this is people that have come over on holidays to visit australia. they were in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. and for this to happen to them at a place like that is nothing more than just tragic. hundreds of people are stranded in liverpool city centre overnight, after a car park fire damaged or destroyed m00 vehicles. state media in iran says the death toll in anti—government protests has risen to ten. the country's president warns that violence and disorder will not be tolerated. the archbishop of canterbury praises the response of emergency services to terror attacks and the grenfell tower disaster in his new year message. bong. and london hosts its traditional new year fireworks display in front of a crowd of more than 100,000, and big ben welcomed in 2018, despite its restoration work. now on bbc news it's time for click, this week the programme looks back

on the highlights of its travels through the world of tech in 2017. 2017, the year of curious cats, haunting holograms, and trigger—happy trackers. hi there. it's time to look back on the year in tech. as 2017 fades away, we could tell you about all the technology news that has happened — the hacking, the launching, the automatic driving — but that would be just like last year and, come to think of it, the year before that. so we prefer to share with you some

unforgettable memories from our year on click, as we've travelled far and wide to bring you some extraordinary moments. and we start with a personal highlight for me. back in october we travelled to japan and we got rare access to see how robots are helping with the dangerous task of cleaning up the fukushima nuclear power plant after its meltdown in 2011. scary? no. i've worn plenty of protective suits in my time, but they've always been to protect the environment from my body. this time it is different.

we're going inside unit five, which is identical to the units which were wracked by the explosions. as you can imagine, it is really hot inside this suit. it's a confusing jumble of walkways and machinery, and it's difficult to appreciate that somewhere in here is a seven—storey high tank of water called the primary containment vessel, the pcv. and now it's time to go right underneath the reactor. oh, wow. they think what happened after the meltdowns is that the molten fueljust burned through the bottom of the pcv and came through here to what's known as the pedestal. that's where they think the fuel is now. it's difficult enough getting

around this place on foot. now imagine trying to remote control a robot through this after the whole place has been mangled by an explosion. oh yes, and do it in the dark. this is scorpion, its mission was to hunt for fuel in unit two. time is of the essence for any fukushima robot. the radiation will eventually damage and disable its cameras, rendering it useless. but the entire mission can also be upset by something far more basic. this is service hatch x6, and in unit two they were hoping to send a scorpion robot down this ramp to film the molten fuel at the bottom. but it got caught halfway down so it never made it, and they didn't get any footage or evidence of where the fuel was. in unit three the water's much higher, so they had to think

of another way to get a robot in. that's where the mini sunfish came in. well, actually, that's where the mini sunfish came in. built to fit through this 15 centimetre pipe, mini sunfish is a tiny underwater robot with five propellers, two cameras, and four human operators. 300 kilometres away from fukushima, in toshiba's yokohama r&d centre, i came face—to—face with the star of the investigation. injuly this year, mini sunfish was successful in finding melted clumps of material that could be fuel debris in the pedestal in unit three. decommissioning the site could take a0 years and it may cost 8 trillion yen. those little robots have a lot riding on their tiny backs. ever wondered what cats get up

to when no—one‘s there? meet roxie and zara, who seemed agreeable in taking part in some gadget testing. oh, sorry. if you've ever wanted to watch, talk to, or even play with your cats when you're not with them, then this could help. once the device is connected to your home wi—fi, you can log in via the app anywhere you can get your phone online. there's a laser game to play, snacks at the tap of an icon, and a function to proudly make and share videos and cat snaps. this rather unusual—looking setup works in quite a similar way.

