this is bbc news, the headlines: thousands of people are on the streets in zimba bwe‘s capital — calling for president mugabe to resign. robert mugabe must go. he must go yesterday. we are going to take our country back. i'm ben brown, reporting live from zimbabwe where robert mugabe is running out of friends and running out of time. tens of thousands of people on low incomes face having their universal credit stopped over christmas. police and air accident investigators search for clues as to why two aircraft collided — leaving four people dead. also in the next hour: taxing takeaway boxes to tackle what's described as a "global emergency". the chancellor is considering measures to help cut the 12—tonnes of plastic going into the oceans every year — often found inside birds, fish and sea mammals. a rare ink picture of tintin — and his dog, snowy —

is expected to fetch more than £700,000 at auction. good morning and welcome to bbc news. we have a developing new story in zimbabwe. thousands of people are flooding the streets of the capital. they are demanding the resignation of president robert mugabe. soldiers cheered the crowds, confirming the army's role in bringing mr mugabe's 37—year rule to an end. as numbers on the streets swelled, state media said eight out of ten regional branches of the governing zanu pf party have passed a vote of no—confidence in the president. mr mugabe has been under house arrest since a military takeover four days ago.

basically, we are saying to our army, thank you very much for the peaceful intervention. it's time for the masses of zimbabwe that robert mugabe must go, must go, like, yesterday. we cannot wait to see his back. for us it is about a new beginning. it is about the end of a terrible rule. we are going to take zimbabwe back. as you can see people are flooding into the city from all over harare. there's an incredible atmosphere of excitement of anticipation. now is the time they sense robert mugabe is gone. his age is over. they're no longer afraid, that's why they're here on the streets. that was our african editor. more

from him throughout the day. all africa correspondent can bring us the latest on the ground. andrew, i have heard you throughout the morning describing some of that excitement, what does it feel like to you? is telling me, it feels like a revolution. the mood here is one of delirium ecstasy. i'm just walking past an army personnel carrier, thousands of people of zimbabwe on the streets. they are mobbing the military for the coup that triggered this. it's extraordinary. it is extraordinary. people with smiles, coming together, with one focus, and that is getting rid of president robert mugabe. the fear has been lifted with the permission of the military and the zanu pf who authorised events today. people are now going quite delirious

with happiness, with hopes that robert mugabe will very soon stepped down. and when you ask them, then what? people say there is such a ground swell of hope and passion for real change here. it will be very interesting, i think, real change here. it will be very interesting, ithink, in real change here. it will be very interesting, i think, in the days and weeks ahead, the extent to which zanu pf can manipulate this, control this, and keep its iron grip on power. what you are seeing around you at the moment is excitement, energy, and people believing that zimbabwe is moving into a new phase. yet, are there people who are worried about there people who are worried about the future of the country? are there people queueing up in shops and stockpiling goods, trying to get money out of banks? it hasn't changed the economy. the economy is in crisis. unemployment

is soaring. the currency is struggling. it isn't even their currency, they'd use the american dollar here and now. people are still worrying. people are experiencing real hardship here. where raw not zanu pf, under new leadership, or in a more transitional government, can change that fast enough to satisfy people remains to be seen. i think there will now be a great period for whatever government takes shape here. i think it's international —— i think international investors will be rushing in now hoping they can help push zimbabwe to open up, to include it economic performance, and to change the lives of millions here. we will leave it with you for now. let's go live to zimbabwe now where our correspondent ben brown can bring us the latest.

