hello, this is outside source. still under has a rest, the zimbabwean president robert mugabe meets a military general and south african mediators as the army retains control of the country —— house arrest. more women accuse republican senate candidate roy moore of molesting them when they were teenagers as allegations against the alabama judge mad. one year after he took up his post the un secretary—general talks to the bbc about the situation in yemen. our capacity to bring people together and create conditions for peace is limited. you can always get in touch using our hashtag. hello, welcome to outside source. again tonight we start in zimbabwe. in particular with this image which

has come into the newsroom just hours ago. it is of course of the president of zimbabwe, robert mugabe. he is standing next to the man who has placed him under house arrest. they've been holding talks in harare but we don't know the outcome of the talks. so we don't know if that means president mugabe will step down or not. meanwhile on the streets of the country, in particular the capital, there are still troops but the situation is being described as calm at the moment. meanwhile other countries are becoming involved in what is happening in zimbabwe. south africa has sent a special envoys. they were in the talks in harare. in another emergency meeting, in botswana, the southern african development community has its own emergency meeting and we received an update

about this particular meeting which ended with the recommendation of an extraordinary emergency summit. frankly, another meeting, following that meeting. it is to be attended by all heads of state. in other words we really have no decision yet. let's get the very latest. my colleague ben brown is in zimbabwe. no real decisions yet from the meeting that robert mugabe held? we don't exactly know what's going on inside those talks. it is fascinating. you have what looks like a coup d'etat, a military takeover, and then suddenly today we see these pictures of the man who led that military takeover, whatever you want to call it, the commander of the zimbabwean defence forces, general constantine tha wenger, sitting on a sofa with mr mugabe. they both seem to be smiling and looking relaxed. we don't know exactly what they are talking about.

south african mediators were there, to try to mediate. one school of thought says mr mugabe is trying to cling on to power, he's had power for 70 years, he's a wily fox and nobody would bet against him getting out of this. a lot of reports on the other hand suggest that what he is trying to do now is get some of safety a nd trying to do now is get some of safety and security for him and his family way he would step down in an orderly process and there would be a new transitional government with his former vice president, now his president and also morgan tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition movement, as prime minister. fascinating. what of robert mugabe's wife, grace. grace ‘s decades younger than her husband. she is really the reason this

happened. the military was fed up with her, this is up power struggle within the ruling zanu—pf movement. it was a struggle with the former prior vice president, emmerson mnangagwa, that has brought this to a boil. the military side with him, president mugabe wanted her, it seems, effectively to take over when he died. so there was this power struggle within zanu—pf. that's why the military stepped in now. if you talk to people on the streets in zimbabwe, a lot of people are quietly hoping that this will mean real change, that zimbabwe is now at a crossroads. although they are now wondering that even if mugabe goes, would this man, emmerson mnangagwa, his former vice president, who was also a fighter alongside robert mugabe, who has been accused by many

of carrying out massacres in matabeleland in years gone by, would he be that much better? so that are huge questions still to be answered here in zimbabwe. of course ben. thank you very much for the time being. as ben said, a lot of developments. keep up to date with every moment of what is happening. our online team have been talking about the different issues. they've put together a life page so all the different reactions are coming together and we are following all the different tweets like this, following the dream of a more prosperous future. this is something andrew harding, my colleague, has been looking at. he says it's hard to find anyone who wants president mugabe to stay on. everyone is feeling this enormous sense of anticipation. they believe that

president robert mugabe, the only man they have ever known in charge of this country, is on the cusp of stepping down so there is this feeling that people want to celebrate, and yet so many people have learned the hard way that politics is a very dangerous business. people get arrested and disappear, the beatings and killings. this has been a reality in zimbabwe for many years. so people are waiting. they are waiting for it to become official. they are waiting eitherfor to become official. they are waiting either for the to become official. they are waiting eitherfor the president to to become official. they are waiting either for the president to go on tv and announces resignation or perhaps emmerson mnangagwa, his former busted deputy, now back on the back of this military coup, to go on tv himself and say it's over. and then i think we will see people relaxing and perhaps taking to the streets to mark this extraordinary moment. so a lot of different possible scenarios. we do get a sense from andrew that

