hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm rebecca jones. today at 2:00pm. ‘more work to be done' to advance brexit talks — theresa may and the president of the european council agree on that. but the brexit secretary says its not a one way street... a strong trading relationship, they've all got things to benefit from that. this is not a one—way street. this is not something for nothing. it benefits everybody. zimbabwe's president robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the country's army took over — the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. police are still questioning a man arrested on suspicion of murder as the search for 19—year—old gaia pope continues. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with hugh — and australia's women have regained the ashes. yes indeed the arab because we have

retained their ashes title. the england coach says he and his players are gutted. a defeat in the first match in sydney, australia retain the title. we have all the reaction at 2:30pm. louise lear has all the weather. what a cold mac that it was this morning. these beautiful pictures make me appreciate what a beautiful country we live in. will it last read the weekend? keep watching. thanks louise. also coming up — who will bejoining gritney spears and mr plough? a naming competition for a fleet of gritters sends doncaster into meltdown. hello everyone — this is afternoon live — i'm rebecca jones.

theresa may has had "positive discussions" with the european council president donald tusk, on the sidelines of an eu summit in sweden. a spokesman for the british prime—minister said that both have agreed there is more work to be done. he added they have discussed ways to take further steps before next month, when it's hoped talks on a trade deal can begin. 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 forfuture. 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 borisjohnson 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. kevin connolly is in the swedish city of gothenburg, where eu leaders have been meeting.

the signalfrom the signal from the british side on the way into this summit was very much the concessions that had been made by the uk over the course of the brexit process. now the time has come for the eu to respond positively to those offers. the problem is that from the european perspective, things look very different. the eu 27 are not inclined to see this as a kind of moment of mutual opportunity with a new relationship to be forged. they see brexit as a problem and a problem of britain‘s own making and bethink london has to come up with solutions. no one in europe is saying that the uk has done nothing, but the signal is very clear. if they want to move from the divorce issues to issues of trade and

transition and future relationships, at the eu summit next month in brussels in december, it is going to have to do more, offer more clarity and in brutal terms, that means offer more money. the irish prime minister put into words that you often hear privately from european politicians which is that supporters of the brexit project in his words when they came up with the whole idea had not thought the whole thing through. that is how things look on the european side. it is up to britain in their view to move next. our political correspondent ben wright is in westminster. what is your take on this? this big summit infourweeks, what is your take on this? this big summit in four weeks, will trade talks go ahead? two or three weeks ago the expectation that it was more likely than not that the green light would be given and transition tops and trade talks would begin. it feels slightly more doubtful now. we

are not sitting in a room with the negotiators. we get fairly generic state m e nts negotiators. we get fairly generic statements after they sit downs and interviews such as the one david davis gave to the bbc which was particularly punchy. it did not sound conciliatory towards the eu. it does feel that on significant issues they are far apart. there is real concern on the eu side about the northern ireland border issues. they are not happy with the reassurance from the uk government, they want to know exactly how the uk envisages it working out outside the customs union. and the single market. as kevin was saying, there isa market. as kevin was saying, there is a big issue around money. in her florence speech, theresa may made it clear that she wanted to plug this to two year gap, but the eu want much more clarity now, much more

obligations that they see the uk is committed to and they are not going to give the green light to trade talks in december until they have more detailfrom the uk on talks in december until they have more detail from the uk on the question of cash. in your view, how likely is it that the uk will end up having to be a higher bill?|j likely is it that the uk will end up having to be a higher bill? i think it is inevitable. we are talking the difference between the 2 billion or 50 or 60 billion. at the moment, there is a haggle between the two sides as to how these figures are being arrived at. what would constitute the financial liabilities that the eu says the uk always? it is not just accountants that the eu says the uk always? it is notjust accountants and lawyers. it is very complicated. they are looking for a commitment to the principles of the financial obligation, not money on the table, but a guarantee that they have signed up to the principles underlying the bill that britain

will have to pay if it wants to have an amicable divorce deal. the zimbabwean leader robert mugabe has been seen in public for the first time since the military takeover on wednesday. he‘s attended 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 reports from zimbabwe. he was supposed to be under house arrest. but today it looked 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, if it had already been invented, this country is going down and down and down. we are tired of begging for 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. 0ur senior africa correspondent anne soy is in zimbabwe. what do you know about the state of the negotiations? file they have been going on, it is a delicate process given that mr mugabe is hesitant to step down at the moment. he would rather wait until december when he steps down as they leader of

the party when the schedule elections are to take place. he would not defend his seat. however, the end looks imminent, there are already talks with in his ruling party for a possible vote on sunday to decide whether he remains and if that passes, they may vote to impeach him. we understand the offer is if he chooses to step down, there would be no implications for him or his wife. how likely is that? he has proved resilient and defiant in the past. he has been very resilient. he has disputed elections and he has continued to rule this country. he has withstood the challenge from the west, from the economic sanctions, he has withstood so much. there are three critical institutions in this country that are speaking out. one

is his party, zanu—pf, the other is the military who has made it very clear that the need to change the way they are running this country and the other is the war veterans. they have spoken out today and they have given him an ultimatum to step down immediately and they have called for a rally tomorrow in zimbabwe to join them to put pressure on mr mugabe to step down. in the meantime who is running the country? the military appeared in control. they appear to be managing things, including allowing him to attend the graduation ceremony today. however, they say that he remains president and we interpret that to mean that they want to show him respect. he is still respected as an independent icon in zimbabwe and they wouldn‘t want to humiliate him even though he has been humiliated by being put under a

house arrest. they would want a dignified exit for him. if he chooses to remain defiant, they may be forced to exert more pressure on him including impeaching him. joining me now via webcam is martin fletcher, formerformer foreign editor of the times. he has been covering stories in zimbabwe for the past decade. he interviewed the former vice president last yearfor interviewed the former vice president last year for the new statesman. hejoins president last year for the new statesman. he joins us president last year for the new statesman. hejoins us now. thank you so much. it will be good to hear your thoughts on what is happening in zimbabwe. what do you think is going on behind the scenes there at the moment? robert mugabe committed an act of political suicide by trying to oust manning gardner and his cohorts last week. they have no choice but to hit back. they have

succeeded by removing grace mugabe and her supporters from any possibility of succeeding mugabe. in that sense, the cool is over. it is now windowdressing. minilab and his allies realise that they need western help and massive bailouts to restore the economy. to do that, they have to address this up as something other than a clue. they have to get him to go voluntarily or to endorse the passing of the batten to endorse the passing of the batten to nanning blah blah. he has proved defiant in the past, who is not to say he might keep resisting? he will 90, say he might keep resisting? he will go, whether it is on sunday or at congress next month which is a

zanu—pf conference which is already scheduled, he will go. he has effectively been in the hands of the military since 2008, when the military since 2008, when the military raided their result of the first round. there was a second round run—off and used tremendous force and intimidation to ensure that mugabe won. he has never been a free agent. military have always been there in the background pulling the strings. if the vice president comes to power, i‘ll be likely to see any real changes in the way zimbabwe is run? menninger lack is a pragmatist and mugabe is an ideologue. you will not see any liberalisation. there is no chants

of zanu—pf losing its grip on power. the vice president understands that they need economic reform,, help from the west to put the economy, to rebuild the economy so that he can pay his security forces and keep his zanu—pf cohorts happy. when i interviewed him he, he talked about the need for investment and re—engagement with the west, encouraging white and black professionals to return. the key phrase he used was that capital goes where it is comfortable, where the weather is warm and comfortable and if it is cold, it goes elsewhere.

mugabe would not utter words like that. we will see economic change and fraud both parties involved in this, for ordinary people of zimbabwe, for south africa and western governments, they would go along with that. continued political authority union is maybe a price worth paying for economic stability in zimbabwe. it has been going on for so long. everyone is so weary of the eternal crisis in zimbabwe, people will put pragmatism before principle. it is interesting and worth clarifying that you can see a situation of change but not as far as democracy is concerned. we are not suddenly looking at free, fair and open elections. since mugabe was and open elections. since mugabe was a teenager, since mugabe came to

teachin a teenager, since mugabe came to teach in his village he has been involved with the worst excesses of the mugabe regime in the past 30 yea rs. the mugabe regime in the past 30 years. this man is no saint. he is a pragmatist. really good to hear your thoughts. thank you forjoining us. some news just into thoughts. thank you forjoining us. some newsjust into is, emergency services are at the scene of a midair collision including an aircraft at a helicopter. this is mere ailesbury in buckinghamshire. this news is coming in from the air accident investigation branch that emergency services are at the scene ofa midair emergency services are at the scene of a midair collision involving an aircraft and helicopter near aylesbu ry aircraft and helicopter near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. those are all the details we have at the moment. firefighters are currently on the scene but the accident the

understand is near wigston in buckinghamshire and there is likely to be disruption to the road networks around there, but we don‘t have any more details at the moment. it is the village of waddesdon. firefighters are assisting following best midair collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter. three fire engines and crews from ellsbury, two from 0xfordshire, one from berkshire, that perhaps give you a sense of the scale of what is happening in buckinghamshire, on the scene. let me check if we have got any other details coming into us now. that is all we know at the moment, a midair collision involving a light aircraft and a helicopter. we will bring you details on that as we get them. you are watching

afternoon my. theresa may and european council president donald tusk both say more work is needed to advance brexit talks ahead of the european council in december. robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the army took control of his government. missing dorsett teenager gaia pope, police are interviewing a man on suspicion of murder. australia take the women‘s ashes with a victory over england in the first twe nty20 with a victory over england in the first twenty20 match in sydney. reunited, in jersey marine first twenty20 match in sydney. reunited, injersey marine you‘ll squad for tomorrow with newcastle. and the repeat is on. defending champion claims the halfway lead with a i—shot lead in dubai. i‘ll be back with more on the stories just

after... et‘s get more now on one of our top stories as the prime minister is in sweden to meet eu leaders to press her case for accelerating brexit talks. she met the president of the european council, donald tusk, and both leaders agreed there was ‘more work to be done‘ ahead of december‘s summit. joining me now is richard graham, conservative mp for gloucester and a member of the brexit select committee. we are very grateful for your time. what do you make of the current state of the brexit negotiations? after our visit to brussels and paris last week, i am concerned, to be honest. my major concern is that the eq be honest. my major concern is that the e0 will hold most of the cards in the negotiation i believe are in serious danger of overplay their hand to the extent that there is a no deal scenario which becomes more

likely. we want to avoid that. what do you mean by overplaying its hand? the area where we are losses to agreement is citizens rights, and both sides boot priority on putting people first. if that is the case, we should reach an agreement on citizens rights so that ant and the handset so that 4.5 million people across europe know what their future holds. instead, the eu is insisting ona holds. instead, the eu is insisting on a process where people can only be taken at the same time as finance and ireland. reaching agreement on the irish border is going to be difficult until we know what the future trade agreement is like, and an agreement on finance will be difficult too. we should be taking people first, putting people first rather than making them a hostage to financial deals. the uk signed up

for a phased approach. if that doesn‘t happen you run the risk of everything ending up in a suit. nothing is agreed and tell everything is agreed. the important thing is the eu has this with likeability with the words of sufficient progress. if they think sufficient progress. if they think sufficient progress. if they think sufficient progress has been made, we can move forward to the next phase. it is important that we do sell to start discussing the implementation phase, the transition, and the future arrangements, and that is absolutely critical. in my view, if we can reach agreement, announced that whatever happens to the other elements. you are a member of the brexit select committee which has just published a report warning of significant difficulties if the date for leaving is set in stone. why do you think it will cause difficulties? different people have

