of the most chaotic starts you

will see. Second ball, Heather

Knight caught behind. Or was she?

The catch seemingly taken in front

of the stumps. Knight was reprieved

before another change of mind, and

was out again. Confused? England

were, as they utterly disintegrated

in a flash.

16-4, the Ashes surely over. Then a

recovery thanks to Australian

butterfingers and are battling

half-century from Danielle Wyatt.

Their total of 132 at least gave

them a chance. But it proved a mere

flicker as Beth Mooney of Australia

said about despatching them into the

Sydney night. A couple of wickets

briefly revived England's hopes but

ultimately only postpone the

inevitable, as Mooney struck the

runs to retain the Ashes. They did

it with two games to spare.

England might be the world

champions, but in this series they

were second best.

You could see it on the faces of the

girls, there is a lot of emotion

around tonight. Disappointed with

the way we played today, I thought

we have a chance when we were going

from

16-4 to get 130, but credit to

Australia, they have played better

cricket than is this series.

With the men's Ashes starting next

week, for Australian fans, plenty to

cheer.

Spectacular, I can't wait

until next Thursday to win it again.

Twice we will be doing it this year.

A great venue, the girls are playing

such a great Stander, it is awesome.

The men's coming up, it will be

great.

What a time to be Australian.

So a

year in which England scaled the

heights of a World Cup win has ended

in disappointment. The first triumph

of the winter has gone Australia's

way.

Now many of us would like to clear

out the clutter at home -

and now the National Archives says

sorting through old memorabilia

could unearth previously

untold family stories.

It's launching a campaign to get

more of us interested

in researching our history.

As part of this, one

family memento has gone

on public display in Reading.

The treasured item is a frame carved

from a First World War

British Army biscuit.

Robert Hall explains.

For many of us, this is the archive.

A loft or a cupboard or a set

of shelves where we tend to put

family stuff away and then

forget about it.

But what if amongst all these

objects there was something

which told a bigger story

about a family member,

and perhaps took us on a journey

to something extraordinary?

This is Jeremy Collingwood.

An object he found at home is now

a star exhibit in Reading Museum.

It looks like an ordinary framed

photo of his grandfather,

but the frame is a biscuit.

Reading used to be home

to one of the most famous

names in biscuit making.

During the First World War,

Huntley and Palmer provided

what looked like rather solid snacks

for the troops.

So solid, in fact, that some

soldiers carved them

and sent them home as gifts.

In the drawer at home

there was this...

I suppose a keepsake

that Mum really liked,

and would show me, of her father.

And he'd sent it back to his mother

to say how much he loved his mother.

And you look at the...

Look at that picture,

the scaredness in his eyes,

the worry and concern.

Yeah, he's wanting to show his

mother he is all right.

I mean, it just connects

in a really human way.

If you are following a trail,

you might well end up here.

The National Archives store

11 million paper records

going back 1000 years.

Every day, hundreds of documents

are brought from 2500

kilometres of shelving or read

as digital copies.

What we have here is a spy file

from the Second World War.

This file contains the case

of Karl Friedrich Miller,

the evidence that is collected

against him includes

a number of letters.

You will see across the top

here what is written in black

is what he wanted you to see,

and what is in gold was hidden

by the secret or invisible ink.

If you scan through the file

and click through a number of cases

you will even find the lemon he used

to read those letters.

This is an example of a file

relating to suffrage and women's

rights, this is the case of a woman

called Hilda Burkett,

who went by the alias of Byron,

she was one of the first women to be

forcibly fed in prison and she talks

about how she's willing

to give her life if needed,

it's a really great example of one

of the personal stories that we have

here at the archives.

From tomorrow, archives nationwide

will be asking us to get involved

and to explore these amazing places.

Who knows, the next big

discovery could be yours.

Robert Hall, BBC News.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Louise Lear.

Here's Louise Lear.

It was cold this morning, I did not

want to say I told you so, but it

was cold. Lots of -4, cold and

frosty but a glorious day for many,

with lots of sunshine coming

through. Some beautiful Weather

Watchers' pictures into the

afternoon. Temperatures ten or 11

degrees. With the light winds and

sunshine that is not bad, but it is

not for all. Looking at the

satellite picture, high cloud and to

Wales and Northern Ireland, further

north shower clouds moving to

Scotland and northern England,

accompanied by gale force gusts.

Some of the show is frequent, heavy

with hail and thunder and even snow

to the higher ground.

They will continue to the rest of

the afternoon, one or two perhaps

into north-west England but a

beautiful afternoon for many.

Highest values likely of around

seven to 10 degrees. Down on

yesterday but hopefully the sunshine

will compensate a little.

As we go through the night we keep a

strong, gale force gusts in the

north, and the news and showers keep

coming. Elsewhere it becomes messy,

we are going to see a bit of drizzly

rain pushing into Wales in

south-west England. Not quite as

cold, around four to 6 degrees to

the west. We might see light

frosting clear skies but not the

hard frost that we had this morning.

It is the meteor showers throughout

the night, that is interesting

because as we keep the clear skies

and there is a new moon, in Loupe --

rural spots you might see a good

chance of catching a good glimpse.

But back to the mess that is

Saturday. Plowden drizzly rain

across Wales, south-west England

will eventually have sunshine into

the South East. The best chance on

Saturday of seeing sunshine.

Northern England and Scotland away

from the showers to the far

north-east, around 6 degrees here.

Milder with a cloud and drizzle.

Those are your choices. Not much

change as we move out of Saturday

into Sunday, keeping the mild and

damp flow towards the south-west

with outbreaks of light rain,

clearer skies into the North. The

north-east looks likely to cling

onto the cold Dhaka, the milder air

trying to squeeze in birds really

taking its time. The weather front

not moving very far very fast, by

Sunday it looks likely we will keep

the clearer, colder weather the

further east you are, cloudy but

milder to the West.

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime...