was behind last week's suspected chemical attack in eastern ghouta and russia did nothing to stop it. russia has accused britain of staging the attack as a provocation — a claim that has been strongly denied by the government in london. the un secretary general has warned that increasing tension over syria threatens to lead the world to a full—blown military confrontation. addressing the security council in new york, he said the cold war was "back with a vengeance" and there was a risk of events spiralling out of control. president trump has launched a ferocious tirade against the man he sacked as director of the fbi, describing him as "an untruthful slime ball". the outburst on twitter came hours after publication of the first extracts ofjames comey‘s memoirs, in which he compares mr trump to a mafia boss. now on bbc news, it's time for click. old mckelly had a farm and on his

time he had a robot trucks, a flower picker and it looks like we are taking ona picker and it looks like we are taking on a new member of the team! if i'm honest, i'm as comfortable on a realfarm as a cow if i'm honest, i'm as comfortable on a real farm as a cow would be if i'm honest, i'm as comfortable on a realfarm as a cow would be in a data farm but i'm here to see a world first. as farming gets more automated, it may not come as a surprise to know that many modern tractors will drive autonomously in a straight line. nearly all of them,

though, need a human operator to turn the corners and generally be the brains of the operation. what is interesting is that in this one field in shropshire in the heart of england, every single stage of the farming cycle, from preparing the soil to harvesting crops, is automated. welcome to the hands—free hectare. the research is at harper adams university, along with agricultural engineers, have already completed a whole year of selling, growing and harvesting spring barley. all using autonomous machinery and without a single human touch in the crops. —— sowing and to made them autonomous? it looks like you have had a go yourself. everything we have used is off the shelf, you can buy it yourself, and it resolves around the water source autopilot, and we have had to adapt

the tractors manual controls with motors and actuators. and we will come back to the hands—free hectare inafew come back to the hands—free hectare in a few minutes. these machines have an advantage over farmers because you don't need as many people operating or supervising them and of course farming automation is happening across the board. last week we saw a pepper picking robot in australia. and as brexit threatens to cut down the number of people available to work on the land, this could become increasing —— increasingly important. now we go to the netherlands to look at more development in automated picking. selective harvesting of delicate crops like strawberries, mushrooms and crops like strawberries, mushrooms a nd flowers crops like strawberries, mushrooms and flowers is physical and repetitive work. the crops are easily damaged, resulting in financial losses to farmers. traditionally these industries have attracted migrant workers but with standards of living rising across the globe, the work is not as attractive as it once was. leading

some farmers to consider how robots could fill in the gaps. many countries around the world are facing a labour shortage of harvesting crops including here in the netherlands which has the world's largest elliott of agricultural exports. the largest exporter of cut flowers. but our robots really ready to pick up a slack from human workers? at this university, richo should think so. they are working on all kinds of problems in the fruit and vegetable supply plane, from testing firmness of fruit to manual handling. firmness is usually tested by hand, by physically cutting the fruit and sticking a probe in it. it is a labour—intensive process and the fruit is left damaged and cannot be sold. researchers think robots will provide a more accurate and hygienic solution that is not damage the fruit. it is a funny robot, right? it isa fruit. it is a funny robot, right?

it is a prototype for fruit inspection. how does it do that? with microscopes. he is happy with the apples. he is, look how happy he is. will he go for a pear next? he decides, he is autonomous robot. the key breakthrough will be getting these machines to work faster than humans and in a commercial setting. robots are already at work in the greenhouses here. these machines can autonomously plant greenhouses here. these machines can autonomously pla nt 2400— greenhouses here. these machines can autonomously plant 2400— 2600 cuttings and our compare to a human working and are still oppressive 1400 in working and are still oppressive m00 in power. it recognises the top and bottom of the cutting and even shakes the conveyor belt to free them if the camera cannot get a good look. the only jobs them if the camera cannot get a good look. the onlyjobs left for the workers here are scuttling the

cuttings on the machine and quality control of the finished product. so before, how many human workers did you have on the light? this with his capacity, 12 people needs to be ceding manually. and now you have how many? two. fewer people does not mean how many? two. fewer people does not m ea n less how many? two. fewer people does not mean less work can be done. at the end of the game, you can work 2a hours of the day, you could save, let's say, 50% of your labour cost. there are many aspects which is going to help the total process. i believe and i am convinced this is just the start. and absolutely, this will replace the human being. bringing autonomous picking robots beyond prototypes to actually working in the field has been an immense challenge. but dutch company serscon is ready to sell its white asparagus harvesting prototypes.

white asparagus are more expensive than the green variety. it grows under the ground to stay white, they need to be picked before seeing any sunlight. we actually inject an electrical signal into the ground and we have these sensors which dig through the soil and when they approach the asparagus that actually pick up the signal and the closer you get to the asparagus, a stronger signal gets and when it is above a certain threshold or very close, we immediately pull back centre and then we know where it is. the asparagus is actually conducting electrically the signal because there is a lot of water in there so basically the difference between water content of the asparagus and the sand, that makes the difference how we detect the asparagus. the sand, that makes the difference how we detect the asparagusm the sand, that makes the difference how we detect the asparagus. it says the three rue version of the machine can replace up to 70 manual and workers. if this machine more efficient than a human? yes, yes,

enormous, much more, and also you have a backer for better quality asparagus because otherwise they cannot flower and we have less surface damage and that the current rate of manual harvesting, we lose 30% of the crops, the service is damaged, out with our machine we think we bring it back to 10— 15%. we are seeing the race to develop these robots for market celebrating around the world. this is the agrobot. it is being trialled in a pirie field. farmers are extra rent over the technology also, there are fears about the availability of migrant workers post excerpt. fears about the availability of migrant workers post excerptlj understand how an indigenous population like country may be relu cta nt to population like country may be reluctant to have a career in hand picking strawberries. and so, it tends to be done by migrant labourer. the access issues with that with brexit and the like and we

are keen to maintain as a farming industry good access to the labour board but at the moment, we can see that in 5— 10— board but at the moment, we can see that in 5- 10- 15 board but at the moment, we can see that in 5— 10— 15 years time, we may have technology whereby this work could be done by robots. a lot of work is being done to try and solve the labour crisis in selective harvesting with robots. perhaps one day farms will look more like car plant assembly lines and humans picking fruit, vegetables and flowers will become a distant memory. that was jen flowers will become a distant memory. that wasjen in the netherlands. back at the hands—free hectare in shropshire, little autonomous tractor is making its way across the field. this is footage from a proof of concept project in automated sustainable farming. which means looking after the environment at the same time as growing enough food to meet the demands of the population that could reach nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050. but why have they chosen to use a

smaller tracked as instead of the giant modern ones which can cover much larger areas? all of the benefits of the big tractors, the rot also problems and one main problem is the weight of those tractors and it is to be a lot of damage to the soil and that is essentially the squishing and the removal of structure from the soil which makes a very hard for plants to grow. so we see the solution is the one by driving the big truck to them becomes like a swarm or a fleet manager of these smaller autonomous machines. back in the field ijoined kit franklin in a cold cramped control heart. what are we looking at? this is the information from the truck, so this is the position, where it has got to, and you can see it meeting the weight point, turning... as well as not compacting the soil, there is another advantage to using smaller vehicles, small sprayers allow for precision farming. now, that means being able to deliver the right fertilisers and

pesticides only to the plants that need it. when you blanket spread, a lot of the spray is and hitting the target, it is hitting the soil and going into the environment is with a smaller robotic system when you aim to be much more precise and put targeted input, we only target the plant itself, we can drop the chemical used by 80% upwards, depending on who is controlling it. but how do you know which crops need special attention? part of the deal with precision farming is knowing exactly what part of your field need what kind of treatment. now that is usually done by eye. you would come and look at the crops and the state of the soil, you may even dig up a few sa m ples of the soil, you may even dig up a few samples and from that, work out what you need to spray wear. here, even that part is automated. drones fly autonomously between waypoints, capturing pictures of the field with

specially adapted cameras. we are looking at multispectral images, looking at multispectral images, looking at multispectral images, looking at infrared types of the spectrum. under infrared plants give away a lot. you can look at disease stress, nutrient stress, things like that. and even though you would need a fleet of smaller tracked as do the work of one big tractor, each would cost a fraction of the big beast. 0ur machine we are using in the field, i could sell you with some profit of £110,000. you could have multiple of my robot tractors, my autonomous tractors, for the price of your one very large tractor that currently may be running. a fillip in some kind of car sales showroom at the moment, i will have five, please! hello and welcome to the week in tech. it was of course the week in tech. it was of course the week dominated by mark zuckerberg's

apologise a thon in washington. we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm. sporty came out on top of big questions remain, meanwhile, meme makers have been working overtime mocking his performance at a conference grilling. it was the week just to control specialists revealed its latest project. virtual wearable interfaces. you will need an augmented reality headsets do to bring the digital text to life. uber acquired 12,000 dubious bikes across 40 cities worldwide. and hackers remove 02's most watched video, and defaced videos by big—name acts. the clips are now back online as normal. google's artificial intelligence at deepmind have been training at a guide to navigate naturally through

city streets like a human using street view, it explores it is as if it is on foot, virtually forced. the softwa re it is on foot, virtually forced. the software could help self driving ca rs software could help self driving cars get around areas with rubbish maps. an escalator manufacturer has launched what it is claiming is the most boring virtual reality experience in the world. a never ending journey on one of its escalators. somebody gets paid to think of this stuff, you know! it was my mistake and i'm sorry. yes, this is the way that facebook faced the music as mark zuckerberg was called to congress to answer tough questions about his company's treatment of its users because personal information., well that was the plan, but the senators questioned did not so much exposes of about‘s laws as they did their own lack of technical understanding. there will always be a version of

