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 citizenjailed in iran — meets borisjohnson. 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 goggeyeningandmelcome ,, 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 a0 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 zimba bwe‘s neighbours react, translation: i want to thank the general much will depend on how zimba bwe‘s neighbours react, especially south africa. its presidentjacob 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 u ntold 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 yea rs robert mugabe went to jail for ten years and later fled to join robert mugabe went to jail for ten years and laterfled tojoin 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 landless poor and veterans of the war. his political opponents we re 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. the old revolutionaries of the army and the ruling party into actionm is massive change in the sense that the head of zanu—pf since the mid—i9 70s is literally out of power. there is among an older generation of africans some residual affection for a man seen as africans some residual affection for a man seen as a 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 2a 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. 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 isa uk 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 overfive minimum pricing has been on the agenda for over five years but only today have the government been able 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 wa nts to 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 costjust16p 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. betterfigures 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 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 5 economic positive message coming from these figures is g g