you're watching bbc news at 9 with me, — the headlines: a giant leap into space for china. it makes history by successfully landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. apple says it's been caught off—guard by china's slowing economy. two people are arrested in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the channel into the uk illegally. the environment secretary says brexit will give farmers a "world of opportunity", and says robots will play a part too. for the first time, the uk's gaming market is worth more than both music and video combined. pep guardiola's manchester city prepares to take onjurgen klopp‘s liverpool tonight in the biggest game of the premier league so far. good morning — and welcome to the bbc news at 9.

china has made history by successfully landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the country's state media has described the landing as ‘a major milestone in space exploration.‘ the chang'e—li spacecraft touched down in the south pole—aitken basin, the unmanned probes is cutting instruments which will explore the regions geology and carry out biological experiments. our beijing correspondent john sudworth says china had kept the news of the mission very quiet. very little in the way of a preview, almost a media blackout ahead of this landing attempt. we know the spacecraft was launched in early december, we knew that this planned

mission was under way but almost everything we've known about the actual landing attempt and the likely window has come from observers outside china looking at the orbit around the moon, the craft has been in elliptical orbit pattern the last few days, at its closest pointjust the last few days, at its closest point just 15 kilometres the last few days, at its closest pointjust 15 kilometres above the landing site so it looked imminent but there is nothing in chinese media which gives you a sense of not just the science, the scientific importance of this mission but also the political and propaganda importance of success. joining me via webcam from sydney is australia's astronomer—at—large, fred watson. thank you for being with us, chinese state media describing this as a major milestone in space exploration, how significant is it? it's not an overestimate, another

statement, to say that. the first time the spacecraft has landed on the far side of the moon, its difficult terrain to land in partly because there is no direct radio communication with that side of the moon, the mint itself is in the way. but also the far side of the moon is more mountainous than the nearside so we more mountainous than the nearside so we don't have these huge flat areas that have been the province of landers to date. it is not without its challenges partly because of the comms blackout which is the result of being on the wrong side of the men essentially? that's right, the chinese have cleverly circumvented that problem, they send a spacecraft toa that problem, they send a spacecraft to a position that is about 20,000 kilometres beyond the moon but they can kilometres beyond the moon but they ca n allow kilometres beyond the moon but they can allow that spacecraft to go actually into orbit around an imaginary stable point. it's remarkable technology, it means that

it can always see the earth and the lander at the same time, it acts as a relay station, a very nice strategy on the part of the chinese space agency. it's worth seeing the chinese are rather late to the space race, what are their ambitions now do you think? kind off to go all the way, they have their eyes on human space flight, they have already had two mac space stations in orbit around the earth and this series of missions are designed to pave the way for chinese astronauts to walk on the lunar surface and i think that will probably happen certainly within the next ten years. then i think they have their sights on using the moon as a staging post to

send astronauts to mars. it's seen as part of a large strategic space programme on the part of the chinese. fascinating stuff, thank you for your time. apple, one of the worlds most valuable companies, says its earnings for the last three months of 2018 will be about four billion pounds less than expected, it said it had not expected the magnitudes of the fall in china. we sort of knew this was coming but we see apple as a life and it's taking a bit ofa see apple as a life and it's taking a bit of a hit. this is the first time in15 years a bit of a hit. this is the first time in 15 years it's had two war about its trading, people are used to itsjuggernaut trading in one direction. the news was broken last night ina direction. the news was broken last night in a letter to shareholders and it was said in the last three months of last year revenue will come in the $5 billion, less than

expected. he gave a whole bunch of reasons but mainly the slowdown in china, and he mentioned the trump trade war with china is one of the things. apple has faced a lot of criticism at being a bit late to wa ke criticism at being a bit late to wake up to the reality of this because if you look at the share price, last year talking about it being the first ever company to have a$1 being the first ever company to have a $1 trillion market capitalisation, it's come off, in the last few months of last year it's down to 750 billion sole shareholders new that actually apple's trade was weakening and it seems the company has been a bit late to say this was the reality of the trading position. they have said this is the chinese slowdown which has contributed to this, some commentators say are they making china a bit of a scapegoat, is there more at play? there is no doubt china is the biggest market for mobile phones, it slipped right

back, it was second but is now about fourth or fifth. but iphones are expensive, the most expensive on the market generally and the chinese consumer, this is evidence the chinese consumer is feeling quite pinched, retail sales are quite low in china, eight part of wider fears that the chinese economy is starting to slow down and that has been what has been happening in the world stock markets where people are worried about world economic growth asa worried about world economic growth as a whole slowing down and china leading the way into that. will we see a change in apple's strategy, the iphone was a huge cash cow, saturated and handsets are expensive, people are not buying them in quite the same way, they have diversified with the watch, will we see more change? attention was drawn to the fact that the services part of the business, itunes and add—on sales they can provide grew by 10% last year so

that's going really quickly but a lot of investors think about apple as innovation, days of steve jobs and new products but that does not seem to be much sign of that at the moment. will be watching that, thank you dominic. the nhs is to receive £420 million in funding to help it cope with the pressures of winter. the money will be used to upgrade wards and a&e departments, more ambulances, and improve social care packages. the announcement comes as health bosses called on the public to support them by using alternatives to a&e fo minor illnesses and injuries. health and social care minister stephen hammond gave more details about the funding. we are going to provide three crucial things, hundred and 45 million has already been spent in emergency departments up and down the country in 81 hospitals providing extra facilities to treat people. 240 million being spent on social care packages with local authorities which means tens of

thousands of more people will be able to be seen at home and 36 million on about 200 extra ambulances which will be in place by the end of february, some of which are already in place. stephen hammond. a british man and an iranian national have been arrested in manchester on suspicion of arranging the illegal movement of migrants across the english channel. the home secretary sajid javid has asked for the royal navy to help deal with the crossings. more than 200 people have reached the uk in small boats since november. 0ur correspondent ben ando has more. a major incident is how the home secretary, sajid javid, has described the increase in numbers of those crossing the english channel in small boats. he went to dover to see the work being done by the border force and was taken on board one of its patrol boats. though in the last 48 hours, there have been no more reports of migrant crossings. most of those attempting the journey from france are aiming at the 200 or so miles of kent coastline. patrolling this is a hugejob.

mrjavid has recalled two more border force boats from the mediterranean where they've been assisting, and now wants the royal navy tojoin in. in a statement, the ministry of defence confirmed it's ready to help out. one source is quoted as saying that the offshore patrol vessel hms mersey is available and ready to be deployed in the channel. but is this a crisis orjust a drop in the ocean? in the last two months of 2018, 239 people reached the uk by boat. but every three and a half days, the same number arrive using other means like hiding in lorries. and in other european countries, the totals are far higher anyway — germany is receiving roughly 540 asylum seekers every day. meanwhile in manchester, two people, an iranian aged 33, and a british man, aged 24, have been arrested by the national crime agency on suspicion of arranging the illegal movement of migrants across the english channel. ben ando, bbc news. the environment secretary, michael gove, will tell farmers

today that there will be a "world of opportunity" for british agriculture after brexit. at a speech in oxford this morning mr gove is expected to pledge further investment to help improve productivity. 0ur correspondent phil mackie is live in oxford for us. good morning, that is the lectern where the environment secretary will address the conference in about an hour's time, of course this is not just about brexit but it's not long until march 29 which is overshadowing a frothing at the moment. i am joined overshadowing a frothing at the moment. iamjoined by overshadowing a frothing at the moment. i am joined by the president of the national farmers union, fair to say it's pretty much all about brexit at the moment. boy markets certainly is, we want 2019 to be a year of action and commitment and leadership, we've had a lot of one word up until now so we need to see clarity of thinking. people are

talking about a no—deal brexit being the worst possible outcome. is that what you fear? very much so, we have always said no deal would be catastrophic for our industry and we absolutely neat and orderly departure from the eu and that is primarily because a lot of our inputs, 90% of animal medicines and vaccines are produced in the eu, chemicals and fertiliser, we don't make those things here in the uk any more. and the real catalyst in all of this is that government has been clear that actually on food it would look to introduce its own tariff, potentially obliterate the tide of war, allowing for it in from across the world without tariffs and we as british producers would be highest tariff war of all. concerned about quality, the union jack tariff war of all. concerned about quality, the unionjack has been a

lightning rod of confidence in food, showing the job is done right, we wa nt showing the job is done right, we want to make sure food which comes onto our shores is produced to the same standards and that's something british consumers expect and at this moment in time take for granted. british consumers expect and at this moment in time take for grantedlj have been living in america for the past four mac months, american cheeseis past four mac months, american cheese is awful, the pa huge premium for english cheese, there is an opportunity if we struck a deal with america? there is an opportunity but american agriculture is a huge part of their trade package and at the moment we don't have one sheet of a4 effectively showing what the uk agricultural packages so the standards and everything, it's important that features in there and that's been on ask i've had with the prime minister and michael go for a long time. we need to see it in writing. we've only had one words saying of course we will do that but we want to see it in writing. after

