15/11/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at Six - Zimbabwe's

president, Robert Mugabe,

is under house arrest

after the military intervenes.

Armoured personnel carriers

on the streets of the capital -

the generals claim it's not a coup -

but a clean-up in the ruling party.

We wish to make it abundantly clear

that this is not a military

takeover of government.

From liberation hero to despot -

is this the end of the road

for the world's oldest leader?

British citizens in the country have

been told to stay indoors.

Also tonight.

Scotland will become the first

country in the world

to have a national minimum price

for alcohol after a

Supreme Court ruling.

The husband of Nazanin

Zaghhari-Ratcliffe -

the British citizen jailed in Iran -

meets Boris Johnson.

As the Christmas demand

for puppies approaches,

animal welfare officers raid what's

thought to be one of Scotland's

biggest illegal puppy farm.

What's wrong with a little treat

from granny and grandad?

New research shows they mean well,

but could be harming

the kids' health.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, as UK Anti-Doping

closes its investigation

into allegations of wrongdoing

in British cycling, Bradley Wiggins

admits his life was made

a living hell.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

Robert Mugabe, the man

who has ruled Zimbabwe

since its independence in 1980,

is under house arrest tonight.

It follows an intervention

by the country's army.

There are military vehicles

on the streets of the capital

and the state broadcaster

has been taken over.

The army says this is not a coup

but an attempt to deal

with what were described

as criminals around

the ageing president.

That's widely seen as a reference

to Mr Mugabe's much younger

and controversial wife.

She's made no secret

of wanting to take power.

Here's our Zimbabwe

correspndent, Shingai Nyoka.

This is what Zimbabweans

woke up to this morning,

tanks on the streets

of their capital city.

Something that has never happened

in nearly 40 years of independence.

So, what's changed?

The answer came early this morning

with a statement from the military

on state TV saying that the Mugabe

family were safe and that

this was not a coup.

What the Zimbabwe defence forces

is doing is to pacify

a degenerating political,

social and economic

situation in our country.

Which, if not addressed,

may result in violent conflict.

Overnight, President Mugabe,

the world's oldest leader,

lost control of the country he has

led for 37 years.

The generals say he remains

president but clearly he is no

longer calling the shots.

The presence of the military

is being felt here on the streets

of Harare and some parts of the city

are in lockdown.

This is as close as we can get

to some of the military tanks that

have stationed themselves

at strategic positions.

One, as you can see,

blocking access to the President's

office and another has blocked

access to Parliament.

The president still has his

supporters, especially in rural

areas but here in Harare,

it's a different story.

TRANSLATION:

We're going

to have a good life now,

we're looking forward to Christmas

because of what's happened.

We want to thank those who organised

this and we want them to remain

until our problems are resolved.

TRANSLATION:

I want

to thank the general

for removing this tyrant.

He was ruling the country as if it

belonged to his family.

Much will depend on how

Zimbabwe's neighbours react,

TRANSLATION:

I want

to thank the general

Much will depend on how

Zimbabwe's neighbours react,

especially South Africa.

Its president Jacob Zuma spoke

to Mr Mugabe earlier and he will now

send South Africa's defence Minister

to Zimbabwe to assess

the situation first-hand.

I am 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.

But in the end, this

was all about a power struggle

within Zimbabwe's ruling party.

Last week, this man on the left,

Emmerson Mnangagwa,

was sacked as vice president.

Like Mugabe he was a veteran

of the country's struggle

for independence but in recent years

he's found himself up against this

up against this woman,

Grace Mugabe, Robert Mugabe's young,

ambitious and some would say

ruthless wife, a one-time typist

and now one of the most powerful

political figures in the country.

She had wanted to take over as vice

president.

A divisive figure.

Listen to the reception.

BOOING.

These were boos, not cheers.

I don't care.

And tonight, a warning

from the British Foreign Office

to British nationals in the city.

Stay at home, stay in your hotel

room, wait until things

settle down a bit.

Zimbabweans now wonder

what lies ahead.

Change is clearly afoot

but whether it's what Zimbabweans

have been yearning for is

far from clear.

Robert Mugabe is the last

in a generation of African

politicians who fought for freedom

from the old colonial powers -

in this case, Britain.

That role assures him a place

in the country's history.

