a new party leader to replace president jacob zuma. there have been allegations of widespread bribery, and warnings that the party could split over the election, as the country faces mounting economic challenges. eu leaders have agreed to move brexit talks on to the second phase, but called for further clarity from the uk about the future relationship it wants. the first issue to be discussed, early next year, will be the details of an expected two—year transition period after the uk's exit in march 2019. austria's conservative party has agreed to form a coalition with the anti—immigration freedom party, making austria the only western european country with a far right government. in a few moments it will be time for newswatch. but first, here is click. earlier in the year we looked

at some of the 360 cameras which have taken off in 2017. dan filmed with the new kid on the block, the insta one in berlin. and he came back very pleased with it. easy to use, lots of features, including this bullet—time mode, a bit like the film the matrix, where you can get a picture of yourself from all angles. but what have the more established names in photography got to offer us? well, with christmas just around the corner, this time we sent dan to a suitably festive place to put two pro—sumer 360

cameras through their paces. the ancient city of bath hosts a very traditional christmas market, one that i want to catch in the round. i've got two cameras for the job. one is from kodak, the other is nikon's. they look pretty similar, with two ultra—wide—angle lenses capturing everything, before the two images are stitched together in—camera. but look closer, and you will see the kodak sporting two different lenses, one smaller than the other, superwide 235—degree lens. it also has the tiniest remote control in the world, and a slightly higher price tag than the nikon. our producer has the kodak, while i'm putting the nikon through its paces. now, we don'tjust want to test these cameras out in the daylight, when all the conditions are absolutely perfect. for these cameras, we want to test them out to see what they're like as it starts to get dark. will the bright lights be a problem, and will we see all of the details?

time to go for a wander and see whose 360 is best. please dive in, ladies. don't let me get in your way. and, in no time at all, i found the festive liquor stand. notjust wine, but flavoured vodka here, and the nikon is not put off by those flashing lights. but the image is a little dark, so we will brighten it for you in postproduction. there you go, and now you can see the other problem. the image stitching means i've almost lost my head, before touching a drop. the kodak's image is brighter than the nikon, but we found that the quality from that super—wide—angle lens was softer than the smaller lens on the other side of the device. of course, you're best off with a stick attached to both of these cameras, otherwise your hands get sort of in the way. now, to make the test fairer, we decided to see how these cameras fared

back to back. 0r front to front. 0r back to front. well, it's difficult to tell, to be honest. we shot them side by side. look at this. we found a 360 globe for a 360 camera. and it's the nikon showing off more natural colours, benefiting from a more accurate light balance, although some might prefer the warmer kodak results, because it is very christmassy. at the chilled cider shop, the kodak warmed things up, while nikon kept things more natural and crisp. both cameras struggled to stitch their shots together perfectly. this is the raw footage, with no touching up, and the nikon has done a reasonablejob. the stitching point is more visible on the kodak, partly because of the different qualities of those two lenses. 0n the upside, it's kodak that offers the ability to play with how the images are stitched together in its free software, something the nikon's more basic offering lacks. for sheerfun, the kodak also offers

greater flexibility when playing back what you shot. this is little planet mode. and, if you want to do it on the nikon, then you'll need some third—party 360 software, which may mean additional cost. finally, the thing everybody forgets when they use a camera — sound. it is very odd being filmed by two cameras. we're being filmed as well, it is 360. 0h, goodness me. you can tell she's had too much cider, because hers moves around a bit. i'm just cold! we reckon both do a greatjob, but the nikon is slightly clearer, although the kodak offers the possibility of attaching an external mic. so which camera will enthusiasts be hoping santa brings them this year? we think the kodak edges it for easier post—production, while the nikon has a better shot. but, if you're hoping for a trouble—free, cinematic, seamless result for under £a00,

you may have to wait until something else takes off. at least for now. hello, and welcome to the week in tech. it was the week that the federal communications commission in america voted to repeal rules on net neutrality, which had stopped internet service providers from offering different speeds and priorities for traffic online. the extraordinarily elongated asteroid called 0umuamua was being checked for signs of alien technology. and, here on earth, the faces of 2 billion people can be compared in a matter of seconds with a minority report—style system, dragonfly eye, unveiled in china. it was also the week that netflix was caught up in a creepy viewing controversy, after revealing on twitter that 53 subscribers watched the holiday film a christmas prince every day for 18 days. netflix defended the tweet, saying it represented overall