different views on that. i am more focused on the outcomes, that specific argument about the date when you leave the european union, but we should both be aware that there is concern that if we do not have a fixed date on when we leave the european union, there is a danger potentially that we slide into a permanently involving transition phase where nobody knows when we‘re going to be moving to arrangements. we must leave it to beer. very good to talk thank you. 0ur reality check correspondent, chris morris is here. i presume that money is going to be the sticking point? i think so. we are ina the sticking point? i think so. we are in a withdrawal negotiation and we talk about future and trade. we have to sort out the withdrawal issues first. money is going to be a difficult issue. it always is in the

eu. theresa may has offered to pay up eu. theresa may has offered to pay up to... pounds over a two—year period. she said that in herforeign speech saying she did not want any other eu country to be out of pocket during the current budget period. the eu is looking for money which has been committed but not yet paid out in budget which the uk has signed up to. it is looking for payments for pensions for eu staff, the uk share of that money. what is happening now, whilst the prime minister said we will honour our commitments, the eu is asking what these commitments are. both sides wa nt to these commitments are. both sides want to go through this line by line, the eu to boost the money up, the uk to bring it down. it needs to be done quickly. it is a difficult exercise. on the one hand, we've got money, then citizens rights. where are we with that? progress has been

made. david davis talks about substantial progress. it is true that a lot of things had been and out, but there are problems on both sides. mr davies said today we want eu citizens and uk citizens in the eq eu citizens and uk citizens in the e0 to have voting rights and he says that the eu site is being difficult about that. there are issues the eu has about family members of citizens. in particular, the most difficult thing has been from the beginning, when it comes to citizens rights, who would police the agreement in the future? that comes down to the future role of the european court of justice down to the future role of the european court ofjustice which seems to crop up every time you pick up seems to crop up every time you pick upa seems to crop up every time you pick up a brexit stone, it is lurking underneath it. the question of the border with ireland, that is an intractable issue? there has been a

warning shot today, borisjohnson in dublin. and in the e0 summit in gothenburg. the message from the irish is that it is all fine that we don‘t want a hard border, but we need more detail. what do the uk mean in practice? what are your solutions for this? the irish would say if you not having a boarder at all, you need to have exactly the same regulations on food safety and animal welfare on both sides. that begs the question, is the uk willing to follow eu rules on those things? ireland once these issues spelt out in detail before the upcoming summit in december when we are supposed to decide whether we can move on from what we‘re talking about now to talking about the future, trade, security brexit. we will be talking

again. iwant security brexit. we will be talking again. i want to bring you up to date with the news in the last ten minutes that a helicopter and a light aircraft have been involved in a midair collision over buckinghamshire. emergency services went to the scene. it is close to the village of wealdstone, an incident at ten past 12 this afternoon. thames valley police have said the air accident investigation branch said the collision had involved a helicopter and an aircraft. i am going to find some more information to bring you. thames valley police are coordinating the response to the crash. firefighters are assisting other emergency services at the scene. disruption to road network

around the village for the rest of the day. the thames valley police are coordinating a response to this crash. they are warning that there will be disruption to surrounding roads for the rest of the day. what we know at the moment a helicopter and a light aircraft were in collision today. buckinghamshire emergency services have emergency vehicles at the incident including fire engines. thames valley police are coordinating the response to that crash, a midair collision involving what we understand is a light aircraft and a helicopter in buckinghamshire. we will bring you

more details on that as soon as possible. let catch up with the weather now with louise. we are both in grey and yet the weather seemed anything but! yes, but wasn‘t it cold this morning? these were the temperatures this morning, that is richmond in yorkshire, “4 is pretty chilly. it led to a glorious day with some beautiful pictures. i did question how long it would stay for. the weekend is a bit of a dog‘s dinner! it is very messy in the detail but not all doom and gloom. i will come back to that. right now we have quite a bit of cloud in the north—west and this is producing quite a lot of showers, some heavy

with some thunder as well and a bit of hailand with some thunder as well and a bit of hail and gales forced winds. not particularly pleasant for many for the rest of the afternoon and not just scotland but northern ireland and somewhat in north—west england but elsewhere the sparkling skies and sunshine. temperatures in double figures, not too bad out there. 0vernight we keep some clear skies, the wind remains in the north and still plenty of showers. they will stay quite a feature and towards the end of the night you can see the cloud increasing in wales and the south—west with some dribs and drabs of rain soaked milder to start tomorrow, clearer skies and colder further east. but there will be some light rain in wales and the south—west which will mask the sunshine, moving to the south—east. by sunshine, moving to the south—east. by mid—afternoon it should look like this. not too cold, 9—iid, the odd

bit of rain. to the north of that, more sunshine, a better day for northern ireland, northern england and southern scotland but still some showers in the northern isles also elsewhere, not bad. five or 6 degrees but at least you have the sunshine. quite windy with it as well. through the night, some clearer skies mean it will turn quite frosty, and we keep that cloudy and mild scenario in the south—west through the night and into sunday. that mild air trying to squeeze in but these frontal systems making painfully slow progress. the west will always have a bit more cloud, the further east, strong winds, particularly on the north sea coast, but some sunshine. it will feel cold but a brisk and beautiful sunday. further west, cloudy feel cold but a brisk and beautiful sunday. furtherwest, cloudy and feel cold but a brisk and beautiful sunday. further west, cloudy and a little dull. i will have more coming up little dull. i will have more coming

up in half an hour. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. emergency services are at the scene of a mid—air collision involving an aircraft and a helicopter near aylesbury, buckinghamshire, the air accidents investigation branch said. downing street says the prime minister has held positive discussions with eu leaders in sweden but there is more work to be done if the talks are to move onto trade discussions before the end of the year. robert mugabe has made his first public appearance since the military seized control in zimbabwe. mr mugabe addressed a university graduation ceremony in harare. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. police in dorset investigating the disappearance of gaia pope are searching cliff tops close to where clothing was found yesterday. officers are continuing to question a 49—year—old man on suspicion of murder. sport now on afternoon live with hugh woozencroft. a busy weekend ahead, what have you got for us today?

it isa it is a busy weekend ahead. the return of the premier league after the international break. there‘s big injury news, manchester united fans, asjose mourinho says he‘s welcoming back an ‘incredible personality‘. we will tell you who in a moment. a superb day for british golfers at the season ending event in dubai. and there‘s a new and rather surprising sporting career for sir bradley wiggins. not such a great day for the england women cricketers? in unbeaten from egzeks—arrygfim beth, , , egzeks—arrygfim beth mooney ! 7g794e7aa§fim beth mooney in ! 7g794e7aa§fim beth mooney in the 7g7947737§fim beth mooney in the first t20 international. after taking an unassailable lead in the multi—format series, and with just four points up for grabs in the remaining two games, australia keep the trophy. from sydney, here‘s our correspondent andy swiss. the first ashes triumph of this

exciting few months has gone emphatically to australia as they retain the ashes with two games remaining in the series. it was a lwa ys remaining in the series. it was always going to be a tough ask for england, having to winter night and the last two mega games to win back the last two mega games to win back the ashes and they made a terrible start. captain heather knight was out second ball. england subsided to 16-4 at out second ball. england subsided to 16—1; at one stage and there seemed no way back but a gutsy half—century from danni wyatt guided england to 132-9 from danni wyatt guided england to 132—9 and at that stage they still had a chance but australia swept those chances away with a ruthless run chase. beth mooney winning runs, finishing on 86 not out. australia deliberating here as they retain the women‘s ashes with two t20 games remaining. paul pogba and zlatan ibrahimovic will return for manchester united against newcastle united on saturday. the french midfielder pogba has been out since september

with a hamstring injury, while former sweden striker ibrahimovic has not played since damaging knee ligaments against anderlecht in april. zlatan of course is back sooner than expected with mourinho admitting he thought he wouldn‘t be back until the end of the year. three englishmen lie in the top four places of the european tour‘s season—ending championship in dubai after a fascinating second round. which saw matthew fitzpatrick take a one—stroke lead going into the weekend. but it was this man, tyrell hatton, who was leading earlier on after he shot a 63 — the round of the day. a birdie on the last though from fitzpatrick meant he got to io—under after the second round, just one ahead of hatton and two ahead ofjustin rose. to london now where its all to play for in the final round robin match at tennis‘s end of season world tour finals. especially for dominic thiem who is

laying david goffin for a place in the semifinals. —— playing. propper is up bya the semifinals. —— playing. propper is up by a break in that. —— goffin. later grigor dimitrov, already through to the semi—finals, takes on pablo carreno busta. bbc sport understands former england women‘s goalkeeping coach lee kendall admitted to using a fake caribbean accent towards eni aluko, as part of an fa investigation. kendall was cleared of "unacceptable behaviour" by the fa before stepping down from his role yesterday, his admission was not included was necessary‘. sir bradley wiggins is set to make his competitive rowing debut at next month‘s british indoor championships. the 2012 tour de france winner will compete in the 2,000 metre race at london‘s 0lympic velodrome on the 9th of december. wiggins retired from cycling

in december 2016 and admits he may be a ‘bit delusional‘. we shall see. that is all the sport for now, i will have more in the next hour. i want to bring you the latest details of the air collision we were telling you about in case you are just joining telling you about in case you are justjoining us. a helicopter and a light aircraft have been involved in a midair collision over buckinghamshire. emergency services rushed to the scene which is close to the village of waddesdon after the incident which was just after midday. the air accident investigation branch have said that the collision involved a helicopter and an aircraft. they are on their way to the scene but we‘re being

told by the police that the priority is being placed on saving lives. buckingham fire and rescue service say they currently have seven vehicles responding to the incident which includes fire engines as well as search and rescue vehicles. thames valley police have issued the statement you are looking at on your screen. the force is coordinating the response to the incident which was reported just after midday. the air accident investigation branch has been informed and staff are en route to the scene, fire and ambulance

services are in attendance. as i said, they are saying that the priority is being placed on saving lives. we can take a look at what the fire service have said on twitter. they say they have seven vehicles responding to the incident as well as fire engines and search and rescue vehicles and they are warning that there will be disruption to the road network around waddesdon which isa road network around waddesdon which is a village near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. that is likely for the rest of the day. just to repeat, there has been a midair collision between a helicopter and an aircraft and we will bring you all the details on that when we get

them. police are continuing to question a 49—year—old man about the murder of the missing teenager from dorset, gaia pope, who is 19 and was last seen in swanage ten days ago. 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. 0fficers 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. l 777 i". 1777", ii £777.77 7 7” § been' identified try" hisfether- in the swanage area. he‘s the third person to be arrested. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. firefighters are assisting the other emergency services after a midair

collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter in buckinghamshire. more work to be done — theresa may and the european council president agree a bigger effort is needed to advance brexit talks. robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the army took control of the zimbabwean government. negotiations are ongoing. carillion shares have sunk 30% after the construction firm issued another profit warning and said it expected to breach financial covenants. nissan is in talks with suppliers and dealers over compensation for the recall of more than i and dealers over compensation for the recall of more than! million ca rs over the recall of more than! million cars over quality control concerns. compensation is being decided on a case—by—case basis. citizen advice is calling for a ban on automatic increases in credit card limits. it says more than a million people with

financial difficulties have had their limits increased without their consent. i want to talk about house—building, we‘re always told how important it is but what is the best way to achieve it? it is a job for the national infrastructure commission. they think they have come up with a winning formula. they have been looking at that area between 0xford, cambridge and milton keynes which is a thriving area. what they have said, they want the government to pledge to boost the transport infrastructure there with more new roads, train lines, and in return it wa nts roads, train lines, and in return it wants the local authorities to double the amount of houses they are building. that is the quid pro quo that were talking about. and the economic impact? according to the