But the one-time liberation hero

will also be remembered for taking

a country that was once

the bread-basket of the region

and turning it into a place

where millions live in poverty

and millions more have

sought refuge abroad.

Here's our Africa

Editor Fergal Keane.

Robert Mugabe is a leader who has

outlived his Epoque, from an icon of

the struggle against racist rule, to

a symbol of excess and repression,

he has fallen hard and inflicted

untold damage on his country in the

process.

There was a deceptive calm

in the capital of Rudiger on the day

of the declaration of Independence.

-- road easier.

Robert Mugabe went to jail for ten

years and later fled to join his

gorillas in the bush.

A revolutionary war led to thousands

of casualties but when apartheid

South Africa withdrew support from

the regime in Rhodesia, things

changed.

Whether they accept it or

not is immaterial to us, really.

They have to accept it.

Under the

stewardship of the old British

colonial power, there were elections

which Robert Mugabe won, promising

for goodness and tolerance.

And bear

true allegiance to Zimbabwe.

But in

power, a ruthless nature swiftly

asserted itself.

My government will

never rest until those within the

party who are responsible for

organising this are crushed and

crushed fully.

In one 4p used the

army to crush supporters of a rival

army. -- in one province. It was a

pitiless massacre as I discovered

when I went to investigate the

atrocities. This is a country in a

state of fear. Everywhere you go

there are militia and police

roadblocks and of course spies you

can't see. The West stayed silent

then believing that Robert Mugabe

was good for stability and had kept

his promise to allow white farmers

to keep their lands and lifestyle.

But as opposition to his rule grew

amid economic downturn he turned on

the white farmers, harnessing anger

over long festering grievances among

the landless poor and veterans of

the war. His political opponents

were terrorised too. None of this

troubled the army or the man tipped

to succeed Mugabe, Emmerson

Mnangagwa, another veteran of the

liberation war. But forced him and

his military allies interaction was

the inexorable rise of Grace Mugabe.

Her ostentatious bending shocked

even some of the corrupt elite

around the president. But her

political plotting finally forced

the old revolutionaries of the army

and the ruling party into action.

It

is massive change in the sense that

the head of Zanu-PF since the mid-19

70s is literally out of power.

There

is among an older generation of

Africans some residual affection for

a man seen as a symbol but his old

allies are gone and many in the

country will be happy to see the end

of the age of Mugabe.

Joining me is Shingai Nyoka.

I wonder what the reaction from

other African countries is?

The

African union issued a very strong

criticism against the events of the

last 24 hours. The chairperson who

happens to be the president of

Guinea, criticised the soldiers and

said that what they have done is

tantamount to a coup. He says they

are trying to take power by force

and that they should stop. But his

criticism ended there, the African

Union has offered its support to

Zimbabwe to resolve the impasse.

Regional bodies have also criticised

the move but there has been very

little action in terms of condemning

outright what has happened over the

last 24-hour is.

Thank you for

joining us.

Scotland is set to become the first

country in the world to set

a national minimum price

for alcohol, that's

after the Supreme Court

rejected a legal challenge

from the Scotch Whisky Association.

Health campaigners say the ruling

is a massive victory that will help

reduce the harm caused by drink.

Our Health Editor Hugh

Pym is in Glasgow.

It is a UK wide problem, public

health officials have said for some

time that they want targeted

measures aimed at high strength

alcohol, drinks sold primarily

through off-licences and retail

outlets, because of the misery

caused them a life lost and

challenges for the NHS. With this

new minimum unit price for alcohol

of 50p and after a lengthy legal

battle, Scotland will believe in the

way.

In Scotland with 22 people dying

each week from alcohol problems,

minimum pricing has been on the

agenda for over five years but only

today have the government been able

to plan to limit it. Although it

won't be popular with everybody.

It's not going to stop anybody

buying it.

It is probably quite a

good thing. We get a lot of people

addicted to alcohol and things like

that.

The changes will mean that the

prices of some of the cheapest

alcohol in Scotland will increase

sharply. This four pack of beer

costs £1 but it is set to rise to at

least £4. This bottle of wine is £2

80 but in future it will be at least

4.69 and this 11th hour bottle of

vodka will be at least £14.