if we can talk politics at the moment. we've heard the number of zanu pf pa rty‘s moment. we've heard the number of zanu pf party's regional branches, eight out of ten of them now say they support this move to try and get rid of the president. that's pretty significant. yes, hugely, because you have zanu pf, the ruling party, turning against robert mugabe, demanding he goes. the votes of no confidence in him. also saying they will have a meeting of the central committee later this weekend. if he doesn't resign voluntarily in the next few hours, next couple of days, there will be a move to impeach him. there is talk of impeaching him maybe on tuesday. that would all be put into motion by zanu pf itself. you have zanu pf, his own party against him. you have the military against him. you walk around the streets here, it is difficult to find unable prepared to

say they want robert mugabe to stay as president. he hasn't got hardly any friends or allies left. it must bea any friends or allies left. it must be a matter of time before he goes. will it be his own free will? maybe in exchange of guarantees for his safety. will he be given safe passage abroad into exile with his family? we will have to wait and see. andrew was describing moments of almost ecstasy for people, but this is not a moment without political danger, is it? or national danger. there is uncertainty. you have to see this as a power struggle within zanu pf. there were elements around the vice president who was pushed out by robert mugabe's wife. the military sided with him and against her. that is what the crux of this has been about. why the military

took over. they said they were not prepared to have the country run by grace mugabe, a0 years younger than robert mugabe, and for many people in this country they could not stomach her as president. she has a notorious reputation for an extravagant, flamboyant notorious reputation for an extravaga nt, fla m boya nt lifestyle. they didn't want her. that's why this has come about. question is, what replaces robert mugabe if and when he stands down? and that's only a matter of time. it looks like it would be a national transitional government run by the former vice president of zanu pf. but with members of the opposition. people like morgan chapel wright, who is pretty in at the moment, but has been receiving treatment abroad, but has come back to zimbabwe, he could be in that transitional government. it does look like revolution. it looks like an uprising on the streets. but i don't think it is that simple. i still think zanu pf

will very much be in charge. we will leave it there. much more on bbc news throughout the day on the developing story out of zimbabwe. that's come closer to home... —— let's come closer to home. large numbers of people who get the new benefit universal credit to top up their low incomes face a difficult christmas. the government has confirmed to the bbc that tens of thousands of weekly wage earners will see their benefit stopped during the festive season through no fault of their own — but simply because of the workings of the calendar. let's talk to paul lewis. this is meant to happen, which is astonishing. absolutely. the government cannot deny that because the details are on its website. they have been quibbling about the numbers today. we said it was probably up to 100,000. they think it might be fewer. people affected? tens of thousands is definitely

right. if it affects you doesn't matter how many others. universal credit is worked out on a calendar monthly basis. but people who are paying weekly we think that almost half of those on universal credit, although it could be more like a quarter, the people who pay weekly, you can four, five paydays in the month. that means your income in that month is very different. if it isa that month is very different. if it is a month with five paydays, then you will certainly see a reduction in your universal credit and in most cases we believe it'll disappear altogether. and december is a month with five fridays, which will probably affect almost all of the people who are getting their money this month if they are paid weekly. it's a lot of people. their money goes over the minimum amount each month they get paid universal credit. it is to top up low pay for

people in work. it happens in march, three, four times a year. it happens four times a year. you've had response from the government. have you had any indication that they think it is wrong? they have not said that. is there any understanding from the government that for people on low incomes this is important money, and a six—week delay in getting back on universal credit is going to be very problematic. people who reclaim. if they lose the benefit most will have to reclaim. if they reclaim they are not subject to that same waiting period, the famous six weeks, it is 44, a5 period, the famous six weeks, it is aa, a5 days normally, because it is a reclaim within six months. they cannot tell me yet whether they will get it immediately. after exactly one month or they will have to wait a month and a week. we don't know that yet. but they will certainly have to wait. but they will have to

reclaim it, which means going online. not all of these people will have easy a ccess online. not all of these people will have easy access to the internet, they might to do it at a a relative's, which makes things difficult. it makes the numbers difficult. it makes the numbers difficult to work out. another problem for the government on universal credit, thank you. air accident investigators are trying to work out what caused a plane and a helicopter to collide over buckinghamshire yesterday, killing four people. teams will continue scouring the area for wreckage — around the national trust's waddesdon estate, near aylesbury. ian palmer reports. search teams have arrived here at waddesdon manor. i'm told they are having a briefing at the moment but will resume their search later today. what we know is that yesterday afternoon, just after midday, a cesna 152 yesterday afternoon, just after midday, a cesna152 helicopter collided with an aeroplane and

