and uplifted, as it were, by their faith. the early years of the queen's reign were not without difficulty for the duke. he felt he had no clear purpose, but he adapted to the role of consort to the monarch and for decade after decade they toured the world and fulfilled official duties together, a couple so much of whose lives have been public, sustained by the private bond between them which remains strong and deep, as the latest photographs, issued to mark their platinum wedding anniversary, make clear. at westminster abbey bells are being rung to mark the anniversary. as for the couple themselves, they are spending the day quietly at westminster, where there will be a quiet family party in their honour tonight. time for a look at the weather. i'm sure you will have noticed a change in the feel of the weather. rewind to yesterday morning and many of us

started the day like this, with a touch of frost and temperatures below freezing. this morning was com pletely below freezing. this morning was completely different. if you dressed for cold weather you probably regretted it because some of us were in single digits by the rush hour, but with that, some cloud and outbreaks of rain. there are conveyor belts of clothes streaming in from the atlantic which will continue to bring outbreaks of rain at times throughout this week. it is all about this mild air wafting up from the south—west. something colder is holding on. most of us cloudy with patchy rain, some brightness for wales and the midlands but most places will not see any of that. still a little bit colder across scotland, in fact three degrees is the afternoon high. as we grow through the ceiling and tonight it will stay cloudy. some heavy rain for northern ireland, southern scotland and northern scotland. everywhere else, mild.

very mild across southern areas. elsewhere, wet start. heavy bursts of rain. northern ireland, largely dry at this stage. cloudy and damp and murky for parts of northern england. look at these temperatures, 11, 12 england. look at these temperatures, ii, 12 degrees as we start off the day. as we go on, we keep the feed of mild south—westerly wind. the rain is slowly trudging north. we will see a batch of rain pushing in. for central and eastern areas it should stay dry for much of the day. there's a chance of seeing some glimmers brightness through the cloud. it will be that bit colder further north. through tuesday into wednesday we tried to lose this area of low pressure but there's another one hot on its heels and this weather front threatens to bring

some heavy rain in places on wednesday. there could be some issues. in the south—east, very mild, quite windy. further north and west, single digit temperatures across scotland. as we head towards the end of the week it looks like the end of the week it looks like the cold weather will stage a comeback. there will be some jurors at times but particularly across the northern half it will turn colder again by the end of the week. a remainder of the main story. the crisis in zimbabwe continues as the deposed president ignores today's deadline for him to resign. that is all from the bbc news at 1pm. we can nowjoin the teams were you are. have a good afternoon. good afternoon it is 133. it is time

for a look at the sports with me. some sad news from the world of tennis. where the former wimbledon champion she died. after a long battle with cancer. she won 17 grand slam titles during her career. including wimbledon in 1998. but it was two years after her loss in the final in 1993. it into endeared her to the british public. she was an amazing performer because she had a beautiful game style. it was a game that needed time to develop. i think what happened at wimbledon, when she came so what happened at wimbledon, when she came so close to winning it, she was in control of the match. she massed one shot where the whole of wood and gasped and that was like a turning point and the match went away from her. that is when i think she broke down in tears and it was just such a devastating moment with the duchess of kent. but for everybody. watching

they admired her perseverance away she went after the title. and beyond that when she finally got it. what looked in champions are very special individuals. grand slam individuals, particularly wimbledon champions. i think all of the tennis world hold her in very high esteem. and i have to say she is going to be very sadly missed. on the football now. tony jiles has been sacked. albion were thrashed 420. gary megson has been placed in temporary charge of her partner simon stone joined me earlier. i think this announcement will come to no surprise to anybody who has had any connection to this. 0r anybody who was there on saturday. tony has got a reputation for being a resilient man. he is the go to man if you are in trouble. he

has got the lowest percentage and he has got the lowest percentage and he has got the lowest percentage and he has got the lowest number of shots. all this body of evidence has stacked up and the fans booed him. those who were left at the end of the game booed him at the end of the game. the chinese owner was making a rare visit. the first visit since the opening day. that cannot have gone unnoticed. and really there was only one outcome after saturday's game. england have arrived in brisbane ahead of this weeks first ashes test. the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed. jake ball say that he is sick and 100% ready to play. he missed the last warm—up game because ofan ankle missed the last warm—up game because of an ankle injury and insist that he is now ready to battle for a place on thursday. i think it is what has made the injury a little bit more frustrating because i was