trends, and not specific individuals. the city of san francisco has banned the use of delivery robots on most of its sidewalks, stating not all innovation is all that great for society. meanwhile, dutch police say it may not have been such a good idea to use eagles to catch drones after all. who could have guessed? seen here on click, the birds were trained to snatch the machines from the sky. but the cost of keeping them was too high, and they didn't always do what they were told. and finally, if you're missing harry potter, don't despair. artificial intelligence may have a solution for you. a new chapter has been created for a book called harry potter and what looked like a large pile of ash. its plot twists include harry dipping hermione in hot sauce, and ron turning into spiders and trying to eat hermione‘s family. wizard. this is acute art, a virtual reality arts platform and a gallery without walls. and it's about to launch,

with vr works by some of the world's leading contemporary artists. amongst these works is one by marina abramovic, the self—confessed grandmother of performance art, who pushes her own body to the limits to challenge and move people. 0k, well, there's marina, in a tank of water. well, she seems to want to talk to me, but the water is rising up her body. immersive player, in real life, where someone rescues another person, or offers aid of any kind, there is a transfer of energy. approach the water.

i think she wants me to touch the glass. make contact. 0h. 0h, 0k, right. now i'm somewhere very cold, and everything seems to be going wrong. as always, with vr, you really get a sense of scale. i mean, that ice shelf looks absolutely enormous. and it's crashing down right in front of me. this work is an expression of marina's fear that humans will not survive the consequences of climate change, if we don't change our behaviour. i'm being covered in spray. and now there's a note. i will walk instead of drive. i will reuse what i can. i will reduce the waste i cause. marina wants to leave

the participants with a feeling that they should do something good for the planet. we have to save this planet that we are living on, because what i'm interested in is to create a literal contract with the planet earth, and give my word of honour that i will do something to save it. screaming. you are pretty well—known for pushing your body further than most people would want to push their bodies. here, you appear virtually in a tank of water, but i get the sense that you still did some pretty real stuff, to make it seem as real as possible? you know, actually, to do this, i have to really be in the water. and then we have to really be in a swimming pool, with two divers holding my legs, so i can really go in and see can feel like i would actually die if i didn't have any

more air to breathe. so it's funny that you have to do something which is virtual, but you still have to do it physically. before, you've said that you don't think your performances can be captured adequately with photos or videos, because you need to be there, you need the experiences, it is about actually physically being there. and i wonder if virtual reality is close enough to being there, that is why you chose it? because it's almost being there, isn't it? it is very important, the energy dialogue between the audience and the performer. and the only thing that can catch it, before it was video with sound and movement. virtual reality is really another step further, because you can go around the objects, you can interact, you can do this. but still, i think it's so much a question of how much energy and charisma actually can transfer from the real performance into the virtual body.

and that's it for the shortcut of click this week. the full version is waiting for you on iplayer and please join us next week for click‘s christmas special. and you know what that means. tons of sensible journalism, and no fun whatsoever. maybe not. in the meantime, you can follow us on facebook and on twitter. thank you for watching, and we will see you next week for christmas. hello, welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. today we've got a special edition of newswatch. we're devoting the whole show to an exclusive interview with the outgoing director of news and current affairs, james harding. we ask him about his record during his four years in the role, and what advice he has for his successor, fran unsworth, who's just been appointed. so, come the new year, bbc news will have a new boss. james harding is off to set

up his own news media venture. but who is he and what challenges has he faced? james joined the bbc in 2013, having left his previous role as editor of the times newspaper the year before. it was his first job in broadcasting, heading up the largest broadcast news operation in the world. he presided over bbc news during one of the most divisive times in recent british political history. the scottish independence referendum, brexit, and two general elections. he's also had to deal with a series of pay rows at bbc news, including the pay gap between male and female presenters. but he is credited with the appointment of the bbc‘s first female political editor, laura kuenssberg. james‘s replacement will be fran unsworth, a long—term bbc journalist who is currently his deputy, and director of the bbc world service. well, i've been speaking to james harding and began by asking him about brexit, and what he says to the many viewers

who thought the bbc was part of the establishment during the eu referendum. clearly favouring remain. i think that the referendum was, of course, an incredibly polarising time, as you say, samira. but actually what's interesting is, of course, we've had complaints from both sides and what we try to do, and i think when you look back and you look at the coverage, what we actually did do, was set about trying to explain what the choice was, trying to report out what the choice was. if you look back over the last few years, there have been an extraordinary number of democratic moments, two referendums, two general elections, a host of others around the world. i think one of the real lessons of the last few years is you can't predict what's going to happen. you can't rely on either political predictions or polls, and that means for us we have to do what we're here for, we've got to make sure that people get a sense of what the choice is. you mention the need for the bbc to provide informed news about that issue, and there was a big accusation from many viewers

that the bbc was in fact, during the referendum, too timid in calling out things, notably statistical claims