there's a camera so that you can see the cats remotely, also the ability to give them food wherever you are. plus this toy, which is apparently something that cats might like to play with. zara and roxie were possibly slightly intimidated by the jolting of the feathery thing, and the app was extremely temperamental, making set—up a rather tedious experience. the petpace smart collar has been around a little while now and is available for cats and dogs. it allows owners to keep an eye on temperature, pulse, breathing rate, heartrate variability, and even the positions the pet is in, so it could be particularly beneficial if there are health concerns or an injury to keep an eye on. meanwhile, there seems to be a game of cat—and—mouse

going on here, the latter played by a remote—controlled rodent. although it actually consists of the mouse chasing the cat, which probably says it all about my day's filming. that was lara with some pretty disinterested interviewees. you can't win them all. you know us, we'll report from wherever we find a good story, and there have been so many great ones, so many successful ones in africa this year. back injune, dan simmons went to tanzania to see the first stages of what could be a global revolution in education. we're travelling a long way from any town or city to visit some of the 200 children in tata village in northern tanzania. we are booting up the tablet, the first one.

the whole programme is in swahili so the local children can understand. i think they're going to need more tablets! tata is one of about 150 villages in tanzania chosen as the testbed for the global learning xpriz. within a few months, 4,000 tablets will be given out. the challenge — to teach 7 to 11—year—olds to read, write, and do maths over the next year. the most effective app will win $10 million. the prize here, though, will be much more valuable. older children can walk up to four hours to get to and from school, for younger ones like seven—year—old amina that is simply too far. she has been lucky, she is one of those who has been chosen to take part in the xpriz challenge. at the start she has not seen

a tablet before so she is not used to touching screens. when it comes to reading, she does not know more than one or two words in a sentence. butjohn, who was with the project, thinks the tablet will help her eventually to read fluently. the problem is that there are about 60 to 100 million kids who have no access to school, because school is too far. then you have 250 million more who go to school and leave without ever having learnt to read or write a word. these are kids in botswana, boston, brighton, it does not matter. kids go to school all over the world and they go and don't learn. why is that? that's the question we're trying to address. in our greatest desire, every single child on planet earth has access to a world—class education in the palm of her hand. we're hoping to be back next year to see how the teams get along, but for now it's time to say goodbye.

we've brought some biscuits to say thank you, and suddenly the difficulties the team will face when they arrive became clear. with just 20 or so tablets per village, there simply won't be enough for everyone to take part. to reduce potentialjealousy, the tablets will be locked to only run the educational software, but everyone wants one. a village mamma has been chosen to settle any dispute. and the scheme‘s partners, unesco, will be asking some other important questions about tablets too. we are doing assessment of the social and emotional impact of such learning, because we expect some criticism from that side. we are engaging with the psychologists, anthropologists, educationalists, to try to understand what does it do to the child? is it an option that is ethical because children go to school, they are socialised also, it's not only the cognitive learning, it's learning much more to be part of the group. it's just like back at home.

now they've all got tablets, they're not really talking to anybody. that was dan in tanzania. next, we're off to germany with kate, who's found an elevator that goes sideways. the picturesque town of rottweil, germany, home to fearsome dogs, chocolate box buildings and a 246—metre tower housing the tallest observation deck in germany. but this tower isn't just about great views. built by an elevator company thyssenkrupp, it has 12 lift shafts running inside it. one is used to transport passengers to the top, the others to test the latest in elevator technology. the inside area is in the core of the tower. only a few people really

have the chance to see what we have built and what is running there. an elevator without any ropes. this is revolutionary. instead of steel ropes, the cabin is carried by linear motors, it is the same tech that drives japan's bullet train. as well as eliminating the speed and height restrictions of today's technology, this allows passengers to travel sideways as well as up and down, just like willy wonka's fantastical elevator in charlie and the chocolate factory. behind the scenes, behind the car, we changed this exchanger 90 degrees. get prepared for the horizontal movement while people are entering and leaving. as soon as the doors close we can go sideways to the next shaft. and this is the most important thing that we come back to — a circulating system. so reinventing the paternoster.

using this circulating pattern means a lift shaft could hold ten or more cabins, much more efficient than the single up and down right that today's elevators are limited to. and this will only become more important when we start looking at elevators reaching perhaps 1,000 or more metres into the sky. that was kate going sideways! and so are we now. we're off to the place where china makes the world's tech, the city of shenzhen, where last month i got exclusive prelaunch access to see how a new smart phone is born. they make loads of different types of phones in this factory, so to keep the st a secret from all the other workers, everything happens behind the blue shroud of secrecy. are you ready?