headlines like these are not ones that many people in zimbabwe thought they would ever see. so if robert mugabe does resign, who will take over? as ben was saying, one of the main people was this sacked vice president, emmerson mnangagwa. he is with the zanu—pf and is thought to have engineered the army takeover. from what the african union says, his taking office could actually satisfy regional powers who don't wa nt satisfy regional powers who don't want instability in zimbabwe. earlier the chief of the african union said that while they respect the constitution, we want to return to order and will never accept the military coup d'etat. they added that they know that there are internal problems which need to be solved but not with an army intervention. now for many people one zanu—pf leader taking over from another will not be good enough. a

leader of one of the opposition parties is concerned that they are not involved in the talks that result the images from. we have a constitution, you can become the leader of the country, that would be against the constitution. the coup itself was a conflagration of the constitution. certainly the southern african community, which is negotiating, cannot be party to an attempt to deconstruct and delegitimise the constitution. what is key is for a road map to be designed to restore legitimacy in this country. it must be a clear signpost that leads to a free, fair,

and contested election. it is the hope that if a free election does not happen because of these events is another possibility is a negotiated transitional government. the main opposition party says it would consider being part of one. morgan tsvangirai leads the mdc. he isa morgan tsvangirai leads the mdc. he is a long—time rival to president mugabe. mr mugabe needs to resign, stepped down in line with national sentiment and expectation, taking full regard of his legacy and the contribution to zimbabwe. the baby in negotiated, all inclusive transitional mechanism, —— that there be a negotiated transitional mechanism, we emphasise transitional, and that the nature and character of this mechanism be agreed upon by all national

stakeholders. morgan tsvangirai. check out our live web page. we've got lots more to come on outside source including the united nations warning that untold thousands of people in yemen could starve if the saudi led blockade against the country is not fully lifted. the bbc has an exclusive interview with the saudi foreign minister and we will hear from the united saudi foreign minister and we will hearfrom the united nation saudi foreign minister and we will hear from the united nation ‘s secretary general. five months after the grenfell tower fire the metropolitan police believe that the number of people known to have died in the tragedy is 71, that includes a baby stillborn in hospital after his mother escaped. detectives began the investigation in the summer with a list of 400 missing people. the final two victims were formally identified today, they have been named as victoria king and her daughter

alexandra atala. the police officer leading the investigation describes what happened. when i went into g re nfell tower a few what happened. when i went into grenfell tower a few days after the fire had been pulled out, having seen fire had been pulled out, having seen it with my own eyes, i honestly thought it was likely we would not find everybody who had died. i am so pleased that the families and loved ones of all those that have died that we have been able to find all those who have died, recover them, identify them, return as much as we possibly could back to their families. welcome to outside source live from the bbc news. our lead story, he is still under house arrest, robert mugabe, the president of zimbabwe is a military general and south african mediators as the army retains control of the country. other stories making the news across the

bbc, more than 50 people injured in a rare earthquake in south korea, the magnitude, 5.4 earthquake is the second strongest ever recorded in the country. it hit south—eastern port city on wednesday and there we re port city on wednesday and there were more than 40 after—shocks. the government of peru has declared a public holiday to celebrate the national football team becoming the 32nd and final qualifier for next‘s football world cup finals in russia. the final whistle saw exuberant celebrations in the capital after a 2-0 celebrations in the capital after a 2—0 win over new zealand. it's the first time they have qualified for the finals since 1982. and remarkably japanese train company has apologised after one of its tokyo commuter trains left the station 20 seconds early! these companies pride themselves on punctuality both arrivals and departures, that statement gave deepest apologies for the early