almost 50 years of the common agricultural policy are you glad to see the back of it? the prime minister has been clear that it failed our farmers, it had a long—term commitment but now we can build a policy that works for farmers in the uk and for citizens. it's important it's an agricultural bill for agricultural purposes, that we allow food producers to deliver the many things people want. i look forward to the future but we have to make sure the standards is there, this is an agricultural bill for agricultural purposes. thank you very much, the president of the nfu, michael gove favours theresa may's brexit plan which he says will lead toa brexit plan which he says will lead to a much smoother transition, people looking forward to the end of the common agricultural policy some with more trepidation than others. breaking news coming to us out of

italy, the story that a senior than north korean diplomat in italy is reportedly seeking asylum in a third country, this pertains to the north korean deputy ambassador in romejo song—gil, he has apparently disappeared as he comes towards the end of his posting. apparently he applied for asylum to an unspecified western country and is apparently in a safe place with his family under the protection of the italian government. a lack of clarity on this and certainly south korea's intelligence agency seeing they know he's disappeared but they've not given much information about it. but clearly a significant move, a senior diplomat attempting to defect from north korea from his position in rome. the last high—profile

defection was thae yong—ho who abandoned his post as deputy ambassador to the uk in 2016. a senior north korean diplomat in italy reportedly seeking asylum in a third country. the headlines on bbc news. china says it's successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon — the first ever such attempt and landing. apple, one of the world's most valuable companies, issues a £4 billion profits warning. the tech giant blames chinese "economic deceleration" for its problems. police have arrested two people in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the channel into the uk illegally. and in sport, top of the table showdown in the premier league,

manchester city face liverpool, juergen klopp says manchester city are still the best team in the world. it's four in a row for all the gun shah and manchester united as they beat newcastle 2—0. and on his 50th birthday michael schumacher‘s family say he is in the best hands as he continues to recover from a skiing accident over five years ago. back with more and all those stories just after 930. we've heard lots of bad news from the high street recently, but there's been a bit of a positive update from next today. the retailer reported a rise in sales over the crucial christmas period, thanks to a big boost from online. but shops sales fell again. let's speak now to clare bailey, who's an independent retail expert and founder of the retail champion. thank you for being with us, what do you make of these results? they are quite positive in many respects

because it shows sales did not fall which was one of the predictions up until yesterday before the figures we re until yesterday before the figures were brought out. having said that it's disappointing to see these actual sales for retail dropped and that online that had an adverse effect on their profits, although nothing major, they have revised the profit forecast down to 723 million which reflects the fact perhaps they do not plan for the high cost of distribution through their online channel and the statement says that 2.5 million of additional cost was incurred in supporting these online sales so perhaps they should be encouraging shoppers to click and collect to reduce some overheads. 0ther collect to reduce some overheads. other issues in the profits came from shoppers buying lower margin products perhaps gift sets which carry less profitability than clothing. what that tells me is that one makes to have done well and they do traditionally do a strong

performance at christmas, they are more resilient retailer, it suggests those retailers who were discounting heavily in the run—up to christmas giving away margin in advance of the key trading period may well not be reporting quite as positively as next have done. this is the first in what will be a wave of results reporting and you think of picture will be less rosy? a couple of days ago we saw will be less rosy? a couple of days ago we sanohn wallace updating their week prior to christmas was a more slow than last year but the last few days before christmas were much more buoyant. but there is what ma generally the picture will be quite a mixed bag. marks & spencer is and debenhams in the last 12 months have not necessarily been as well performing asjohn not necessarily been as well performing as john lewis not necessarily been as well performing asjohn lewis so i would

not, i would expect to see less good profitability figures coming through from the retailers who had to go into heavy discounting ahead of christmas. next also warning about the uncertainty of brexit, how will this be factoring into big high street names? and in the report we just heard from the national farmers union there is an effect on food, that affects all manners of retail asa that affects all manners of retail as a lot of materials are sourced overseas, especially for clothing. i think we will see continued uncertainty from the consumers point of view and pressure on the retailers until things bent down and are fully understood with regard to brexit. thank you. the survey says firms are being

squeezed by labour shortages, rising prices and a slowdown in sales, four out of five employers in manufacturing and also as many in the service sector and growth in the service sector was the. a man found guilty of killing a woman in a speedboat crash has been told he can appeal against his conviction, even though he's still on the run. jack shepherd was jailed for six years, in his absence, for the manslaughter of 24—year—old charlotte brown during a date on the river thames in 2015. ms brown's parents will meet the home secretary later this month to discuss efforts to trace shepherd. military grade equipment deployed at gatwick to stop drones disrupting flights has been withdrawn. the army was called in to try to protect the airport after more than 1,000 flights were affected by multiple drone sightings between 19 and 21 december. a ministry of defence spokesman confirmed that military hardware had

been withdrawn from gatwick, but said the armed forces were ready to assist if they were needed again. thursday marks a dramatic shift in washington dc, and yet more of the same. specifically, democrats will take over control of the house of representatives following their victories in last yea r‘s mid—term elections. and a partial government shutdown enters its 13th day, with no end in sight. 0ur correspondent in washington, laura trevelyan has been looking at where things stand with the government gridlock, and at the democratic leader in the centre of it all. nearly two weeks into the partial us government shutdown, and here's the scene in washington, dc. iconic monuments are closed, some federal workers are home without a pay cheque. now, democrats are taking control of the house of representatives. but the president's warning the government won't reopen unless he gets money for his border wall. it could be a long time, and it could be quickly. it could be a long time.

it's too important a subject to walk away from. president trump has demanded $5 billion to build a wall along the us border with mexico, and he hosted democrats at the white house for a briefing on border security to underline how important it is that he gets the money. afterwards, democrats said they're going to introduce bills to reopen the government, trying to call the president's bluff. we're asking the president to open up government. we are giving him a republican path to do that. why would he not do it? congresswoman nancy pelosi, the incoming leader of the house of representives, has little incentive to make a deal with the president, especially after he made this declaration last month. i am proud to shut down the government for border security. nancy pelosi and president trump are now the faces of divided government in washington. their relationship is key to ending this government shutdown and to whether anything is achieved here ahead

of the 2020 presidential election. from california, nancy pelosi. applause. nancy pelosi was the first—ever female speaker of the house of representatives back in 2007, and she's a highly experienced political operator who learned machine politics at her father's knee when he was mayor of baltimore. well connected in democratic circles, she even met presidentjohn f kennedy at an early age. though she wasn't elected to congress until the age of 47, this prolific fundraiser has deep roots on capitol hill. chanting. she just saw off a leadership challenge from democrats eager for a new generation. the question now is — who blinks first over the government shutdown, and which side feels they have most to lose by prolonging it? laura trevelyan, bbc news, washington. the amount of electricity we're using is at its lowest level since the 1980s — thanks to things like low energy light bulbs and appliances. it means that power generation

in the uk has fallen according to analysis of government statistics by the 0nlinejournal, carbon brief. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. install a low—energy led bulb, and you're having a negligible effect on cutting the carbon emissions that are overheating the planet. butjoin with millions of other people to change your bulbs, and with a collective twist of the wrist, you're making a significant dent in the uk's demand for energy. the same can be said for appliances like vacuum cleaners and washing machines, forced by eu product standards to do the same job whilst using less power. but the role of energy efficiency gets little publicity. meanwhile, the role of renewables in cutting uk carbon emissions is well known. last year, wind and solar power generated a third of the uk's electricity. that's a record. but the report says efficiency measures coupled with other factors

have contributed slightly more than renewables towards reducing carbon emissions. and what's more, making gadgets more efficient upsets no—one but the manufacturers. roger harrabin, bbc news. growing numbers of bluefin tuna are being seen in the waters around the uk, because the warm phase of a naturally occurring ocean current is creating water conditions that suit them. bluefin tuna are one of the largest and fastest fish on the planet but are a globally endangered species. they almost disappeared from the uk around 40 years ago. for many — she is the toy every little girl wanted. for others — she is a symbol of sexism and crass commercialism. this year barbie turns 60. it's estimated more than 55 million of the dolls are sold each year. so is she still relevant — as she enters her seventh decade? tim allman reports.

hidden away in a warehouse near los angeles international airport is the top—secret barbie design studio. it is here that a team of around 100 people helped create the latest generation of plastic dolls. hands—on approach that can be more complicated than it looks. one thing obviously we have to keep in mind with barbie is scale, so notjust like in terms of size, for example, something like this, these sequins are tiny. so on are barbie doll, barbie body, it works and looks appropriate. barbie first made her debut at a trade show in new york in 1959. her makers, mattel, said she would designed to teach girls they had choices. they could be anything.