commission, it would be huge. the area is thriving, the commission reckons that if these measures are implemented it would boost the local ikeme from 90 billion to two a year. we can listen to the man who is running its —— 200 £50 billion. we can listen to the man who is running its -- 200 £50 billion. the big problem with this arc which is one of the most successful part of the country is that we don't have nearly enough houses. house prices in oxford and cambridge are higher than in most prices of london. that isa than in most prices of london. that is a real issue and the question is how to get house—building significantly how to get house—building significa ntly increased how to get house—building significantly increased including being prepared to set up new towns. milton keynes is now a city of nearly 300,000 residents and one of the most successful places in the country and being right in the middle of the country is a great place to be so there is an opportunity to do more of that. we have put infrastructure investment

including new railways and roads in ahead of expecting local authorities to agree to new housing. there is a deal to be done here between government and local authorities with the government agreeing to upgrade infrastructure with a new railway line between oxford, milton keynes and cambridge, i say a new line, the use to be one but it was closed. if that was put in place it would transform connections between the towns and cities across this arc around oxford, bicester, milton keynes, sandy, cambridge come all important residential centres and if thatis important residential centres and if that is put in place with the road infrastructure i believe it will be possible for the local authorities to build more housing and it will be win—win. to build more housing and it will be win-win. let's leave house-building in the uk and moved to the us and tax reform which was a big thing for donald trump but where are we? this isa donald trump but where are we? this is a massive proposal, $1.5 trillion is a massive proposal, $1.5 trillion is what it‘s worth and if it goes

through it will be the biggest tax shake—up over that since the 1980s. it has passed a crucial vote in the house of representatives and we can catch up with samir who is in new york. —— samira. this has been passed quite quickly but how come? they are undera passed quite quickly but how come? they are under a tight deadline, president trump said he wanted to see a bill on his desk by christmas which means they have to get the ball rolling. you saw this pushed through the house quickly despite the fact you had all democrats voting against it and also 12 republicans who were voting against it. but all they needed was a simple majority and that is what they got in the house. i am sure that is not the end of the story, what happens next? now bigger challenges, and thatis next? now bigger challenges, and that is what traders here are looking towards, what will happen in the senate. that is looking a lot

more, gated and there are already some republicans speaking out against it. —— a lot more competition. it is meant to go through the senate after the bank is giving holiday — — through the senate after the bank is giving holiday —— a lot more complicated. then the house bill and the senate bill need to come together in order for the president together in order for the president to be able to sign one built. will it just be democrats to be able to sign one built. will itjust be democrats voting against this? no, we have already heard from some republicans who are against it. there are republicans in the house that voted against it so there is going to be quite a big fight in terms of getting something together. looking at the past few not e7777 wins so it is going to legislative wins so it is going to bea legislative wins so it is going to be a tough fight to get those two very different tax bills to one piece of paper for the president to sign them christmas—time. piece of paper for the president to sign them christmas-time. thank you.

that came at the right time! let‘s have a look at the markets. we mentioned carillion. it is having a terrible time, announcing huge debts and saying it will not make as much money as it hoped and its shares are doing badly. a better story for sky whose shares are getting an uplift from speculation that comcast might be buying up big chunk of it. and the currencies? we might have to in the currencies? we might have to in the next hour! we will see you then, thank you. 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. meet mali. he is an eight—year—old belgian malabar, and a war hero. he has been recognised with the highest award for gallantry an animal can get, the dickin medalfor his bravery in afghanistan, where he helped clear the building overrun by taliban fighters. a massive gun battle had ensued 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 blast injuries from two grenades thrown down the stairs at him, multiple injuries to his face, body and hips. again, still carried on after that.

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 in other 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 scent detector, very agile, it can go in 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 their 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. richard lister, bbc news. an update now on that aircraft we have been reporting on in the last hour with a helicopter and a light aircraft involved in a midair

collision over buckinghamshire. emergency services rushed to the scene which is close to the village of waddesdon near aylesbury. that was following reports of an incident just after midday. air crash investigators are on their way to the scene but we‘re being told by police that the priority is being placed on saving lives. buckinghamshire fire and rescue service say they currently have seven vehicles responding to the incident including fire engines as well as search and rescue vehicles. you can see thames valley police have been informing the public about what they know about the incident, currently at the scene of this accident near the village of waddesdon near aylesbury. it is thames valley police which is

coordinating the response which was reported at just after 12pm. coordinating the response which was reported atjust after 12pm. i have also seen a tweet from the fire brigade, who are responding and have seven fire engines there as well as urban search and rescue vehicles. it is worth saying that a spokesman for waddesdon manor, a large estate near aylesbu ry, waddesdon manor, a large estate near aylesbury, said the crash did not happen on their grounds. that is managed by the national trust, the rothschild foundation on behalf of the national trust who took over ownership in 1967. they are a large estate near aylesbury and they have said the accident did not happen over their grounds but otherwise details are quite scant at the moment but we will of course bring you more information when we get it. in the meantime let‘s catch up with

the weather with louise. there is perhaps a chance to night of seeing a meteor shower. it takes tonight between midnight and dawn and one of the things that will be predicted if that there is a new moon which means it will be quite darkin moon which means it will be quite dark in rural spots so a good chance of seeing it particularly in central and eastern areas where we will have clear skies. this is the story so far today, a beautiful day in central and southern england and parts of south wales but stronger winds and more showers is the story further north and west. a few scattered thunderstorms as well, some hail mixed in and some snow on the tops of hills and mountains. pretty miserable a new factor in the wind, not feeling very warm. this is how we end the day, seven or 8 degrees, further south into double digits with the sunshine. through

the night, we keep some clear skies particularly in sheltered eastern areas and further west the cloud will start together and move in. dribs and drabs of rain coming into wales and eventually south—west england at the same time few showers moving south but not as cold as last night, perhaps temperatures just below freezing in rural spots when the skies are clear. tomorrow it is a messy picture. this cloud and dank conditions continuing through wales and south—west england and eventually masking any sunshine in the south—east. central and southern england pretty disappointing. to the north, more sunshine, stronger winds and still some showers. milder in the cloudy and grey skies, colder but at least you have the sunshine further north and east with highs of five or 6 degrees. not much change saturday night into sunday, keeping

the clear skies and a chance of frost in the east. further west, the mild air tries to make an impression, but it will take most of the week and before it truly arrives and even then could cause some issues but it will continue to move in with more cloud to the west and a mild feeling. with that cloud, rather grades in western areas on sunday —— rather grades. the best of the sunshine further east, breezy on the sunshine further east, breezy on the north sea coast and still feeling quite cold. more from me at the top of the hour. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. today at 3pm: a helicopter and a light aircraft have collided in mid—air near waddesdon in buckinghamshire. emergency services are on the scene. "more work to be done" to advance brexit talks. theresa may and the president of the european council agree on that. but the brexit secretary says its not a one—way street. a strong trading relationship and

security relationship, they all have things to benefit from that. this is not a one—way street, something for nothing, this is something which benefits everybody. iam i am live from zimbabwe where president robert mugabe has appeared in public for the first time today since the military takeover on wednesday, when he was placed under house arrest. police continue to question a man arrested on suspicion of murder as the search for 19—year—old gaia pope continues. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. australian women‘s‘s cricketers are celebrating. england head coach mark robinson says that he and his players have been left gutted by their defeat, which means australia have an unassailable lead in the ashes series and they will retain the trophy. thanks, hugh. and louise lear has all the weather. skies have been shining on pudsey

bear across england and wales. this is the story this afternoon. sharp showers and gale force winds to the north. thanks, louise. also coming up: who will bejoining gritney spears and mr plough? a naming competition for a fleet of gritters sends doncaster into meltdown. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. there has been a mid—air collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter over the village of waddesdon in buckinghamshire, near aylesbury. our correspondent sophie long is following the story.

we don‘t know a huge amount at the moment. emergency services are at the scene. a midair collision has taken place. we are told by the air accidents investigation branch that the collision took place just after midday at 12:06pm. they are at the scene, with police and emergency services. police are saying that the priority at this time has to be placed on saving lives. we don‘t know how many people were in the aircraft, or in the helicopter. buckinghamshire fire and rescue service say they have seven vehicles responding to the incident at the moment, including a number of fire engines, as well as urban search and rescue vehicles. thames valley air ambulance are at the site of the crash. thames valley police arco ordinate in the response. they are

warning that there will be a huge amount of disruption to surrounding roads for the rest of the day. the collision took place close to waddesdon manor, a large estate near aylesbu ry. waddesdon manor, a large estate near aylesbury. we heard from them that the crash has not happened on its grounds, but we note it is very close to that. also in the vicinity is raf holton, around ten miles from the crash. we believe a spokesman has been quoted by the pa agency saying no military aircraft were involved. a spokesman has told them that neither of the aircraft has a connection with the air force or the military and this is as much as they know at this time. while you are speaking, ican know at this time. while you are speaking, i can update to you. we are now hearing that both aircraft involved in the collision came from wycombe air park, which is near high wycombe. wycombe air park, also known as booker airfield, has

confirmed that the helicopter and the aircraft which have crashed both took off from its site. it was informed of the crash at midday, but it will not provide further information at this time. but i thought it was interesting that the emphasis is on the saving of lives, isn‘t it? emphasis is on the saving of lives, isn't it? yes, as you would imagine, that would be the priority at this stage. all that we know is a midair collision has taken place between two airborne vehicles, a helicopter and an aircraft, is in number of people will have been on board. so a huge amount of emergency services at the scene, and their priority will be saving lives. the air ambulances at the scene to get anyone to hospital as quickly as they possibly can. at the moment the emphasis is very much on saving any lives that can be saved. this is a fast developing story. many thanks. theresa may has held what‘s been described

as "positive discussions" with the european council president donald tusk, at an eu summit in sweden. both have agreed there is "more work to be done" to advance the negotiations. mr tusk says they discussed ways to take further steps before next month, when it‘s hoped talks on a trade deal can begin. 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 forfuture. 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 borisjohnson 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. our political correspondent ben wright is in westminster. what is going to give? david davis

is clearly irritated by eu intransigence as he sees it. in the last few minutes, donald tusk has been speaking at a press conference at the summit in gothenburg. he said two interesting things. number one, that he wants the uk to have produced its planned for pretty much moving the discussion about money on, sorting out remaining questions about the northern ireland border, right at the start of december if he is going to have any chance of advising eu leaders to give the green light to trade talks at that crucial eu council meeting in mid—december, so really trying to concertina, to shorten the timetable, putting real pressure on the uk to knuckle down and produce solutions and answers to these remaining questions. he was also asked about david davis‘ comments to the bbc, that he thought the eu had to compromise. mr tusk said, i

appreciate mr davies‘ english sense of humour. so if further proof were needed, both sides are wide apart and the tone is pretty hostile. we believe it for now but talk to you. many thanks. joining me now from westminster is david campbell bannerman, conservative member of the european parliament for the east of england. we are grateful for your time and i wa nt to we are grateful for your time and i want to start with those comments from donald tusk, who says britain must deliver much more progress on theissues must deliver much more progress on the issues of the brexit divorce bill and the irish border by the beginning of december in orderfor these trade talks to go ahead. what is your response? i am afraid the eu is your response? i am afraid the eu is being very unreasonable. all of us should be getting into trade talks as soon as possible. the negotiating guidelines of the eu are very logical because on the one hand they say that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. on the other hand, they say they have two agree three items in phase one. two