running, saying that the driver failed to check the time. in the us state of alabama the embattled republican candidate roy moore has defied calls to stand aside after allegations of sexual assault. in the last half hour at the white house intervened for the first time and this is what the press secretary sara huckabee sanders said. the president believes that these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously. he thinks the people of alabama should make the decision on who the next senator should be. he believes roy moore should stay in? the president said earlier this week that if the allegations are true then ryan moore should step aside all is still firmly believes that. —— roy moore. all is still firmly believes that. -- roy moore. mitch mcconnell the senior republican has called for roy moore to step aside. this was roy

moore's tweet in response to that, he said bring it on. it kind of speaks for itself. we can go now to alabama. print us up to date. we've had the first words from the white house. —— bring us up to date? had the first words from the white house. -- bring us up to date? the president did issue a statement earlier in the week, this is a more ofa earlier in the week, this is a more of a clarification that nothing more from the president himself. he spoke yesterday and didn't mention this after his asia trip. fundamentally the white house saying that these allegations are troubling and should be taken seriously. on the other hand, saying, we will leave it to the people of alabama to decide the fate of ryan moore. a contrast perhaps to the republican leadership in the senate, mitch mcconnell saying he should step aside. the white house hasn't said that emphatically. in the last few moments the alabama republican

steering committee has issued a statement saying they are standing behind roy moore. they met yesterday to decide whether or not they should ta ke to decide whether or not they should take any sort of action. they could have decertified him as a candidate. but they have weighed in this evening, saying they fully support his candidacy, and not long ago we did hearfrom roy moore. he was speaking at an event with faith leaders. he emphatically denied the allegations, eight women have now come forward alleging sexual misconduct, these are historic allegations yet ryan moore emphatically denied those allegations. he said he was not going anywhere and did not intend to quit the race. he said, i'll quit standing when they put me in a box and lamy in the ground. you've spoken to the voters and they are predominantly emphatically supportive of ryan moore, aren't they. it depends, iwas in

montgomery yesterday and spoke to a group of republican voters there very outspoken in the support of him, questioning the allegations, asking why the women are making these allegations when the alleged assaults took place years ago and they believe it could be applied by they believe it could be applied by the democrats to undermine the candidacy of mr moore. today i am in birmingham, alabama! candidacy of mr moore. today i am in birmingham, alabama i spoke to some republican voters earlier and every one of those said they believed that ryan moore should step aside. when i ask, does that mean they would vote for democrats next month, some of them said that they were not sure. that could be the issue in terms of whether he does well or not. some of these voters on the fence said they would rather vote for a republican like a ryan moore or a democrat. the latest polls we saw suggested that

the democratic candidate, debbie jones, was doing quite well, he was even put a hat which was astonishing because alabama is a solidly republican state. thank you very much. another us politician fighting for his political career is the democrat al franken. he has apologised to a woman, a tv host, who alleges that al franken groped her as she slept. she published this picture together with an article that she road alongside ed for the radio station k abc. she claims the senator forcibly kissed her day ring a rehearsalfor a comedy skit. —— during a rehearsal. these allegations date back to the thousand six when al franken, then a comedian, was on a tour of the middle east with the tv host. they we re middle east with the tv host. they were entertaining army personnel. in

the article she says that she could not believe it, he groped her without her consent while she was sleeping, adding how dare anybody grab her breasts and think it is funny. it is important to say that al franken has responded, saying that he doesn't remember the rehearsal, one of the two allegations, in the same way but he does send his sincere apologies to leanne. he suggests that it was meant to be funny, it clearly was not, he says he should not have done it. a full length apology from al franken can be found online. i spoke to our washington correspondent and askedif to our washington correspondent and asked if al franken could survive this. you have to say this in the context of the me too campaign were a lot of leading men have been accused of sexual assault, and in the light of the roy moore

