this is bbc news — our latest headlines. there is a new warning from health staff that the nhs in england is likely to face a "year—round crisis" as this winter's pressures extend into the summer. the director of public prosecutions, alison saunders, is to stand down in october. she has called any criticism to the crown prosecution service an "insult" to its staff. the m62 near bradford reopens after two men are killed when a car was driven on the wrong side of the road. one man has been arrested. china responds to president trump's import taxes on steel and aluminium by placing new tariffs on more than 120 us products. now on bbc news, click investigates facebook‘s data sharing practices. a lot has happened on facebook since you last logged in —

and that's an understatement. it's the week the world got a wake—up call. the row over facebook and the misuse of data... seeking a warrant to search the offices... a data firm, associated with the trump campaign has been suspended... we willingly let facebook, google and other companies access our personal data, and in return, they give us personalised services for free. it means our personal information is valuable to them, and for a long time now, we've wondered, just how valuable?

but ever since these companies started amassing our data, the clock has been ticking. in 2008, we showed you how you and your friends‘ facebook data could be accessed by a rogue facebook application without consent. in 2011, a researcher called michal kosinski warns that if computers could analyse enough facebook data from enough people, they could spot connections between the way you act online and your personality traits, the type of person you are. what's really world—changing about those algorithms is that they can take your music preferences or your book preferences and extract from this seemingly innocent information very accurate predictions about your religiosity, leadership potential, political views, personality, and so on. by having hundreds and hundreds of thousands of americans undertake this survey, we were able to form

a model to predict the personality of every single adult in the united states of america. by 2016, alexander nix was explaining how cambridge analytica could use this kind of research to find people of different personality types and target them with specific messages that might influence their behaviour. if you know the personality of the people you're targeting, you can nuance your messaging to resonate more effectively with those key audience groups, because it's personality that drives behaviour, and behaviour that obviously influences how you vote. soon afterwards, these techniques were used by two political campaigns that would rock the world. yes, your likes and dislikes, your comments and posts, your personal data, they are valuable. but it's what they say about you as a person,

that's where the real power lies. no—one knows exactly how much these techniques actually contributed to the results of the votes. one of the first researchers to ask the question was paul—0livier dehaye. he worked on an article at the end of 2016 which investigated what was happening, and this week he was here in london to give evidence to mps about the latest revelations. sitting alongside him in the commons select committee was cambridge analytica whistle—blower christopher wiley. and straight after the session, paul sat down with me. this isn'tjust about facebook and this isn't just about cambridge analytica, is it? this data collection and analysis has been going on for a long time and has been done by lots of people? right, so, in two ways, it's not just about those companies. facebook enables a lot more companies than just cambridge analytica to suck out data in similar ways.

so that's the first thing. and then facebook is just one player in a big ecosystem of online advertising, online profiling. some of the companies you have heard of, but some of them you just have no relationship with. even if you fully understand the terms and conditions that you're agreeing to about what data you're sharing, i don't think anyone really understood what could be inferred from the data, so not the list of your friends, not your likes and dislikes, but the things that you've never talked about that now they can tell from your digital footprint? yeah, it's really hard to understand the inference power of this data, what can be deduced from it, that's true, how people make decisions, basically, whether they think about the issue before making a decision or not. another way to say this is that they were trying to find gullible people. so, if you are able to do that, you can just make them, you know, buy into anything and any content. it's easy to believe that facebook managed to swing the us election, and managed to swing brexit,

it was only people on facebook who saw these ads that were targeted at them and then went out and possibly changed their vote. the is that what we're talking about, or are we talking about facebook just being used as a research tool that could then be applied to the community in many ways? whether people were individually convinced to vote differently, i don't personally believe that's how it happened. what i believe is that facebook itself could be manipulated using those techniques to make some content go viral that would affect public discourse. so they would steer the conversation, basically. and if you're able to do this, more or less, you know, automated, more or less in a repetitive fashion, then you have partly already won the election because you're steering the conversation around the election. and that's precisely the point that hillary clinton has been making again and again about

