this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at seven. a number of people are feared dead after a light aircraft and a helicopter collide in mid air in buckinghamshire. lam iamat i am at the scene where we are expecting the latest shortly from the police about the number of casualties and possibly what led to this aircraft and this helicopter falling from the skies. the eu tells theresa may she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the eu is to agree to begin brexit trade talks before the end of the year. 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 agreed good progress has been made, there's more to be done but we should move forward together towards that point where sufficient

progress can be declared. in zimbabwe, president mugabe is seen in public for the first time since the military takeover. nineteen year old gaia pope — police release the man they were questioning about her disappearance ten days ago. also in the next hour — as the budget approaches, the government is urged to spend seven billion pounds on homes, rail and a brand new town in southern england. over a million new homes between oxford and cambridge could help bring hundreds of billions of pounds of investment, says the author. we'll hearfrom him before half past seven. and a dog so brave, he's been given a medal — the story of mali, who fought through bullets, explosives and his own injuries to save british troops. good evening and welcome to bbc news.

a number of people are feared dead following a mid—air collision between a light aircraft and a helicopter. emergency services are attending the scene near the village of waddesdon in buckinghamshire close to aylesbury. our correspondent ben ando is near the scene. air accident investigators have started looking at the crash site, two aircraft were involved, one light aircraft and one helicopter, it was just after midnight that they collided in midairand the midnight that they collided in midair and the skies over here and that fire and emergency services, ambulance and police got the first call and came down to discover quickly that something terrible had happened. just visible through the trees, the unmistakable outline of a light aircraft's tail — it's completely detached from the rest of a plane.

nearby, a wing. from their position, investigators should be able to tell whether they came off in the midair collision or in the impact with the ground. scattered around, smaller items of wreckage, and elsewhere, in a small clearing, the blackened marks of what appear to be the burned—out remains of the helicopter. the crash happened just after midday. the police, firefighters and the airambulance were quickly on the scene. the aircraft involved in the crash had both taken off from wycombe air park, about 20 miles away. they appear to have collided in the skies above waddesdon manor in buckinghamshire, which is owned by the national trust. as darkness fell, the job of identifying the pilots and any passengers is continuing, while air accident investigators are preparing to begin their work to establish what caused this tragic accident. ben, when are we likely to have a clear idea of what happened to those on board? the police here said they

are planning to give a briefing at point fairly soon. what we are hoping to learn, more than anything, is how many people were involved. there was one helicopter, there was a light aircraft, obviously at least two pilots, were either of those aircraft carrying passengers at the moment, we don't know. we know that in the aftermath of the accident will and ambulance and an air ambulance attended, we know there have been casualties but we don't know how many with a. the bbc believes it knows the registrations of the aircraft involved but we will not publish them and we know for sure that the next of kin have been involved. the next question, how did this happen. we know the skies were bright and clear and the aircraft had both taken off from the same place. that's about 20 miles away. waddesdon manor is a spectacular sight from the air. the pilots are a lwa ys sight from the air. the pilots are always taught that the main thing is

to use their eyes to look around while they are flying to make sure no one else is close to them while they are in the air. something went wrong. a mechanical error, a mechanicalfailure or wrong. a mechanical error, a mechanical failure or pilot error, we don't know, for the moment. thank you very much. with the latest from buckinghamshire. —— ben ando with the latest from buckinghamshire. the brexit secretary david davis says the uk has made compromises in the brexit negotiations and hasn't seen the same level of compromise back. he's urged the other eu countries to be more flexible. but at a summit of eu leaders in sweden, the president of the eu council, donald tusk, has insisted the uk has much more work to do if talks on trade are to start next month. and the irish prime minister leo varadkar says without a guarantee of no physical border with northern ireland, discussions on trade cannot begin. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports from berlin.