controversy which we've heard about, a lot of democrats have come out and condemned roy moore to say that he should withdraw from the race, many republicans as well, and that he shouldn't be seated in the senate if he wins that race. so now the democrats are in a difficult position where they have to talk about one of their own, facing this type of accusation. this could be challenging for al franken, he has apologised and ta ken challenging for al franken, he has apologised and taken responsibility for this. a lot of politicians, both democrats and republicans, think this should be handled by an ethics committee investigation in congress. we haven't yet heard any democrats call for al franken to resign. at least not democratic officeholders. we've heard some liberal pundits, saying this is a chance for the left to show that they should put their money where their mouth is. we were

speaking about ryan moore in alabama, he has called into question mitch mcconnell‘s reaction to the allegations against al franken. he's brought them together. i'm looking ata brought them together. i'm looking at a tweet that he sent out a couple of hours ago, saying let's just investigate al franken. when it comes to ryan moore he says there is zero evidence, the allegations were rejected, yet mitch says that ryan moore must quit. these allegations have yet to be disproved that the article, in the washington post, was substantiated in talking to people who need the accusers. that will be a strategy taken by ryan moore, saying he is being handled differently than mitch mcconnell, at to get him in particular. anthony in washington, we can follow him on

twitter. the united nations has appealed for an urgent blockade on yemen to be lifted. they say thousands of people, including children will die if the blockade is not lifted. yemen has been devastated by a war between the internationally recognised government backed by a saudi led coalition and the houthi rebels backed by iran. and after a rocket was fired towards the saudi capital towards the middle of the month said it had and it's blockade of that country. now the un wants the saudis to open the main seaport for aid. lister said has spoken to the saudi minister of foreign affairs in riyadh. we are by far the largest provider of humanitarian assistance, no country has provided more aid to yemen and saudi arabia. when will the airport open? when the houthis

handed it over to the un, as they said they would month ago, when they hand over the sport as they said they would for almost a year, then they would for almost a year, then the port will be opened. —— when they hand over the port. other airports in yemen have been opened, there are a number of ports along there are a number of ports along the red sea and the arabian sea that open and are being used, we are increasing capacity there. we bring in humanitarian assistance into yemen, and fortunately a large percentage of humanitarian assistance provided by saudi arabia and other countries is subject to looting by the houthis. so they have been asked to open the port because people will die of star bashan if they do not and that doesn't trouble you, the consequences of not opening the port —— die of starvation. the un has recognised your concern is that they are saying, work with them to open and that doesn't trouble you, the consequences of not opening

the port —— die of starvation. the un has recognised your concerns that they are saying, work with them to open it more quickly. the united nations has been trying to work with the houthis for almost a year for the houthis for almost a year for the houthis for almost a year for the houthis to hand over the port and haven't succeeded so i think the blame should be directed at the houthis, not at the coalition. what ifa houthis, not at the coalition. what if a ballistic missile hit london heathrow airport, wouldn't you protect your people? we have had more than 70 ballistic missiles launched at our country. tens of thousands of students who can't go to school because of the warfare by the houthis. civilians who have died because of the attacks by the houthis. in any country tolerate this? of course not. un secretary general antonio guterres spoke to my colleague about this catastrophe. general antonio guterres spoke to my colleague about this catastrophem is not easy. we are making a lot of effort, first trying to make sure that the doors reopened for humanitarian assistant because we have enormous difficulties for

publishing in extreme danger. three more un reports talking about the potential... it allows for humanitarian assistance, immediate needs, and will be able to reach out and go on insisting but beyond that we need peace. we need to engage in parties and make the parties understand that this is a stupid war that nobody is winning and it is a terrible price. so many of your supporters say amazing things about your ability to make deals, but criticism, they say that his style is to make general statements but not to directly challenge