crashed in a wooded area. thames valley police have launched a joint investigation between themselves and the air accident investigation branch. police will carry out a detailed search. the investigation branch will provide the technical expertise to try to piece together to recover the wreckage from the wooded area, and try to understand how all this accident came to happen. four people are dead. two people were travelling in each aircraft. and of course the families of those dead people will be waiting very closely, following developments in the coming days to try and get some answers as to why their loved ones have died. i'm joined now by david gleave — an aviation safety expert who's investigated mid—air crashes. thank you for coming in this morning. how could something like

this happen? presumably they have radio contact with various control towers. the question is, it is like flying into london heathrow where you have full air—traffic controllers and you are being directed around the sky. there will be an investigation to see what they we re be an investigation to see what they were doing. doing training manoeuvres away from town centres so they could be climbing, descending, you know, turning left and right, practising and learning how to use the aeroplanes. they may have been talking to their base station back at wycombe air park. but they would not necessarily say, i am here, i am turning left, i will climb, they wouldn't be continually broadcasting everything. and it is your duty as the pilot to be looking out of the window when checking there is nothing around you, is that difficult to do in an aircraft?m can. depending... if you are looking

directly into the sun, can you see a tiny little dot? this helicopter is roughly like a smart car with a drainage pipe on the back of it. it is very small. if there is no relative movement between the aircraft it is a tiny dot which grows bigger and bigger and all of a sudden you see the size of it as your eyes can suddenly see the movement. with the lights have been on? an anti-collision light, yes, but if it is a bright day it won't show up, whereas at night you can see it's very brightly. it wouldn't show up in the same way. therefore they cannot be prevented. we don't know what the investigation will conclude, obviously, but things like this, we have to expect that sometimes they will happen? yes. there was a lower airspace radar they can use which may give advice as to other aircraft in the area. but it is one of the occupational risks. it is learning how to see

aeroplanes. psychologically you can move your head around, do things like that in terms of i focus to make a better chance of seeing it. switching more light on, things like that. presumably there is a technical solution to this. why are we still relying on human site to try to avert the sorts of collisions? the big airliners are fitted with that type of system. they are expensive aeroplanes, so it isa minor they are expensive aeroplanes, so it is a minor cost. to fit the similar system would be the same cost as the light aircraft that suffered from this. we want people to look out and fly the aeroplane, rather than focus on looking at one screen over attention of a midair collision rather than losing control of the aircraft by looking outside of the aircraft by looking outside of the aircraft and actually flying it. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: thousands of people are on the streets of the zimbabwe capital harare to call for

the resignation of president robert mugabe. tens of thousands of people on low incomes face having their universal credit stopped over christmas through no fault of their own. police and air accident investigators, as we have just been discussing, are still searching for clues as to why two aircraft collided over buckinghamshire, leaving four people dead. sport now, and for a full round up let's head to the bbc sport centre. good morning. ryan giggs is the odds—on favourite to become the next wales manager thatis to become the next wales manager that is after chris coleman stepped down. his new challenges to rescue sunderland, bottom of the championship. he led wales to their greater success, reaching the semifinals at last‘ european championship. they failed to qualify the next‘s world cup, so it looked like holman would move on despite the best efforts of the welsh fa to keep him. —— looked like chris

coleman. 0'neill has been given permission to speak to the scottish fa about their vacant manager position. was disappointed when northern ireland missed out on qualifying for next year's world cup. he has been in charge of them for six years. he led them to their first major finals last year in 30 yea rs. jose mourinho has criticised england's medical team for making philjones play in their match against germany last week. he has needed six injections to start in england's line—up. needed six injections to start in england's line-up. having players injected to play matches. but for a friendly, to get six injections, local, to play a friendly? i've never heard, i've never heard about it. philjones had it. and had it before the match. and after 50 minutes he was out. and obviously tomorrow he is out.