Ministers celebrated saying it was a

step forwards in tackling the

country's unhealthy relationship

with drink.

The policy by its ferry

nature is controversial because

again this is an example of

Scotland's leading the world. It

will continue to have its critics

but it's the kind of bold and

necessary policy that we need to

tackle the public health challenges.

The ruling followed attempts by the

Scotch Whisky Association to block

minimum pricing calling it a

restriction on trade. They now say

they accept the ruling. The Scottish

Government's pioneering move and its

impact on consumers here will be

closely watched around the UK. The

Welsh government says it wants to go

ahead with a similar policy and

there is sympathy for the idea in

Northern Ireland. A plan for minimum

pricing in England under the last

government was later dropped. Joanne

wants to sea change in England. Her

daughter Megan was just 16 when she

died after drinking strong cider at

a party. It had cost just 16p a

unit.

It's so cheap. Its pocket

money prices. And the minimum unit

pricing that is coming to Scotland,

I'm ecstatic about it, it's

fantastic news and hopefully it will

roll out now across the rest of the

country because that's what needs to

happen.

For retailers and

manufacturers they will have to be a

rethink of how they market alcoholic

drinks in Scotland. What remains to

be seen is the impact on drinkers

and alcohol-related health problems.

The latest official figures

confirm what many of

you may be experiencing -

when you take account of inflation,

average weekly earnings have fallen

compared to a year ago.

The latest numbers from the Office

for National Statistics give

the most up to date picture of how

the British economy is doing.

Our Economics Editor

Kamal Ahmed is with me.

An awful lot of stats,

what are the most important ones?

Well, to kick off with, let's go to

the income issue. As you pointed

out, wages are pretty stagnant, wage

growth is 2.2%, as we discussed

yesterday and inflation is 3%, so

the living squeeze is happening but

elsewhere there was better news. The

employment market is still strong,

people are in employment.

Unemployment is at levels not seen

since 1975. Better figures on

productivity, the ability of the

economy to produce wealth. That's up

for the first time this year, by

0.9%. For the first six months of

the year, productivity fell,

showering the economy was

struggling. A health warning, these

figures are very volatile. We've had

a good three months but they can go

up and down. And then on the issue

of retail sales which we are going

to see tomorrow, we'll have to see

whether consumers are remaining

confident and whether the sense of

economic positive message coming

from these figures is still the case

tomorrow because of course that will

be the underpinning for Philip

Hammond's budget which is coming up

next week.

Thank you for joining us.

The Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has held his first

meeting with the husband

of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

the British citizen jailed in Iran.

Mr Johnson pledged to leave no stone

unturned in trying to free her.

Mr Ratcliffe described the meeting

as "positive and constructive".

Our Special Correspondent

Lucy Manning reports.

He has waited 19 months.

Richard Ratcliffe finally on his way

to meet the Foreign Secretary,

with his wife still in prison in

Iran.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

a dual citizen, was accused

of trying to overthrow

the Iranian regime.

Today her husband said

the meeting was positive

but there were reservations

about giving his wife diplomatic

protection and he's still waiting

to hear if he can travel to Iran

with the Foreign Secretary.

He said listen, I'm open

to the idea, you know,

I would love you to come.

But I need to check both

with the Foreign Office officials

whether they think it is a good idea

and also with Iran.

How closer do you think

you are now to your wife

coming home for Christmas?

Well the Foreign Secretary

did not make any promises.

He promised to do his best.

And you know, I could not

ask for more than that.

In terms of how close do I feel,

it feels like with all the attention

and concern, that can only be

a good thing.

But the Foreign Office has always

been reserved that more attention

makes it more complicated.

Mr Johnson upset the family

two weeks ago, appeared

to contradict her claim

that she was just

in Iran on holiday.

He spoke ahead of the meeting.

People here in the Foreign Office

and across government has 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 consular cases in Iran.

And we are going to

continue to do that.

And we will leave absolutely

no stone unturned.

If you ask me if Nazanin

is still cross with him,

yes she is still cross with him.

If you ask me if I am

cross, I'm not cross.

I'm focused on just

bringing her home.

And to bring home his

three-year-old daughter Gabriella

who is also still in Iran.

Mr Ratcliffe now has the publicity

and the political profile,

but will it help to ensure

the release of his wife?