cambridge analytica, is their ability to steer the conversation onto specific topics, for examples e—mails — her own emails. and that had an impact — the fact that some content was re—shared widely during the election had an impact on editorial decisions made by classic media, more established media, which in turn had an impact on other people's opinions. paul says that even though facebook and google have recently allowed us to download everything that they have on us, it's not really everything. so, facebook can collect data of people who don't have facebook accounts? yeah, it's called shadow profiles. yeah. so, that practice, for instance, has been forbidden in belgium, where i am from. even people who do have an account are being tracked over the web, all over — that same information is collected about them. why can't they see it? why can't they see all the web pages that facebook knows they have visited before? making that transparent

will have a very dramatic effect, i think, in making people aware of how much tracking goes on. do you think that uk or eu regulation is strong enough when it comes to protecting our data? that's part of what i wanted to say in the committee. we have very strong regulations around personal data that are going to get stronger but it's completely useless and actually worse than not having them if we're not going to enforce them. they need to be enforced — that's the critical point where, currently, things are failing. why are they not being enforced? because the regulators currently see their role as balancing commercial interests with democratic interests around oversight of personal data, and that balancing they've done so far was wrong, simply wrong, too much on the side of commercial interests and not enough on the counterbalances, if you want. facebook‘s reputation and its wealth has taken a massive hit in the last couple of weeks, with $80 billion being wiped off its value.

so, can the recently announced new privacy tools help to restore confidence? is this the end for facebook? facebook can still adapt their ways, they can still change — they will have to, anyway, because of the regulation that's coming into force. it's an opportunity to reinvent themselves, if you want to say it this way. it's not just facebook and cambridge analytica which have been raising big questions about the future of tech. as you'll probably know, an uber self—driving test car hit and killed a pedestrian, a 49—year—old elaine herzberg in arizona on march 19. uber subsequently announced that it would indefinitely discontinue all of its other tests, but the accident leaves big questions about how the self—driving sector is to proceed. well, dave lee has met the boss of one of the other big self—driving frontrunners waymo to find out what this might mean.

i'd like to introduce to you all the world's first premium electric, fully self—driving car... you're looking at the i—pace — a fully electric, now self—driving vehicle. the sensors are engineered by waymo but the car is every inch a jaguar. waymo and jaguar land rover are going to work together to get 20,000 of these cars on the roads within the next two years. their eventual aim is 1 million self—driving trips every single day. so by the end of this year, we will have this driverless transportation service up and running in phoenix. folks will be able to use a waymo app to get from point a to point b, anywhere that they might want to go. so that will be anyone in the public?

that's right. and there won't be a safety driver behind the wheel? that's correct. how willing do you think people be tojump in a car without a driver behind the wheel? you know, if our experience so far in phoenix is any indication, a lot of people — more than we would be able to handle, quite frankly! man: self-driving. are you ready? oh, this is weird! what waymo is hoping to do with self—driving is coming years before most would have predicted. the company has been running tests with a select few customers and says it is having a profound effect on their lives. but the self—driving industry suffered a major, tragic setback when uber‘s self driving car struck 49—year—old elaine herzberg as she crossed the road with her bicycle. there are lots of questions being looked at by investigators — namely, why didn't the car, which should have been able to see in the dark, stop?

but even if the public is worried, it's clear that waymo, which has been working on this tech longer than uber, is still confident. it's very bold of you to do this launch so soon after a fatal crash in this sector. did that cross your mind at all when setting up this event? not really. our focus has always been on safety, it's how we founded this project more nine years ago at google — as the google self—driving car project. during that time, we have driven over 5 million miles autonomously on public roads in the us, testing in 25 different cities, we've exercised that software in over 5 billion miles of simulation. at any given time, we've got 25,000 cars driving around in simulation, making that software even stronger and better. but are you worried about the perception, maybe, in the wake of what happened to uber — i appreciate it's not the same company, of course, but the perception of self—driving took a real hit when that happened.

you know, we'll have to see, right? i think ourjob is just to get out there and be as transparent as we can with our technology. last fall, we published a 40—page safety report which meant to explain to the world how it is we think through all aspects of safety — again, it is ourfounding, foundational concept at waymo is to provide a very safe car for people. so, you know, we'll see. women speak italian. i'm feeling a bit peckish and i've got some gadgets to test but luckily, i can deal with both of those things here. thank you very much. so, how about a spot of italian food and some help from a few of the latest translation devices to see if i can order from the native italian speakers who work here in their first language? wish me luck! hello! oh, hello. right, excuse mejust a moment. first up are the google pixel buds.

