the ruling followed attempts by the scotch whisky association to block minimum pricing calling it a restrictionottish government's pioneering move and its impact on consumers here will be closely watched around the uk. the welsh government says it wants to go ahead with a similar policy and there is sympathy for the idea in northern ireland. a plan for minimum pricing in england under the last government was later dropped. joanne wa nts to government was later dropped. joanne wants to sea change in england. her daughter megan was just 16 when she died after drinking strong cider at a party. it had costjust16p a unit. it's so cheap. its pocket money prices. and the minimum unit pricing that is coming to scotland, i'm ecstatic about it, it's fantastic news and hopefully it will roll out now across the rest of the country because that's what needs to happen. for retailers and manufacturers they will have to be a rethink of how they market alcoholic drinks in scotland. what remains to be seen is the impact on drinkers and alcohol—related health problems. the latest official figures confirm what man

it follows a five—year legal battle with the scotch whisky association, which had claimed the policyer parts of the uk could now follow scotland's example. here's our correspondent catriona renton. the scottish government says the problem with drink in scotland is so significant that ground—breaking measures are required to save lives, the law to introduce a minimum price for alcohol was passed more than five years ago, but a lengthy battle in the courts with the scotch whisky association has stopped it from being in fermented until now. the 2012 act does not reach eu law, minimum pricing is a proportional means of achieving a legitimate aim. the idea of minimum pricing is simple, the more alcohol a drink contains, the stronger it is, and therefore, the more expensive it will be. the government wants to set it at 50p per unit, that means, four ca ns it at 50p per unit, that means, four cans of 5% strength lager would cost at least £a.a0. and a bottle of wine, £a 50. and a 70 cents a litre bottle of whiskey, could not be sold for less than £1a. almost all alcoholic drinks bought in pu

the ruling followed attempts by the scotch whisky association to block minimum pricing, calling it asay they accept the ruling. the scottish government's pioneering move will be watched closely around the uk. the welsh government wants to go ahead with a similar policy. there's sympathy for it in northern ireland. but in england, a plan to introduce minimum alcohol pricing under the last government was later dropped. joanne wants to see change in england. her daughter megan was just 16 when she died after drinking strong cider at a party. it had costjust16p a unit. it's so cheap. you know, it's pocket money prices and the minimum unit pricing that's come in in scotland, you know, i'm ecstatic about. you know, it's fantastic news and hopefully it will roll out now just across the rest of the country because that's what needs to happen. for retailers and manufacturers, there'll have to be a major rethink of how they market alcoholic drinks in scotland. what remains to be seen is the impact on drinkers and alcohol—related health problems. hugh pym, bbc news, glasgow. a brief look at som

it follows a 5—year legal battle with the scotch whisky association. with its plan to set a minimum price for alcohol of 50 pence per unit. currently some alcohol can be bought for as little as 18p a unit. 0ur correspondent catriona renton has the story. the scottish government says the problem with drink in scotland is so significant that ground—breaking measures are required to save lives, the law to introduce a minimum price for alcohol was passed more than five years ago, but a lengthy battle in the courts with the scotch whisky association has stopped it from being implemented until now. the 2012 act does not breach eu law, minimum pricing is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. the idea of minimum pricing is simple, the more alcohol a drink contains, the stronger it is, and therefore, the more expensive it will be. the government wants to set it at 50p per unit, that means, four cans of 5% strength lager would cost at least £4.40. and a bottle of wine at 12%, £4.50. and a 70cl bottle of whiskey, could not be sold for less than £14

it was the scotch whisky association that we re the scotch whisky association that were challenging itikely to be introduced as quickly as possible. the legal battle is now over. here's some sport now with will. martin o'neill will speak to the irish football association about his future. the republic were thrashed by denmark last night. it started really well. sha is shane duffy putting the irish one up, but poor defending let the danes back in. look at that, 4—1, christian eriksson ended up with a hat—trick. that's denmark celebrating their place at russia 2018. a young england side played out a nil—nil draw this time against brazil at wembley. there were few chances, but that one late on came close to marking his debut with a goal near the end. a youthful welsh side impressed in their friendly with panama. tom laurence putting the welsh ahead in cardiff, but in the 94th minute, the visitors who, unlike wales, are going to the world cup, equaliser through hooper. the countdown is on to the first ashes test. eight days to go until that first game and chris woakes took six wickets on t

challenges and it is the uk supreme court to have finally given it the go—ahead today because the scotch whisky associationon't want minimum alcohol pricing, clearly, because it would affect their margins. we are talking about... the clue is in the name, and minimum price, you can't go below that so obviously prices would then go up what the government hopes, that clearly it would become too expensive for some people and they would stop drinking and the particular problem would be reduced. there have been other arguments that for example taxing it might be more effective, but the uk supreme court has said, norma, we think the most effective way of sorting this problem is going to be a minimum price —— has said, no. it could be at this point round about 50p per unit. a fantastic day for the snp. yet another piece of legislation, you know, that they would say that they are leading the way on, something that doesn't exist anywhere else in the uk. something the uk would follow? anywhere else in the world, i believe. canada and russia apparently have some form of minimum pricing on alcohol, which i didn't know