of the three require a trade deal to solve those issues, like the border with northern ireland. you need a customs agreement or a trade agreement. if you are not imposing customs duties, you do not have a problem. and the money aspect is tied to what we are getting for it. we need a good trade deal, but it is related to that. so it is an illogical position and all about pushing us for money. you say it is illogical but the uk did sign up to this phased approach, and surely if there is not a phased approach, the whole thing ends up in a great big melting pot. it‘s a mess. whole thing ends up in a great big melting pot. it's a mess. we signed up melting pot. it's a mess. we signed up to the eu being reasonable within that approach. i don‘t think they are being reasonable. really, we have come up, as david davies says, we have been very generous, have come up with lots of position papers. i have lost count of how many we have done. and citizens‘ rights, we are nearly there on that, there is a lot of progress. so we

have done our bit. but the eu needs to realise we are serious about going to wto rules to have no deal. if we have no deal on trade, there are other deals we can work on, and citizens, customs and aviation. it can get on with those. but they have to realise they would be paying the majority of tariffs because we have such a massive deficit with the eu, £89 billion on goods alone. such a massive deficit with the eu, £89 billion on goods alonem such a massive deficit with the eu, £89 billion on goods alone. it does look as if we are going to have to pay more, doesn‘t it? does that matter? it comes back to what we are paying for. we will meet our commitments. we are honourable as a nation when it comes to that. but we do need a fair deal. and the eu is actually probably trying it on because there is increasing worry, i am hearing it from german industry and from the danish, the dutch, which david davis has touched on, nations beginning to worry, the irish particularly as well, about

getting a trade deal. they want access to the sixth largest economy in the world, which is ours. ayew begin in to worry that this might we mightjust crash out? —— are you beginning to worry? there is no crash out. we go to wto rules. no deal is a deal, ironically. that is a deal the united states has with the eu, china has, india has. a deal the united states has with the eu, china has, india hasm a deal the united states has with the eu, china has, india has. if we do go to wto rules, do you accept the both hers and losers? one in four sectors, will be hit quite hard. but we can compensate. we are paying great deal to the eu now and we are not paying 50 billion, or whatever the figure is. we can compensate 5 billion in tariffs easily but the eu will have to find 13 billion in compensation for its producers. 40% tariffs on french cheese, 12% on french wine. they

don‘t realise what a hit services, and billions on german cars. we employ over a million germans, our market. we have to leave it there. good to talk to you. thanks. the zimbabwean leader robert mugabe has been seen in public for the first time since the military takeover on wednesday. he‘s attended 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 reports from zimbabwe. he was supposed to be under house arrest. but today it looked 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 on 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, everyone, go to the streets and move around. no one likes mugabe, and at this time we are going to tell him, we don‘t want him, him must go. the country has been going backwards. you can't reinvent the wheel, the wheel's already been invented, this country is going down and down and down. we want it to get up. we need better things to happen in this country. 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, the zdf, says significant progress has been made in their operation... robert mugabe has been negotiating with the head of the army here, general constantino 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. and ben brown canjoin us live from zimbabwe now. what do we know about the state of negotiations? well, we don't know much, to be honest. some indications we re much, to be honest. some indications were saying he was trying to hang onto power, against all the odds, you would think, considering he has been under house arrest. also, we had reports from some sources saying that actually what was going on was the negotiation to try to get him to

step down with some dignity but quite quickly, in return for guarantees about his safety, for him and his family, and that he would then resign, perhaps giving way to some sort of transitional government. if he doesn‘t go, there is growing pressure on him to leave office, not just from is growing pressure on him to leave office, notjust from the military, who have carried out this takeover. we are hearing there is a call for a big demonstration tomorrow in harare, when potentially thousands of mugabe opponents will take to the streets and demand he steps down. that could be a pivotal moment. if that doesn‘t work, we are hearing that doesn‘t work, we are hearing that elements within the ruling zanu-pf that elements within the ruling zanu—pf movement are planning to impeach robert mugabe again if he doesn‘t stand down. either way, it looks like his days in office are numbered. we have heard from the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, urging a quick return to civilian rule ins and bar boy and saying that recent events a re rule ins and bar boy and saying that recent events are a concern. in the

meantime, who is in charge? that is a really good question. to be absolutely honest, i don‘t think we know. in terms of the day—to—day running of government business, a number of robert mugabe‘s senior ministers have been arrested along with him, some of the so—called criminals the military have talked about targeting. whether the military are running some of the administration, we don‘t know. to be honest, zimbabwe‘s government has been chaotic at best for a number of yea rs been chaotic at best for a number of years massive unemployment here, hyperinflation which in the recent past was something like 79,000,000,000%. so it is not like this has been a very well—run country at the best of times in the last few years, but at the moment no one quite knows who is in charge. many thanks. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: a helicopter and light aircraft have

collided in midair near waddesdon, buckinghamshire. emergency services are on the scene. more work to be done to advance brexit talks. theresa may and the president of the european council agree on that, but the brexit secretary says it is not a one—way street. zimbabwe‘s president, robert mugabe, makes his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over. he is reportedly refusing to step down. in sport, retained, australia hold onto the women‘s ashes, with a combo hence of six wicket victory over england in sydney. reunited. paul pogba and zlatan ibrahimovic return from injury and are named in manchester united‘s squad for tomorrow‘s‘s meeting with newcastle. and defending champion matt fitzpatrick claims the halfway lead at the tour championship, over his fellow englishman tyrell hatton in

dubai. iwill fellow englishman tyrell hatton in dubai. i will be back with more on those stories just after half past. police are continuing to question a 49—year—old man about the murder of a missing teenagerfrom 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 correspondentjon donnison is in swanage. tell us what is happening where you

are. well, police say they are keeping an open mind as to what might have happened, and open to the possibility that gaia pope might still be alive, but after ten days thatis still be alive, but after ten days that is obviously becoming increasingly unlikely. the focus of the search is on this clifftop area. about 50 officers involved from the police, the fire service and the coastguard. they are searching the area above the cliffs, but also below. they are having to use ropes because they are getting pretty close to the edge, and the search will wind up in about an hour when it will get dark. we are focusing here because those clothes were found here yesterday, which police say were similar to those which gaia was wearing when she was last seen. many thanks. 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. 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. malli was seriously wounded in 2012, when he entered a building in kabulunderfire, to sniff out explosives and insurgents. his new handler, corporal daniel hatley, says malli was exceptionally brave. richard lister reports. meet mali. he is an eight—year—old belgian malinois, and a war hero. today he is being recognised with the highest award for gallantry an animal can get —

the dickin medal — for his bravery in afghanistan, where he helped clear a building overrun by taliban fighters. a massive gun battle ensued 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 in others aspect of the military, dogs, it seems, are irreplaceable. i think there is a long way to go before we get something that will do

all the great things that dogs can do. the dog is an extremely good scent detector, vapour detector, very agile, it can go in 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 that 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 bond 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 were 32 pigeons, four horses and a ship‘s cat. it is not entirely clear what mali makes of this medal. corporal 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. richard lister, bbc news. i want to bring you the latest news on the midair collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter near aylesbu ry light aircraft and a helicopter near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. the accident happened at around midday. air crash investigators are at the scene. the priority, police say, is saving lives. buckinghamshire fire and rescue services say they have seven vehicles responding to the incident. that includes fire

engines, as well as search and rescue vehicles. thames valley police arc awarded making the response to the crash. they have warned there will be disruption to surrounding roads for the rest of the day. —— thames valley police arc awarded making the response. this is near waddesdon manor, but they have said the crash did not happen on their grounds. that is managed by their grounds. that is managed by the rothschild foundation on behalf of the national trust. raf holtham is about ten miles away but they have said no military aircraft have been involved. we do know that both aircraft, the light aircraft and the helicopter, came from whickham bearpark, which is also known as booker airfield. that is about 20 miles away. —— whickham bearpark. it

offers flight training. emergency services are at the scene of a midair collision involving an aircraft in the helicopter near aylesbu ry aircraft in the helicopter near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. we will bring you more details as soon as we get them. in the meantime, louise has the weather. good afternoon. decent spells of sunshine in england and wales but not further north with cloud and strong wind blowing in sharp showers, falling as sleet and snow on higher ground, mostly in scotland but also northern ireland. that will continue overnight. elsewhere, high—pressure slips south west, allowing some drizzle, but milder weather conditions pushing into wales and south—west england. not as cold on saturday morning. nevertheless, saturday morning. nevertheless, saturday is a bit messy, with drizzly rain pushing into wales, southern england through the day. the best of any sunshine into the afternoon will be across northern

england and scotland, despite some showers into the northern isles. top temperatures likely to be five or six to graze in the sun. 9—11 further south. as we move into sunday, it looks like we will keep the sunshine. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. emergency services are at the scene of a mid—air collision involving a light aircraft and a helicopter near aylesbury, buckinghamshire. the european council president, donald tusk, said he has told theresa may that the european union wants progress on irish border and financial issues by early december before they can move brexit talks forward. we will be ready to move on to the second phase already in december, but in order to do that we need to see more progress from the uk side. robert mugabe has made his first public appearance since the military

seized control in zimbabwe. mr mugabe addressed a university graduation ceremony in harare. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. police in dorset investigating the disappearance of gaia pope are searching cliff tops close to where clothing was found yesterday. officers are continuing to question a 49—year—old man on suspicion of murder. sport now and we can go over to the sports centre and it is a busy weekend in prospect? yes, plenty coming up, england playing at twickenham against australia, scotla nd twickenham against australia, scotland facing new zealand, the return of the premier league, big injury news for manchester united with two influential players coming back into the squad. a superb day

for english golfers at the season—ending event in dubai, a long suspension for steve diamond of sale and a surprising change of career for bradley wiggins. we can‘t not talk about the ashes and for the england women it was not the result they were looking for. it wasn‘t, and plenty of people are saying that australia might not have done much to retain their title but they have. it came after a heavy defeat for england in the first t20 match. victory for the hosts moved them eight points clear which was enough to retain the ashes with two games remaining. england knew it was win or bust for their 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 she was out again.

confused? well, england were, as they totally disintegrated. in a flash, 16—1; and the ashes surely as good as over. an absolute blinder! but then the recovery thanks to australian butterfingers and a battling half—century from danni wyatt. their total of 132 at least gave them a chance. but it proved a mere flicker as australia‘s beth mooney set about despatching them into the sydney night. a couple of wickets briefly revived england hopes but they ultimately only postponed the inevitable as mooney struck the winning runs to retain the ashes and they had done it with two games to spare. england might be the world champions, but in this series they were very much second best. you know, you could see it on the faces of the girls at the end of the game, there is a lot of emotion around tonight and we are disappointed with the way we played today. i thought we had a chance when we were going from 16—1; to then get 130, i thought we had a chance to be in the game. but credit to australia, they have played some better cricket than us in this series.