here in berlin, where the decisions matter so much, there in dublin, this morning, and almost everywhere, a government mission to persuade the rest of the eu to please move on. the prime minister in sweden admits there is more to do. we are agreed that good progress has been made but there is more to be done. we should move forward together towards that point where sufficient progress can be declared. but someone has to budge to get there. in the european capital that speaks with the loudest voice, the view is that britain must shift. but the brexit secretary does not think it is down to him. we have made quite a lot of compromises. 0n citizens' rights, we have made all the running. offering some creative compromises. we have not always got that back. you have come to the powerhouse of the european union without an offer on what pretty much

everybody on the other side agrees is the biggest problem. eu politician after eu politician has been crystal clear that they are not going to move on in the way that you want to until the uk is willing to make a promise, not to give a figure, but to give a promise that you are prepared to write a big cheque. what is also clear is that many of them do want to move on. they see it is very important to them. countries like denmark, holland, italy and spain, countries like poland can see the benefits in the future deal that we are talking about, the deep and special relationship prime minister refers to, a strong trading and security relationship. they all have things to benefit from that. this is not a one—way street, not something for nothing. this benefits everybody. so who is holding out? germany and france holding things up?

to be clear, germany and france, it's the open secret of europe, are the most powerful players on the european continent, of course. and so what they believe is very influential, sometimes decisively so. but it's the whole of europe decision, 27 countries. why not admit that at some point in the next ten days, two weeks, you are going to have to say that the uk will put a more generous financial offer on the table? nothing comes for nothing in this world. with david davis playing bad cop in germany, he left theresa may looking like an awkward chief constable in sweden. ireland, clearly not satisfied over the issue of the cash or the border after brexit. it's 18 months since the referendum, it's ten years since people started agitating for a referendum. sometimes it does not seem like they thought all of this through.

welcome to this press conference. so for now, the eu is publicly and resolutely sticking together, demanding more progress, with just a couple of weeks to make it, and suggesting that mr davis' idea that they should compromise was a joke. i made it very clear to the prime minister, theresa may, that this progress needs to happen at the beginning of december at the latest. i appreciate mr davis' english sense of humour. i like jokes in speeches! he probably does not like his ideas being called a joke but he has to compete with tory demands at home, too. ministers might have to back down over their hope of putting the date of brexit into law. it is a good idea, i think, because it is stating something which is clear government policy, that we will leave on the 29th march, 2019. how it is done and what form it is will be debated in the house.

i'm not going to pre—empt that. so you might have to budge? no. it sounds rather like it. no. the whole bill will be debated through the house, the whole of it, and parts of it will change as we go through. we will see where we go. which is harder, dealing with the tory party or 27 other countries? you only described about two—thirds of myjob. look, this is the most important negotiation and transition in our modern history, in peace time, anyway. of course it is difficult. people have passionate views. and which is harder? i don't know the answer to that, it varies day by day. at home and away, this is no longer about pressing the flesh, as next month's deadline looms,

the talks are getting tougher. the journey to the next phase of brexit, a charm offensive perhaps a little short on charm. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. the zimbabwean leader robert mugabe has been seen in public for the first time since the military takeover on wednesday. he's reportedly been under house arrest but today he 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. shingai nyoka's report from zimbabwe contains some flash photography. president mugabe shuffled down the red carpet towards his first public engagement in over a week. the 93—year—old leader remains defiant, despite facing the biggest challenge to his decades—long rule. many hadn't expected him to show up to a relatively insignificant engagement.

by virtue of the authority vested in me, i declare this congregation of the university duly constituted as a graduation ceremony. nothing on the surface suggests that this is a crisis, and there is no heightened military presence here. and president mugabe, in his first public appearance, is looking relaxed. but then again, this is no ordinary takeover. following guns and explosions on tuesday night, many thought it was the end for the long—time leader, but the violence has been replaced by an almost surreal normal. zimbabweans are new to this and don't know how to react. there are negotiations over whether he should step down, but president mugabe doesn't seem to be losing any sleep. there is no deal yet, no exit package that president mugabe and the military could agree on. sources suggest that he wants