another big game is the london derby, arsenal against tottenham is the lunchtime kick—off today. a big shock this morning. new zealand are out of the rugby league world cup in a tight low scoring match. the 2008 winners were beaten by fiji. that is the kick which proved the difference on what was a famous night for fiji. they are into the world cup semifinals for the third time and they will play the holders australia next. jonah tonga survived a scare. they will be england's next opponent if england beat papua new guinea tomorrow. a sobering experience for england in the first ashes test, now just five days away. they were lucky to get a draw against a cricket australia 11. the hosts piled on the runs. england we re the hosts piled on the runs. england were hit all over the place. mason crane had the only success of the day for the tourist, getting him caught out. the australia cricket

side still finished the day on 36a-a. side still finished the day on 364-4. obviously we would like to ta ke 364-4. obviously we would like to take 10—90 every game. there are quys take 10—90 every game. there are guys trying to get over is under their belt. we would have liked to ta ke their belt. we would have liked to take more wickets, but that's the game of cricket. laid back at the moment, but i'm sure that things will wrap upa moment, but i'm sure that things will wrap up a little bit. but it's a lwa ys will wrap up a little bit. but it's always exciting at the start of every test series, especially in ashes series. it has been a good week for the england women's rugby union team. on wednesday it was announced the rfu will pay them match fees for the first time and last night they thrashed canada 79—5 in their opening match. the sides play next on tuesday and saturday. andy murray has split with his coach ivan lendlfor the andy murray has split with his coach ivan lendl for the second time. under his guidance murray won three grand slam titles, two 0lympic

under his guidance murray won three grand slam titles, two olympic gold medals, and made it to world number one. he has been plagued with injury all season and he will continue to regain his fitness leading up to january's australian open. you can find out more on all of those stories, including the build—up to this afternoon's autumn internationals, the bbc website is the place to do that. i will be back with more in the next hour. see you then. thanks very much. the government is considering a tax on single—use plastics that are used in packaging and polystyrene takeaway boxes. the chancellor, philip hammond, is expected to use next week's budget to announce a consultation on the measure to cut waste and pollution. an estimated 12 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans each year, and residues are routinely found in fish, sea birds and marine mammals. i'm joined by our correspondent joe lynam. two stories in one. environmental and budget. first, the environmental side of this. in case people think

i've brought in my breakfast, i didn't, this is just i've brought in my breakfast, i didn't, this isjust an example of some of the type of plastics the chancellor is hoping to target. this isa chancellor is hoping to target. this is a classic polystyrene box. many of us have enjoyed takeaway meals inside them over the years. it cannot be recycled. it is single use. it could take decades, if not longer, to process. they are calling for a consultation to establish whether there should be a tax applied on these products, what kind, and how much, all of that kind of thing, to deal with some of the issues you talked about. the 12 billion tonnes entering the oceans. the uk alone, they say 1000 royal albert hall ‘s full of plastic every single year. that is a lot. —— royal albert halls of plastic every single year. the plastic bag tax which was brought in, which is presumably what this is based on, that's been

successful in reducing the use of plastic bags. 80% down. successful in reducing the use of plastic bags. 8096 down. england was the last bit of the uk to introduce it. it was in northern ireland and scotla nd it. it was in northern ireland and scotland before that. an 80% reduction since 2015. it is all about changing habits. it's coming in the budget. it obviously about raising money, as well. what sort of money do you raise with something like this? nothing which will get rid of the deficit the uk has. the budget deficit is something you will need masia —— a major measures to get down. the chancellor does not have enough money. why do it? it will hit, presumably, the people who buy single use plastic, processed food, and the like, and that isn't going to be going down particularly well with them. you are right. the people who would end up paying for a

tax on polystyrene and single use plastic would be, what we call in marketing terms, the less well off income groups in society. they will be paying more their income if there we re be paying more their income if there were a tax. that's the dilemma the chancellor has. he needs to bring in money. he needs to get c02 chancellor has. he needs to bring in money. he needs to get co2 emissions down. he needs to do something for the environment. but who pays for it? possibly the people who can least afford it. thank you very much. the mother of gaia pope is urging police and volunteers to join the search for her missing daughter, which will re—start at midday, saying the family were clinging to the hope she could still be alive. detectives yesterday released a a9—year—old man after arresting him on suspicion of gaia's murder. police are focusing their forensic investigations on homes, cars, and an area near a coastal path in swanage women's clothing was found.

