in damascus — the first of 29 to be transported for medical treatment. the un has pleaded with the syrian government to allow about 500 to leave. votes are being counted in liberia, in the presidential election run—off between the former international football star, george weah, and the current vice president, joseph boakai. there are hopes for the firthe us has imposed sanctions on two north korean officials it says are "key leaders" in developing north korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programme. st smooth transfer of power in 73 years. on friday, the un imposed new sanctions. analysts have told the bbc they are unlikely to be effective and are largely symbolic. pyongyang has described them as an "act of war". in the uk the university ‘s minister has warned academic institutions they could face fines if they fail to protect free speech. some

universities and student groups have banned speakers because of their views because they promote extremism. in some cases debate is being stifled. a new regulator is being stifled. a new regulator is being given powers to uphold freedom of speech. jo johnson wants universities to open minds, not close them. he has criticised the practice of "no platforming," when student unions and other university groups ban speakers with what are seen as offensive or unacceptable views. it's vital we uphold this principle of legal freedom of speech because it is the real underpinning of how we progress of society, how we deepen our stock of knowledge, how we remain innovative and ultimately how we also resist injustices, how the rights of minorities to stand up and be counted and not suppressed are upheld. the minister wants young people to hear and challenge controversial opinions, a view shared by the vice chancellor of the university of buckingham. universities must be about letting dialogue and debate

happen, not suppress. if you suppress people's views, then you romanticise them, you legitimise them, you publicise them. what we need to happen at universities is the opposite. the feminist campaigner, julie bindel, who has personal experience of no platforming, argues the problem lies with the national union of students. students that are polled are clearly signed up to this ridiculous snowflake attitude of having to be wrapped in cotton wool. students tell me all the time that they want to hear the likes of me speaking against this blanket no platforming of feminists, as we are the ones mainly no platformed, and they want to make a decision about who speaks at their university. the nus have yet to comment, but their platform contains six groups including the bnp. next april, the government is planning to bring in a new regulator for universities. the office for students will have the power to find, suspend or deregister institutions that failed to uphold free speech.

emily unia, bbc news. now on bbc news — a festive special from click. ‘twas the night before clickmas and all through the smart home, not a gizmo was whirring, not even a drone. the stockings were full with gadgets galore, with virtual realities primed to explore. # the very next day you gave it away # this year, to save me from tears # i'llgive it to...# and welcome to the clickmas special!

cheering. and thank you very much to john culshaw for that excellent rendition to start us off. would you believe it? the gang's all here, the halls are decked with nifty gadgetry, and it's time to get this party started. ooh! look at that! this is the lyric speaker, and it streams music from your smartphone from spotify, and it also picks up the lyrics from spotify and displays it on the screen for you all to stare at, rather than having a sociable conversation. and if you do want something to talk about, you can talk about the fact that this costs £3600. wow! yes, so there we go. does it play mariah carey? technically, it does, but we can't afford the licensing. well, i tell you what, i've got a christmas present for you, spencer. fabulous. you've always wanted to be a jedi knight, i know this in my heart. yes. you have always wanted to have a lightsabre battle. oh, yes. with this augmented reality star wars battling headset, you can. fabulous.

can i try it now? yes, but you're going to have to go over there, because i know you and your waving arms, you're going to knock something over. 0k. while i get lost in a galaxy far, far away, dan is getting lost in his favourite video game. come on, come on! come on! come on, come on, come on, come on, come on! i've just crashed it! he laughs. it's a stunning game, and i'd love to tell you it'sjust like driving the real thing but... i can't just yet. this is the nissan gt—r. its four—wheel drive traction—control system lays down almost all the 550 horses from the engine to the tarmac. it has a top speed that would make your nose bleed and been clocked from 0—60 in under three seconds. i am ready to go again!

sorry? 0h, bleep! oh, my...! yeah, you want to be a little bit... so we've played the game, we've driven the car, so how about... ..we do both?

this is a full—size, fully—specced remote—controlled nissan gt—r/c. it has been made by the team atjlb design and is driven by a standard playstation controller. four robots control the transmission, steering, throttle and the brakes. the six number—crunchers in the boot calculate my adjustments 100 times a second. sojust to be clear, i'm going to be driving that car with this, while rob chases it in the car that we're in, so we don't lose contact, obviously. i know. bonkers. this is £100,000 worth of sports car, and i've got to say it's twitchy. just like the grand prix, a bit of brake, there we go,

in we go, in we turn. just take a little bit of kerb. he has got it round that corner! he hasn't smashed the sports car! this car has so much power, and i literally have to just dab my finger and it moves — i mean, it really goes. incredible. wow! i mean, just be able to control something as powerful as that is so much responsibility, actually, but once you get into it, you get focused on the car, it's just incredible. we should all have one of these for christmas, shouldn't we? oh, well. nice to dream. dan! that looked amazing! pointless! but amazing! yeah. and terrifying. it was absolutely terrifying, spence. i think we created a new emoji when we filmed that. oh, isay!