thank you. come in. welcome to production line 27. the phone starts life as just a tiny camera there and it is gradually assembled around this u—shaped production line which means by the time it gets to the end it is a fully featured phone. just about there. this is the reason china has come to dominate electronics manufacturing, a ready supply of a disciplined, relatively low—cost workforce. each person here has one uniquejob which requires concentration, speed and precision. a single speck of dust caught in the camera lens and the finished phone will be rejected. what i found most surprising about this is it is all people. i would have thought with this kind of high precisionjob these phones

would have been built solely by machines, but it is pretty much all humans. this is where an unlucky few phones are pulled off the production line to check extreme tolerance. elsewhere, other test phones escape that big plunge, but instead are dropped 5,000 times each. others have their charging ports wiggled and buttons pressed 10,000 times. with the launch over, one class will nervously await the first reviews and more importantly, the advance orders. and they will decide whether these people will be joined by hundreds more or not. a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain there in china. and now it's time to leave earth entirely for a few minutes

to remember how the click crew explored the final frontier in vr. virtual reality game star trek bridge crew brings together up to four players, each taking a different role on the bridge of a starship. that's brilliant. incredible! 0h... oh my goodness, mark! we're warping everybody. wow! that's pretty, isn't it? wow. we don't have time for sightseeing though, as we receive a distress signal from a stricken vessel. my vessel has lost all power and our life support systems are nearly exhausted. ok, so engineering — can you transport the survivors back to here? i don't know.

laughter. it's at this moment that the action takes a turn which will appeal to star trek superfans. wow! it's a d51 cruiser. it's a klingon d5 cruiser. 0k, target it! target destroyed. it feels like it's social vr at its best, really. communication is a must. if you don't have it, you're not going to complete the mission. it's great for team building. i thought we actually had our lives on the line for a minute. a couple of sticky moments but i think we managed to keep it together as a crew and the result was a successful mission. now, one thing we love to do on click is to look at how things might change significantly in the future.

and one area that we think is about to pop onto the scene and possibly on to many people's plates is lab—grown meat. i'm talking burgers, steaks and fish. got a taste for it? back injuly, kat hawkins visited the cultured food capital, san francisco, to see what's cooking. i've come to this lab in the heart of silicon valley to visit impossible foods. they claim to have invented the food of the future — a completely meatless meat made entirely of plants. impossible foods found that the key ingredient that gives meat its characteristic irony taste is a molecule found in most living things and especially in animal muscle. luckily, it's also found in plants. so this is your magic ingredient right? your pla nt—based blood. right and it provides the explosion of flavour that you get,

it is the different between white meat chicken with a beef burger. the company has recently flipped the switch on its meatless meatpacking factory as it ramps up production. this will eventually make four million burgers a month, and the next aim is to move into chicken, pork and lamb. but it's one thing being a scientist who is enthralled by food tech and another to be a chef using the ingredients produced on your carefully crafted menu. i think we eat way too much meat in general, so it's a good way to be as close as possible to meat looks and tastes. the impossible burger is now the only one rocco has on his menu and he sells 250 of them a week. it seems like at this stage it might be a novelty for silicon valley diners with money to spend, but of course, as always, the true test is in the tasting. ok, it's about to happen. it's really good.

