the issue of landmine victims to the world's attention. their limbs usually have to be amputated. landmine campaigners are funding the new research so it can be used to grow some bone back and attach an artificial leg. if they are able to have a prosthetic limb, it would make all the difference to their life, being able to provide for the family instead of having to be a burden on the family. it has a happy outcome for eva and her owners. thousands of people could soon benefit from a technology that has put a spring back in her step. fantastic story. let's pause and catch up with the weather prospects. stav da na os catch up with the weather prospects. stav da naos has catch up with the weather prospects. stav danaos has the latest. a lot of sunshine around for england and wales in particular, wet and windy continues for northern

ireland, and quite cold across scotla nd ireland, and quite cold across scotland with further snow falling over the hills. 1—4 degrees over the north, but a little milder across the south. it turns cold for a while through friday night, so we could see some snow but it will be transient, temperatures lifting further across the south, milder air continuing across england and wales through saturday, whereas scotland and northern ireland remain in the cooler air. england and wales bright with sunshine, and we start to see some heavy rain pushing into the far south—west. 10—13, your temperatures in the south, a little bit cooler in the north. good afternoon. you're watching bbc

news. these are the latest headlines. heavy snow and icy conditions are expected to cause severe disruption to travel across parts of northern england and scotland. glasgow airport has reopened after temporarily suspending flights, but is advising passengers to check with their airlines. 12 people, including three children, have been killed when fire swept through a new york apartment building. 15 people were also injured, some of them critically. the mayor of new york city said the fire was the deadliest in the city for at least 25 years. apple has apologised after facing criticism for admitting to deliberately slowing down some ageing iphone models. the company now says it will replace batteries for less and will issue software in 2018 so customers can monitor their phone's battery health. and the nhs is considering making mobile alcohol recovery centres, known as drunk tanks, a permanent feature across england

to ease pressure on accident and emergency units and ambulance services. that's all for now. i will be back with the latest on those stories at two o'clock. now on bbc news, one of our programme highlights from the past 12 months. africa is in the midst of a baby boom. the median age across the continent isjust i9. in september, alastair leithead investigated the potential positives of this demographic dividend, and the possible pitfalls, in africa's population explosion. the population of africa is set to double by the year 2050. to 2.5 billion people. the young are moving from the countryside to the towns. unfortunately for us,

in the last two, three years it's been a deluge. but many end up in slums and cities are struggling to cope. an industrial revolution could transform african countries and lift millions out of poverty. every year it grows, 20 millionjobs per year over the coming decades. but idle youth could mean millions more migrants and drive many into the hands of islamist extremists. and that is everyone‘s problem. there is nowhere in the world where women have more children.

half the girls here are married by 15. so it isn't surprising that children have children. this is zinder, on the fringe of the sahara desert, not far from nigeria's northern border. niger is one of the world's poorest countries. it is mostly agricultural. the average number of children born per woman is 7.6. and zinder it is even higher than that, so the government and aid agencies are trying to do something about it. tucked away, out of earshot, girls as young as ten talk

about topics many adults here consider taboo. family planning, contraception, early marriage, and even forced marriage. three older girls take the lead. the aid workers who have trained them call this the safe space class. saratou is 27 and has four children. translation: one of the things we are teaching the girls here is about early marriage and the consequences of having children before they are 18. during the delivery a girl can lose her life, or the child could die. before this programme, women had many, many kids, but with the coming of this programme the number of children is really reducing. who decides how many

children you should have? translation: my husband, he decides that. and that's the crux of it, the husbands decide. and so they started a husbands school. translation: if you give your daughter away at 12 it could be a disaster. the conversation is just as open on this side of the village. translation: having fewer children helps the woman to be able to breast—feed properly. translation: before we learned from this programme many of our kids were not healthy, but now we don't have a problem. this is mudaha musa. he's 27 and he is one of the more enthusiastic converts to the fewer kids philosophy. he and his wife have three children.