and with the men‘s ashes starting next week, for australian fans already plenty to cheer. it's absolutely spectacular and i can't wait for next thursday to win it again. twice this year! but it's really good to see, a great venue and the girls are playing such a great standard of cricket, it's awesome. the men's coming up, it's going to be awesome. a good time to be australian! and so a year in which england scaled the heights of a world cup win has ended in disappointment. the first triumph of this ashes winter has gone australia‘s way. andy swiss, bbc news, sydney. paul pogba and zlatan ibrahimovic will return for manchester united against newcastle united on saturday. the french midfielder pogba has been out since september with a hamstring injury, while former sweden striker ibrahimovic has not played since damaging knee ligaments against anderlecht in april. zlatan of course is back sooner than expected with mourinho admitting he thought he wouldn‘t be back until the end of the year. three englishmen lie in the top four

places of the european tour‘s season—ending championship in dubai after a fascinating second round. which saw matthew fitzpatrick take a one—stroke lead going into the weekend. but it was this man, tyrell hatton, who was leading earlier on after he shot a 63 — the round of the day. a birdie on the last though from fitzpatrick meant he got to 10—under after the second round, just one ahead of hatton and two ahead ofjustin rose. in the last few minutes david goffin has clinched the final semifinal place at the world cup finals in london. we had to beat dominic thiem in theirfinalgroup game london. we had to beat dominic thiem in theirfinal group game to progress and he did so in straight

sets, 6—4, 6—1, and he will now face roger federer in the last four while jack sock takes on grigor dimitrov in the other semifinal. the drop will complete the round robin stage this evening against pablo carreno busta. sir bradley wiggins is set to make his competitive rowing debut at next month‘s british indoor championships. the 2012 tour de france winner will compete in the 2,000 metre race at london‘s olympic velodrome on the 9th of december. wiggins retired from cycling in december 2016 and admits he may be a ‘bit delusional‘. we shall see. that is all the sport for now, we will have more in the next hour. thank you. downing street says theresa may has held positive discussions with eu leaders in sweden on ending the deadlock in the brexit negotiations. after the meeting, both leaders

agreed there was still more work to do before trade talks can begin. the prime minister has also defended plans to write the date of britain‘s withdrawal from the eu plans to write the date of britain‘s withdrawalfrom the eu into plans to write the date of britain‘s withdrawal from the eu into law after a warning from mps on the brexit select committee. speaking to our political editor laura kuenssberg, the brexit secretary david davis says the eu must also be willing to compromise if further progress in brexit talks is to be made. so far in these positions we have made a lot of compromises. on the citizen ‘s right front we have made all the running, in terms of things like the right to vote where the european union does not seem to be able to agree that everybody involved, the 3 million europeans in britain and the million brits abroad should be able to vote. we have been offering some quite creative compromises. we have not always got that back. you are admitting you

have been backing down? it's not backing down, the reason we agreed the european approach was so that the european approach was so that the citizens right issue, which we view as morally the most important, was able to be dealt with upfront and that‘s why we‘re doing that. was able to be dealt with upfront and that's why we're doing that. you have come to the powerhouse of the uup in union without the offer on what pretty much everybody agrees is the biggest problem —— of the eu. eu politician after politician has been crystal clear, they are not going to move on in the weight you want to until the uk is willing to make a promise, not give a figure, but a promise, not give a figure, but a promise that you are prepared to write a big cheque as we leave. of course there are saying that but the other thing that is also clear, this is not the only european country i have been to in the last week or two, is that many of them do want to move on. they seek it is very important to them, countries like denmark and holland and italy and spain and poland can see there are big benefits in the future deal we

are talking about. the deep and special relationship that the prime minister refers to a strong trading and security relationship, they all can benefit from that. it is not a one—way street, something for nothing, this is something which benefit everybody. so who is holding it up? germany and france holding things up? to be clear, germany and france are the most powerful players on the european continent of course. what they believe is very influential, sometimes decisively so. but it is the whole of europe‘s decision, 27 countries. the reason i am here today, we are now out of the german election period, we could not come during an election and ditto for the french. i was in france two weeks ago talking to their government. this is an across the

continent include exercise which is still going on. you are saying that other countries want to move on but what the eu is saying is that until you move on the money... we have a december council on the 14th of december council on the 14th of december which is where that next decision will be taken and there will be a lot of discussions between now and then. but the other side are adamant it cannot be at that moment that you whip out the cheque but. why not admit that at some point in the next ten days or two weeks, you‘re going to have to say, the uk will put a more generous financial offer on the table? nothing comes for nothing in this world. so you will? i'm not saying one or the other. what the prime minister said at florence and what we have repeated in all of the discussions is that no bid is going to lose in this round. incredibly important. most politics has a very big premium on the short—term and immediate and

we are going to stand by our responsibilities but we are going through that with them line by line at the moment. that is the technical discussion. it is a political decision. those decisions will come later. you also said after the florence speech, "in 2019 week will leave and come out from under the jurisdiction of the european court." in your speech last night you said something different, that the european court would still be in charge basically for two years afterwards. what i was repeating is what the prime minister said in the house of commons in october. you went further than that, in the house of commons she said, "we might start off like that". that's correct, this isa off like that". that's correct, this is a negotiation, assuming that we get the decision in december, about the start. the ideal arrangement from our point of view is it start under the european cup and we end up with an arbitration mechanism but

that negotiation is yet to start —— under the european court. if there is still a negotiation around that, why did you say during your period you would have the european court? because i was not going to get into to accommodate the discussion about it there. it's not that contradicted, it is either as you said last night... no it's not. you over interpreting. what did you mean? exactly what the prime minister said, which is it that. under the relations as they are now and ideally we will end up with a circumstance where we have another arbitration mechanism, a dispute resolution mechanism is the technical phrase. that is for negotiation. so last night when you said the european court will apply during that two—year transition period, you didn‘t mean it? during that two—year transition period, you didn't mean it? you're not elaborating. i'm trying to be clear about what you meant, secretary of state. i meant exact what the prime minister ‘s head, which is that we start under the european court. where do we end?

with a new resolution mechanism. what are your colleagues going to make that your former colleague david jones said it is absolutely clear we will not be under the ecj during the implication period. that‘s not right. i didn‘t hear them say that. we‘re going through the implication period with under the broader structure as it is now, it will not be a part of the european union, we will not be a member, and there will be freed and which we don‘t currently now have. the most obvious of those the right to negotiate new trade relationships and to sign them. that is the most important distinction. that takes us out from what is known as the duty of sincere cooperation and that is the biggest distinction. it is not a pa rt the biggest distinction. it is not a part of the union but it is a temporarily mechanism and we are still negotiating that and as the prime minister said, it has got to

stop with the court, ideally it will end with a new mechanism —— it has got to start. it may be that that creates more ructions at home but there have been third in the ructions over this idea of putting the date of departure into the withdrawal bill. are you going to drop that? from what i've said from the beginning, from the white paper and not just the the beginning, from the white paper and notjust the bill, unlike the article 50 bill which went through an amended, we will discuss this built with parliament and come up with conclusions during the debate. of which there are still six days on this stage. it is a good idea i think. it is stating something which is clear government policy. the brexiter qui david davis talking to our political editor, laura kuenssberg. —— brexit secretary. i wa nt to kuenssberg. —— brexit secretary. i want to update you on the midair collision between a light aircraft

and helicopter. this is over to buckinghamshire, live pictures coming in at the bbc. what we know is that there was a midair collision between a light aircraft and helicopter. it is over a village near waddesdon which is near aylesbu ry. near waddesdon which is near aylesbury. the accident was reported just after midday today. buckinghamshire fire and rescue service have said that their firefighters are helping other emergency services at the scene. these are live pictures coming into us here at the bbc as i am talking to you. roads near the area have been closed and are likely to stay shut for the rest of the day. south central ambulance service has confirmed what it is describing as a

number of casualties. just to repeat the news for those of you just joining us, there has been a midair collision between a light aircraft and helicopter. the pictures you are looking at are coming in from the village of upper winchenden. the accident was reported to police just after midday today and emergency services are at the scene. the ambulance service has confirmed a number of casualties. we will bring you more details on this story as we get them. let‘s just remind you, for those of you who do know the area, there is a manor house nearby, a large estate, waddesdon manor. you

can see from the pictures, and they have said, that the accident did not happen on its grounds. the accident has happened fairly near to an raf base but that has confirmed it was not its aircraft involved in this. what we do know is that both their craft involved in the collision came from wycombe air park which is about 20 miles away from the scene that you‘re looking at right now. to repeat what we know, because details are still quite scarce at the moment, we know there has been a midair collision between a helicopter and a light aircraft. it was reported to police at around midday this afternoon. the key point is, because that is what you‘re

looking at now, it was over village of upper winchendon near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. south central ambulance service has said that the incident has caused a number of casualties. a spokeswoman for the service said they received a call just after midday about this midair collision. it sent a number of ambulances to this team including an airambulance and a ambulances to this team including an air ambulance and a rapid response vehicle. there have been a number of casualties at the scene but at this stage the ambulance of this is saying they are unable to confirm any further details. the aircraft came from wycombe air park which is about 20 miles away from the site of the crash and we will bring you more details when we get them. in a moment the business news.

first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. a helicopter and a light aircraft have collided in mid—air near waddesdon in buckinghamshire. emergency services are on the scene. ‘more work to be done‘ to advance brexit talks — theresa may and the president of the european council agree on that. but the brexit secretary says its not a one way street. zimbabwe‘s president robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. shares in the construction firm carillion have taken a beating. they‘ve plunged 30% after it issued another profit warning. nissan is in talks with suppliers and dealers over compensation for the recall of more

than a million cars over quality control concerns. compensation is being decided on a case by case basis. citizen advice is calling for a ban on automatic increases in credit card limits. it says more than a million people with financial difficulties have had their limits increased without their consent. let‘s start with housing. we are a lwa ys let‘s start with housing. we are always hearing we need more of it and there is a plan to provide more had not straightforward ? and there is a plan to provide more had not straightforward? these things never are! what has happened is that the national infrastructure commission had been looking at the issue and think they have come up with a formula. they have been looking at the area between oxford, cambridge and milton keynes. the commission thinks that if the

government pledged to boost transport infra structure there with new roads and transport links, and if, in return, the local government decided to double their house—building effort, that could be a good way forward in the issue. and have a huge economic impact i presume? that's right, they say that if these measures are implemented the local economy could grow from 9 billion to £250 billion per year. lord adonis is in charge of the commission. the big problem in this arc which is one of the most economically sick as a part of the country is that we don't have enough houses, not nearly enough. house prices in oxford and cambridge are higher than prices in oxford and cambridge are higherthan in prices in oxford and cambridge are higher than in most parts of the london which is saying something because that's the highest in the country. there is a real issue and the question is how we get house—building significantly increased including being prepared to set up a new towns. milton keynes, which is now a city of nearly 300,000, is one of the most

success for places in the country and being right in the middle of the country is a great place to be. there is an opportunity to do more of that. the answer is we have to put into such a investment including new railways and roads in ahead of expecting local authorities to agree to new housing. there is a deal to a between the government and local authorities. the government agrees to update the instructor with a new railway line between oxford, milton keynes and cambridge. i say a new line, there was one 50 years ago but it was closed after the beeching cuts. if that is put in place it will transform connections between the towns and cities across this arc, oxford, bicester, milton keynes, bedford, sandy, cambridge, all hugely important residential centres and if that is put in place with the road infrastructure i believe it will be possible for the local authorities to agree more housing and this will be a win—win. just when i thought i had ever think you want to talk about what the two

fiery economy is doing? —— tooth fairy. this is a new one with me as well! the halifax has been looking at how much children make every time they lose a milk tooth. it has somehow worked out that a child gets on average £3.34, and that brings a grand total of the tooth fairy economy of £450 million. we can find out why they have done this with giles martin who is head of savings at halifax. why have you done this? the reason is that it is part of a wider bit of research that we are into children's savings and their understanding of the financial market basically. what we found that