but critics insist she simply reinforce gender stereotypes and represented an almost impossible physical ideal. in recent years there have been attempt to create dolls that are more ethnically diverse and have a more realistic body shape. it is a new kind of day and certainly as a doll which represents a female it's really important to have a positive message and to kind of, talk to girls, or to kids, and talk about you know, being able to do these different things. more than1 able to do these different things. more than 1 billion able to do these different things. more than1 billion barbie's have been sold in the last six decades. despite the controversy and criticism, she's an icon. 60 years old but forever young. just an update for you on the breaking news from a short while ago concerning the possible defection of a north korean diplomat in italy, italy's

foreign minister is reporting he has no indication that a north korean diplomat has asked for asylum in italy. this concernsjo song—gil, the north korean deputy ambassador in rome who disappeared last month, reports coming in that he was planning to defect but the issue appears to be to which company because a play where he is based say they have not had any indication that diplomat has asked for asylum in italy but nonetheless he is missing and the suggestion seems to be he intends to defect. we will keep you posted. now time for a look at the weather let's cross the newsroom and join matt taylor. cold est start coldest start to winter so far this morning, parts of aberdeenshire down to -10, morning, parts of aberdeenshire down to —10, for many it's a case of various shades of grey, the computer model struggling a little to pick up the cloud, the best chance of breaks across parts of eastern scotland, a few breaks towards south—west england, the cloud will generally

remain dominantand england, the cloud will generally remain dominant and it leads to a fairly cold day, sunshine or not. milder across in the hebrides, breeze and showers later on milder night to come across northern ireland and a good of scotland. greatest chance of cloud breaks and it won't be a huge amount, we reckoned across parts of central southern england but more of you will wake up frost free then you will wake up frost free then you will wake up with a frost tomorrow morning and for tomorrow it's almost the same all over again, cloud across the country, the best chance of centring to the east of scotland, a few cloud breaks across southern parts of england and wales, cloud generally will be large, showers in scotland, the far north of england during the day and temperatures stay around 3—7. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: china makes history by successfully

landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the touchdown of the unimproved prop is being seen asa of the unimproved prop is being seen as a major milestone in space exploration. the e4 as a major milestone in space exploration. the £4 billion profit warning from apple has panicked investors. the tech giant says it has been caught off—guard by china's slowing economy. two people are arrested in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the channel into the uk illegally. the environment secretary says brexit will give farmers a world of opportunity, michael gove also hopes investment in robotics will boost yields. for the first time, the uk's gaming market is worth more than music and video combined. the entertainment retailers association say spending on music, video and games has gone up, but sales on physical products have fallen. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing.

as we've been hearing, china has made history by successfully landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the landing hailed as ‘a major milestone in space exploration'. this is the first image it sent from the surface after the landing. the unmanned probe is carrying instruments that will explore the region's geology, and carry out speaking on bbc breakfast earlier... it was explained why the far side of the morning was unexplored. the moon is closer to the size of the great andi is closer to the size of the great and i have drawn a smiley face on one side, that is the near side of the moon that faces us. it is in orbit and as it orbits, it always faces the same side towards earth. so we never actually see the far side. sometimes called the dark side but that is a misnomer as it

prevents daylight. for the first time, china has landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. that is tricky because we can't talk to it directly and get a radio signal there so there are challenges to overcome. but they will be enjoying the accolade of being the first, they are not following in the footsteps of the us or russia, they are first to land on the far side of the moon. the far side and the near side really quite different. they are, absolutely. this tells us a little bit about how the moon formed. we have theories out there, but the near side has these dark lava flows, they are ancient lava flows. the crust on the near side is thinner so it is hit with impacts. when it was still hot inside, molten lava spewed out and we had this lot of lava flows on the near side and thatis of lava flows on the near side and that is what we have explored, it is younger rock. 0n the far side, it is much rockier, it is much more cratered, it is a thicker, older

crust and we have never explored that. we think it is more of the pristine, original moon. news from outer space. scientists hope the new test will lead to a simpler, cheaper method of spotting cancer earlier. professor rebecca fitzgerald, from cancer research uk, says the tests are in the early stages, but the initial results are positive. one of the problems is, with diagnosing cancer early is, you have to really make the tests as easy as possible because often, people are quite reluctant to go to the hospital for checkups if your symptoms are quite subtle, or it may be even before you have symptoms at all. so the test needs to be something ideally that you could do right at the gp's surgery, in a really noninvasive, simple—to—do way. and a breathalyser is so simple and potentially fits the bill really well. you just simply breathe into a mask for ten minutes and collect all those thousands of chemicals

in the breath for analysis. it seems a bit of a strange thing that you could carry those markers in the breath but, if you think about it, for example, diabetes, when the sugar levels are very high, you can actually smell that as acetone on the breath. so we have an awful lot of chemicals that travel in our blood, that then cross the barrier into the lungs when exhaled in the breath. so if you can capture those, then you can detect signals for cancer cells that are growing abnormally, they're metabolising abnormally, and so you have a different signal or pattern of chemicals in the breath. and what we're really excited and interested to learn is whether you actually get different patterns of those chemicals for different sorts of cancer. and this is even before the cancer has started to give you symptoms and you may not know there's anything wrong at all. so this is people at risk, not people with symptoms of cancer at this stage. there's been a lot of interest in developing blood tests. some people have needle phobia, for example. we need the test to be a simple and as convenient as possible, and breath really would be

a revolution, ithink. especially if it could be a pan—cancer breath test — so a breath test that could detect any kind of cancer, if the signals were specific enough. but what we're doing now in cambridge is launching a new trial, so we want to just see if we can pick up those signals, see how sensitive the technology is and whether we can detect different signals from different cancers. so, this is really an explorative trial, if this could work. strictly‘s aj pritchard and his brother, curtis, were attacked in a nightclub in cheshire. the professional dancers were left battered and bruised, with curtis needing emergency surgery on his knee following the incident in nantwich at the weekend. aj was partnered with paralympian lauren steadman for strictly come dancing 2018 and reached the semi—final. he and his brother curtis i , they were on bbc breakfast and described what happened tonight they we re described what happened tonight they were attacked. we were literally ten minutes down the road from our house. we went out

for a night out and curtis was violently pushed and then we would be to not by eight people. and as you can see with his leg, he needed emergency surgery straightaway, which he has had done, thankfully, and thank you to the nhs for that. but the thing is, it was senseless violence, unprovoked, and just, there is not much more to say, which is the sad thing. because you feel safe in your hometown and then suddenly, this happens. yes, it is very upsetting, to be honest. curtis, just take us through how you felt on that night, and aj will tell as the moment that you were feeling pretty protective of your brother, we re pretty protective of your brother, were you? well, it was a fantastic night out to start with, it was sort of my new year's eve night out because i was going back to ireland for dancing with the stars to start work on the first so we thought would go out, myself and aj, have some fun. we were having a great

night, the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and then as tonight went on, we were just having a good time and on the dance floor all of a sudden, it has broke out into what happened. thank god we were together, it would have been a very different situation if we were not together. i would like to say, thank you for getting me out of the situation, aj, because it would have beena situation, aj, because it would have been a lot worse if he was not that i've got me out of the situation. 0h, i've got me out of the situation. oh, my goodness. you are both clearly very shaken up and also injured. first, curtis, you cannot now go and do yourjob, is that right? well, i should be in ireland training now for the first live show this sunday on the six but i can't stands at the moment. i have had the nhs for being so quick and proactive. i start video today and i should be walking on my leg within three weeks. in 4—5 weeks, i should be dancing again. that is in a perfect world. fingers crossed, touch wood, yes. and a look at the most watched

video on the website. the china mission, attracting a lot of attention. and number eight. we wa nt to of attention. and number eight. we want to look in the water. this is something that has turned up unexpectedly. nine years after being abandoned in the indian ocean, it is abandoned in the indian ocean, it is a yacht floating upside down that has been found. it belonged to a teenage round—the—world sailor and has turned up off the coast of southern australia. alderweireld was an american teenager, aged 16 back in 2010 when she attempted to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe. it did not go very well. —— two. she ran into difficulties and had to abandon that attempt. she was rescued. now, after all that time, her yacht has been

spotted this week, upturned and covered in ba rna cles spotted this week, upturned and covered in barnacles and floating in the coast off southern australia. she said, my heart skipped a beat, having been told the yacht has turned up and ten years on, she has written a book about her experience. now married with three children and living in alabama, but a blast from her past and a tribute to what was i really extraordinary ambition and a great record attempt. most watched. this is a quirky one for you. if you're feeling a bit tense after spending christmas with your family, you might want to try this, a p pa re ntly you might want to try this, apparently a place in the netherlands called ca rsmash, apparently a place in the netherlands called carsmash, a company who own a scrap yard and say to get the anger out of your system, they give you a sledgehammer and possibly a golf club and a baseball bat and goggles and safety equipment and you can just cause destruction

and you can just cause destruction and recovery and work—out got angry feeling by smashing cars, perfectly legal and very popular with funding experiences, team building for your office as long as you keep hitting the car and not the boss! stag do is, hindus, and helping with anger management. some of the experts saying, perhaps we need more talking therapy. —— hen dos. great quotes from people having a go. he is coming back, i think! great quotes from people having a go. he is coming back, ithink! he says he is normally mild—mannered, but he enjoyed getting that baseball bat in his hand and giving it a smash. that gives you a flavour of today's morning briefing. sport now, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre.