to continue as a figurehead until the party's congress in december. the catalyst of this crisis, grace mugabe, has not been seen for days. many suggest that she's confined to their private residence in the capital. it's her ambitions to take over as vice president that set off these events and led to the sacking of the vice president emmerson mnangagwa. the army is there to protect the constitution and the republic and everything. we, the war veterans, are there to change things. veterans of zimbabwe's liberation war say a mass rally will be held on saturday to pressure the leader to go. the tables that mugabe turned on so many of his wartime comrades are now being turned against him. the party have already put in motion a series of meetings to consider his expulsion. it's been suggested that the military offered to sweeten the deal — "leave now and face no retribution". it's not clear how long he will hold

out before the curtain closes on his career. shingai nyoka, bbc news, harare. let's get the latest from ben brown in zimbabwe. tell us more about developments throughout the day? we had this extraordinary sight of robert mugabe, who was supposed to be under has arrest since the military takeover, suddenly appearing wearing academic robes, handing out degrees to graduates at a harare university. trying to make it look like everything was normal, nothing had changed. 0f it look like everything was normal, nothing had changed. of course everything has changed. the military carried out that takeover, they are not calling it a coup d'etat but they are very much trying to persuade him to step down with dignity and to go as quickly as

possible. it's not only the military who are saying that, it's his own zanu—pf party as well. we are hearing that a majority of these zanu—pf branches in provinces across zimbabwe are calling on him to stand down saying they no longer have confidence in him as leader. as you say there will be this big rally tomorrow called by the war veterans association. these are the fighters who fought alongside robert mugabe many years ago in the war of independence, and in the old days they were loyal to him. they are not longer loyal to him, they have had enough of him, he is 93, and are pretty disgusted by the way she tried to pass on power to his wife grace who is 41 years his junior, they have had enough of him, they are calling for a big rally tomorrow which they hope will force him out of office finally. it is not clear that it will but it does look as if power is slipping through his

fingers now, really draining away from robert mugabe as we speak. who succeeds him and how will they do it peaceably? emmerson mnangagwa, who was the vice president, who grace mugabe tried to outmanoeuvre but failed in the end, he is the favoured candidate of the military. he would step in as a transitional president after president mugabe resigns. that is the plan that the army would favour. morgan tsvangirai, as prime minister in that interim administration that might follow mr mugabe. plans are in place of that kind of transition, when it will try to restore the economy and pave the way for new,

fresh elections maybe next year. ben brown in zimbabwe, thank you, for the moment. the human rights campaigner peter tatchell has been a long time critic of president mugabe, and has twice attempted to perform a citizen's arrest on him. hejoins me now. peter, thank you. briefly give us a potted history of your encounters with robert mugabe? first let me say that i was a campaign against the white minority regime of ian smith in what was then rhodesia. i supported the liberation struggle of black zimbabweans to win a majority rule. in those early days robert mugabe was definitely a good guy. sadly he's gone from being a liberation hero to being a tyrant. we should remember that he has killed more black africans than even the evil apartheid regime in south africa and that is saying something. it's an absolute tragedy that a man

who i believe started well has come to such a great and mighty fall. there are many other accusations against him in terms of human rights abuses which lead you to try to perform a citizens arrest on him more than once. yes, in response to appeals from zimbabwean human rights activists who asked me to try to draw international attention to detention without trial, torture and murder of democracy activists in the 19905, i murder of democracy activists in the 1990s, i first attended a citizens arrest in london in 1999, when together with colleagues i ambushed his motorcade in central london and actually had him under arrest, but when we summoned the police even though we had clear evidence that he had colluded with and authorised the torture of blackjournalists, even though we had that evidence from amnesty international, he received a police escort to go christmas