bowling really well. it was a little setback, but the last few days, i was up ahead two sessions in the field and i am in a really good position the minute. ifeel like i have had a lot of good 71.53"? big ii iii. elf 213133 efifillfigg appointed this man as sussex has appointed this man as their new head coach. he led yorkshire to the championship title. he is agreed deal. he up up thei in= up thei in early up the i in early 2018. and take up the role in early 2018. and thatis take up the role in early 2018. and that is all the sport for me. you can find more stories on the bbc sport website. i will have more for you in the next hour. they do very much. now, some news to bring you from germany where the president has been meeting the embattled

chancellor angela merkel. she has failed to put together a coalition government. a statementjust coming from the german president. he says he will have talk with the leaders in the coalition talks and also with other german institutions. so it had been his... had been a possibility that he might call a snap election. you can see him there now but the chancellor. in fact he has put that option to one side in favour of continuing war talks to see if something can be done. let's return to the crisis in zimbabwe and its ruling party has summoned its mps to a meeting to discuss its strategy after president robert mugabe ignored a deadline for his resignation. a draft impeachment motion, drawn up by zanu—pf, describes mr mugabe as a "source of instability" and claims he has shown disrespect for the rule of law. earlier, the influential head of the war veterans 0rganisation

said they would initiate legal action in the high court to remove president mubabe. they also repeated their calls for him to be impeached and for further protests, including a sit—in to force him to resign. we are saying mugabe, go now. go now. your time is up. please leave. let the country start on a new page. you should have the dignity and decency to spare the country further turmoil by announcing your departure immediately. i am glad you understood the message and we came here. the opposition leader told my

colleague that he should have left nearly two years ago. colleague that he should have left nearly two years agolj colleague that he should have left nearly two years ago. i am angry that he is still here. i get an easy loss in 2002, he lost in 2005 and 2008. he has no business in the state house. we gather there is going to be an impeachment process if he doesn't resign in the next few hours. tell us about that. how long would that take to impeaching?m depends on how fast parliament moves. it will take a few days or it could take a few months. the beauty is that it is a process that is provided in the constitution and section 97. i think it is the only hope now for the country that president mugabe is removed it. what about the people? we saw thousands of people demonstrating in the streets down there. they were euphoric they really thought he was

on the verge of going. do you think they're going to be more demonstrations now that he is refusing to resign? i am not sure about that. what you saw yesterday was an expression of the bottled anger that people have from over the yea rs. anger that people have from over the years. it might surprise somebody like you, there was also at euphoria, but it doesn't surprise me. most people have wanted him to go for as long as i can remember. ever since 2000 average since instead of voting for the other party. demonstrations are continuing in zimbabwe. this activist, dudu nyirongo, said the protests would not stop until he steps down. iamon i am on the street until he goes out. i cannot do anything else. i just need to see him go. we are in the streets today. we are waiting until he goes. there is no other option. when you saw that speech last night, how surprised, how disappointed how angry were you? he

barely mentioned any of the pressure on him to go never wood never mind the demonstrations. yesterday before the demonstrations. yesterday before the speech i was ready to celebrate and then when i heard the speech, i was really disappointed. it was heartbreaking. i was actually in tea rs. heartbreaking. i was actually in tears. it was heartbreaking. we expected him to resign, expected him to step down, to do the right thing and all he said was nothing. isn't that classic robert mugabe in a sense? yes, that is classic robert mugabe. his sole ambition was to have party to lead he wants to hold onto that forever. now here attacks

are on the rise in northern ireland. the assaults commonly involves knee—capping. severe beatings. 0ur reporter has spoken to two young men who were victims. shootings, beatings, threats, paramilitary... they still see it as their role to police their communities and crack down on what they do seem to be anti—social behaviour. james and thomas, not their real names were shotin thomas, not their real names were shot in the legs. he got in contact with someone from the family. he told me i had to go and meet them. i walked into the place and they told me to go in. they were standing that they showed me the gun and told me to lay down on the floor. one of the

hallmarks of these attacks is that many of the victims know it is coming. in some cases parents are faced with egg dilemma of how best to protect their child, hide them or hand him over for so—called appointments. i did one or two bad things and they were just picking on me. and i was trying to change my life around and they'd were continuing to pick on me. i said i've been talking to someone to try to get it sorted out. and i said, yes, let's get it over into it. and i went straight to belfast. talk me through the day that it happened. i went straight to belfast. talk me through the day that it happenedlj was told to walk up the street. and i looked behind me and two men were there. i turned around and i said, there. i turned around and i said, there are ten times as many people out there doing worse than me. and he said listen kid, look, i will look after you. how is that looking after you? in 2016 to 2017 there