good morning. it's quite simply the biggest game of the season so far. tonight, manchester city face liverpool and the result could go a long way to deciding who lifts the premier league trophy at the end of the season. i'm glad to say i've beenjoined by former liverpool defender stephen warnock to discuss the match with me. it is huge, there is no playing this down. no, everyone is looking at it asa down. no, everyone is looking at it as a title decider. we all expected the teams to go in probably level on points, liverpool probably just behind. the last couple of weeks, manchester city have fallen away, they have had a bad patch, and liverpool have capitalised on it. they have had a bad patch, and liverpool have capitalised on itm the pressure on manchester city tonight? if they win, they four points behind, if they lose, templates —— templates behind liverpool, a big gap to close. that's pressure on both teams, city have to play catch—up and close the gap, but if liverpool extended, they give themselves the best chance they have ever had of winning the premier league. they know in their back of their minds, it is the gap goes to

four points, confidence could take it and suddenly manchester city back in the race. they are and how damaging would it be full liverpool if they lose? because the aura around that team, the confidence, the belief, if they lose tonight, is that change that could derail their season? it is only one game, but it is an airof season? it is only one game, but it is an air of invincibility they would lose. if you look at the champions league and how they have reacted to losses, it has not affected the confidence to much. if you lose, it is how you lose. if you lose in a bad way and get beaten 3-0, 4-0, it is lose in a bad way and get beaten 3—0, 4—0, it is a bad team performance and would affect confidence. if it is a cagey affair and you had chances, i don't think it affects you too much. and you had chances, i don't think it affects you too muchlj and you had chances, i don't think it affects you too much. i know you are in the liverpool camp ahead of tonight. let me draw on your expertise for prediction. will we see goals or will it be a bit cagey because of city attacking so strong

and liverpool defence so strong, it is going to be tough?|j and liverpool defence so strong, it is going to be tough? i think the game will be cagey, but i think errors will happen because of what is at stake. they are the best players in the world. such a high level. something has to break at some point. there has to be, manchester city have to try and win the game so it will leave gaps for liverpool to exploit. manchester city are also more than capable of causing an upset. i say and upset, they cause an upset towards the liverpool defence and cause them a lot of problems. scoreline? 2-1, liverpool. watch this space, thank you very much for talking is true that huge game tonight. dominating the back pages of the papers. the mirror talking about the manager's pre—match love them. pep says you are the best in europe, klopp says, it no, you are the best in the world. the sun says pep guardiola has questioned liverpool have the

bottle for the title chase and a picture of romelu lukaku celebrating after scoring his first touch of the game and manchester united beating newcastle united 2—0. the guardian split the back page with a preview of tonight and a look back at last night, marcus rashford celebrating after scoring united's second yesterday. manchester united continued their briliant start under caretaker boss 0le gunnar solskjaer. they made it four wins from four, beating newcastle 2—0 at stjames park. romelu lu ka ku scored with his first touch. the newcastle keeper dropped a free kick from marcus rashford. rashford getting on the scoresheet himself. 0nly sir matt busby has made a better start to managerial life at united than solskjaer. they are big shoes to fill! burnley have made it back—to—back wins after coming from behind to beat huddersfield in the big game at the bottom. ashley barnes getting

the winner late on. both sides ended the match with ten men. huddersfield are now eight points from safety. on his 50th birthday, michael schumacher‘s family say that he is in the very best of hands, as he continues his recovery from a skiing accident in 2013. a message from his family on his instagram page today. the seven—times formula 1 world champion suffered serious head injuries from the accident and has not been seen in public since. his family will today launch a new app to celebrate his achievements. don't forget to watch sportsday at 6:30 on the bbc news, where you can get all the build—up to manchester city against liverpool. and you can listen to full commentary of the game from the etihad stadium on radio 5 live from 8 o'clock tonight. it will also be available on the bbc sport website and app. before we go, good news for british tennis out of australia, katie

boulter and cameron norrie have beaten serena williams and her partner in the mixed doubles at the hoffman cup to give britain victory over the us, great result, beating serena williams! well, roger federer managed it the other day! you can find more on that and the football on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. more from the bbc sport centre at 11:15. thank you, the best sports presenter in the uk, possibly the world, i would say! the headlines on bbc news: china says it has successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the firm side of the moon, the first ever such attempt and landing. 0ne of the world's most valuable companies apple issues of £4 billion profit warning, the tech giant blames chinese economic deceleration for its problems. police have arrested two people in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the english channel into the uk illegally. and a quick update on the

market numbers, that gives you a flavour of london and frankfurt how they ended the day yesterday and in they ended the day yesterday and in the united states, that is the dow and the nasdaq, in positive territory. figures show streaming services and digital downloads now account for more than 70% of revenues for uk music and video industries. the entertainment retailers association says spending on music, video and games is up, but sales of physical products have fallen. joining me now is the video games expertjordan erica webber. thank you for being with us. a lot of information in this report, what stood out for you? obviously for me, video games is my big thing so the thing that stood out was that games took in more than half the revenue of all entertainment in the uk, so more than music and video combined for the first time. 51.396 of revenue

for the first time. 51.396 of revenue for video games. and when we talk about video games, for those uninitiated, what kind of spectrum of stuff are we talking about question but it includes all sorts, games you play on your pc, or on a console and may be an xbox or playstation, or games you play on your phone. and digital has a big role as well. games have the large as percentage of the revenue from digital out of all of them. more than three quarters across all three, but in games, 80.1 came from digital. so we are seeing a shift away from games you get in a box you open and slot into your machine and it is something he will download. yes, although interesting, physical went down the list for games from 2017 2018 so a bigger drop in music and video probably because of spotted via internet clicks. games went down only a few percent as far as physical is concerned and in 2017, physical went up we think

because of the release of nintendo switch. people still are buying physical products, although not as much as getting things digitally. what will this tell us and the gaming industry, who are looking to make money in 2019, about the way they need to move and the strategies they need to move and the strategies they need to employ? it is really interesting because these figures, they released charts as well and in music and video, the biggest selling items sold more in physical so the charter toppers, people bought on dvd and cd, probably because they wa nted dvd and cd, probably because they wanted them as gifts or to keep. in games, it is hard to tell because the only charts we get our physical so games like call of duty and fifa did well in physical sales, people are still buying them in the shops, but you have huge games you can only get digitally like fortnite that eve ryo ne get digitally like fortnite that everyone is talking about which brought him an enormous amount of money and 2018. epic games the creator made a profit of $3 billion last year so there is a huge amount

of money we cannot see where it is coming from. when we think of the consumer is driving these trends, we think are probably younger people in the gaming market, but there is a lot of stuff still at play and when we are talking about physical copies of dvds, that was still consumers who want that. yes, absolutely. physical is important to young kids, especially parents are more likely to buy physicalfor their to buy physical for their children than get involved in the digital marketplaces, older people may want to walk into a shop and buy a physical game. it is interesting you talk about the kind of consumers driving this because in games, we have this idea games are all young people, but that is just not true. statistics show across gender and age, everyone is playing video games. 0n age, everyone is playing video games. on twitter the other day, someone games. on twitter the other day, someone said that 87—year—old grandma had played animal crossing every day for the past four years, so every day for the past four years, so that is 3,000 hours this grandma was playing! you cannot pinpoint

specific consumer. so in that sense, 2019, when people try to devise the next big thing, it will not all be the big kind of shooter games we hear so much about like fortnite, there is a wide span of interest in kind of games are being devised. absolutely, games winning things like baftas, the best game after last year went to what remains of edith finch, you cannot buy it digitally. there is no shooting, a young woman goes back to her family home to explore the deaths of some of her relatives, an interesting and poignant game. thank you very much for your insight, it is really good speech you, thank you much indeed. thank you. breaking news concerning the murder ofjamal breaking news concerning the murder of jamal khashoggi. the breaking news concerning the murder ofjamal khashoggi. the saudi public prosecutor says the court has held the first session for the 11 suspects in that murder case,

according to the state news agency. and apparently, the saudi prosecutor has asked for the death sentence against five of those accused of involvement in the murder of mr khashoggi who was attacked and killed in the saudi embassy in istanbul. more on that hopefully, short lines coming to us but we will keep you posted on that. close—up images of the most distant object in our solar system ever to be explored have been released by nasa. they show the mysterious, icy world known as ultima thule — some four billion miles away from earth. 0ur science editor, david shukman, has been following the story. here's where we were just a couple of days ago. this was humanity's best image of ultima thule. well, that image is so 2018! laughter. meet ultima thule! cheering and applause. they've discovered a strange shape which the scientists think looks like a snowman. it's a snowman...

they've even produced this image to make the point. we have liftoff of nasa's new horizons spacecraft... back when the mission was launched, hardly anything was known about the outer reaches of the solar system. it's almost impossible to grasp how far this space craft, new horizons, has travelled but, 13 years ago, it began a long trek across the solar system. it left earth back injanuary 2006 to fly past the planets, including mars, jupiter, saturn. and then, in 2015, it made it all the way out to pluto — 3 billion miles away. before racing on for another billion miles to ultima thule, reaching it on new year's day. skimming past, but still able to capture the images we're now starting to see. this may be the first glimpse of how the planets were eventually built — one lump binding to another, over millions of years. when new horizons flew past pluto, it revealed a world more active than anyone expected.