now, these were released last year and as well as being a set of bluetooth ear buds, they also translate in real time. the thing is you do need to have a google pixel phone to make these plausible. help me speak italian. i'd like the mozzarella, tomato and avocado salad, please, but i don't eat garlic — is there any garlic in it? just waiting for the italian. computer speaks italian. speaks italian. and if you want to understand the response you get, it can be picked up your phone and translated into your ears, creating some sort of two—way conversation... there is no oil in the salad! so, they sound similar in italian, do they? yeah. the thing is, i feel rather silly talking with these... i think i would have felt more

comfortable just using google translate on my phone. these are totally wireless earplugs. the old one has been updated and it now has integration with third—party apps, which includes the one i'm about to use now. ok, i like the sound of the avocado buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, please, but can i check there is no garlic in it...? phone talks italian. perfect, thank you very much! could ijust have some tap water to drink, please? phone talks italian. i would like some water from the sink to drink, please? i can understand but it is not the proper translation!

the final device i'm going to test is travis the translator. you may wonder why you would want a stand—alone device when actually, your phone can do most of this, so do you need any earphones? certainly, do you need one of these? well, you can either put a sim card in it and it connects via wi—fi or you can connect it to your own personal hotspot. the company claims it can understand context better than phone apps in more languages as it calls upon data from many translation engines, including ibm, microsoft, and google. this is probably the most fiddly one i've ever used. fiddly keyboard i've ever used. i think it's time to try ordering the dessert! i like what is described on the menu as a traditional home—made italian favourite... device speaks italian.

of course, this has just been a brief demonstration of these devices and what they can do but i've tested them in a few different environments and so far, this one seems to have worked pretty well. the others as well, the translation has been ok, it's just been a little bit fiddly and awkward having something in my ears. and at many points, i've felt like i could just use my smartphone for this! thank you very much! that was lara. now, we haven't talked about virtual reality for a little while, but don't worry, it hasn't gone away. in fact, its effects are now being felt in popular culture with virtual worlds featuring prominently in tv shows like black mirror and the electric dreams sci—fi anthology. and now, vr is making a return to the big screen,

thanks to a hollywood legend. this is the oasis. ready player one explores a virtual world through the eyes of wade watts, an inhabitant of the stacks, a gigantic community of stacked motorhomes in columbus, ohio in a grim imagining of the year 2045. it is the latest sci—fi offering from hollywood legend steven spielberg. scraping by in a slum composed of old caravans and shipping containers is such an unpleasant existence that most of the characters in the movie choose to shun the real world, creating avatars for themselves and spending most of their time in the virtual reality called the oasis. wade is searching for three keys left by mark rylance‘s deceased creator of the oasis,

james halliday. these keys will turn over control of the virtual world to whoever finds them. wade and his gang are not alone in their quest — an evil corporation is also searching for the keys so that it can take over the oasis and exploit its user base. tech companies exploiting their users? ridiculous! what could be further from reality?! virtual or otherwise? does the movie tell us anything about the way we live now? obviously, in the film, everybody spends their time inside a virtual, online world, and now we get people spending a lot of time on social media and that kind of thing, so that is there something to take away? in the oasis, they are limited to their imagination and in our world now, it is right at your fingertips. you can choose to be immersed in a digital screen or you can choose to engage in reality.

and i think this film is going to resonate because it explores themes that are really present in our world today. the movie is split between the real and virtual world and the cast engaged in extensive performance capture to create their virtual alter egos. i build worlds... the two of us had never performed using that medium. you are completely operating in your own imagination. you don't have a costume, you don't have hair and make—up and so your avatar encapsulates a certain swagger and confidence because you are completely using your own imagination and you are being playful. the movie is based on the hugely popular book by the same name, penned by the author who also co—wrote the screenplay. is it a cautionary tale or a celebration of virtual reality? for me, it serves as an allegory for the internet which i think

is the most powerful communication tool that we've ever devised. it connects all of us and also somehow isolates us as well. i always thought of it as the opposite of the matrix. as opposed to machines enslaving us, we would create a virtual world and then willingly escape into it. it's easy to see how the real world and the needs of the real—world would be neglected if we had something like this. so, for me, it's a fun adventure that kind of shows the potential of this technology, but also the pitfalls of it. i'm a dreamer... the book has had a massive influence on a lot of people because it references so many other things that they love, like the movie back to the future, there's a lot of video game references as well, these are things that his audience already feel quite nostalgic about and can have an emotional reaction to already.