they are far more financially aware than might think. that is why we do these surveys. is there a risk that we ruin the magic of childhood by drilling down with how much money is worth? there is definitely that risk but it is important that children gaina but it is important that children gain a financial education. one of the things we have found in our research is that children themselves say they want to learn more. around two thirds of children say they want to understand more about money management. the tooth fairy is a good tool for parents to begin those first conversations with their children. for many children, it might be the first money they have had. it can be a great trigger for parents to have a conversation with their kids about spending and saving. we were talking before we came on airand saving. we were talking before we came on air and you explained that this figure was going down, and people in the past had much more

expensive teeth! that was one of the most surprising findings in this survey for me, that when you compare what parents said they received and what parents said they received and what they are telling us their children are receiving from the tooth fairy, if you extrapolate that trend it looks like the tooth fairy, or teeth as a commodity, will be worthless by 2060!|j or teeth as a commodity, will be worthless by 2060! i think we will leave it there. no we won't! there isa leave it there. no we won't! there is a north—south divide in this story. children in york are getting £2.97 and in greater london they are getting for pounds 84p also they are getting for pounds 84p also they are getting a raw deal up north! we can have a look at the markets. —— for. the ftse is continuing to do well. sky is doing well. a lot of

speculation about comcast buying a chunk of the company. and the pound is making slight gains on the currency markets. there is some thought that if britain had to soften its stance on brexit it could help sterling. i will talk to you in an hour. in the meantime let‘s catch up an hour. in the meantime let‘s catch up with the weather with louise. some decent sunshine across england and wales but not the case further north with cloud and strong winds blowing in sharp showers which is falling at fleet and so on hyla grounds —— falling as sleet and snow on higher ground. the high—pressure moves south west which will allow some drizzly and milder conditions to put into wales and south—west england so not as cold to start saturday morning. nevertheless, saturday morning. nevertheless,

saturday is a bit messy up with some drizzly rain pushing into wales, southern england through the day, the best of any sunshine in the afternoon across northern england and scotland despite some showers continuing in the northern isles. top temperatures on saturday likely to be five or 6 degrees in the sun, 9-11 to be five or 6 degrees in the sun, 9—11 further south. moving into sunday, it looks likely that further north and east they keep the sunshine, milder to the west. response hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. today at 4pm: a helicopter and a light aircraft have collided in midair near waddesdon in buckinghamshire. emergency services are on the scene. theresa may and the president of the european council agree more work needs to be done to advance brexit talks to the next phase due in december. we are agreed that good progress has been made, that there is more to be done, but we should move forward together towards that point where sufficient progress should be declared. we will be ready to move on to the second phase in december,

but in order to do that we need to see more progress from the uk side. i will be reporting from zimbabwe, where robert mugabe has appeared in public for the first time since the military took over and he was placed under house arrest. police continue to question a man arrested on suspicion of murder as the search for 19—year—old gaia pope continues. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with lizzie greenwood hughes. lots of sport this afternoon, including australia retaining the women‘s ashes with two games to spare women‘s ashes with two games to spa re after women‘s ashes with two games to spare after a six wicket victory over england in sydney. thanks, lizzie. and louise lear has all the weather. a beautiful sunset in kent, after a

glorious november day, but will the sons stay with us for the weekend? thanks, louise. also coming up: who will bejoining gritney spears and mr plough? a naming competition for a fleet of gritters sends doncaster into meltdown. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. there have been a number of casualties in a mid—air collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter in buckinghamshire, according to the local ambulance sercies. the crash took place over the village of waddesdon, near aylesbury and was reported to police at 12.06pm. buckinghamshire fire and rescue service tweeted

to say their firefighters are helping at the scene. in the last few minutes, police have said that roads closed around the scene have now been re—opened. our correspondent sophie long is following the story i know that details are emerging quite slowly but what more can you tell us? what we know at the moment is that a helicopter and light aircraft have been involved in a midair collision over buckinghamshire. it took place just after midday near waddesdon, close to but not over the grounds of waddesdon manor. it happened about a mile and a half from waddesdon. we think it took place over dense woodland. obviously we know there we re woodland. obviously we know there were people in both vehicles but we do not know how many or what condition they are in. we do know that there are, as you would expect,

casualties. thames valley police are coordinating the operation. they say the priority at this stage is saving lives. both of the aircraft are understood to have come from wycombe air park near high wycombe. a spokesman there said that wycombe air park can confirm that at 12pm we we re air park can confirm that at 12pm we were informed of an incident north west of aylesbury involving two aircraft. they were not able to confirm anything else but it is thought the managing director of wycombe air park might give a statement later this afternoon. for those who know the air park, it is also known as booker airfield, approximately 20 miles from the crash site. in terms of the response, south central ambulance service said they received a phone call at 12:09pm. they have a number of teams at the scene, including thames valley and the air ambulance, two ambulance crews and a rapid

response vehicle. they have confirmed that there are a number of casualties but we do not know how severe the injuries are. buckingham fire and rescue service are also at the scene with seven vehicles responding to the incident, including fire engines and an urban search and rescue vehicle. that gives you some idea of the scale. this is an ongoing rescue operation. air accident investigators are also at the scene. the priority at this stage is saving lives. people getting to understand how, what happened, why this happened, those will be questions to be answered at a later stage. at the moment it is an ongoing rescue operation and advice to people in the area would be to steer clear. we heard from police earlier that a number of roads had been closed and there would be disruption throughout the day. we have just would be disruption throughout the day. we havejust heard would be disruption throughout the day. we have just heard that the restrictions on roads have been lifted. am i right that there is an raf base nearby? raf holtham is

about ten miles from where the accident happened. we have spoken to them and they confirmed that no military aircraft were involved. later today we heard from wycombe air park, who said that both aircraft involved had come from there. we do know there was no military aircraft involved. people might know the area because of waddesdon manor which, i think, is looked after by the national trust. they have been speaking. remind us what they said, because at one point there was some thought that the accident was over their land. there isa accident was over their land. there is a lot of action on twitter and there was speculation that this happened over their land. they have said it did not happen over their land but happened nearby. it is a manor house owned by the national trust, who took over in 1957. it is run on their behalf by the rothschild foundation, i believe. this accident did not happen over

their ground. we believe it happened over dense woodland nearby. remind us what we know and what police are telling us, because they are co—ordinated the response. telling us, because they are co-ordinated the response. thames valley police are coordinating. details are slow to reach us because the priority is to deal with the situation on the ground. two aircraft involved in a midair collision. eyewitnesses on twitter say they heard an explosion just after midday, so we know that a helicopter and a light aircraft were involved. it took place just after midday and there was a big emergency response at the scene at the moment. they are dealing with a number of casualties. we don‘t at this stage no how many people were on board either aircraft, or what condition they are in. we know the air ambulance is at the scene and the priority is getting all those involved the medical attention they need as quickly as possible. details are still coming in but for now,

thank you. donald tusk, president of the european council, says there needs to be more progress on the brexit divorce bill and the irish border by the beginning of december in orderfor trade talks border by the beginning of december in order for trade talks to start. theresa may has held what‘s been described as "positive discussions" with the european council president donald tusk, at an eu summit in sweden. both have agreed there is "more work to be done" to advance the negotiations. 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 forfuture. 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 borisjohnson 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. as she was leaving the summit, theresa may said both the uk and eu should move forward together. first of all, we had a very good

summit today talking about fair jobs and economic growth and i thank the swedish prime minister for hosting the summitand swedish prime minister for hosting the summit and discussions. i have also taken the opportunity to meet with other leaders and the president of the european council. we have agreed good progress has been made. more needs to be done but we are clear and diane clear that we need to move forwards together, and that is how we can ensure that we are going to get the best deal for the uk and the european union. they say that no progress has been made today. are you worried this has got close to the deadline? we are agreed that good progress had been made, but there is more to be done and we should move forward together to the point where sufficient progress can be declared, and we can look ahead to what i have already said i want to what i have already said i want to see is a deep, compared seven special partnership between the uk

and the remaining members of the european union. our correspondent kevin connolly is in gothenburg for us. ben wright explains what mr tusk expects from the uk. he has been speaking at a summit in gothenberg. he said number one that he wants the uk to have produced its plan for pretty much moving the discussion about money on, sorting out questions about the northern ireland border, right at the start of december if he is going to have any chance of advising eu leaders to give the green light to trade talks at that crucial council meeting in mid—december. so really trying to concertina and shorten the timetable, putting real pressure on the uk to knuckle down and produce solutions and answers to these remaining questions. he was also

asked about david davis‘ comments about the fact that he thought the eu had to compromise. he said, i appreciate mr davies‘ english sense of humour. if proof were needed, the two sides are wide apart and the tone is hostile. the zimbabwean leader robert mugabe has been seen in public for the first time since the military takeover on wednesday. he‘s attended 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 reports from zimbabwe. he was supposed to be under house arrest. but today it looked 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 on 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, everyone, go to the streets and move around. no one likes mugabe, and at this time we are going to tell him, we don‘t want him, he must go. the country has been going backwards. you can't reinvent the wheel, the wheel's already been invented, this country is going down and down and down. we want it to get up. we need better things to happen in this country. 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, the zdf, says significant progress has been

made in their operation... robert mugabe has been negotiating with the head of the army here, general constantino 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. and benjoin us live from zimbabwe now. what do we know about the state of negotiations going on? very little, to be honest. we know the military met mr mugabe yesterday at state

house in harare, but nothing has emerged from those negotiations. everybody on the streets is hoping very much that he will agree to step down but if he doesn‘t there will be a lot of pressure on him. for example, a rally has been called tomorrow in harare, when thousands of people are expected to take to the streets to demand that he steps aside immediately. if that doesn‘t work, some elements within the ruling zanu—pf movement are talking about plans to impeach him next week, to force him out of office after 37 years. so it looks like evenif after 37 years. so it looks like even if he wants to cling to power, he may not be able to do so. you say that, but he has resisted so far. what happens if he refuses to go?m is such a bizarre situation at the moment, isn‘t it? even more bizarre was the fact that he has been under house arrest, after that military

takeover, and yet today he was allowed to go to this graduation ceremony. i think that was very much the military trying to show that life goes on as normal, that it has not been a military coup, and in a way this was perhaps proof of that to the rest of the world. we were have to wait and see. very little information emerging from the talks, orfrom the information emerging from the talks, or from the military. information emerging from the talks, orfrom the military. there is a plan, potentially, that the military would like to see brought in, which isa would like to see brought in, which is a kind of transition government, some sort of government of national unity that would be in power after mrmugabe, if unity that would be in power after mr mugabe, if they can get rid of him, if they can force him to stand down. who is really in charge at the moment? that is another good question, and again we don‘t really know the answer. to be honest, this is not a brilliantly run country at the best of times. certainly, if you talk to people on the streets, they do not feel it is. you have had

hyperinflation in recent years and mass unemployment. the army do not seem to be running ministries. they have taken control seem to be running ministries. they have ta ken control and seem to be running ministries. they have taken control and they have put under house arrest some of the ministers who were closest to mr mugabe. so who is running day to day government business in this country in this period of great uncertainty, we don‘t know. so many questions, and a population that are confused about who is in charge and what will happen next. thank you for attempting to answer. a helicopter and a light aircraft have collided in mid—air near waddesdon in buckinghamshire. emergency services say there are a number of casualties. theresa may and the president of the european council agree more work needs to be done to advance brexit talks to the next phase due in december. zimbabwe‘s president robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. in sport, australia retain the