translation: i come from a big family. my father has three wives. i have about 16 siblings. i'm not sure how many we are, but i think we are 16. the idea that more children means more hands to help on the farm doesn't ring true with him any more. translation: no, if someone has ten children, only three, four of them are healthy, so it's better to have four, that is better for work in the field. truly, there is a problem here with having too many children. but now we have been to husband school we know more. we can have a child, and wait for a while before having the next one. even if some people do change their minds and decide to have fewer babies, the dramatic growth in population will take a long time to slow down. by 2050 the number of people in niger will be way over triple

the 21 million here today. the culture here is to have many, many children. traditions are hard to shift. but this is the way to do it. show them what the options are at a mobile clinic. another case of tackling taboos head on. and from the crowd, nana aisha decides to have a three—year contraception implant in front of everyone, saying she has had three kids and she is happy with that for now. translation: i decided to do it in front of everybody so they can see how it is done. because before there were rumours that while doing it it hurts. and they see themselves today that it does not hurt at all. and it did persuade a few sceptics. this woman said her husband had given her permission, in fact it was his idea, he is educated, she told me, and he heard the men talking

about it in husbands school. they are small steps towards bringing the birth rate down. this population explosion matters. across africa, but more so in niger, all of these young people are a bonus if a country is on the rise but can also be a burden. translation: the immediate consequences of having such a high birth rate is that it is impossible to feed, educate, and care for all of these children in the short term. in the long—term the very survival of the country is threatened unless we take this window of opportunity to make the most of this youth dividend. it could threaten the survival of the country and encourage different things like terrorism and immigration. there are fewjobs in the countryside. on both sides of this border between northern nigeria and niger, boko haram recruit idle youth. those who can head to

the big urban areas. from here we followed one man who has left to make it big in lagos. it is a well—trodden route from this quiet rural village to the city. his family are talking about the son and brother, the husband and father, who left his wife and one—year—old boy behind. translation: we don't have money to eat, so we had to send the boy to look for money. he sends around $100 every now and again which they use for the farm, food, and clothes. it is quite a contrast, moving from a village of 7000 people to africa's largest city. this was not quite what muktar had in mind, but optimism is emblazoned across his chest. translation: i don't have it easy.

but i realised how much hard it was to get work. but you can't just sit here without a job. i wanted to buy and sell, to have a shop, and to make enough money to go back to school to get the rest of my education. every day thousands of people arrive in lagos, africa's largest city, looking for the same thing, a new start in life. many end up in the slums, struggling to make a living. lagos has always had mixed blessings of having to deal with the influx of people. unfortunately for us, in the last two, three years, it has been a deluge. we want the people to be here to bring ideas, values and innovation. but we are just unable to deal with it. this is what an african mega city looks like. it is crowded, chaotic,

and crumbling. lagos is already struggling to house, to look after, and to educate the way over 21 million people already living here. let alone the millions more predicted to crush into the city. there is an incredible energy about the place. it is about tapping that and using creative thinking to turn it into an opportunity. the festival celebrates old lagos. masquerades represent the spirits of the dead, returned to cleanse the city of evil and pray for peace and prosperity. emerging from the rusted tin roofs is one answer to the prayers, building up. lagos has no choice but to go up. how are we going to accommodate all of the population?

we have to go up. lateef shobelo has spent 25 years as an urban planner in los angeles. now he has brought his skills home. now that we are able to go vertically, we are able to reduce overcrowding. it gives the advantage of the air space, which has been lost. tower blocks are not a new idea and they are expensive, but lagos needs to renew without moving people out. one answer is creative financing, to lure private investment into affordable housing. currently we are looking at different areas we can come up with to introduce some of the ideas that i have brought from los angeles and see which ones are applicable and usable here. this is the other way to deal with slums. this community was cleared in march, despite a court order protecting it.