now this latest encounter has produced something even more profound — a snapshot of what it took to make planets like our own. david shukman, bbc news. in a moment, the weather, but first, let's look at some of the most striking images of the day. new before—and—after satellite photography has been released showing the extent of the damage caused to the volcano anak krakatoa when it erupted last month. the tsunami it caused killed more than 400 people in indonesia shortly before christmas. this picture was taken before the disaster. this was taken a week after, and shows a small bay has formed where the volcano has completely cracked open. it's lost around two thirds of its mass, much of which is assumed to have slipped into the sea, in a colossal landslide that produced the tsunami. in italy, criminals used mechanical diggers like giant tin openers to force their way into an armoured van. the vehicle was carrying pensions from bari to nearby matera.

the thieves made off with £2.3 million dollars in cash. the guards in the van were unharmed. pope francis has juggled pope francis hasjuggled some of pope francis has juggled some of his more traditional commitments to allow time for an audience with the cuban allow time for an audience with the cu ban circus. 20 allow time for an audience with the cuban circus. 20 performers danced and carried out acrobatic moves to salsa music at the vatican yesterday, in a performance that got a double thumbs up from the pontiff who was persuaded to get involved in the act, showing off his own ball twirling skills. good sport! now it's time for a look at the weather. good morning. there has been a fair amount of cloud this morning, preventing temperatures from falling too far. there have been clear skies across east of scotland and south wales and south—west england where temperatures have fallen below freezing. —10 celsius in braemar, in aberdeenshire, the coldest

night of winter so far. high pressure still dominating things across the uk. that's going to mean things change very, very slowly today. the wind rotating around that area of high pressure in a clockwise direction. mild air moving into western areas, while that colder air moving south across eastern parts. today, sunny spells in eastern scotland, mid and south wales, south—west england, sunshine developing towards the east of the pennines. otherwise, it will remain quite cloudy today and feel quite chilly. temperatures 3—4dc. less cold in northern ireland and the west of scotland, with mild air from the south, 8—9dc here. tonight, keeping a lot of cloud but, like last night, some breaks in the cloud. where you get those breaks, temperatures falling below freezing. some patchy frost on friday morning. temperatures potentially down to —2, —4 celsius, where you have the clearest spells for longest.

0therwise, where you keep cloud, temperatures up above freezing at 2—4dc. on friday, patchy fog first thing in the midlands and central and southern parts of england. some sunny spells here, but it is about chasing cloud throughout friday and there will be a fair amount of that in northern and western areas. temperatures again 3—6dc, less cold in the west. into the weekend, this area of high—pressure is still dominating things, but a few weather fronts around the north and the west. lots of cloud over the weekend with that area of high pressure so, during saturday, while there will be some breaks and some sunny spells, for most, it will remain cloudy throughout the day. maximum temperatures struggling for many parts, 5—6dc, 8—9d across the north and the west. sunday will be fairly similar. a lot of cloud around again, some breaks to give some sunny spells, plenty of dry weather. and temperatures may be a little higher, 8—9d.

that's it for me, goodbye. you're watching bbc news at 10 with me rachel schofield — the headlines: a giant leap into space for china. it makes history by successfully landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. a profit warning from apple panics investors. it says the core of the problem is china's slowing economy. two people are arrested in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the channel into the uk illegally. the environment secretary says brexit will give farmers a "world of opportunity", and hopes robots will play a part too. for the first time, the uk's gaming market is worth more than both music and video combined. pep guardiola's manchester city prepares to take onjurgen klopp's liverpool tonight in the biggest game of the premier league so far. good morning — and welcome

to the bbc news at 10. china has made history by successfully landing a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the chang'e—4 spacecraft touched down early this morning in the unexplored south pole—aitken basin — making it the first probe to land on the hemisphere of the moon that always faces away from earth. these images have been shared by chinese state media. the unmanned probe is carrying instruments that will explore the region's geology, and carry out biological experiments. 0ur beijing correspondent john sudworth says china had kept news of the mission quiet. very little in the way of a preview, almost a media blackout ahead of this landing attempt. we know the spacecraft

was launched in early december, we knew that this planned mission was under way but almost everything we've known about the actual landing attempt and the likely window has come from observers outside china looking at the orbit around the moon, the craft has been in an elliptical orbit pattern the last few days, at its closest pointjust 15 kilometres above the landing site so it looked imminent but nothing in chinese media which gives you a sense of not just the science, the scientific importance of this mission but also the political and propaganda importance of success. we can talk about both those aspects with astronomer mark thompson who joins us from norfolk, thank you for being with us, how exciting is it to

see these pictures? it's been a while since we've been to the moon, 50 yea rs while since we've been to the moon, 50 years since the apollo missions so 50 years since the apollo missions so it's wonderful to see notjust another moon lander but also a lander which has gone to the far side of the men and it's a region which nobody other than astronauts has seen. we could not see from earth will be able to get images from this new probe is really exciting. how significant is it what's found ? why exciting. how significant is it what's found? why do we want to know? the lunar surface on the far side of the moon is pockmarked with small tiny creators so it tells us the surface has not been refreshed through lava flow so it's a very old surface. we will learn more about the history and geology of the moon so the history and geology of the moon so there's a lot. there are also exciting aspects to the mission which will bring back good science. we said in the introduction experiments will be undertaken, i

think we are taking seats with them, tell us what you know about some of the things they are attempting? the details have been hard to come by but the expectation or belief is that there are potato seeds and some silkworm eggs on board on this tiny biosphere which has been created for the lander in an attempt to see how life can exist and develop in an alien space world. by using biosphere technology it will give us more of a clue as to how humans might be able to survive in space in the coming years. what does this mission tell us about chinese ambitions in space? killie it's an interesting one, it's unusual, in science things tend to be open. communication between scientists is generally very open and collaborative but recently it's been interesting that china have been very cagey about this mission. it makes you wonder if they are trying

to jostle for position a little amongst the international and national space agencies around the world and i had a hunch the american agency might be feeling just a little bit edgy the next people to walk on the men could be chinese and that might start, it could begin another space race. do people get edgy because of the prestige attached to space or is it because we think no more strategically in terms of space and the military potential of space? i think it's more likely the american agencies and others around the world will be looking at the prestige. we've not had humans on the moon for 50 years and for the chinese to take the next people back to the men is a prestige then. i don't think we have military intentions at all. mark thompson, thank you for giving us your thoughts. it said it had not expected the

magnitude of the economic slowdown in china provoking a brief flash crash in currency markets. earlier i spoke to our business presenter dominik and started by asking him to put the apple profit warning into context. this is the first time in 15 years it's had two warn about its trading, people are used to itsjuggernaut trading in one direction. the news was broken last night in a letter to shareholders and it was said in the last three months of last year revenue will come in $5 billion less than expected. he gave a whole bunch of reasons but mainly the slowdown in china, and he mentioned the trump trade war the trump trade war with china is one of the things. apple has faced a lot of criticism at being a bit late to wake up to the reality of this because if you look at the share price, last year we were talking

about it being the first ever company to have a $1 trillion market capitalisation, it's come off, in the last few months of last year it's down to 750 billion so shareholders new that actually apple's trade was weakening and it seems the company has been a bit late to say this was the reality of the trading position. they have said this is the chinese slowdown which has contributed to this, some commentators say are they making china a bit of a scapegoat, is there more at play? there is no doubt china is the biggest market for mobile phones, iphones, it's slipped right back, it was second but is now about fourth or fifth. but iphones are expensive, the most expensive on the market generally and the chinese consumer, this is evidence the chinese consumer is feeling quite pinched, retail sales are quite low in china, a part of widerfears that the chinese economy is starting

to slow down and that has been what has been happening in the world stock markets where people are worried about world economic growth as a whole slowing down and china leading the way into that. will we see a change in apple's strategy, the iphone was a huge cash cow, saturated and handsets are expensive, people are not buying them in quite the same way, they have diversified with the watch, will we see more change? attention was drawn to the fact that the services part of the business, itunes and add—on sales they can provide grew by 10% last year so that's growing really quickly but a lot of investors think about apple as innovation, days of steve jobs and new products but that does not seem to be does not seem to be much sign of that at the moment. a british man and an iranian national have been arrested in manchester on suspicion of arranging the illegal

movement of migrants across the english channel. the home secretary sajid javid has asked for the royal navy to help deal with the crossings. more than 200 people have reached the uk in small boats since november. 0ur correspondent ben ando has more. a major incident is how the home secretary, sajid javid, has described the increase in numbers of those crossing the english channel in small boats. he went to dover to see the work being done by the border force and was taken on board one of its patrol boats. though in the last 48 hours, there have been no more reports of migrant crossings. most of those attempting the journey from france are aiming at the 200 or so miles of kent coastline. patrolling this is a hugejob. mrjavid has recalled two more border force boats from the mediterranean where they've been assisting, and now wants the royal navy tojoin in. in a statement, the ministry of defence confirmed it's ready to help out. one source is quoted as saying that the offshore patrol vessel hms mersey is available and ready to be deployed in the channel. but is this a crisis orjust

