more sunshine arriving and 12 with more sunshine arriving and 12 showers. very windy weather across the northern half of the uk in particular, as the storm moves out into the north sea, winds will ease through the afternoon after a spell of sunshine we will see more of these showers packing in from the west, and they will be quite heavy as well. still some gusty winds around, a range of temperatures like today,. moving things on a fewer hours to see in the new year and there was to be some showers around at the winds will be much lighter by the stage in scotland and it will be starting to turn chilly for new year's eve. for the first day of the new year there is a chance of rain running eastwards and it could be quite heavy. strong winds through the channel, and elsewhere some sunshine and a few showers. chilly on new year's day but nothing desperately cold. as we look ahead into the early part of next year, you will find some strong winds and you will find some strong winds and you end showers or longer spells of rain. it will be cold briefly at times. still some frost around and

very unsettled. hello, good afternoon. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: more than 1,100 people are recognised in the new year honours with knighthoods for the beatles drummer ringo starr, bee gees singer barry gibb, and strictly come dancing judge darcey bussell is made a dame. the labour peer lord adonis says attempts to silence his criticism of the government forced him to step down as its infrastructure adviser. he quit yesterday, suggesting whitehall had been "infected" by brexit. thousands of iranian government supporters are attending officially—sponsored rallies across the country after two days of anti—establishment protests. millennials will enjoy the biggest inheritance boom of any post—war generation, but not until they're into their 60s, a report says. 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 19. 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, to sustain growth, 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. we are 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 here 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. the aid workers who have trained them call this the safe space class. this woman is 22 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 children, 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 man is 27, 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 mind 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 triple from the 21 million here today. traditions are hard to shift and the culture is to have many, many children. 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, a woman decides to have a three—year contraceptive 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 them 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 the 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 encourage 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 big urban areas. from here we followed

one man who has left to make it big in lagos. it is a well trodden route. 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 him 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 he had in mind, but optimism is emblazoned across his chest. translation: i don't have it easy. but i realised how much harder 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 onlyjust able 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. this festival celebrates historic culture. in the overcrowded slums, 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. how are we going to accommodate all of the population? we must go up. this man 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. we can introduce some of the ideas i have brought from los angeles and see which ones are usable. 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 300,000 people will be rendered homeless if this action is carried out. two, three slums will rise up after this, 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 massive, over 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, raather 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 nutritionist 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 their farming 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 small holding 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 is already creating dividends for ethiopa's economy. if it gets the balance right it could be a model to put a continent to work. in much of africa that is 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. the fourth named of the storm of the season the fourth named of the storm of the seasonis the fourth named of the storm of the season is set to arrive on the last day of 2017. the system dylan. it will develop out of this deepening area of cloud thickening, already spilling our way and turning wet in the south—west. that rain could be

quite heavy. as the wind picks up it will blow that wetter weather north and east, cheating the cold air in scotland, it has been a cold de gea. more snow over the hills and icy conditions across the northern half of the country. further south it is been much milder. the biggest impacts should be coming from the strength of the wind. this is storm dyla n, strength of the wind. this is storm dylan, named by the irish net service, a deepening area of low pressure. there is an amber wind warning the strongest of the winds more likely to be crossing of half of northern ireland and south—west column. gusts of 70 mph, the wind is picking up in the early hours, continuing into the morning. 60 most power elsewhere across scotland and the far north of england. gusty winds for a while. further south will be stronger winds, but not as windy after a spell of rain clears away overnight. we should get more sunshine arriving. 12 showers. very

windy weather across the northern half of the uk particularly, as the storm moves out into the north sea, the winds will ease through the afternoon after a spell of sunshine we will begin to see more of these showers packing in from the west and they could be quite heavy. still gusty winds around, a range of temperatures, like today, six in scotla nd temperatures, like today, six in scotland and 12 in southern areas of england. let's move things on a few hours to see in the new year, and there will still be some showers around, the winds will be much lighter by the stage in scotland and it will be starting to turn chilly. for the first day of the new year, there is a chance of rain running east across southern parts of england, it could be quite heavy. strong winds in the channel. elsewhere, sunshine and showers. a little cooler perhaps on new year's day, but nothing desperately cold. as we look ahead into the early part of next you, we will find strong winds bringing in showers and longer spells of rain, it will be cold a briefly at times, still frost around

but very unsettled. this is bbc news. i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 11: a beatle, a bee gee and a ballerina. ringo starr and barry gibb are knighted in the new year honours. strictly judge darcey bussell is made a dame. thousands of iranians take to the streets of tehran in a show of support for the government after two days of opposition protests. millennials will enjoy the biggest inheritance boom of any post—war generation, but not until they're into their 60s, a report says. captain steve smith scores yet another century as australia bats out the final day to save the fourth ashes test against england in melbourne. and in the shadow of red october, how russians view the 1917 revolution. that's in half an hour, here on bbc news.