governments on their actions. have you directly challenged them on this? we have published a report in which there was strong opposition, challenging, we have no problem challenging, we have no problem challenging any government but our objective is to create the conditions for peace. so we had to bring the parties together because this is a war no one is winning and is causing a tremendous negative impact for both sides. antonio guterres. to shed your reaction to that story or any of our stories, use our hashtag on social media. stay with us for the next edition of outside source. in europe the mediterranean has made

headlines with the storms increase and other areas, cds and storm clouds circling across the heart of the mediterranean, and across italy, the mediterranean, and across italy, the balkans is while —— seabees storm clouds. they have had rain and snow. this is being referred to as a developing harry kane because the winds are strung out to sea. this nasty air of low pressure is still with us on friday, more strong winds to come, i suspect it is this area of the mediterranean that will get the worst of the winds and rain, so potentially some disruption to come on friday, and the bad weather will continue into saturday as well and by the time we get to sunday, slowly, i think, by the time we get to sunday, slowly, ithink, things by the time we get to sunday, slowly, i think, things will quieten down, some very rough weather to come across this part of the world meanwhile across the pond fine

weather on the eastern seaboard but if you are heading to the midwest is a big bear of low pressure, the weather is going downhill for the weekend, and in the run—up to thanksgiving which is just days away we will see shots of cold air approaching the midwest and the north—east of the united states and there could be quite a bit of snow around the great lakes region. around the caribbean the weather has not been great in the east around the leeward islands, bigger downpours in sa nto the leeward islands, bigger downpours in santo domingo, and that's likely to continue through friday and into saturday. the rest of the caribbean is looking much quieter. in south asia we have seen bigger downpours in the north—east of india linked to this area of low pressure, more rainfall to come to the cause of friday, by saturday,

that area of cloud and rain will start to fizzle away. that's a round—up of the world weather, let's look at the weather in the uk, closer to home, and tomorrow we've got chilly weather, the good news is, lots of sunny spells around as well. this is how it looks early in the morning and as we head towards lunchtime a lot of sunshine across england and wales but blustery conditions across scotland, wintry showers across the hills, most areas experiencing temperatures in single figures but at least the weather will be crisp and sunny the most. a quick look into the weekend, again fine weather that there could be rain on the way it particularly at towards the west later in the weekend. bye bye. hello, i'm kasia madera — this is outside source. still under house arrest — the zimbabwean president robert mugabe meets a military general and south african mediators as the army retains control of the country. the cambodian government appears to have a clear run in next year's election after the main opposition party is dissolved

by the supreme court. more women accuse republican senate candidate roy moore of molesting them when they were teenagers, as allegations against the alabama judge mount. and remember you can always get in touch. the hashtag is bbcos. hello, welcome to outside source. in cambodia the supreme court has dissolved the country's main opposition party. this is important because it leaves the government with no significant competitor ahead of next year's elections. this is the moment the announcement was made.

translation: the supreme court announced firstly it and there's the lawsuit of the ministry of the interior, secondly it decided to dissolve the cambodia national rescue party from now on word, and thirdly it decided to ban 180 members of the cnrp from political activities for five years. —— 118 members. the official reason for doing this is that the cambodia national rescue party, the cnrp, the country's only significant opposition party, conspired with foreigners to stage a revolution. but the move is being described by rights groups as a "death of democracy" in cambodia. earlier the vice president of the cnrp, who fled cambodia earlier this year, talked about what it meant to her party. it has put a blow, a strong blow, the democracy in cambodia, but today the democracy in cambodia, but today the democratic movement in cambodia is stronger together. together, stronger than ever. we will move on

towards our main goal. the people of cambodia voted for the cambodia national rescue party, the opposition party, 3 million, more than that, voted, and we are the only credible opposition in cambodia and we will continue to walk toward oui’ and we will continue to walk toward our main goal, which is change for cambodia. this is the prime minister, hun sen. he's been in power since 1985. and this move is just the latest in a series of increasingly authoritarian measures he's taken ahead of elections next year. in september this man, the leader of the cnrp, was arrested on a treason charge. one of cambodia's main independent newspapers, the cambodia daily, was also forced to close. the bbc‘sjonathan head has tweeted. "so hun sen has dispensed with opposition and shut down the cnrp — in the past he's been confident enough of winning elections without such