a drop in the ocean? in the last two months of 2018, 239 people reached the uk by boat. but every three and a half days, the same number arrive using other means like hiding in lorries. and in other european countries, the totals are far higher anyway — germany is receiving roughly 540 asylum seekers every day. meanwhile in manchester, two people, an iranian aged 33, and a british man, aged 24, have been arrested by the national crime agency on suspicion of arranging the illegal movement of migrants across the english channel. ben ando, bbc news. let's get the latest on this note, our correspondent is at dover for us this morning. yes, as you just heard from ben, this last night a national

crime agency spokesman confirming a 33—year—old iranian national abbey 23—year—old british man were arrested in manchester on suspicion of illegally trafficking migrants across the english channel but in terms of details of who these men are that's about it, because the investigation is ongoing they would not be commenting any further at this time. this comes as we have learnt that the home secretary has beenin learnt that the home secretary has been in contact with the royal navy requesting the use of it to help patrol the channel. there were reports as mentioned that perhaps the hms mersey would be coming from portsmouth to hear in kent although that's not been confirmed by the ministry of defence yet. sajid javid was here yesterday on board the hmc searcher seeing himself the operation in action and it was here he made those comments about genuine

asylu m he made those comments about genuine asylum seekers are seeing some of the people coming over, questioning why they had perhaps not sought asylu m why they had perhaps not sought asylum in the first safe country they had arrived in and those comments have prompted a backlash over the last 24 hours from opposition mps but also the likes of the refugee council and amnesty international which say it's not helpful to speculate on asylum claims at this stage. also those comments have been responded to by jeremy hunt to the foreign secretary who has been asked about them while he was on a trip to malaysia. he did not outright agree with what was said but he did say he agreed that the proud tradition britain has of granting asylum should not be abused. the weather here has played abused. the weather here has played a factor in crossings, over the last couple of days we've not seen any reports of migrants attempting the crossing, the last we heard was a group of 14 iranians nationals, iraqi nationals, sorry, trying to

steal a trawler but that was stopped at the moment things seem more sta ble at the moment things seem more stable than they perhaps have the few weeks. a positive update from next today, a rise in sales of that crucial christmas period thanks to a big boost from online but shop sales fell again. earlier i spoke to an independent retail expert and started by asking her what she makes of these results. they are quite positive in many respects because it shows sales did not fall which was one of the predictions up until yesterday before the figures were brought out. having said that it's disappointing to see the actual sales for retail dropped and that online

was more than anticipated, that had an adverse effect on their profits, although nothing major, they have revised the profit forecast down to 723 million which reflects the fact perhaps they do not plan for the higher cost of distribution through their online channel and the statement says that 2.5 million of additional cost was incurred in supporting these online sales so perhaps they should be encouraging shoppers to click and collect to reduce some overheads. other issues in the profits came from shoppers buying lower margin products — perhaps gift sets which carry less profitability than clothing. what that tells me is that next have done well and they do traditionally do a strong performance at christmas, they are a more resilient retailer, it suggests those retailers who were discounting heavily in the run—up to christmas giving away margin in advance of the key trading period may well not be reporting quite as positively as next have done. this is the first in what will be a wave of results reporting and you think

the picture will be less rosy? a couple of days agojohn lewis updated that the week prior to christmas was a bit more slow than last year but the few days after christmas were more buoyant. but what margin will be taking because of these sales? we have marks and spencers and debenhams are still to report and the supermarkets. the pictures will be mixed, compared to next and john lewis and marks & spencer is and debenhams in last 12 months of not necessarily been as well performing. i would expect to see less good profitability figures coming from retailers who had to go into heavy discounting in advance of christmas. the headlines on bbc news. china says it's successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon — the first ever such attempt and landing. apple, one of the world's most valuable companies, issues a £4 billion profits warning.

the tech giant blames chinese "economic deceleration" for its problems. police have arrested two people in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the channel into the uk illegally. the amount of electricity we're using is at its lowest level since the 1980s — thanks to things like low energy light bulbs and appliances. it means that power generation in the uk has fallen according to analysis of government statistics by the 0nlinejournal, carbon brief. here's our environment analyst, roger harrabin. install a low—energy led bulb, and you're having a negligible effect on cutting the carbon emissions that are overheating the planet. butjoin with millions of other people to change your bulbs, and with a collective twist of the wrist, you're making a significant dent in the uk's demand for energy.

the same can be said for appliances like vacuum cleaners and washing machines, forced by eu product standards to do the same job whilst using less power. but the role of energy efficiency gets little publicity. meanwhile, the role of renewables in cutting uk carbon emissions is well known. last year, wind and solar power generated a third of the uk's electricity. that's a record. but the report says efficiency measures coupled with other factors have contributed slightly more than renewables towards reducing carbon emissions. and what's more, making gadgets more efficient upsets no—one but the manufacturers. roger harrabin, bbc news. the environment secretary, michael gove, will tell farmers today that there will be a "world of opportunity" for british agriculture after brexit. at a speech in oxford this

morning mr gove is expected to pledge further investment to help improve productivity. he is also expected to argue that theresa may's brexit deal will give certainty for the future. let's go live to oxford. mostly confident, apprehensive or inclined to cry help i wondered if it is possible to vote for all four at once. laughter. at any given time on any given day in politics i do move from being apprehensive to crying help stop laughter to feeling mostly confident and then at seven o'clock when i can open a bottle of wine at last i feel buoyant. laughter the other thing i want to thank anna for is her generous introduction, she was kind enough to say she felt i had been a breath of fresh air last year but as she developed her meteorological mentor it became clear she felt perhaps of the last 12 months i've been closer to a mighty eruption of wind. laughter

i think mighty eruption of wind. laughter ithink i'm mighty eruption of wind. laughter i think i'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between. i am grateful to anna for introducing me because i wa nted to anna for introducing me because i wanted to begin by reflecting on one of my favourite radio four programmes, second of my favourite radio four programmes, second only to farming today, which is the long view. it's presented by jonathan friedland today, which is the long view. it's presented byjonathan friedland and it asks us to consider current events in the historical contexts and it draws parallels between controversies of our time and the challenges of the past. few professions of course take a longer view than agriculture. farmers plan, invest and produce for the long term. those of us in westminster live in a world of hourly twitter storms and daily news cycle is where a week is now a very long time in politics. farming requires the patience and foresight to think in harvests a nd patience and foresight to think in harvests and lifecycles. to see beyond the immediate and to scan the far horizon. of course the immediate

political question which all of us must wrestle with is brexit and more how britain leaves the eu in less than three months‘ time. i will address that question head—on in the moment but first i do want to take a deliberately longer view. hugely significant as the changes will be it‘s important we consider them in the broader context of the wider forces driving change in farming, food policy and our relationship with the rest of the natural world. the truth is as this conference is designed to underline our world is entering a fourth agricultural revolution. the first revolution was from hunter gathering to settlement and cultivation which made possible the generation of surpluses, the beginning of trade and the establishment of civilisation. the second agricultural revolution was

pioneered here in britain, british farmers and landowners developing more sophisticated crop rotation and new mixed turning pasture into processing and waste into fertiliser. alongside the department of new seed drills, selective breeding, large scale drainage schemes, all these changes increased process “— schemes, all these changes increased process —— food production which helps to an increase in population numbers which in turn sustains the industrial revolution. the third was even more significant in its scale, in the middle decades of the last century pioneering work by visionary scientists transformed the scale of food production worldwide. new seed varieties were developed which improved yields and alongside improvements in pest control and other forms of crop protection they allow developing nations to overcome scarcity and hunger, laying the

groundwork for the global economic growth which has lifted millions out of poverty. now we are on the verge of poverty. now we are on the verge of another revolution in how we produce ourfood. your of another revolution in how we produce our food. your chairman called earlier the brazenly positive tone of this conference. we stand on the threshold of new horizons, never before has our industry been offered to the world of opportunity which presents itself before us here today and it‘s right. accelerating technological advances as he mentioned such as the drive towards artificial intelligence, the more sophisticated than ever analysis of big data, joint development and machine learning and robotics will together allow us to dramatically improve productivity on traditionally farmed land. not least by reducing the need for labour, minimising the imprint of vehicles on the soil, implying implements more precisely, adjusting

cultivation techniques more sensitively and therefore using far fewer natural resources. data analytics will allow us to develop the optimal environment for animals helping us get the nutrition right, safeguard their welfare and improve dairy and meat production. gene editing holds promise of exhilarating gains are secured through selective breeding in the past. the ability to give mother nature a helping hand by driving the process of revolution at higher speed should allow us to develop plant varieties and crops which are more resistant to disease and pests and less reliant on chemical protection and chemical fertiliser. they will be high yielding and more environmentally sustainable. vertical farming with vegetables grown in temperature, moisture and temperature controlled indoor environments can guarantee improvement in your goods whilst limiting via mental externalities

and vertical farms not only minimise land—use but can be located close to urban population centres. we are also likely to see more and more of our need for protein met by aquaculture and cellular aquaculture fish farming is an increasingly advancesin fish farming is an increasingly advances in synthetic traditional animal products from gelatine and 999 animal products from gelatine and egg whites, to milk and even meet in labs. the potential for egg whites, to milk and even meet in labs. the potentialfor britain egg whites, to milk and even meet in labs. the potential for britain to leading this revolution is why it‘s right to see that we should look to the future with confidence. there are challenges, to take advantage of precision technology requires a level of capital investment which is not available to all. there are also important ethical and economic questions about gene editing which we need to debate. vertical farming