The kind of concessions

that the Iranians want

of the British Government cannot

be done publicly.

It is much better to try and do

these things behind the scenes,

just as the kind of concessions

that they have to give goes

through a similar sort of stages.

But with reports the charity

worker's health is deteriorating,

her husband hopes there can be

a diplomatic solution.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

Our top story this evening.

The army in Zimbabwe seizes

control of the country -

with President Robert Mugabe thought

to be under house arrest.

Still to come, the uncertainties

over four Sir Bradley Wiggins. The

anti-doping agency give its verdict.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News.

He's a wanted man, Northern Ireland

manager Michael O'Neill

is officially approached

by the Scottish FA.

But is a move to

Sunderland on the cards?

Nearly 90 dogs and puppies have been

seized during a raid at what animal

welfare officers believe to be

Scotland's largest puppy farm.

They dogs were taken from a farm

in the north-east of Scotland

by officers from the Scottish SPCA,

who suspected they were

being bred illegally.

It comes at a time when,

with Christmas looming,

demand for puppies is high.

The RSPCA thinks as many

as 1.9 million puppies are sold

in the UK each year.

Many of those sales will be legal,

but some charities believe that

almost 90% of the puppies

on the market are bred

by unlicensed breeders.

Lorna Gordon reports.

Early morning, rural Aberdeenshire.

And animal welfare officers,

some who operate undercover

so we can't show their identity,

and the police, are raiding a farm

where it is believed

puppies are being bred

on an industrial scale.

In a series of ramshackle buildings,

dozens of dogs are found.

Different ages, different breeds.

Ventilation is poor so in terms

of spread of disease, you know,

that is going to have a real impact.

These dogs are clearly not pets.

They are rearing pup after pup where

it is all about maximum profit.

And really the welfare

of the pups and the dogs

is clearly ignored here.

The first thing that

strikes you in this space

is the overpowering smell,

there are a lot of dogs

here in what is a very small area.

There is muck on the walls,

some of them have dirty water

and some of them have no

water at all.

Each of these puppies could sell

for hundreds of pounds.

Nearly 90 dogs were discovered here,

around half could be sold on.

The potential profits huge.

A man who arrived at the farm

during the raid said

there was nothing

wrong with the dogs.

I don't care.

They cannot lift things,

if they are not ill,

they can't lift them.

And they are lifting dogs

for no reason whatsoever.

She is in poor conditions for trying

to rear these puppies.

And she's going to need help...

All the animals are examined

by a vet, looking for signs

of ill health and evidence

of poor treatment.

One concern, dogs bred in such

conditions could carry illnesses

that could kill them or cost

thousands of pounds to treat.

If we could educate the public that

any suspicions, you walk away,

and I understand why

that is difficult when you have seen

a nice pup, but if nobody bought

these puppies that would be it.

There would be no puppy

farming as of tomorrow.

But this is a lucrative industry.

Animal welfare charities believe

puppy farming is worth upwards

of £100 million a year.

And it is thought organised

crime is involved.

All the dogs and puppies

here were seized, taken

away, and cared for.

They will eventually

be found new homes.

Lorna Gordon, BBC

News, Aberdeenshire.

The interim leader of

the Scottish Labour Party,

Alex Rowley, has been suspended

as a member of the Scottish

Labour Parliamentary group

following allegations

about his past conduct.

Mr Rowley, here in the middle,

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.

A hairdresser has been found guilty

of deliberately trying to infect ten

men with HIV after meeting them

on the dating app Grindr.

Daryll Rowe was convicted

at Lewes Crown Court of five counts

of grievous bodily harm with intent,

and five counts of

attempting to do so.

The cyclist, Sir Bradley Wiggins,

has complained of being subjected

to a "living hell" after UK

Anti-Doping said it would not bring

charges against him.

It follows an investigation

into the contents of a package

delivered to the record breaking

cyclist in 2011.

Our sports editor Dan Roan

is at the Manchester Velodrome.

If he cleared?