but we flushed it away, it's ok, it's fine. right, well! good! now, in an attempt — moving on — in an attempt to add some substance to this christmas debacle, we've decided to cross to a familiar friend using the power of telepresence, mr dave lee in san francisco. robot sings ievan polkka. hey, dave, wow. nice wheels! this is a serious upgrade on the old telepresence bot, i suppose you are now a serious news correspondent, aren't you? thanks, spen. it's finally the robotic upgrade that i feel i deserve. so tell us about your 2017. you're right there in the heart of it all in silicon valley, san francisco. what's this year been like for you? i feel like this year, spen, the things that made the big companies really good and profitable and rich is now the same thing that's giving them serious headaches.

we've seen the algorithms fight back, causing all sorts of problems with fake news, propaganda from the russians, and various issues that facebook and youtube and google and all of these companies are suffering from, and this year has been them trying to deal with that, and i don't think they have managed it at all, frankly. over here in what i call the rest of the world, everyone‘s looking at silicon valley, and it almost looks like these large companies could topple because of these kind of scandals. but what is the feeling like in silicon valley? are people actually worried, or are they just getting on with the next new crazy service? i think they are more grumpy about this than worried. i think silicon valley feels that when washington has a go at them about fake news, or when the rest of the world thinks they are not doing a good enough job, they think they are being picked on, is the sense i get from many companies.

they feel like it's something that isn't their fault and that they will be able to fix it, but it may take some time or indeed we mayjust have to learn that these networks aren't going to be perfect all the time. so that's the sense i get. i think they hope that as we go into christmas and the new year, we might move on from this issue and stop talking about it quite so much. but i don't think people will forget, i think people are going to be talking about this well into 2018. ho, ho, ho! merry clickmas! what have you got there? this is my friend, anki. i thought it would bring some fun to the clickmas table. look, it even recognises me. hello, anki! and it's a coding robot! it can say phrases, it can play educational games and it can even do that. let's have a look at what it gets up to on the table. don't worry, it's not going to eat those chocolate coins of yours! does it mine for bitcoins? it mines for chocolate coins, at this moment. robots are the best! ok, team, the foods nearly ready — i reckon about 15 minutes, ok? great! what's this? well, i know you said not to bring you anything. mmm.

and this is no criticism to your cooking. mmm. but this is some 3d—printed christmas dinner while we're waiting. oh, wow! ok, that looks delicious. beef, brussels sprout and cranberry. seriously, they're all different flavours? yep. yes, that is beefy. oh, god, why do sprouts exist? i don't know, and ifeel nervous, like it's my own cooking. i'm trying to find out what it tastes like. and cranberry, which obviously goes with beef so well. cani? i think you should try some. all right. let's get the beef first. oh, wow, look at that. that's just the consistency of beef. so what do you think? mmm. that's the sprouts, actually. um... they do look pretty similar. that's definitely the cranberry. so this...must be... the beef. yeah! how is it? i mean, it is genius, because it does taste kind of like what you described. the consistency needs a little work. and it is stone cold, actually.

ok, well it was freshly prepared for us by dovetailed, who create home 3d food printers, so you could even create something like a brussels sprout that tastes of chocolate. oh, that would be good. or you could do it the other way — make something really nutritious. not chocolate that tastes like brussels sprouts. no, that would be ludicrous. ok, fairenough. well, i'm thinking you may have consumed a few calories here — probably literally a few. yeah! so just in case you want to burn off those three calories... yes. well, here's my present for you. 0h, 0k. happy clickmas — it's a smart skipping rope. oh, a smart skipping rope! it will count your skips. right. and also every time you jump, this light flashes. oh, my goodness! joyeux noel! so people can see all around how hard you are working. well, goodness. thank you so much. you're welcome. maybe you could go and have a skip and in the meantime, you can take a look at how your christmas groceries could be heading to you very soon. this is ocado's hatfield fulfilment centre —

a place where humans work alongside a process that already looks pretty automated. but the robots are coming. wow! this grocery—picking robot is being tested here, and early next year she'll be making an appearance at one of ocado's warehouses to do the job for real. it has been trained to identify 2,000 of ocado's 50,000 products using computer vision. and as long as those products are non—porous — so that means basically anything that won't be damaged by being picked up by this vacuum — then it can take them out of the picking box, take them through the scanner, and place them in the bagging area. but this isn't the only bot being tested here. so i'm off to meet a man called panos and an arm called soma. hello!