relies on energy inputs which are costly a nd relies on energy inputs which are costly and carbon intensive, fish farming generates its own environmental externalities and lab grown proteins meanwhile are very farfrom grown proteins meanwhile are very far from everyone‘s idea grown proteins meanwhile are very farfrom everyone‘s idea of a mouthwatering treat. and they are currently extremely expensive. but while there are big questions we need to debate about how we handle these technologies and where better to debate them in here, we cannot wish away these things any more than we can many other problems. because the background against which this fourth agricultural revolution is occurring, indeed many of the stimuli for it, are the environmental and social factors that i have been briefly listing. the requirement to use less carbon, limit the to improve the organic

content and fertility of the soil, to renew, reuse and recycle resources and improve resource productivity is the human population grows, all these are the forces driving technological innovation. science is about making us where things need to change and enabling us to make that change. this fourth agricultural revolution will require us to change the way we work on the land and invest in its future. it will force us to inform the role of government in regulating and supporting farming. it will demand new thinking and new talent in food production and it will inevitably require tough choices to be made. for some the adjustment will undoubtedly be challenging. but no change is not an option. reform is vital to modernise the sector and

capitalise on technological advances. in 2016—17 more than half of the uk farms advice the £20,000 and one fifth made no profit at all. these statistics would make most investors that are not looking for tax breaks steer well clear. if however we embrace the potential of the fourth agricultural revolution we can guarantee the future of the uk as we can guarantee the future of the ukasa we can guarantee the future of the uk as a major global fruit producer, we can play a part in alleviating poverty and scarcity. we can replenish our store of natural capital and we can hand on a healthier economy and an enriched environment to the next generation. so as the german statement 0tto environment to the next generation. so as the german statement otto von bismarck once put it if revolution is happening far better to take it

and undergo it. today i hope to outline how desperate sees its role in the midst of this revolution, food, the rural economy, and our environment. food, first. food production has been a success story for britain, it‘s our biggest manufacturing sector with food and drink contributing a hundred £13 billion to the economy every year. it has benefited from the enterprise and innovation, british citizens have a wider choice of high—quality food than ever before. the cost of food than ever before. the cost of food for the consumer has fallen significantly in recent decades and we have safe food in abundance in this country because of their hard—working farmers. but we cannot ta ke hard—working farmers. but we cannot take this bounty for granted. nor

can we ignore the looming problems we face, how do we provide food security for this country? do the economics of contemporary food production add up? how do we help those in this country and across the globe who are living in poverty and since diet to health does our approach to food to food to maximise human well—being ? approach to food to food to maximise human well—being? and critically what do we think is required to make food production in this country truly sustainable? if coming scientific and technical innovations are to be harnessed wisely and in harmony with human flourishing we need as a country to have a much wider and more informed debate about food. that is why i have asked the lead nonexecutive director henry dimbleby to lead the development of

a new food strategy. you will be visiting farms and food producers and working with people across the industry to ensure we ask the right questions. 0n food security for example i think it‘s critical we conceptualise the challenge properly, food security currently lives in healthy domestic food production and global trading links. but healthy domestic production in the future is likely to require not just investment in new technology but also are improving the resilience of the environment in which we depend for future growth. food security in the future should mean for example returning soils to robust health and improving their organic health. it should also mean keeping pollinator numbers healthy and improving animal welfare and husbandry to minimise health problems and disease risk. it will probably also required us to build resilience and flexibility into the agricultural sector so we can deal with changes we cannot anticipate by ensuring we have diversity in both

the size and type of farm business in this country. food security will also mean guarding against those looming changes we can foresee taking steps to minimise flood risk, to adapt to climate change and safeguard biodiversity so we have a rich bank of natural capital on which to draw from the future. providing consumers not just providing consumers notjust with a plentiful and resilient supply of food, but with guarantees on prove na nce food, but with guarantees on provenance and welfare, which is why the new livestock information programme has championed this and is so programme has championed this and is so important, to reassure consumers on the safety of our products and reassure a competitive edge where quality is increasingly key. with respect to future trade, we know that the materials required for food production, we will have to source

from abroad, but we also know that climate change is going to have an impact on the resilience and range of food production in other countries, particularly in the global south. so countries like our own will have to play an even more important role in world food production. and if we are to maintain ourown production. and if we are to maintain our own resilience and reputation for quality, that means that we must maintain our own high environmental and animal welfare standards. and we must not bahta them away in pursuit of a necessarily short—term trade off. and that takes me to another key question about the economics of food production. affordable food for every citizen is a key goal of public policy, but we should be clearer about the real costs of food production. beef or soy beans produced a scale on land in other countries that have been cleared of fast hectares of forrest may appear cheap, but in fact, such food is

costing the earth. the loss of forrest cover in poses environmental cost on all of us as valuable carbon disappears and the defence against climate change is dismantled. the argument that we can lower the cost of food by importing from countries that have pursued to deforestation policies ignores the bat that we all have to pay for the environmental damage in other ways. and there are other key, questions that food strategy must address. while consumers have enjoyed the bids of increased efficiency in british farming, why have so many farmers not reaped anything like the same benefits? compared with a generation ago, farmers often receive a lower share of the money that we the public handover to supermarkets and other food retailers. public handover to supermarkets and otherfood retailers. now, that is in part because of post—farm gate innovation, supermarkets offering consumers added value, scrubbed potatoes, chicken seasoned and sold in roasting bags which customers are

happy to pay more for, but that innovation has inevitably reduced the percentage of the final price going to the farmer. so as farmer become even more efficient and get an even better return per hectare, how can we ensure we have a profitable farm sector on the side low prices for good food? part of the answer is greater transparency. the more information we have and an increasingly discerning public has making informed choices, the greater markets work, and if markets are not working, because some players are operating on fairly or anti—competitively, the governor and should intervene. intervention is also required when it comes to health. the growth in obesity, the acceleration in numbers of patients with type two diabetes, the spiralling diet related heart disease and cancer makes us look at the impact of what we eat on how we live and die. this challenge

requires very careful handling. a crude attempt to label certain foods, meat and derry, is inherently unhealthy, does not dojustice foods, meat and derry, is inherently unhealthy, does not do justice to the scale and complexity of the problem. neither does crude calorie labelling. a proper food problem. neither does crude calorie labelling. a properfood strategy must look more widely at the socio—economic factors relating to dietand socio—economic factors relating to diet and health problems. such as obesity, diabetes and other diet related illnesses. the fact these problems disproportionately affect more disadvantaged areas of society should offend our sense of social justice, that is why we need to pass searching questions aboutjust where, how and why poor diet occurs? i want where, how and why poor diet occurs? iwant our where, how and why poor diet occurs? i want our food strategy to be ambitious. to ask big questions is to challenge lazy orthodoxies. to place food security on a sounder footing, to enable food producers to plan for the future with confidence, to provide a proper understanding of

the real economics of the food industry to harness the potential of new technology to improve productivity, to make that productivity, to make that productivity growth genuinely sustainable and to improve the nation‘s health. i see our food strategy as another opportunity for britain to show a lead in this world of opportunity. and of course, there is already one conspicuous way in which we do read the world when it comes to food. 0ur universities are home to one decimal of the most respected agriculture, food and environmental science in the world. a new generation of farmer, scientists and biotech entrepreneurs are already reinforcing britain‘s reputation as a centre of excellence and innovation but i want to go further. there is a huge opportunity for british talent to shake the fourth agricultural revolution but we need to ensure that we attract even more talented people into the food and farming industry. i had

been hugely encouraged in that regard by the work of colleagues such as fiona kendrick, peter kendall, who have collaborated to think creatively about skills and talent we will need in the future to maintain leadership in the food production sector. and we will say more about what government can do to help when recommendations come forward through the food and drinks sector council, but i have discussed with business secretary greg clarke fought was all collectively to show even greater ambition. food is at the heart of every farming business. and farming is the backbone of the rural economy. 0ur ambition to lead the world in our thinking about food at defra. .. so the environmental secretary michael gove in that speech to the oxford farming conference laying out his vision as he said for the fourth agricultural revolution and looking forward to a long—term view and selecting out his

ideas and those of defra on food production and economics. he is planning to speak for some time. we hope to hear from planning to speak for some time. we hope to hearfrom brexit planning to speak for some time. we hope to hear from brexit and the potential challenges and opportunities that will provide for the farming industry. we may revisit that if he decides to turn his attention to that subject. a major milestone in space exploration, it china landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon were no human robot has ever ventured before. the probe is carrying instruments to analyse the unexplored region‘s geology and has already sent back its first images. fred watson, australia‘s astronomer at large, has been explaining the significance of china‘s success. it isa it is a difficult terrain to london, partly because there is no direct radio communication with that side of the moon. the moon itself is in

the way. but also, the far side of the way. but also, the far side of the moon is much more mountainous than the near side so we don‘t have these huge flat areas that have been these huge flat areas that have been the province of landers to date so it isa the province of landers to date so it is a fantastic milestone. it is not without its challenges, partly because of the communications blackout, a result of being the wrong side of the moon essentially. that is right, so the chinese have very cleverley circumvented that problem so by last may, they sent a spacecraft to a position that is about 20,000 kilometres beyond the moon. but they can allow that spacecraft to go into orbit around and imaginary stable point, it is remarkable technology. which means that the magpie bridge as the spacecraft is called can always see both the earth and the land at the same time so it acts as a relay station. very nice strategy on the pa rt station. very nice strategy on the part of the chinese space agency.