facebook that is free. critics complained that because the whole theory big data is so hard to get your head around, the hard questions we re your head around, the hard questions were not asked. but leases are managed to cut the of the matter. would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you've stayed in last night. um... um, no. you are following facebook users even after they've logged off that platform and application. congressmen, that's right, that we understand, in order to show which of yourfriends... understand, in order to show which of your friends. .. server people who do not even have facebook, i don't think the average person understands that several people. this story has a long way to run yet. good silicon valley‘s you that technology is a lwa ys valley‘s you that technology is always a force for good be dealt a fatal blow? jamie bartlett is a long—time friend of click, and in his book, the people versus tech, he

argues that technology is slowly but surely it away at society. here is to explain. good evening comedy social media giant facebook is under growing pressure to explain the measures it is taking to secure the personal data of its 2 billion users worldwide. the revelations about cambridge analytica and facebook have shocked the world, but this ru ns have shocked the world, but this runs a have shocked the world, but this runsafar have shocked the world, but this runs a far deeper. it is just one example of a grand struggle taking place every day between modern technology and our democracy. strong and stable leadership, this country needs. you are not credible. jermey, jermey... needs. you are not credible. jermey, jermey. .. the best in education, the best in health. the recent anti-gun movement in florida of course demonstrates how modern technology can be billing for democracy. it allows people to organise themselves, to have access to new

forms of information, and get involved in politics. however, because of some of these very visible benefits, i think it has blinded us to the deeper ways that digital technology is slowly pulling democracy apart. there's a problem of compatibility. see, our democracies are rolled. they were designed for an analogue h —— are old. there are rules and institutions like free elections, a vibrant press, informed citizens that keep the whole thing working. but now there's a new game in town. digital technology. and it runs according to very different rules, if's decentralised, it is hard to control, its data lead, and it im proves control, its data lead, and it improves at incredible speed. think

about it, our elections have rules to make sure that citizens have access to the same information. that's cowie thrash out the public issues of the day and make sure that what the candidates say is mostly accurate —— that's cowie. but now, with big data analysis and micro— targeting, we can build our very detailed profiles of individuals and politicians can target them with highly personalised messages. this allows politicians to exploit our psychological vulnerabilities at an industrial scale and in a way that regulators can't easily see. if's out with the old public sphere of this shared information and in with a brilliant private spheres. pretty soon, politicians will be able to send a million private as messages toa send a million private as messages to a million people. and how do we keep politicians to account if

everyone's getting a different message? and do you know how much worse this could get? they can extra ct worse this could get? they can extract from this seemingly innocent information very accurate predictions about your religiosity, leadership let —— leadership dental, medical views. one leadership let —— leadership dental, medicalviews. one day leadership let —— leadership dental, medical views. one day soon your fridge will know everything about your diet, will know whatjourneys your diet, will know whatjourneys you have been on, your home assistant will know your mood because of the tone of your voice. and she will be getting messages based on all of that date. and that will open up a whole new world of possible mutilation —— and you will be getting messages based on that data. it is us to. democracies need informed citizens to have a shared sense of reality. but we are now overwhelmed with information, facts, and claims, and misinformation and propaganda. and it is allowing us to create our own versions propaganda. and it is allowing us to create our own versions of reality. that's making us more angry and far less likely to compromise with each other. in the end, there can only be

one winner of this grand struggle, either tech will destroy democracy and the social order as we know it, all politics will stamp its authority and control over the digital revolution. 0n the current track, technology is winning. and u nless track, technology is winning. and unless things change democracy will be washed away, just like communism orfeudalism or be washed away, just like communism or feudalism or absolute monarch before it. as a system that worked for a while, but then couldn't upgrade when the technology around it changed. that was jamie bartlett on the people versus tech. blimey, i think we need something more uplifting after that. 0ver think we need something more uplifting after that. over the years we have looked at some incredible technologies that help people with disabilities to gain more independence and a better quality of life. at next, kate russell has had first—hand experience of the impacts ofa simple

first—hand experience of the impacts of a simple app on a family devastated by a chromosome disorder that has robbed a young boy of his voice. most children start speaking their first words in the second year of life. people take it for granted that that until it doesn't happen. -- until it that that until it doesn't happen. —— until it doesn't happen. i'd travelled to the south of england to meet bastian pons and find out more about the impact this can have on a family. bastion has dylan mcdermott syndrome, it affects only 1500 people worldwide and is a missing or mutated chromosome the resulting global development delay. in his case this includes the absence of speech. although he cannot talk you understand some of what is said. he is using charitable to express basic needs and wants in reply.|j