shopping at harrods and we were arrested. in one of those attempts you were badly hurt. the second attempt was in brussels in 2001 when i tried to arrest him in the lobby of the hilton hotel. i was set upon by his henchmen. i had eight severe blows to the head. i was eventually knocked unconscious. it has left me with some permanent brain damage but i must taste and to add, nothing compared to the suffering of the people inside zimbabwe —— i must paste and to add this. thousands of these people have been tortured, raped, subjected to horrendous beatings that have left them permanently physically and mentally disabled and in many cases actually killed. so my injuries are nothing in comparison to the mass torture and murder that mr mugabe has inflicted on his own people, primarily black zimbabweans. inflicted on his own people, primarily black zimba bweans.“ inflicted on his own people, primarily black zimbabweans. is a keen observer is what has been

happening in zimbabwe all these yea rs, happening in zimbabwe all these years, —— is a keen observer of what has happened for those years, while the tipping point now? the attempt to create a dynasty bite mugabe trying to hand on the presidency to his wife. it was clearly anti—democratic and rankled people within his own party, and indeed the wider public. zimbabwe is supposed to bea wider public. zimbabwe is supposed to be a democracy, not a dynasty. the idea of some kind of hereditary leader or a leader passed from the president to his wife was clearly a step too far. the trouble is now, what we are seeing is an invite within the ruling party, zanu—pf. we don't know yet if this will lead to any restoration of democracy or free and fair elections, with libya restoration of human rights, we just don't know. and i must seek to egg say there are grave anxiety is because virtually the entire leadership of the zanu—pf party,

virtually the entire leadership is implicated in gross human rights abuses including torture, murder and mass widespread corruption, the theft of state and private assets. what if anything should the international community do to support those seeking change in zimbabwe because there are voices in the country, the eu, the us, the regional development group, they have caused more problems than they have caused more problems than they have solved. i don't think that there's anything the international community can do right now. the destiny of zimbabwe must be for the zimbabwean people. it is up to them to decide how things proceed but i hope that they will become in due course, mass protests to demand that mugabe goes, and in particular the most important demand which zimbabweans themselves have said for decades, free and fair elections. there have not been any free and

fair elections in zimbabwe for two decades. it is time that people were allowed to decide. peter tatchell, thank you. police in dorset have released a man they were questioning in connection with the disappearance of 19—year—old gaia pope who was last seen in swanage ten days ago. he is the third person the police have arrested on suspicion of murder and then released. jon donnison has more. the beautiful dorset coast — now the focus of an ugly search. more than 50 officers from the police, fire service and coastguard combing the area above and below the cliffs, just outside swanage. but it's ten days since gaia pope was last seen. the search moved to this clifftop area after police found women's clothes — similar, they say, to what gaia was wearing when she was last seen. it was shortly after that discovery that officers arrested 49—year—old paul elsey. this evening, he's been released under investigation.

paul elsey lives in one of these flats in this complex of morrison road in swanage. his 71—year—old mother and 19—year—old nephew were arrested earlier this week but have also been released while the investigation continues. this cctv footage shows gaia running up morrison road just before she disappeared. earlier, she'd bought an ice cream at a petrol station outside swanage. her family want the search to intensify. whatever you're doing, if you're planning on being in this area over the weekend, please do get in touch via the find gaia facebook group, come and pick up some flyers, and get out there looking for her. a week and a half on, police now at least have a focus for that search. but after a day scouring these hills, no further breakthrough. jon donnison, bbc news, swanage. more than a million credit card

users who are struggling to repay their debts have had their credit limit increased in the last year, without being asked — according to the charity citizens advice. it's calling on the chancellor to ban unsolicited increases in the budget next week. simon gompertz has more. we're paying by credit card more, which means borrowing more. and it's partly because of credit limits going up without us asking. plenty of these manchester shoppers say it's happened to them. by at least another couple of thousand. and it's quite dangerous, ijust had the limit raised without any reference to me whatsoever. it's too tempting to spend the money, and then you pay back stupid money each month. so i've lowered the limit now.