many people fear they will be next. a lot of communities will be under threat of eviction. about 1000 people will be rendered homeless if this action is carried out. if you demolish a slum, two or three will spring up because people need somewhere to sleep. there two main industries in the slums, fishing and dredging for building sand. but the beach is quiet. the people say the security forces came and smashed up the boats. translation: i am very angry. they destroyed my boat and my husband's boats. we have no money. we have had to withdraw the children from school. the state government cites security

reasons, and says people are never forcibly removed, but people here think it just wants them out. all of these communities were demolished so that the rich would benefit from it. so, i feel strongly that the state government is interested in the land, but we are not going to give in. the basic reason is land grabbing. the lagos government know that the waterfront community is prime land. there are big plans for waterfront living. a vast area as been claimed for a manhattan style development. and there are other building projects. we are on the east end of the site. between here and there, we have the hotel... paul 0nwuanibe is developing a $100 million site. lagos has to balance a modern vision against its growing inequality. there will always remain

the super—rich and the people just below the poverty line. the hope is that over the next few years you will see that gap bridged as more people getjobs. the only way to manage a massively growing mega—city is to invest in infrastructure, whether it be power lines, or rail lines. this will be nigeria's first—ever electrical light railway system. within ten years they want six of these lines crisscrossing the state, keeping lagos on the move. but the city is outgrowing efforts to house, employ, and serve its people. we are in an urban age. people are going to keep coming. we have to find more creative ways to accommodate more people. climate change, drought, and a doubling population are already testing the continent's

capacity to feed itself. and by 2050 a quarter of the world will be africans. farming needs to be much more productive. kenya is at the forefront of a big, international effort to create better plants that produce more crops in the harshest conditions. smallholder farmers here could easily produce four times as much food. sammy nduvi is one of the guinea pigs. he has replaced most of his maize with a mixture of what are thought of as old—fashioned crops like millet and peas, which put nutrients back into the soil. translation: these days we are getting less rain. when i plant these crops i know i will have something. unlike with maize. millet and peas normally resist the drought. he's also been given new and improved plants, hybrids he is very happy with. translation: these peas are bigger,

they mature faster, and they can get two crops in a year, rather than one. that is where the science comes in, finding the best strains means crossbreeding hundreds of plants to isolate the traits they are looking for. what we are doing is trying to combine traits, characteristics from different plants into one, so we end up with a superior plant that is early maturing, high yielding, drought tolerant, and resistant to many pests and diseases. but as well as being highly nutritious. and this new dna profiling lab in nairobi makes that process a lot quicker. this machine tries to understand the differences at dna level in the populations of 101 crops. it isn't genetically modifying, but by sequencing varieties of 101 carefully chosen traditional african food crops they can go

straight in to find the best performing strains. we have a random selection. we go for selecting only those types which contain the signatures of high yield and for drought tolerance. then nutritionists have to get people excited about these crops in a place where maize is everything. so to cooking school in rural kenya. these smart foods used to be staples in kenya. before colonialism brought maize along. they are more drought resistant, more nutritious, and pretty easy to rustle up into all sorts of meals. a bit of chapati. oh, i have two... and this is the pigeon pea stew. the little bit of everything. very good.

chuckles. four young farmers have been chosen to put theirfarming skills to the ultimate test... and the other thing is to persuade young people to stay on the farm. this reality tv show is kenya's attempt to make farming cool. it is aimed particularly at millennials, otherwise leaving the village for the city. it shows that farming is a business, that money can be made. it also helps older farmers up their output. making smallholding more productive and profitable is one step towards growing enough food. but for the demographic dividend to be cashed in, people need jobs. agricultural revolution is the precursor to industrial revolution. here in ethiopia there's a grand plan. the first industrial park

was built in addis ababa. but the biggest has just opened south of the capital. ethiopia is flying high in africa. it has the fastest—growing economy, albeit from a low base, and it has become the darling of international investors. the industrial park is a phenomenal project... the architect of this industrial revolution is meeting executives from some of the world's biggest textile companies. he built it and they came. ethiopian workers already have jobs making the fabric, putting the garments together. she says the pay isn't great but it isn't just about money, but about building a better future for her and the country. the big solution to the population explosion in ethiopian is putting its young people to work. they are building these vast industrial parks across the country,

putting in infrastructure, training up a workforce, and attracting foreign companies to make their shirts, skirts, suits, and socks here rather than in asia. as in much of africa, china has a hand in the expansion and sees echoes of its own dramatic growth. translation: why did we choose ethiopia 7 it has a stable political situation and a peaceful society. and it is the second biggest country in africa. without a big population there is no market. there is a huge amount of building going on across ethiopia. the scale and ambition is impressive. row after row of government built social housing. a new electric railway to whisk imports and exports between the capital and the coast. perhaps the most visible sign of ethiopia's economic growth is its airline.