a drastic step." of course he knows about this all very well. of course he knows about this all very well. one reason he might be worried, the last election in 2013 gave the government 68 seats — but the cnrp got 55, and that was with them disrupting the results, saying the process had serious irregularities. nga pham is a south east asia analyst for the bbc — i asked her why hun sen might have done this now. well, i think that these events happened and didn't catch anyone by surprise. we all anticipated something like that would happen. many think that hun sen did it now because he is not confident that his party is going to win next year's election. but actually i think he does now because he is confident he can get away with that. the conditions are mature for him to

actually terminate and eradicate the position from political life in cambodia this time. but he has not done it before. was he slightly shocked by the result of the last election, how well the opposition did? i think he was actually quite surprised that the opposition party, the cambodia national rescue party, was that popular. i actually went to cambodia after the election and attended a few rallies. i also spoke to sam rainsy, the former president, and mu sochua, and i could see how popular they were. the cambodia national rescue party was extremely popular, especially among the young population who want to change. obviously hun sen site as a challenge, and now when he can he justis challenge, and now when he can he just is determined to eradicate them —— he saw it as a challenge. just is determined to eradicate them -- he saw it as a challenge. it is also a question of money as well as

one of the election. as the journalist kevin doyle points out... "aid without accountability: "billions of aid dollars have been spent on supporting cambodians to develop a democratic system that respects the rule of law and basic human rights." but now, with more chinese investment into the country, cambodia is no longer as reliant on western support. here's nga again. western countries, especially the united states, spend billions of dollars trying to help the reconstruction of cambodia after the genocide, but also they wanted to help cambodia develop a democratic society and the democratisation process inside the country. now it seems not in need of that any more. just a few days ago, i remembered the picture of hun sen and donald trump, where they were smiling and making that thumbs up sign together, but inside, hun sen actually sent a message to the us saying, don't interfere with our internal affairs — we don't need your money that much. so what happens in the election, if

there is no credible opposition? well obviously one of his answers is that the ruling party is going to win, and they are going to win big. but the reaction of the international communities and foreign countries, it is something that we are awaiting to see. what western countries are going to say, what the united states is going to say, because at the end of the day it is also the desire of the population there, that they have developed and democratic society. nga will keep us up—to—date with any information that does come from there. but we will now turn to the winter olympics. russia could still be barred from competing in the winter olympics in pyeongchang in february. the world anti—doping agency, that's wada, said the country had not done enough to address allegations of widespread cheating. wada says it's currently maintaining a suspension, which was put in place when a report

accused russia of systematic, state—sponsored doping. wada president, sir craig reedie, explains this decision. they have come a very long way. we have given them permission to start testing. they are doing effective testing, trained in anti—doping control officers, however because of the nature of the accusations against them part of the road map contains two particular conditions they have not fulfilled, firstly to acknowledge the report from richard mclaren, indicating the people that we re mclaren, indicating the people that were involved, and secondly, we would like to have access to the moscow laboratory to look at the samples and the electronic records that are there. neither of these two have been fulfilled. that was so craig lee day. —— ready, and although they have done a lot, he

says those are the key reasons that they have not changed their decision. when it comes to what comes next, moscow has had some strong opinions, as oleg from bbc russia now explains. the officials are slightly lower on the wrong of command. they said they we re the wrong of command. they said they were improving their activities so much and these two outstanding points, namely that acceptance of the mclaren conclusion, that there was a state—run doping programme, as well as access for the samples that are now under russian investigation. whilst now this aid is outside of their control, but all the other