the ruling followed attempts by the scotch whisky association to block minimum pricing, calling it asay they accept the ruling. the scottish government's pioneering move will be watched closely around the uk. the welsh government wants to go ahead with a similar policy. there's sympathy for it in northern ireland. but in england a plan to introduce minimum alcohol pricing under the last government was later dropped. joanne wants to see change in england, her daughter megan was just 16 when she died after drinking strong cider at a party. it had costjust16p a unit. it's so cheap. you know, it's pocket money prices and the minimum unit pricing that's come in in scotland, you know, i'm ecstatic about. you know, it's fantastic news and hopefully it will roll out now just across the rest of the country because that's what needs to happen. for retailers and manufacturers, there'll have to be a major rethink of how they market alcoholic drinks in scotland. what remains to be seen is the impact on drinkers and alcohol—related health problems. hugh pym, bbc news, glasgow. the head of britain'

the policy was first announced five years ago but its implementation stalled when the scotch whisky associationt minister, nicola sturgeon, said the policy would improve public health and would be introduced as soon as possible. now for a look at some news from around westminster in brief. mps have denounced an inquiry into a controversial pregnancy test as a whitewash and a cover—up. a major scientific review of hormonal tests widely used in the 19505, ‘60s and ‘70s concluded that they did not cause major birth defects. the inquiry was set up after a long—running campaign by parents whose children suffered heart problems, missing limbs, spina bifida and other conditions. all the available evidence on possible association has been extensively and thoroughly reviewed with the benefit of up—to—date knowledge by experts in the relevant specialisms. the evidence which has been reviewed by the expert group will be published in the next year once it has been rightly checked in line with legal duties and data protection confidentiality. in addition to the overall completion, the expert working group h

minimum price for alcohol — that's after the supreme court rejected a legal challenge from the scotch whisky association with the ruling. this has been a very long road. i introduced the legislation to the scottish parliament, took it through parliament, when i was still health secretary. five years have passed as it has been held up in court challenges, so to get to the end of the process with minimum pricing now able to proceed is really good. the policy is by its very nature controversial, again, this is an example of scotland's leading the world. it will continue to have its critics but it is the kind of bold and necessary policy that we need to tackle our public health challenges. the health secretary will set out a statement to the scottish parliament next week setting up the steps we will now take towards implementation. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is... zimbabwe's leader robert mugabe is detained as the army seizes control of the country — but they insist they are not staging a coup. let's turn to the us state of alabama, where the race is on to become the n

i am pleased the scotch whisky association has accepted the judgment. here is some high—level cloud in cumbria. scotland, through northern england will brighten up, but for many it will brighten up, but for many it will remain cloudy. further north and west, cloud will thicken across scotland, and with that, some rain will move in. there will be some fairly strong wind moving in as well, across scotland and northern ireland. as the rain moved south, it will remain cloudy through the evening tonight. but the cloud, and fog patches, will clearly quickly during thursday morning, and we can see this band of cloud and rain moving south and east. behind that, as the rain clears, there is sunshine, clear weather and colder weather. temperatures dropping by a few degrees. this is bbc news. these are the top stories developing at midday. zimbabwe‘s military says it‘s taken control of the country. robert mugabe, president since 1980, is believed to be under house arrest. their security is guaranteed. we are only targeting criminals around him who are committing c

since then, it has been opposed every step of the way by the scotch whisky association, which represents. itargues represents producers, including big multinationals. it argues that the law is anti—competitive, because it would restrict free trade within the european union. supporters of minimum pricing say it has the potential to seriously reduced the harm done by misuse of alcohol. the main aim of the policy is to increase the price of the cheapest alcoholic drinks, to reduce their consumption. a two litre bottle of dry cider would cost at least £4.20, but it would also mean the normal strength bottle of wine would be no less tha n strength bottle of wine would be no less than about £4.70, and a bottle of whiskey at least £14. the researchers who have done all the modelling show that a moderate drinker would pay an extra £2.25 per year under a drinker would pay an extra £2.25 per yearundera minimum unit drinker would pay an extra £2.25 per year under a minimum unit pricing. that seems a very small price to pay for massive health benefits, the saving of 60 lives a year. i think probably

it follows a five year legal battle with the scotch whisky association, which had claimed the policyspondent catriona renton. the scottish government says the problem with drink in scotland is so significant that ground—breaking measures are required to save lives, the law to introduce a minimum price for alcohol was passed more than five years ago, but a lengthy battle in the courts with the scotch whisky association has stopped it from being in fermented until now. —— implemented. the 2012 act does not reach eu law, minimum pricing is a proportional means of achieving a legitimate aim. the idea of minimum pricing is simple, the more alcohol a drink contains, the stronger it is, and therefore, the more expensive it will be. the government wants to set it at 50p per unit, that means, four cans of 5% strength lager would cost at least £4.40. and a bottle of wine, £4 50. and a 70 centilitre bottle of whiskey, could not be sold for less than £14. almost all alcoholic drinks bought in pubs sell for well above the minimum price, so they will not really be effected. in shops like this, let