women‘s ashes with two games to spare women‘s ashes with two games to spa re after women‘s ashes with two games to spare after a six wicket victory over england in the first 2020 in sydney. the semifinal line—up for the world tour finals the semifinal line—up for the world tourfinals in london is complete. defending champion matt fitzpatrick claims the halfway lead at golf‘s end of season tour championship, one shot ahead of fellow englishman tyrell hatton in dubai. more sport just after half past. more on the air pollution. the local mp, john bercow, has released a statement

saying the incident is serious and he expresses thanks to the emergency services for responding quickly. my thoughts are very much with those involved in the incident and their friends and families". that is a statement from the local mp, john bercow. on the line is a news editor at the local aylesbury radio station. good to talk to you. what are you hearing? the latest confirmation we have had, as you have said, is that there have been casualties, a number of casualties, following the incident near waddesdon, in a very small village, a very rural waddesdon, in a very small village, a very rural area, waddesdon, in a very small village, a very rural area, which is almost entirely cordoned off. it is difficult to get to because it is so rural. the air accidents

investigation branch is on the way, and they might be there. they confirmed the accident happened in midairand confirmed the accident happened in midair and confirmed that it involved a light aircraft and a helicopter. both came from whickham airfield. —— wycombe air park. helicopter. both came from whickham airfield. —— wycombe air parkm helicopter. both came from whickham airfield. -- wycombe air park. it is clearly dense woodland. tell us a little more about the area and what is nearby. the main thing that is near his waddesdon manor, an old rothschild mansion. it is a beautiful visitor attraction, and thatis beautiful visitor attraction, and that is gearing up towards christmas at the moment. lots of people go there for christmas. they put on a stunning display. they have told us the accident is not on their land and that none of their visitors, fortu nately, and that none of their visitors, fortunately, were injured. apart from aylesbury, that is the biggest thing there. in terms of casualties

it looks like there are none from people at waddesdon manor. we do not know the number of casualties involved from the plane and helicopter. but we know where the aircraft came from. what can you tell us about that? we don't know much about the air —— the airfield itself. it is ten or 20 miles away. there are a number of small airfields around the area that cater for gliders and light aircraft. you often see lots of helicopters passing overhead. the only thing we know about wycombe air park is that they cater a lot for new pilots. whether that is a factor, we don‘t know. as far as our understanding, we think the police were called just after midday, so we think it happened around lunchtime. yes. they seemed to be the first ones there.

they work toward making it and they said they were called at 12:06pm. all of the emergency services, the fire service and the ambulance service are there. we have seen fire engines leaving the scene. it is still cordoned off, but they are still cordoned off, but they are still all there, as far as we know. thank you. we are going to speak to brennan nichols, who is near the scene. we can see that the area is cordoned off behind you. what have police been saying? well, this is where most of the activity has been taking place. when i turned up there we re taking place. when i turned up there were fire crews here but they have now left. we have been told by the ambulance service that there have been casualties, and the police are keeping this part of the waddesdon manor estate closed off. it is not

pa rt manor estate closed off. it is not part of the waddesdon manor grounds, where people are going in for the christmas celebrations which started this week. this is in the industrial area of the waddesdon estate. as your contributor was saying, this is actually dense woodland. there is no sign of the crash from anywhere in the local area, and this is on top ofa the local area, and this is on top of a hill. it is well within the wooded area where the plane and helicopter came down, both coming from the airfield. ayew still there? have we lost you? i think we have. we are staying on pictures over the area, a rural area we are staying on pictures over the area, a ruralarea of we are staying on pictures over the area, a rural area of dense woodland, after the collision between a helicopter and a light aircraft which happened near waddesdon, which is near aylesbury in buckinghamshire, just after they this afternoon. i think brennan

nichols is back with us. can you hear me? yes, i can. you were telling us about the latest information that you have. the ambulance service have confirmed there have been casualties. this is an area! there have been casualties. this is an area i live in myself. i know the waddesdon estate well and i have friends who live here. the crash site cannot be seen from anywhere, really. it is not affecting the business of the christmas fayre which has started at waddesdon manor, where hundreds of people are going in this evening. this is a much more isolated part of the estate, more rural, more agricultural, much more where the farming side of it and the studs side of the estate takes place. this isa by side of the estate takes place. this is a by road off the main house fer 41 between aylesbu ry is a by road off the main house fer 41 between aylesbury and bicester. the traffic is building up, mainly because of how busy it is with the

police activity. the fire service we re police activity. the fire service were here earlier. they have left now. but the air accidents investigation branch is on its way to try and work out what has brought a helicopter and a light aeroplane both from the same airfield, the wycombe air park, what brought them together here on this rural part of buckinghamshire. while we have been talking we have heard from the press association that the plane which crashed is believed to be a cessna 152, which has the capacity for one pilot and one passenger. that is new is coming to us from the press association. you were mentioning the airfield that it is believed to be aircraft and helicopter came from. i think that is important because there is an raf base nearby as well, isn‘t there? there is an raf base nearby as well, isn't there? varies, but that is

important to stress that it is not an active airbase. it is a training base for raf recruits. there is a bit of glider work, but that is usually much more a kind of leisure activity rather than an active airfield. mainly what goes on is the initial training of recruits, so it is not an active raf base. the aircraft involved in this incident come from high wycombe. they have confirmed it was their aircraft that have come down here at waddesdon. we are grateful for your time. thanks for that update. police are continuing to question a 49—year—old man about the murder of a missing teenagerfrom 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. a littler later 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. earlier this week police released cctv footage of gaia passing through a street in the town. ian palmer, bbc news. let‘s catch up with the weather. we have both chosen to wear grey and yet the sky is blue. i don‘t know where simon is, but lucky you, if you are watching, because you had a lovely day. look at this in scotland, though. still a beautiful photograph, even with threatening skies. it has been awful across the highlands. and i have two

show you this. it made me smile. this is in the highlands again, from a sixth form centre geography field trip. teenage boys with the cleanest shoes on the planet. i have two boys and there is no way that their shoes look like that. my boys‘ shoes do not look like that either. anyway, what else is in store? in terms of whether this weekend, not as straightforward. but it is not all doom and gloom. if you are out, all doom and gloom. if you are out, a good deal of decent weather around. let‘s talk about the showers first because they will be a nuisance throughout the night. frequent showers across scotland which have been continuing all day with hale, thunder and snow on higher ground. they will continue through the night and still gale force wind through the day. also not

quite as cold through the night. in sheltered eastern areas, temperatures close to freezing in rural spots. to the west, milder, and the reason being a little bit of cloud which will be a nuisance tomorrow, bringing outbreaks of light rain through wales. eventually into south—west england and perhaps masking sunshine in the south—east through the afternoon. it will be cloudy, grey and dank, which could make it feel quite disappointing. as we get out of north wales and the north midlands, more sunshine. not a bad afternoon for northern ireland, northern england and scotland. still showers and a nagging wind up into scotland, but elsewhere, with some sunshine, five or 6 degrees. cold, but dry and sunny. through the night, we keep clear skies in the north—east and just a few showers, but that will allow temperatures to fall away and there will be a

noticeable difference to the weather first thing on sunday morning. there could be a hard frost through the spine of the country and anywhere to the east. to the west, still mild air trying to move in from the south—west. that means yet again on sunday you could see a fair amount of cloud and it will be a rather drab day through northern ireland, western fringes of england and into the south—west. anywhere east of that it will be cold and you will see the best of the sunshine, but still the nagging wind. i forgot where iforgot where i i forgot where i was supposed to be for a i forgot where i was supposed to be fora minute! this is bbc news. our latest headlines. emergency services say there are a "number of casualties" after a helicopter and light aircraft from wycombe air park collided in midair near aylesbury in buckinghamshire. theresa may and the president of the european council, donald tusk, have agreed that more work needs to done before

they can advance to the next phase of brexit talks, which are due to start in december. we are agreed that good progress has been made that there is more to be done, but we should move forward together towards that point where sufficient progress should be declared. robert mugabe has made his first public appearance since the military seized control in zimbabwe. mr mugabe addressed a university graduation ceremony in harare. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. police in dorset investigating the disappearance of gaia pope are searching cliff tops close to where clothing was found yesterday. officers are continuing to question a 49—year—old man on suspicion of murder. sport now with lizzie. news of

bradley wiggins taking up rowing? is he going to be any good? we will have to wait and see! fascinating change of direction for sir bradley wiggins. he is britain‘s most decorated olympian, almost a year since he retired from cycling and he is now trying rowing. but his first competition isn‘t on the water. it‘s a 2000—metre rowing machine race, confusingly at london‘s olympic velodrome where he won medals on a bike. it is not a publicity stunt, he thinks he can make a go of it. i guess both sports require strong leg muscles and he‘s being coached by ex—olympic rowing greatjames cracknell. but it‘s very late in an athlete‘s career even if he is training seven days a week and the rules say anyone up to the age of 88 can enter. it shows you, it is as if they co nsta ntly it shows you, it is as if they constantly need a new challenge. not great news for england‘s women

cricketers down under, not the ashes victory they were hoping for. no, there are two matches left to play in the multiformat series. they knew they had to win the remaining matches to challenge australia but australia have retained the ashes with two games to spare. the hosts cruised to victory in the first twenty twenty in sydney by six wickets to take an unassailable 8—4 lead in the multi format series. here‘s our correspondent andy swiss. the first ashes triumph of this exciting few months has gone emphatically to australia as they retain the ashes with two games remaining in the series. it was always going to be a tough ask for england, having to win tonight and the last two games to win back the ashes and they made a terrible start. captain heather knight was out second ball. england subsided to 16—4 at one stage and there seemed no way back but a gutsy half—century from danni wyatt guided england to 132—9 and at that stage they still had a chance.

but australia swept those chances away with a ruthless run chase. beth mooney hit the winning runs, finishing on 86 not out. australia celebrating here as they retain the women‘s ashes with two t20 games remaining. the premier league is back this weekend after the international break and manchester united have two key players back for this weekend‘s premier league action paul pogba and zlatan ibrahimovic will return for manchester united against newcastle united on saturday. france midfielder pogba has been out since september with a hamstring injury, while former sweden striker ibrahimovic has not played since damaging knee ligaments against anderlecht in april. he is, of course is back sooner than expected with his manager jose mourinho admitting he thought he wouldn‘t be back until the turn of the year. you can clearly see manchester

united this season, before paul injury and after paul injury. zlatan last season, we played with him almost every minute until he was injured. this season we learn how to play without him, but he is a very important player for us. three englishmen lie in the top four places of the european tour‘s season—ending championship in dubai after a fascinating second round, which saw matthew fitzpatrick take a one—stroke lead going into the weekend. but it was this man, tyrell hatton, who was leading earlier on after he shot a 63 — the round of the day. a birdie on the last though from fitzpatrick meant he got to 10—under after the second round, just one ahead of hatton and two ahead ofjustin rose. fitzpatrick is the defending champion. david goffin has clinched the final semifinal place at the world tour finals in london.