point on the so—called road map are being fulfilled. of course for russians now this is a little bit of an exercise and forced optimism. they say they still hope they will rule positively as far as russian admittance to the olympic games goal. oleg from moscow. -- olympic games go. don't forget you can get more details on our website. plenty of coverage of that crisis in zimbabwe, so do check that out. back to zimbabwe— and we can have a look at how the papers in the country are covering the change of government. bbc monitoring's sammy maina has been watching from nariobi. the press in zimbabwe, it normally tours the government line, but what we are observing at the moment, since the military takeover —— it normally toes the government line. they have been taking a new line, the army line, but the most striking thing is the absence of certain

questions about what the army is doing. when i looked for example at the government's on daily, the herald today, it says business as usual. it went on to say that zimbabweans went on about their daily chores yesterday with shops, banks and the transport system working as normal. it needs to be remembered that in zimbabwe draconian laws require journalists to be accredited by a state appointed commission. police regularly arrest and deport foreign journalists. looking at the private press, for their part, they are more daring. they are now speaking about the possible end of robert mugabe's 37 year rule. for example, that he two financial gazette, it says zimbabwe is smiling at the end of an era. “—

zimbabwe is smiling at the end of an era. —— the financial gazette. and mnangagwa mentioned, who knows it could have been the end of an era, and they put that as a 37—year—old error, as opposed to an era. maybe the media environment will improve. we will see if we can see press freedom improving, and probably, you know, the press would be free to probe more on what is happening. but i have to say and clarify that was likely the army might not be happy if, for example, the media starts questioning some of their actions. so it is not clear what we have there. sammy maina going through

some of the reaction from the papers there in zimbabwe. one country keeping a beady eye on developments is china. it is africa's biggest trading partner — and shares especially strong bond with zimbabwe. here is president mugabe meeting xijining are meeting, looking pally there at the china—africa summit injohanesburg a couple of years ago — and this is how mugabe summed up their relationship between the nations. this is how robert mugabe saw their relationship. they go much deeper than resources. we are looking to strengthen the multifaceted relations between african countries and china. well, the events of the last 48 hours in zimbabwe have been a prominent feature in china's mainstream foreign affairs press. generally speaking, they are being pretty upbeat about the whole thing. this tweet from leading state newspaper global times summs it up.

they suggest this will bring new opportunities to china, in fact. and the image they are, just to run that home, a ray of sunshine. china specialist kerry allen from bbc monitoring to explain. a lot of press coverage in china this morning, specifically with foreign media, foreign affairs specialist media in china, the newspapers like global times and reference news headlining with what has been going on in zimbabwe, but actually the sense in the chinese media is it is being quite played down. a lot of the papers, they have not called this a, and they have actually been saying that the army peacefully took over zimbabwe. the military are very keen to stress they have not staged a coup, so it looks like the chinese press are

following that? they are, but one thing coming out very strongly in the media is that people are safe. one of the newspaper headlines today, global times, today, globaltimes, it english edition had a picture of a tank on its front cover but actually in the foreground you can see a child walking to school, and they appear to be safe. they are walking by themselves, not with their parents. and on social media a lot of people have been talking about their concerns about the chinese people based within zimbabwe, and whether oi’ based within zimbabwe, and whether or not they are safe, but this has been alleviated by official media by saying that people can take precautions within zimbabwe by ringing the embassy. kerry, of course it is important to stress just how important zimbabwe is for africa and for china, the amount they invest in that particular country. absolutely, zimbabwe and china, their relationship has been long—standing, actually going back to the late 70s, and specifically

since the early 20005, 2003, relations with robert mugabe were extremely strong, particularly on trade. so china, i mean china has a large expansion plan anyway with africa. there is a lot of trade, not ju5t africa. there is a lot of trade, not just in zimbabwe but in the wider continent, so china 5ee5 just in zimbabwe but in the wider continent, so china sees this relationship is crucial and has been trying to tell people this morning not to be concerned about their own investment intere5t5 within the country. that was