it has been dramatically expanding over the last ten years. it is government—owned. ethiopian airlines flies all over the world. what better advert for a country on the rise? we can learn from china that making investment in the long term in infrastructure is quite important. the population is growing by about 5%. we need to create close to 1 million jobs every year. this is a big challenge. manufacturing has a significant impact in job creation. this provides an opportunity for what we call the demographic dividend. but without having a policy that is very ambitious and aggressive, it will be difficult and a source of crisis. aggressive policies in ethiopia mean a heavy hand. protests were crushed. a state of emergency has just ended. there were questions about lack of freedoms and authoritarianism. building democracies

that are sustaining means a lot of effort. it needs many generations. we recognise that. we are going to put in a lot of effort despite the issues we have. ethiopia has also built a lot of universities, focusing now on engineering and technology rather than arts. but what about the dilemma? what is more important, economic growth, orfreedom of speech and democracy? it's not like one is more important than the other, but definitely economic growth is a means towards democracy. it is a path for our democracy, a path for freedom of speech. if there is no education in a country, and people are still hungry, what are they going to speak about? industrialisation isn't the only answer to africa's population explosion, but it's already creating dividends for ethiopa's economy. if it gets the balance right,

this could be a model to put a continent to work. in much of africa, that's a big ask. in poor countries like niger it seems the economy won't come close to keeping up with population growth. in rich ones like nigeria it comes down to good thoughts and good actions. even if the speed and scale of urban growth offers its own set of challenges. this african population explosion is coming, and its impact will be felt across the globe for good orfor bad. hello there. it has been a very u nsettled hello there. it has been a very unsettled morning, rain, sleet and

snow affecting many areas, ten centimetres of snow recorded across the glasgow area. through this evening and overnight there will be further wintry showers, but the wet and windy weather clearing away from northern ireland for a time before the next pulse of weather moves up from the south—west. a brief period of snow across northern ireland as it encounters the cold air. but further south, it will be mild, and that milder theme will be with england and wales for the next few days. in fact it is going to be unseasonably mild in one or two places, but always remaining quite cool places, but always remaining quite cool. plenty of tightly packed isobars bringing in reign of the atlantic, particularly across the south and west of the uk, and that could bring a lot of rainfall by the weekend. for saturday itself, further wintry showers across scotland, snow over the hills, and further south it will be dry with some sunshine. some of these showers will be heavy across the highlands and in towards the grampians,

further snowfall accumulating and feeling quite cool, but we should make around 60 agrees in glasgow, seven for belfast. —— 6 degrees. good spells and sunshine, and double—figure value temperatures, especially across the south. the next band of rain will arrive across the south—west later on, tied in with this band of low pressure. the irish met service has named this dyla n irish met service has named this dylan as it is going to affect ireland's most of all. there will be some snow falling over the higher ground of scotland. further south it will be rain and be quite mild and windy, too. temperatures 7—10 across england and wales, but chilly across scotland. showers continue across

the north and west, mild in the south, chilly in the north, and as we head on into the big night itself, central and eastern areas will see the best of the dry weather, and further west there will continue to be blustery showers, some on the heavy side, too. you will need to wrap up and take waterproofs, if you live in the west, but further east it will stay dry. heavy snow and freezing temperatures are causing travel disruption across much of the uk. motorists are warned of treacherous conditions in the worst—affected areas. glasgow airport reopens after snow caused it to suspend all flights. it's advising passengers to check with their airlines. at least 12 people have died including a baby after a fire at an apartment block in the bronx district of new york. a medical breakthrough as a bone is re—grown in a lab saving this dog's leg. scientists say the technique will work on humans. also, easing the impact of excessive drinking on busy accident

and emergency units. the nhs considers making mobile "drunk tanks" a permanent feature across england.