he had to beat dominic thiem in theirfinalgroup game to progress and he did so in straight sets, 6—4, 6—1, and he will now face roger federer in the last four while jack sock takes on grigor dimitrov in the other semifinal. dimitrov will complete the round robin stage this evening against pablo carreno busta. it is always a tough match to play roger, it will be full like everyday with a great atmosphere on the court and it is so nice to put a semifinal against him. i had nothing to lose, he is playing so well but i will try to raise my level to try to win against him. that is all the sport, more in the next hour. now on afternoon live let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. and it‘s a special children in need edition today. david whiteley is at the east anglian railway museum where he‘s been attempting a world

record and caroline bilton is in hull where they also hope to break a world record. david, if i can start with you, i now know that is called a pump trolley but what have you been doing on it? there is a plaque here with your name on it! the reason i am leaning on this is because the producer of our children in need stuff served, we are going to do the whole programme this year from the east anglian railway museum and break a world record. and i said, one of those pump things? and he said yes! and that was what we‘re going to do. me and three other people in the space of an hour prior to go as far as we could on this. we

had to break a record set by guinness, and they said it had to be 18 kilometres. i am sad to say we we re 18 kilometres. i am sad to say we were one and a half short. oh no! we are watching you now.|j were one and a half short. oh no! we are watching you now. i was going so fast my trousers were coming down. are watching you now. i was going so fast my trousers were coming downlj didn‘t want to say that! but you just missed it, that is such a shame. all for charity of course but you must be a bit disappointed? we are. at the time it felt like we we re are. at the time it felt like we were doing so well. at one point we we re were doing so well. at one point we were doing so well. at one point we were doing 12 mph and we were on track, pardon the pun, to break the record, but sadly we were pipped at the end. we did not quite do it but maybe next time. and what else have you been doing for children in need? a p pa re ntly you been doing for children in need? apparently not far from here they

are doing a chilli eating competition. i think i would rather be doing this! a lovely couple in bedfordshire are still writing the 70th wedding anniversary, and they are given all money to children in need and people commuting at local railway stations have been asked to donate as they made their way to work this morning. thankfully not taken to work by me on this! you will have aching muscles denied but have a good evening. good to talk to you. caroline is in hull and i understand pantomime season is coming a bit early to hull in aid of children in need. oh no it isn't! but i do feel after listening to david that i have got off easily tonight. we‘re going to be doing something a bit different this evening. this is the danejudi dench theatre in hull and the balloons are

out ready for a special evening tonight. on this stage we are going tonight. on this stage we are going to have hopefully a world record breaking attempt for the most amount of pantomime dames performing together. it is going to be colourful if nothing else. they have been rehearsing a special performance and we have a mixture of men and women and a mixture of ages and even a couple of rugby players thrown in for good measure. any excuse to put on a dress and they are there! we will happen on the state this evening in front of a live audience of 150 people —— on the stage. what is the current record? could you repeat that? what is the current record, how many do you need? now you are asking! i'm not sure if i‘m honest, i will have to ask around and see what it is. i have been told that the stage is going to be packed solid full of

people in rather bright dresses and heels. we will look forward to that. and i know that one of your collea g u es and i know that one of your colleagues has been doing some interesting challenges this week for children in need. tell me about that. our original presenter peter levy has been put through his paces and he has done seven challenges over seven days. he did a tandem ride across east yorkshire with our weather presenter abbey, 80 miles north of it has also learned how to pole dance, how to ballroom dance and he even said the tigers. he is amazing and he has done a wonderful thing for children in need. we think he has raised nearly £12,000 which is absolutely fantastic. it has been a trip down memory lane for me, i used to work with peter levy and i used to work with peter levy and i used to work in east anglia soap good luck to you both this evening. you‘re watching afternoon live.

if you‘d like to catch up with more of those news nationwide stories, go to the bbc iplayer. donald tusk, the president of the european council, says there needs to be much more progress on the issues of the brexit divorce bill and the irish border by the beginning of december in order for trade talks to start. earlier theresa may described having "positive discussions" with mr tusk at the eu summit in sweden. both have agreed there is "more work to be done" to advance the negotiations. while good progress on citizens‘ rights is being made, we need to see much more progress on ireland and on the financial settlement in order to avoid any ambiguities about our calendar. i made it very clear to prime minister may that this progress needs to happen at the beginning of december at the latest.

if there is not sufficient progress by then, i will not be in a position to propose new guidelines on condition and the future relationship at the december european council. donald tusk speaking earlier. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. emergency services say there are a "number of casualties" after a helicopter and light aircraft from wycombe air park collided in midair over buckinghamshire. theresa may and the president of the european council agree more work needs to be done to advance brexit talks to the next phase due in december. zimbabwe‘s president robert mugabe makes his first mugabe makes his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over. the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. in a moment, people around the country have been holding charity events in aid of children in need. the bbc‘s annual programme will be taking place this evening. here on afternoon live we get

to the true grit of the story. and with winter fast approaching, doncaster council have asked people to spread the word and think of names for its two new gritters to join the fleet that includes gritney spears, usain salt and mr plow. liam smith is communication officer at doncaster council and is here now with the results. i know you‘re going to give us the result before that, why does a greater need a name? to be honest it probably doesn‘t! but we just thought, it was one of those things that might give local people

something fun on twitter and that was the reason. given recent attempt at public naming competitions which have may become slightly awry, did this give you any pause for thought? to be honest, if they‘d gone and that was white in the original tweet we said, please not have a thousand people saying gritty mcgritface, we wa nted people saying gritty mcgritface, we wanted people to think outside the box and it has been amazing feedback. tell us about the response. we thought that local people might get involved. it has ended up with over a million contributions. we have had all sorts of suggestions, gritney houston was one of my favourites. there have

been some amazing ones which we wish we could have included. what have been thejudging we could have included. what have been the judging criteria what have been the for choosing the winner? we put on asa for choosing the winner? we put on as a joke that it was going to be assessed by a panel of civil servant comedian specialist but i‘m not sure we actually have any! when we making the suggestions, it was a question of which ever had the most likes which went through to the round of 16 and then it has been all on twitter. i am sorry to say that we don‘t have a drum roll but imagine we do and maybe you can reveal the winners to us live here. absolutely. iam winners to us live here. absolutely. i am delighted to confirm that our new gritters will be called david plowie and gritsy bitsy teeny weeny

yellow anti—slip machiney. plowie and gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti—slip machineylj plowie and gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti-slip machiney. i bet the person driving that one will be pleased! what do you do, i‘m going to drive... gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti—slip machiney. to drive... gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti-slip machiney. you have been practising! do you have any plans to name any other council vehicles? where can it end? we could name everything. it might be lamp posts and everything. we will see, i am sure we will get more. and for the winners, is there a prize or just the honour of knowing that your gritter bears your suggestion? the honour should be enough for anyone but we are putting together some plans for a bit of a revealing ceremony when the names are on the gritters so watch this space. and one more time, the winners are... david plowie and gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti—slip machiney. david plowie and gritsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow anti-slip machiney. and on that perfect note, liam smith, on

doncaster council, great to talk to you. 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. meet mali. he is an eight—year—old belgian malinois, and a war hero. he has been recognised with the highest award for gallantry an animal can get, the dickin medal, for his bravery in afghanistan, where he helped clear a building overrun by taliban fighters. a massive gun battle had ensued 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 blast injuries

from two grenades thrown down the stairs at him, multiple injuries to his face, body and hips. again, still carried on after that. 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 in other 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 scent detector, very agile, it can go in 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 says it is important to acknowledge that animals can be heroes, too. i think the dickin medal is there to recognise animals and their 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 were 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. richard lister, bbc news. for a generation of children

used to tablets, emojis and instant messaging, hand written letters might seem like something consigned to the history books. but teachers at one primary school think pupils are missing out by not putting pen to paper the way their grandparents did. so the school in kidderminster has teamed up with two local care homes to launch an inter—generational pen pal scheme between children and residents. our reporter emma jane kirby has been to find out more. we have got some exciting post today. what do you think it might be? the letters! the pen pal letters! the postman has been at this school in kidderminster and they‘re eager to find out what their pen pals have to say. dearjasmine. thank you so much for your very lovely and well—written letter. most of the children have never received a letter before, let alone a written one. but thanks to a scheme linking them to a local care home,

they‘re now old hands at it. we believe the art of letter writing is lost, so we‘re encouraging children to write for a real purpose, beyond a simple snapchat or text message. above that we want to engage with the community because we believe as a school that‘s something we‘re passionate about. and the considerable age gap between the correspondents doesn‘t seem to be a problem. you get to listen to what places they've been to and what they've been doing and the cheeky stuff that they've done. you get to ask all the questions you really want and most of the time they answer them. this project is about so much more than just teaching a generation of children raised on e—mails how to write properly set out letters. the pupils are now finding out about their pen pals, where they lived, what they did as children. it‘s about forging friendships across the generations. i‘ve got a letter from the school from one of your pen pals, called tilly.

shall i read it to you? they are lovely, those kids. at the care home, the children‘s letters are equally well received. many of the residents have dementia and staff help them to read their mail and draft replies. reece asks, what was your favourite trip? weston—super—mare. one lady couldn‘t believe that children wanted to know about her and her life. she started crying, but she was crying happy tears at the thought that someone wanted to know about her. has everyone got a place that their pen pal is visiting? for now, the children are finding out as much as they can about their pen pals, and just before christmas the letter writers will meet face—to—face. emma jane kirby, bbc news, kidderminster. people around the country have been holding charity events in aid of children in need.

the bbc‘s annual programme will be taking place this evening. among the offerings during the five—hour extravaganza, a sneak peak at season four of poldark and the stars, aidan turner and eleanor tomlinson, meeting charity workers. there‘ll also be a celebrity special of the weakest link, blue peter meets strictly come dancing, and the cast of eastenders sing some west end classics. that is all this evening. what has the weather got in store? will it be cold or wet? it is not as easy as it looks! it has been a glorious day for most of us but not in the far north—west

where there has been a lot of cloud and a strong wind, 50 mph, and showers as you can see on this picture. but a beautiful sunset after a beautiful day in northamptonshire. the cloud has arrived a bit, coming down from the north—west. this is where the rest of the centre and has been but frequent showers, some heavy with hailand frequent showers, some heavy with hail and thunder in the far north with winds up to 50 mph. those showers will continue through the night but elsewhere we will see some early clear skies before cloud sta rts early clear skies before cloud starts together with some like patchy rain threatening western wales and south—west england by the end of the night. not as cold as last night but going into tomorrow, not quite so straightforward interims of the weather. this drizzly rain will move through wales into south—west england and southern england after a sunny start. by the middle of the afternoon, it could be rather cloudy and feeling quite drab

and dank with the odd spot of light rain and because we don‘t have much sunshine it will not feel as warm. 7-10d, sunshine it will not feel as warm. 7—10d, further north more sunshine but it will be quite cold. northern england, northern ireland and much of scotla nd england, northern ireland and much of scotland will be dry, crisp and cold with a scattering of showers in the northern isles. that is going into saturday and those clear skies translate into another cold night through the spine of the country into sheltered eastern areas with temperatures falling away and i suspect we could have some frost with temperatures down to —4 in some places. the exception is the south—west where we keep that cloud and milderair, south—west where we keep that cloud and milder air, nibbling south—west where we keep that cloud and milderair, nibbling away patiently in the south—west corner from the weekend. it will stay with us on sunday as well. for the second pa rt us on sunday as well. for the second part of the weekend, northern ireland and western scotland and wales and south—west england will

stay cloudy but milder and further east there is sunshine, more breeze on the coast but cold at five or 6 degrees and you will need to wrap up. that is it from me, more details coming up in half an hour. tonight at 5. a number of casualties after a light aircraft and a helicopter in mid—air over buckinghamshire. emergency services have been at the scene in woodland near waddesdon manor, near aylesbury, since lunchtime. we‘ll have the latest on this developing story. the other main stories on bbc news at 5. downing street says theresa may and the president of the european council, donald tusk have had ‘positive discussions‘ about brexit — but the eu says there‘s still more work to do. while good progress on citizens‘ rights is being made, we need to see much more progress on ireland and on a financial settlement. we are a great good progress has

been made, there's more to be done but we should move forward together