we re after you? in 2016 to 2017 there were more assaults it's 30% up from the previous year. the taxa previously wood are at their highest level. since 2000 and 947% of attacks targeted people 25 and under. the police service of northern ireland have now teamed up with officers for a dedicated task force to deal with this problem. there is an attempt by some of these parliamentarian groups to continue their influence within communities. i think this is one area where they see a degree of populism and if they think it is the way in which they can reestablish or promote their legitimacy within communities. from my perspective, i am absolutely committed to stopping that in any respect. although the majority of injuries aren't life—threatening. they can be life changing. campaigners argue some mental health

issues can be the most challenging. ina issues can be the most challenging. in a moment we will have a summary of the business at this hour. but first a summary. mps begin moves to impeach president mugabe after his refusal to step down. the eu chief brexit negotiator says and ambitious trade is on the table but only if the uk meet its conditions. germany's president has not called a snap election after the collapse of negotiations to form a coalition government. he urged all sides to compromise to reach a deal. i'm rebecca marston in the business news... centrica, the owner of british gas, confirmed this morning that it will bring to an end the standard variable tariff for new customers — that's the tariff that energy suppliers force on customers when they don't opt for a specific fixed term deal. it's also the tariff the government said it would rein back by putting a cap on it. there's a draft bill published this

morning that should stop companies signing up wokers and calling them self—employed to cut costs. it will suggest employees be called workers by default — that would mean they automatically be given basic safety standards and benefits. we'll be looking in more detail into that in a moment. theresa may is meeting key cabinet ministers to discuss britain's offer to the european union for the so—called "divorce bill" brussels insists is needed to unlock trade talks. chancellor philip hammond told bbc 0ne‘s andrew marr show they were "starting to unblock that logjam". so — centrica — it owns british gas — has said it will scrap its standard gas and electricity tariffs , or standard variable tarifs — for new customers. these are the tariffs that have come in for a lot of criticism. the energy comparison service uswitch said a few months ago that seven out ten customers are on these svts and they are overpaying byjust short of £300 a year each — and —

worse — half of them don't even realise they're on an svt. then the government said it was going to put a cap on how much svts could charge and energy companies started to act. we asked ian conn, chief executive of centrica whether customers on average would be better off. yes, we believe so. we believe the better authors muscatine to drive oui’ better authors muscatine to drive our costs down. the government looking at some of the costs of the bill. which i recognise is very difficult subject. all of this i believe, we believe, will give a fairer, better, more competitive dealfor fairer, better, more competitive deal for customers. fairer, better, more competitive dealfor customers. and fairer, better, more competitive deal for customers. and yes, fairer, better, more competitive dealfor customers. and yes, better deals ultimately. that was centrica's chief executive iain conn. firms in the "gig economy" are exploiting loopholes in employment law leaving workers worse off. that's what a draft bill out today from two select committees — the work and pensions committee and the business, energy and industrial strategy committee says. it follows on from a major report

in july by matthew taylor's into the gig economy, and will try and stop companies using "bogus" self—employment status to hire cheap labour and avoid tax. the committees say there should be a new presumption of "worker by default", requiring companies to provide basic safety standards and benefits. stephen clarke is a labour market analyst from the resolution foundation. thank you forjoining us. first of all, for those who have not quite understood what the gig economy is, who are the big players? the word has been around for a bit. it is used in popular discourse. it describes people who might be self—employed, but it doesn't have to be. it is associated with companies like uber and deliveroo. it is older than that. hairdressers, taxi drivers. we have had people

doing jobs like this for a long time. those workers who are self—employed or who are on zero—hour contracts who have variable hours in quite diverse range of settings. how far does this draft bill go to addressing the concerns of those working in it?|j think it is important to recognise that these this is very heartening. we hear a lot of the employment and the high unemployment rate we have. is it it is also important to remove oi’ is it it is also important to remove or we have seen a lot of increase in these kind of precariousjobs. making sure that workers can't be misclassified. this bill go some way to do that. it also has some good reforms by agency workers. it is a very good step in the right direction, but obviously it is not law. the government needs to take up the mantle and act. we will work on further action to be taken on some of the most precarious forms of work. if you had to pick one thing

you could fix, what would it be?|j think you could fix, what would it be?” think it would be not misclassifying people as self—employed. it is very difficult at the moment for a worker to go toa difficult at the moment for a worker to go to a tribunal and get a case to go to a tribunal and get a case to be heard to make sure they are not self—employed. i think the government, rather than the courts, need to act and say it looks like employment and for all intents and purposes it is the limit. you are employed and you are not self—employed. that will be a step in the right direction. thank you very much. so, the markets. a quick look at that. ba rclays banks, the barclays banks, the outstanding mover. up nearly 2%. that is it for me. now some breaking news for you

from zimbabwe. where the crisis continues after the deposition of the president. the state broadcaster was put on stand—by today for an expected address from the military. workers at the broadcaster have said this is the day after mugabe yesterday failed to announce his resignation. it was widely expected that he would resign yesterday, but that he would resign yesterday, but that did not happen and now the state broadcaster is saying it is expecting an address by the military. now, the german chancellor angela merkel has attempted to form a coalition and it has collapse. mrs merkel has been holding talks with the german president in the last few minutes. he said the country is now facing an unprecedented commitment unprecedented situation.