is using charitable to express basic needs and wants in reply. i want blackcurrant. therapy box is the company behind the app. blackcurrant. therapy box is the company behind the applj blackcurrant. therapy box is the company behind the app. i am a speech and language therapist by trade and have worked in the nhs and networked with a lot of people and have seen how if they don't have the right tools to communicate that they are restricted and not able to reach their potential. we use fotis, for example, of the child's environment to support their communication. it might bea to support their communication. it might be a picture of their classroom or at home or pages that are more like greves so they have an arrangement like symbols that they can arrangement like symbols that they ca n press arrangement like symbols that they can press to make a sentence —— grid g reves. can press to make a sentence —— grid greves. 0ver can press to make a sentence —— grid greves. over 300,000 people in the uk have speech disabilities that could benefit from these communication techniques. the transport app itself is so versatile

for the technology. if you see here, thatis for the technology. if you see here, that is an old communication book. it is stickers with the symbols on them. but this is so limited... so this is what he used to use. and then he shows it to me. what does that say? cars. he is signing it to you as well. to move on from that, to do it on the ipad is absolutely brilliant, because it is unlimited, you can have as many symbols as you like. what has been the effect on him of having a little bit more independence and also on the rest of the family? i described it as being a miracle. that is what it feels like. it has given him a boys. without me getting really upsets... something that upsets me is that i will never hear him say i love you, mummy. 0r will never hear him say i love you, mummy. or call me mummy. i am getting really emotional. maybe with the app he might be able to.

getting really emotional. maybe with the app he might be able tom getting really emotional. maybe with the app he might be able to. it is clear this technology is making a huge difference for bastian at home. and it will grow with him with educational tools and analytics to help develop language, reading, and writing. there is also a visual timetable so he might one day be able to take more control over his daily life. at £99 per user it is a lot of money, but the app will evolve with him and the developers promise ongoing support and updates for users. they also told as they are dropping the price to just £1 soon, which will make a great difference to many families. what do you think it would have been like dealing with his condition without the technology? it does not even bear thinking about. it is his communication, enjoyment to him, downtime, he watches tv when he goes to bed, the show ‘s help in wind down. it is everything to him. highfive! down. it is everything to him. high five! yeah. brilliant. that is

kate russell. don't forget, we live on facebook and twitter, bbc click. you can tune in any tiny fancy. thanks for watching. we will see you soon. “— thanks for watching. we will see you soon. —— any time that you fancy. well, we've got some big changes on the way on the weather front. in the short term it's still cloudy and you might need the brolly across the course of the weekend. let's summarise the weekend. warming up, particularly in the south, plenty of bright weather around this weekend, at times we will need our umbrellas. after the weekend, that is when we see the really big change. just a quick outlook now for the next few days. a kink in the jet stream here diving south and then back north again on this side of the atlantic means all that warm air in the southern climes here, from spain and portugal and france,

will be pushed in our direction and we will start to see those temperatures climbing, probably peaking in the middle of the week as they reach around 24 degrees across the southern half of the uk, into the low 20s further north. but that's next week. in the short term, saturday morning for many of us will start fairly cloudy. brighter weather developing later on. here are the early hours of saturday, then. quite a lot of cloud across the uk. mist and fog patches around as well. it's dry. temperatures around six degrees in edinburgh. seven degrees also on the south coast. whether you're in the north or south it will not make an awful lot of difference. as we go through saturday morning lots of that cloud will be breaking up. lots of bright if not sunny weather will develop. there is a chance of one or two showers drifting out of france and affecting south—eastern areas, but you're unlikely to catch them. temperatures comfortably getting up to about 18 degrees in the south—east.

a big difference on the north sea coast. it has been cold and cloudy over the last few days. those temperatures will be rising. how about the grand national? temperatures getting to about 14 at aintree, with partly cloudy skies. as we head into the second half of the weekend, that's when the change comes in. low pressure will briefly upset the weather across western areas of the uk. stronger winds here. a little bit of rain. certainly cloud at the very least. that's that rain on sunday morning affecting south—western parts of england, into wales. a few showers further east and in central parts of the country as well. probably the best of the weather in the north and the north—east of scotland. relatively warm winds coming in, maybe a bit of a dip from saturday, but not an awful lot. 15—16 celsius. as we head into next week, those temperatures keep climbing. 20 degrees in edinburgh, and in london, quite possibly 24 celsius. have a great weekend. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories:

the united states says it has clear proof the syrian government was to blame for last week's gas attack. as the us, france and britain discuss a military response — the un boss warns that the cold war is "back with a vengeance". the situation in the middle east is in chaos. to such an extent, it has become a threat to international peace and security. with the former head of the fbi about to publish his memoirs — president trump calls him "an untruthful slimeball". another reason to lose weight — new research shows one in eight britons could be suffering from fatty liver disease.