oh, i don't know whose hand i shake first. i'm going to go for yours. ok, so whilst this robot looks like its purpose isjust to have the human touch, so it can pick things up that are softer without damaging them, it does also have another skill. what this one has been taught to do is the same thing a human would. so to put their hand on it, roll it along and do that. panos, can you help it demonstrate, please? of course. wow! that arm movement is quite something. it's got a few elbows there. but it's grabbed it, and it has picked it up successfully. it can put it down. 0h! thanks, happy christmas to you, too! well, i've managed to get a sneak

peek behind the scenes to find out a bit more about how you try to make a hand seem more human. zaki, who has been working on this project for a while, what are the challenges you face? one of the main challenges is to actually get this hand or glove to sense the forces that a human has. we as humans have a very delicate sense of touch so we can handle objects like apples. so we have tried to reproduce that by having a sort of electronic skin. so this apple, apart from being a bit squashed, has obviously been approved as being good. i don't think i need to do any shopping this week, i am disappearing with all the ocado products. well, seeing as the robot couldn't join us for clickmas lunch, i thought it was only fair it got a cracker. so let's see what it makes of it. in what country will you not find a vegetarian? you don't know?

turkey. cue laughing. does it not do laughing? wow, i have to say, you get a great view of london's west end from up here. i'm on the roof ofjohn lewis at the moment. these aren't any old binoculars. these are made by iq, and they are basically a combination of a lens strapped to a smartphone strapped to a viewer. they allow you to record what you are seeing so you can watch it back later and share it with friends. nice. i'm freezing. i say, barman... well, hello, spencer! if it isn't tv‘s nick kwek. how are you? cold. can you whip me up something hot? here you go, a lovely hot chocolate. i say hot, because actually that is a smart mug you are holding.

it connects to your mobile phone with an app, and that works like a thermostat. you choose the desired temperature of your drink, and that keeps it warm all day long. all day long! at least until your smartphone‘s battery dies, at which point the power in the mug goes. i'll drink it, then. that will be £80. say what now? £80. £80! what's that, production? i'm needed back in the hub? spen! i hope you're enjoying the show. 0h! good to be back inside. kate, what are you doing with your hand? i am making sweet, sweet music. can you not hear it? it is wonderful. this is the remedy digital music glove, and the way that it works, it connects to an app in your phone, and these four sensors here turn on and off loops.

and these four sensors initiate samples. so you can choose lots of different musical styles that you want. drum and bass, hip—hop, edm. electronic dance music. yes, familiar with that. you can even put a bit of flange on. this is what somebody who with absolutely no musical ability whatsoever, i am sure you can tell, can create. kate russell, everybody. fabulous. now it's time for my christmas present to you all. and indeed to you at home as well. now, you might remember, last week i got to talk art with performance art superstar marina abramovic, and during that chat, we talked about how we immerse ourselves in technology every week and sometimes it's difficult to tear ourselves away from it and live what used to be called a normal life. well, this was marina's answer to me.

i think this is her christmas message to us all. you have to come to my world, which i create something called abramovic method. you can do it in your own home. you decide, one day a week, that you take your phone and your computer and switch them off and you don't put them, you don't put any electronics around. sit in a chair and do nothing. doing nothing is the beginning of something. because all that you do is look inwards. when you are surrounded by entertainment you're not being with yourself alone, in silence. so if i was to do that, i can tell you, i would sit there and then i would just wonder what's going on. and then i might get bored. being bored is important. is it? yes, because the bordeom is a sign that something is wrong with you. you have to get bored. you have to go beyond the boredom.

