north korea has except that the south korean government's proposal for high—level talks. —— accepted. they will be in the demilitarise own which separates the two countries on tuesday. it will be the first time the two nations have met in two yea rs. the two nations have met in two years. north americans are reeling from powerful weather. a severe drop in air pressure triggered a powerful blizzard which has battered the north—east of the us and canada, knocking out electricity for tens of thousands and leaving 17 dead. the publisher of a book about donald trump's white house has brought forward its publication date despite attem pts forward its publication date despite atte m pts by forward its publication date despite attempts by the president's lawyer to block its release. michael wolff's fire and fury tributes damaging remarks to former chon strategic steve bannon. —— attributes damaging remarks to former trump strategic. —— strategist. now it is time for click. 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. 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 of 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 this several companies, inlcuding 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.

the wet and windy weather that we've seen to start 2018 should be easing away. much quieter weather towards the weekend. this is how we ended the day on thursday in stevenage. clear spells, a bit of cloud and fairly heavy showers that have been moving west to east overnight. they will tend to ease from the south—east on friday. still pretty windy in south—western parts of the country. further north we have still got lingering rain and hill snow in many eastern parts of scotland. so snow accumulating here. not a bad start in northern ireland. chilly first thing, with frost and fog patches. a similar picture into the south—west scotland and northern england. further south into england and wales, there will be cloud with outbreaks of rain through the midlands and towards the south—east on friday it should be generally

fine dry and fine. further spells of showery rain into the south—west of england and wales. still strong and gusty winds, but they won't be as strong as the winds we've had on thursday. further north, less windy and more sunshine into the midlands, north wales, northern england. temperatures between 4—9 degrees. a touch cooler than recent days. that cooling trend continues through into the weekend. we've got this north—easterly wind, bringing further snow showers temperatures dropping to close to freezing in towns and cities by first thing saturday. colder in the countryside. slightly milder, with frost and fog further south. the weekend is dominated by the fact that we've got high pressure building and the wind coming in from the north—easterly direction. through saturday the cold northerly wind will bring more sunshine in scotland, northern england and northern ireland. further south across central, southern england and wales, still cloudy, with a few spots of rain here. highs of 2—7 degrees, so temperatures are dipping.

on saturday night we have some cold conditions developing a with clear skies and light winds. perhaps the odd wintry showers around exposed coasts. for most of us it will be a cold and frosty start on saturday. freezing across many northern and western parts in particular. so, high pressure keeps hold of our weather through the second part of the weekend. so for many of us sunday should be a fine day. much lighter winds than we've had after the cold and frosty start. plenty of sunshine developing. top temperatures between freezing and about seven degrees or so. the colder, wintry theme continues into monday, but most of us should see plenty of sunshine to compensate for the colder weather. bye for now. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: north korea accepts south korea's offer of high—level talks in the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries on tuesday.

publish and be damned. the book which describes a paranoid president and a white house in chaos is being released on friday, despite attempts by donald trump's lawyers to block it. it's being called a "bomb cyclone," a powerful blizzard that's battered north america — leaving at least 17 dead and knocking out power for thousands of people. and we've an exclusive report from inside the battle for yemen , where war has driven millions to the brink of starvation.