i think we did spend the money, though, didn't we? yeah, well, we did, that's the problem. citizens advice estimate of 6 million people who have had credit limits put up in the last without their consent includes 1.4 million who are struggling financially. on average, the limit‘s gone up by nearly £1500. but for one in ten, it is by £3000 or more. there is change on the way. under a new voluntary code, you will be able to opt out of the increases. and if interest or charges swallow up most of your repayments for more than a year, you won't get them anyway. the worry is that that won't be enough to stop some people racking up too much debt, too quickly. any voluntary agreement is a step in the right direction. but we see such damage caused by credit card debt, particularly to those who can least afford to pay, that we'd like to see the chancellor bring in an outright ban on unsolicited credit card limit increases. banks say they are committed to responsible lending — to live up to that they will need to make sure higher credit limits don't lead people into more expensive debt. simon gompertz, bbc news. a new puppet for the satirical tv show, spitting image, is going on display in norwich this

weekend — and it's none other than the us president donald trump. the puppet forms part of an exhibition about the work of the spitting image founder, roger law, as television producers hope to revive the show. mike liggins reports. like him or loathe him you cannot ignore donald trump and now the worlds most powerful man has become a spitting image puppet, part of an exhibition about the work of roger law. the great thing about caricature is that you don't do what you see, you do what you want people to see. you bend the rules a bit with the way you portray them. the exhibition looks at everything from roger law's days in cambridge to his work as a cartoonist in fleet street to his current with ceramics that he is

perhaps best known for spitting image, one of the most popular programmes of the 1980s. the first caricature sweatshop in the world full of young people who have to sleep and the benches at night. dear, dear, larry. dear, dear, johnny. how have you been keeping? the exhibition has many of roger law's original sketches, some of these people like robert mugabe are still in the news. today roger makes remarkable ceramic pots which sell forup to remarkable ceramic pots which sell for up to £75,000 each. they think that underpins all his work is his incredible concentration on drawing, his incredible proficiency. it underpins his work as a caricaturist, as a puppet maker, a satirist but also his work in ceramics. the trump puppet has been made for an american version of spitting image currently in development. the exhibition called from satire to ceramics, opens next saturday. bbc look east, norwich. not flattering. now the weather with neck. when skies are clear to bridges are

dipping, not as much frost and last night, for some the frost will come and go as we go from pledge to clear spells, showers of scotland into northern ireland and northern england on a brisk breeze, probably where we have the clearest skies the longest will be the midlands and east anglia where we see the lowest temperatures, going into saturday morning, on saturday quite a bit of code in northern ireland although mainly dry, clad and patchy rain for wales, the midlands and southern england for a cold feeling afternoon. early showers in northern england, the sunshine coming back, the best sunshine in scotland, still breezy with blustery showers into the northern isles. a widespread frost as sunday begins the best of the sunshine. in northern ireland, wales and england a lot of cloud around, and light rain. hello.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a number of people are feared dead after a light aircraft and a helicopter collide in mid air in buckinghamshire. the eu tells theresa may she has two weeks to put more money on the table if the eu is to agree to begin brexit trade talks before the end of the year. president mugabe makes his first public appearance since the military the military seized control of the zimbabwean government. bbc news has learned that thousands of people who claim the main sickness benefit — employment and support allowance — have had their benefits wrongly calculated, and have not been paid the full amount they are entitled to. it's understood the department for work and pensions owes up to half a billion pounds in back payments. ministers say they are aware of the problem and have already started making the repayments. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan has the story. in many of britain's

former mining communities, welfare has replaced work. horden in county durham has high levels of benefit dependency, much of it driven by ill health. 0ld manufacturing jobs maim the body — lack of opportunities maim the mind. peter cartwright has any number of health problems, from osteoarthritis to depression. he used to get incapacity benefit but is now on employment and support allowance. we mustjoin the press conference regarding the air collision. our priorities remain with investigating the next of kin, finding out who they are, informing them, supporting them with specialist officers as we progress the specialist investigation here on the site. we did ajoint investigation here on the site. we did a joint response with the fire

service, ambulance, and the air accident branch of working with us whilst we establish the cause of the crash. any questions? i cannot go into the details of