so, that really embedded the book within that feeling of nostalgia. but the tech featured in the film is not as sci—fi as you might think. it is set in 2045 but we're actually seeing the starting versions of a lot of the technologies that you see in the film or read about in the book already — things like the suits and the controllers and the vr headset, looking very much like something you could get today. for example, the suit provides false feedback and can simulate like physical sensation and even pain via tiny electrical pulses. and cutting cables out of the equation, htc is working on a wireless adapter for its own headset. there's a host of lower end via headsets used by mobile phones vr headsets used by mobile phones but one is about to be launched which is a self—contained device which doesn't need a computer. i think the technology maybe isn't quite there yet, you've still got the problem of cables on a lot of headsets or you have to make the trade off and get a mobile version,

in which case the quality is not so good. one solution to the problems of the kit is to let somebody else set it up for you. that's where vr arcades comes in. i think we're going to be seeing more of these arcades, live vr experiences, like the void, which is an experience, you can go with friends and it is a prepared room, environment, especially for that experience, kind of like going to a movie 01’ an escape room 01’ some interactive theatre, i think that will become more popular and widespread. here at game box in south london, the virtual reality is combined with a pub to give a social vr experience which makes use of a harness rig to make sure players don't injure themselves if they have had one pint too many. collaborative games rely on teamwork to solve simple tasks. it also illustrates the potential of more social vr experiences. man down!

failing that, you could just try to shoot your opponents in zero g shooter sky front. and the brains behind this outfit are going to use this game to launch the world's first inter—pub vr tournament. it's going to be between london and brighton, and there are going to be teams from both sides competing against each other. the pub that wins overall, they're going to win a happy hour for the whole pub! so, the tech isn't so far—fetched after all! but whether it's a frightening vision of an online future or an all action pop culture mash up, it's alljust a matter of perspective! how about an entire movie in vr next time, mr spielberg?! that's it from us for this week. don't forget we live on facebook and on twitter, thank you very much the watching and we will see you soon. hello southall there are many faces

to their sister monday with some sunshine in the northern isles of scotland, some cloud and rain across england and wales and sandwiched in between, some snow and all this was north yorkshire and there is more to come during the day, courtesy of this system which is bringing in some cold air. the rain that we have been seeing across southern england will start to ease off but snow is the concern for the hills of

northern ireland, northern england and into central and southern scotland. some tricky travelling conditions are possible. further south rain will start to ease but behind it there will be some possibly thundery showers of. snow is the concern over the hills of northern ireland and much of northern england, extending up into scotland. over the tops of the hills there could be up to 15 centimetres of snow. but there is a fine line between the mild air and the colder air. that snow will turn increasingly to rain and parts of cumbria might not see as much snow as others. through the central belt of scotla nd as others. through the central belt of scotland there is likely to be some significant snow this afternoon. quite mild, 10—14dc. just 5-6 afternoon. quite mild, 10—14dc. just 5—6 for scotland. clearing from northern ireland and behind it, much of northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england, it is a mild night. some ice and you can see the

contrast in the temperatures as we go through tuesday, with milder conditions trying to nudge northwards but never quite getting to the far north of scotland, so it is here that we will still have a chance of more snow tomorrow. further south it will be showers and persistent rain across northern ireland and southern parts of scotland. further south, 10—14dc. low pressure is still close by as we go into wednesday and it is doing to stay unsettled. this area of low pressure will churn up quite a few showers of. they could well be heavy and thundery on wednesday. still the potential for some snow in the far north of scotland. but in the sunshine across england and wales, there could be highs of around ten—13 celsius, and those temperatures starting to climb by the end of the week. this is bbc news. i'm julian worricker.

the headlines: doctors warn the nhs is facing a year round crisis — with claims the pressures of winter look set to continue over the summer this is a congested system, a result of chronic lack of resources, lack of chronic lack of resources, lack of doctors, of nhs staff, nurses, a lack of beds, of social care, and it's now just, you lack of beds, of social care, and it's nowjust, you know, hit a head. the director of public prosecutions, alison saunders, will stand down in october after a series of recent controversies the m62 — near bradford — re—opens after a crash which killed two people. a man has been arrested. china hits back at us trade tariffs with new import taxes worth over two billion pounds... us pork, nuts and wine are among the products hit — as beijing responds to president trump's duties on steel and aluminium.