—— where men's clothing was found. miss pope's family confirmed the clothing matched what she was believed to be wearing on the day she went missing. donald trump has suspended the import of elephant hunting trophies, just a day after a ban was relaxed by his administration. the us president was set to reverse a 201a 0bama—era ban, by allowing hunters to bring back mementoes from big—game kills in zambia and zimbabwe. but late last night he tweeted the change was on hold until he could "review all conservation facts". 90 mp5 90 mps have signed a letter to the prime minister and chancellor to say patients are being failed by the nhs and social care in england. the politicians who signed the letter — including nearly 30 former ministers — are calling for parties to work together to find a solution. our health editor hugh pym reports. the pressure on the nhs is growing. there are fears that hospitals will continue to struggle to find enough beds to admit new patients, partly because of difficulties discharging elderly patients, caused in turn by problems with social care.

a group of mps now says that a long—term sustainable settlement is needed and that only a cross—party nhs and care convention can deliver that. in the letter written to the prime minister and the chancellor, the mps say: senior conservative labour and liberal democrat backbenchers are among those who signed the letter. i think the nhs and social care are huge issues for our generation and we've got to get it right and i think it's bigger than just one party. the mps also call for action in next week's budget to address the short—term pressures on the system. a government spokesperson said it was recognised there was broad agreement across parliament, that social care reform was a priority, and there would be consultation ahead of a policy paper next year. today marks 30 years

since the king's cross fire, when 31 people lost their lives in the worst blaze in the history of the london underground. it started when a single match which was discarded on a wooden escalator. as tom edwards reports, the tragedy brought about monumental changes in fire safety. thousands use this escalator every day and many don't know this is where the worst fire in the history of the tubes started. stewart button is now retired, but nearly 30 years ago he was one of the first firefighters to arrive. we were laying out the equipment and it was then that we heard or started hearing all the screams. i thought there must be loads of people down there. just scream after scream. 30 years on and this official report still makes terrifying reading. it describes how this station, full of commuters, turned into a furnace.

it also outlines how the response from the emergency services was hampered, due to a breakdown in communication. and there was a lack of knowledge of the station layout. even 30 years on, for the families of those who died, the memories are still raw. you cry a lot... ..for a long time. it's a shocking thing and everytime something like that happens, whether it's grenfell or a terrorist incident, you think of all the people who are getting that news and the shock of it. the following enquiry led to a huge change to the tube and the fire services' safety regimes. among the many recommendations, wooden escalators should be removed, smoking should be banned and heat

detectors and sprinklers should be installed. and crucially, the emergency services should be able to communicate with each other underground. most of the recommendations have since been implemented. these types of exercises are now part of training and legislation ensures minimum staffing levels on deep line stations. there isn't a month goes by in myjob where we don't reference the king's cross fire. it had such a phenomenal and beneficial effect on the organisation. so out of a desperate tragedy, good things have actually come. with cuts due the union say they will resist anything which could compromise safety. and these changes only happened after the deaths of 31 londoners. the new leader of the scottish

labour party will be announced in the next hour. the contest is between the former deputy leader anas sarwar and richard leonard, who only became an msp last year. the winner will replace kezia dugdale, who stepped down in august. gerry adams has said he will set out a plan for gerry adams has said he will set out a planfora gerry adams has said he will set out a plan for a leadership change in his party at its conference in dub lib this evening. —— dublin. mr adams, one of the most significant and divisive figures in irish politics, has led sinn fein since 1983. he's indicated he won't stand down immediately but will talk about future plans. an original drawing of the comic book hero tintin is expected to sell for nearly £1 million today. the artwork, by the belgian artist herge, was published in 1939