sit for six hours and do nothing and see what happens to your boredom. the boredom goes away. you start seeing that actually you are nervous, you are hysterical, your breathing is raised. go another four hours. you start breathing more slowly. you start relaxing. you start getting to the centre of yourself. it takes time. it takes effort. to relax is a huge work. i really use technology to help make life more efficient, which means that messages come in here and i can deal with these messages while i am walking somewhere else. so i am conscious that i've lost that peace, i've lost the peace and quiet of having a walk. the thing is, every email you write, you have done all the work, you written all the emails that you have in your computer in the morning. you can double back, every email is not important. and then what are

you doing next week? that is the problem — if one person, like me, tries to do it differently, the rest of the world still operates at a much higher pace, and i still get those messages back, "can you do this, can you pop this in here?" but can you imagine if you have three days to live? you would answer all these emails? no. why don't you take every day like the last day of your life? i wouldn't get paid, though. but, again, how much we need of this to live, how much simplicity can we have? it is so important to question everything, how we can create our life in a minimal way, and how many things we need to adopt. it is incredible. that questioning, only when you really put your life, it is so important to question everything. question how we can create our life in a minimal way. you know, my generation

is telegrams, xerox and fax. virtual reality comes like a bomb in my life. the young generation, the kids who were born with the computers and the videogames, these are the people who can actually do something about it. this is the target. that kind of audience. that is the future. that was marina abramovic telling us to throw away our technology, which is a bit of a downer, especially for us, because that's all we know. well, spencer, i think i've got something that might cheer you up. technology isn't always that bad. we've been going on about ar all year, and, kate, if i could get a hand from you. what witchcraft is this? this is the ar air measure app, creating a painting in ar. you can do paintings, measure things, all within ar. and you stick that anywhere

in space, and it's not really there. it's not really there, everybody! if you're wondering, this a photo of the click team after we finished our live show in front of a live studio audience. you can see that on tv in a couple of weeks. here's a sneak peek of the end of that show. this is the spectacular star wars ballet from propel. in true click style, it ended in a fight to the death. the lone survivor from the audience took home one of the star wars drones. and that reminds me. it's time for our clickmas elfie. sticking with the theme of ar, we'll be adding a bit of augmented reality to the photo this year. we have the photo printer attached to a smartphone. i will need some help here, dan. could you take the selfie, please? you are in a better position than me. we need to put it on video mode. this is a video selfie? it is. you will find out why in a moment.

all i have to say right now is that when dan presses the button, make sure you move and make some noise. we could say "happy clickmas", or something else appropriate. happy clickmas! more moving, more moving... move in a really unnatural way. the more you move, the better it will look. so now we've got a still that looks like that, which we can print. that's unfortunate. it's not a bad picture. let's print that still. hurrah! there you go, spencer. your memento. i like the way you framed it. i'm sure that's what it was designed for. i'm going to have to take a selfie of that. that's it for this week. thank you so much for watching. on behalf of the whole team, merry clickmas! # the rooftop sees santa

who is laughing with glee # he is trying to fit robots down the chimney # he finished the job and the gifs were delivered # around rudolph's neck, the gps triggered # and on santa's step counter the total was high # merry clickmas to all! # now where's my mince pie?# guys, i think i've fallen over. no—one told me there was a step. hello there. some of us have already seen snow already this festive season. for a few more, we're starting wednesday on a wintry note. we have an area of low pressure. this swirl of cloud drifting northwards in the cold air. while the system is delivering rain,

mixed in with that, sleet and snow drifting across southern and south—eastern areas to start the day. further north and west, especially, northern england, northern ireland, scotland, potential for icy stretches with clear skies through the night. as we go through the date, western and northern areas see the best weather. a very strong northerly wind causing one or two travel issues through the south—west. sunny spells and wintry showers. sunny skies across northern england and the bulk of scotland at some wintry showers in the northern scotland.

during wednesday night, we will push the wet weather away from the south—east at last. some clear spells. some wintry showers feeding in. temperatures widely dropping to freezing or a touch below. thursday, we are looking at an area of high pressure, this bump in the isobars, which means fine weather. most of us will see spells of sunshine. a change to the south—west with cows and our racks of ram with perhaps some snow on the high ground and leading edge. temperatures struggling. in the friday, these outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow, particularly over hills, will move north and eastwards. temperatures will start to climb particularly in

the far south—west and that is a trend we take to the weekend. cloud, all rates of rain, quite windy at times by the many temperatures at climbing up into double digits. hello — this is breakfast with rogerjohnson. disruption as heavy snow hits the uk. parts of the midlands and south wales have been worst hit. 111,000 homes are without power and the m1 is one of several major routes to be affected. good morning — it's wednesday 27th december. also on the programme: the first of a group of critically ill children are evacuated from a rebel—held suburb of the syrian capital damascus. the company which ran grenfell tower hands control of thousands of other properties back to the council, saying it can't guarantee tenants the service they expect.