the texture is just like meat. it doesn't taste like mince beef. a little bit like mushrooms, but i know there is no mushrooms in there. what comes across talking to rocco though, is how important is for his customers that the flavour tastes close to meat while still being ethical. but what if you could serve up animal flesh without a single creature being harmed ? that's what several companies, including this small tech startup is working on. they plan to grow actual fish from stem cells. phyllis foods takes a small sample of cells from a real fish and cultures it up. 0ne cell can theoretically become one tonne of fish meat,

but they are not there yet. we'll be on the market in three years with products that are a new version of fish that people haven't had before and then in five to six years we'll have steaks and fillets, just like the fish you currently eat at a supermarket, just like the fish you normally see in the ocean. kat hawkins reporting back in the summer. now, from california to the netherlands where nick witnessed a dance with a new hologram effect. today choreographers and dancers of ndt are working with a new medium for artistic expression. they're taking two excerpts from a show called stop motion and are adapting it to include holographic projections. it's a really, bit treaty, almost an imax type experience. without the need for glasses, you know? every detail has been carefully crafted. they're projecting a fallen white

giant and dust onto a black back drop playing with the themes of light and dark and destruction. technology needs to embrace the art. but not by sticking out all by itself. it needs to help, it is like a glove to the art, to the expression. the holographic illusion is created with the help of two very high—end projectors and a special lightweight mesh screen. by playing out videos on the front mesh and back wall, it creates an optical illusion of 3—d depth. for the performers it's actually really good rig to work with, they can see the projections on the side while they are on stage performing. with other systems, you don't really get that same wall realistic. dancers into position, standby lighting and music, cue projection and action! music plays. applause.

after all that globetrotting, i have to say there is no place like home. there's no place like home. there's no place like... guards! yes, banks, voting systems and the nhs weren't the only ones to have been under attack in 2017. even in my own castle i had my hands full with this lot. we even lost our first guest on the show. sorry ken. and in 2018, we'll be going back into battle again, reporting from wherever we find the best technology from around the globe and home.

we will see you next year. hello there. a very happy new year to you. i have to tell you the start of 2018 is looking quite unsettled throughout this week with low pressure systems bringing spells of wet and windy weather to our shores and it's what we're going to see for new year's day. two areas of low pressure, one across the north is a vigorous one, moving through the channel and northern france. this one could potentially bring some damaging winds to central and northern france, but the wind and rain across the south should clear away as we head on towards the afternoon with an improvement here, but strong winds across northern ireland into south—west scotland nudging on into north wales and northern england. so there will be some

sunshine across south wales and into south—west england, across into the midlands and the south east of england too. with one or two showers mainly across the west and it will still be quite blustery, but we will have the sunshine to compensate, but temperatures in single figures so cooler than what it has been the last few days. across north wales and northern england and north—west england, blustery here, strong winds and plenty of showers, the same too for southern scotland and these will be falling wintry over the higher ground. now both areas of low pressure clear away as we head on towards the overnight period. a ridge of high pressure builds and so it means winds turn a little bit lighter, skies clearing as well, so it's going to turn quite chilly, particularly central and northern and eastern areas. further south and west, the temperatures will be coming up. that's because we've got the next area of low pressure moving in to bring us another spell of wet and windy weather. as it pushes into that cool air, we could see snow over the pennines and over the higher ground of scotland for a while, but eventually that weather front will clear away and behind it sunshine and showers.

some of these will be blustery and heavy across the west. a little bit milder across the south, 11 or 12 celsius, still chilly in the north. now, we're fairly concerned about this next area of low pressure which moves through tuesday night. it looks quite nasty and could bring a spell of gales or severe gales to central swathes of the uk. so you need to keep tuned to the forecast for this detail as it might change a little bit, but certainly on wednesday morning, it's going to be a blustery one. that area of low pressure clears away and then it leaves a windy day with gales and plenty of showers across western areas and some will be heavy, but sunshine in between. fairly mild in the south. again, chilly in the north. so you get the message. it's going to be an unsettled week ahead. areas of low pressure bringing wet and windy spells, but there will be some sunshine in between as well. good afternoon. air investigators in australia say it may take many months before they know why a seaplane carrying a prominent british businessman, and four members of his family, crashed on new year's eve.

richard cousins, who ran the catering giant compass, was killed along with his two sons, his fiance, her daughter and the pilot. phil mercer reports. the wreckage of the seaplane lies 13 metres below the surface of the hawkesbury river. one of the victims was the british businessman, richard cousins, the chief executive of the world's largest catering firm,