It's not quite as

simple as that. None of Wiggins,

British cycling or Team Sky have

been charged and it will come as a

relief to all that this long

investigation which has caused a

shadow is finally over. Today it

crucially also falls short of a full

exoneration. The agency have made

clear they couldn't find the

evidence to back up the explanation

that the mystery bag contained a

decongestant and not, as was

alleged, a story to. Ukad were

critical and said they had serious

concerns over the lack of a paper

trail. The close relationship

between British Cycling and Team

Sky, both of whom share headquarters

here at the national velodrome

behind me. Sir Bradley Wiggins says

he has been subject to a living

hell, a malicious witchhunt. He's

angry with Ukad for not giving

unqualified declaration of his

innocence. Others in the sport will

feel deeply uneasy about the

ambiguous nature of the results. The

lack of power of Ukad. With

information being passed to the

General medical Council it may be

this saga isn't quite over.

The actor Keith Barron has died

after a short illness aged 83.

Are you nervous?

I'm a gambler what

makes you think I'm nervous?

You're

smoking the filter!

He was best known for his role

in the ITV sitcom Duty Free.

He also appeared in Coronation

Street, Z Cars and Doctor Who.

His agent said he'd enjoyed

a "long and varied career".

From baby-sitting in the evening

to looking after the kids

when you're at work grandparents

are playing an ever greater

role in family life.

And the children love it -

there are all those treats

from granny and granddad.

But that's where the problem starts.

Researchers at the University

of Glasgow claim over-indulgent

grandparents could be

harming children's health.

Here's Jon Kay.

It is feeding time at the zoo...

Lunchtime with Nanna.

And after a healthy sandwich,

a chocolate bar for Max.

Karen says she never used

to give her own kids so many treats.

But when you're a granny,

it's different.

I don't think it really

hurts now and again.

It is not all the time.

I do like to make him happy.

Karen says she makes

sure he is healthy, too.

But according to today's research,

many youngsters all over the world

are being overindulged

by grandparents who give them too

much sugary and fatty food.

And because mums and dads often rely

on grandparents for childcare,

they can feel unable to speak out.

In the park, Oliver

and his son, Elijah.

Oliver says that grandparents

in their family are great

but sometimes maybe a little

bit too kind.

I don't like to spoil him too much

because I don't want him to think

everything is given to him.

I feel like these days kids

just think everything

should be handed to them.

But obviously when he's

with his grandparents,

it is a bit more like,

oh, just give him that,

just give him that.

What sort of stuff,

what does he get?

Sweets, chocolate.

A lollipop.

Lollipops?

Bananas, fruits...

But most of the grannies

and grandads we met today

insisted they always

try to keep things healthy.

I had a hot chocolate

and you had just cold milk.

Oh, so you're getting the sweet

treat and he is not?

I didn't have any sugar in mine!

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And I didn't have the

marshmallows, either.

Mummy and daddy go...

At the soft play, Patricia told me

she now has the time and the money

to treat her grandkids

and she is not going to stop.

He's my whole world,

and his brother.

The sun, the moon and stars.

He can have whatever he likes.

Anything?

No, not anything, but within reason.

The study says grandparents

have a key role to play

in encouraging a healthy lifestyle

and must give children

clear messages.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Poole.

Time for a look at the weather.

Time for a look at the weather.

Good evening. Some fairly grey skies

this morning and a few patches of

fog as well. As we move through the

next few days more brightness but

cooler temperatures to come. Through

the evening and overnight will see

outbreaks of rain pushing into

Scotland, Northern Ireland and later

into northern England. They could be

quite heavy in Scotland, strong

winds as well. Elsewhere fairly

cloudy with outbreaks of light rain

and drizzle and a few patches of

mist and fog across central England

and Wales. Temperatures overnight in

the double figures in the south. A

bit cooler in the north particularly

as the front clears through. This

weather front is dominating our

weather as we move through tonight

and tomorrow bringing cloud and

outbreaks of rain for a time. It's

also the boundary with some colder

air. Tomorrow some colder air moving

Southeast and that will continue to

spread as we move into Friday.

Turning cooler as we move through

the next few days. Tomorrow that

weather front making its way south

east. Brightening up for a time

across central and southern England

and Wales. Behind it brighter skies

and one or two showers in the north.

They could fall as snow over the

hills in Scotland and stronger winds

as well. Contrasts in the

temperatures once the front has

cleared through. A bit milder where

we've got more cloud. That front

clears towards the south-east.

High-pressure moving in overnight.

Still fairly windy in the north. It

means we're