translation: eight weeks after the parliamentary elections, the talks to form a government have been so far u nsuccessful. to form a government have been so far unsuccessful. we are standing today in front of a situation which is unprecedented in the history of the republic. the political parties are now. . . the republic. the political parties are now... requested to come together, the formation of a government is always a difficult process. a process of fighting and a process. a process of fighting and a process of complaining, but this task is also a high, maybe perhaps the highest mandate that any political party in a democracy may have and this task still remains intact. in the parliamentary election on the 24th of december,

parties were competing for political responsibility in germany. a responsibility in germany. a responsibility that you cannot simply run away or pass back to the voters according to our constitution. this mandate goes well beyond the party political interests and is not only targeted at the voters of the respective parties. this is the moment when all of the involved political parties should come to a standstill and should reflect ha rd. all of come to a standstill and should reflect hard. all of the parties reflected in the lower chamber of the german parliament are obliged to serve the country, to serve the general well—being of the country andi general well—being of the country and i would expect that the formation of a government will take place in due course. whoever com petes place in due course. whoever competes in political elections

cannot run away from that responsibility if the responsibility is passed into your hand. 0ver responsibility if the responsibility is passed into your hand. over the next few days, i'm going to hold talks with all of the parties and all of the people participating in the exploratory talks. but also with all of the other parties where perhaps there may be a majority. i am also going to meet and converse with the top people of the other constitutional bodies such as the speaker of the lower chamber and also the spokesperson of the upper chamber. and all of these talks are already arranged. what is certain for me is that in our country and outside of our country and particularly in our european

neighbouring countries to wood countries concerns may be rising. in particular, the politicalforces and powers do not go about their political responsibility. thank you very much. germany's president there. time for a look at the weather. good afternoon. i ensure you will have noticed the feel and the look of the weather. we have seen a big flip in our fortune of the weather. we have seen a big flip in ourfortune as of the weather. we have seen a big flip in our fortune as the temperatures are concerned. yesterday, it started below freezing for many of us. double digits, a lot of cloud and some outbreaks of rain. the wind is coming in from the southwest. miles, a lot of cloud feeding him. the cloud will continue to bring rain this week. and generally speaking, quite a mild

field. something colder holding on across the far north. the rest of the afternoon, a lot of cloud, best chance of cloud is in parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia. mild across england, wales, northern ireland. a bit colder across the northern isles. this evening and tonight, we will keep this south—westerly winds. damp conditions. some heavier rain through northern ireland and scotla nd through northern ireland and scotland by the end of the night. a touch of frost in the far north. but for many, very mild night indeed. tomorrow, it will be very wet across scotland. heavy bursts of rains for many areas. northern ireland, mostly dry at this stage. with a lot of cloud. it will be misty, murky weather. not that inspiring. further self maybe a of brightness. mild, 11

oi’ self maybe a of brightness. mild, 11 or 12 degrees. as we go on through the day, the south—westerly winds. the rain will slowly go north. this bit of rain moving across northern ireland and then other western areas. the eastern parts of england will probably be dry. some brightness. temperatures mild for most. during tuesday night, we will try to lose this area of low pressure, but there is another one here. this bending weatherfront pressure, but there is another one here. this bending weather front is going to bring some heavy rain for parts of wales and england. that could cause one or two issues. it will be windy to the south of that. something a bit cooler. and as we head towards the end of the week, it looks like that cold air is going to try to push its way further self. a little bit uncertainty about how far south. it will turn quite a lot colderfor south. it will turn quite a lot colder for the south. it will turn quite a lot colderfor the end of south. it will turn quite a lot colder for the end of the week and a few showers. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at two:

protesters are back on the streets in zimbabwe as robert mugabe ignores a deadline to quit — there's to be a military address on state tv. we are sick and tired because of it, we wa nt we are sick and tired because of it, we want him to resign. the constitution should change, the parliament should change, we should reshuffle our country. i'm ben brown live in harare and as president mugabe ignores that deadline for him to resign, his own party, zanu—pf, launch impeachment proceedings against him. merkel‘s shaky leadership — the german chancellor's attempts to form a coalition government collapse. she now faces her biggest challenge in 12 years. death of a monster — charles manson, the notorious cult leader who directed his followers to commit a string of brutal murders, has died aged 83.