station. very nice strategy on the part of the chinese space agencym is worth saying that the chinese have in some ways been rather late to the space race, what are their ambitions now? that ambitions are partly to go all the way. they certainly have that i on human space flight certainly have that i on human space flight and have had already two space stations in orbit around the earth. the series of missions are designed really to pave the way for chinese astronauts to work —— to walk on the surface and that will probably happen within the next ten yea rs probably happen within the next ten years and then they have their sights on using the moon as a staging post to send astronauts to mars. it is part of a large at egypt programme on the part of the chinese. fred watson, australia's astronomer at large. a massive story and we will talk to somebody from the royal astronomical society at around 11 o‘clock 48 new perspective

on this and we will look at those photos coming back from the robot, interesting stuff. a breathalyser test that could revolutionise cancer diagnosis is being tested in the uk. the device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients. scientists hope it will lead to a simpler, cheaper method of spotting the disease early. speaking on bbc breakfast earlier, professor rebecca fitzgerald, from cancer research uk, says the tests are in the early stages, but the initial results are positive. one of the problems is, with diagnosing cancer early is, you have to really make the tests as easy as possible because often, people are quite reluctant to go to the hospital for checkups if your symptoms are quite subtle, or it may be even before you have symptoms at all. so the test needs to be something ideally that you could do right at the gp‘s surgery, in a really noninvasive, simple—to—do way. and a breathalyser is so simple and potentially fits the bill really well. you just simply breathe into a mask for ten minutes and collect all those thousands of chemicals in the breath for analysis.

it seems a bit of a strange thing that you could carry those markers in the breath but, if you think about it, for example, diabetes, when the sugar levels are very high, you can actually smell that as acetone on the breath. so we have an awful lot of chemicals that travel in our blood, that then cross the barrier into the lungs when exhaled in the breath. so if you can capture those, then you can detect signals for cancer cells that are growing abnormally, they‘re metabolising abnormally, and so you have a different signal or pattern of chemicals in the breath. and what we‘re really excited and interested to learn is whether you actually get different patterns of those chemicals for different sorts of cancer. and this is even before the cancer has started to give you symptoms and you may not know there‘s anything wrong at all. so this is people at risk, not people with symptoms of cancer at this stage. there‘s been a lot of interest in developing blood tests. some people have needle phobia, for example. we need the test to be a simple and as convenient as possible, and breath really would be a revolution, ithink.

especially if it could be a pan—cancer breath test — so a breath test that could detect any kind of cancer, if the signals were specific enough. but what we‘re doing now in cambridge is launching a new trial, so we want to just see if we can pick up those signals, see how sensitive the technology is and whether we can detect different signals from different cancers. so, this is really an explorative trial, to really see if this could work. professor rebecca fitzgerald. a dawn—to—dusk protest has begun in the southern indian state of kerala after two women entered a shrine there, to worship, on wednesday. police helped the women enter the temple, which is at the centre of a bitter dispute between conservatives and activists. a court ruling last year was supposed to end the temple‘s long—standing ban on all women of menstruating age. but for months, protesters have been preventing women from going in.

smitha nair is a journalist for the independent indian news website scroll.in. she says passions are riding high on all fronts. what we‘re seeing is a reaction to what happened yesterday, despite the ruling by the supreme court in 2018 lifted what at least some traditionalists believe to be a centuries—old ban for the entry of women into the shrine that were not allowed to enter the temple, protests have been intermittently over the last seven weeks but these two women managed to enter the temple before daybreak yesterday and thatis temple before daybreak yesterday and that is subsequently confirmed by the state government. they did so under police protection and that appears to have riled the traditionalists mobilised by the opposition party in the state of kerala, the ruling part at the centre, so what we‘re seeing today is mobilisation and counter mobilisation of political parties on both sides of the divide, one led by

the ruling communist party that governs the state of kerala and the bjp, the hindu nationalist party that rules the country and is in opposition in kerala. the headlines here. china says it has successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. the first—ever such attempt and landing. apple, one of the world‘s most valuable companies, issues of £4 billion profits warning. the tech giant blames chinese economic deceleration for its problems. and police have arrested two people in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the english channel into the uk illegally. figures show streaming services and digital downloads now account for more than 70% of revenues for uk music

and video industries. the entertainment retailers association says spending on music, video and games is up but sales of physical products have fallen. i spoke to the video games expert, jordan erica webber, who told me there is still a large market for physical copies of games, despite a growing trend in digital—only gaming. 0bviously for me, video games is my big thing so the thing that stood out was that games took in more than half the revenue of all entertainment in the uk, so more than music and video combined for the first time. 51.3% of revenue was for video games. and when we talk about video games, for those uninitiated, what kind of spectrum of stuff are we talking about? it includes all sorts, games you play on your pc, or on a console and maybe an xbox or playstation, or games you play on your phone. and digital has a big role as well. games have the large as percentage of the revenue from digital out of all of them.

more than three quarters across all three, but in games, 80.1% came from digital. so we are seeing a shift away from games you get in a box you open and slot into your machine and it‘s something you will download. yes, although interestingly, physical went down the list for games from 2017/2018, so a bigger drop in music and video probably because of spotify and internet clicks. games went down only a few percent as far as physical is concerned and, in 2017, physical went up we think because of the release of nintendo switch. people still are buying physical products, although not as much as getting things digitally. what will this tell us and the gaming industry, who are looking to make money in 2019, about the way they need to move and the strategies they need to employ? it‘s really interesting because these figures, they released charts as well. and in music and video, the biggest selling items sold more in physical.

so the chart toppers, people bought on dvd and cd, probably because they wanted them as gifts or to keep. but in games, it is hard to tell because the only charts we get are physical. so games like call of duty and fifa did well in physical sales, people are still buying them in the shops, but you have huge games you can only get digitally like fortnite that everyone is talking about, which brought in an enormous amount of money in 2018. epic games, the creator, made a profit of $3 billion last year so there is a huge amount of money that we cannot see where it is coming from. when we think of the consumers driving these trends, we think of probably younger people in the gaming market, but there is a lot of stuff still at play and when we are talking

about physical copies of dvds, there are still consumers who want that. yes, absolutely. physical is important to young kids, especially parents are more likely to buy physical for their children than get involved in the digital marketplaces, older people may want to walk into a shop and buy a physical game. it is interesting you talk about the kind of consumers driving this because in games, we have this idea games are all young people, but that is just not true. stats show across gender and age, everyone is playing video games. on twitter the other day, someone said their 87—year—old grandma had played animal crossing every day for the past four years, so that is 3,000 hours this grandma was playing! so you really can‘t pinpoint specific consumer. so in that sense, in 2019, when people try to devise the next big thing, it will not all be the big kind of shooter games we hear so much about like fortnite, there is a wide span of interest in the kind of games that are being devised. absolutely, games winning things like baftas, the best game bafta last year went to what remains

of edith finch, you cannot buy it digitally. there is no shooting, it‘s about a young woman who goes back to her family home to explore the deaths of some of her relatives, it‘s a really interesting and poignant game. strictly‘s aj pritchard and his brother curtis have been talking about the incident over christmas when they were attacked in a nightclub in cheshire. the professional dancers were left battered and bruised, with curtis needing emergency surgery on his knee following the incident in nantwich at the weekend. aj was partnered with paralympian lauren steadman for strictly come dancing 2018 and reached the semi—final. he and his brother curtis were on bbc breakfast and described what happened the night they were attacked. we were literally ten minutes down the road from our house. we went out for a night out and curtis was violently pushed and then we were beaten up by eight people. and as you can see with his leg, he needed emergency surgery straightaway, which he has had done,

thankfully, and thank you to the nhs for that. but the thing is, it was senseless violence, unprovoked. and just, there‘s not much more to say, which is the sad thing. because you feel safe in your hometown and then, suddenly, this happens. yeah, it‘s very upsetting, to be honest. and, curtis, just take us through how you felt on that night, and aj will tell us in a moment that you were feeling pretty protective of your brother, were you? well, it was a fantastic night out to start with, it was sort of my new year's eve night out because i was going back to ireland for dancing with the stars to start work on the ist. so we thought we would go out, myself and aj, have some fun. we were having a great night, the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and then as the night went on, we were just having a good time and on the dance floor all of a sudden, itjust broke out into what happened. thank god we were together,

it would have been a very different situation if we were not together. i would like to say, thank you for getting me out of the situation, aj, because it would have been a lot worse if he wasn't there to get me out of the situation. oh, my goodness. you are both clearly very shaken up and also injured. firstly, curtis, you cannot now go and do yourjob, is that right? well, i should be in ireland training now for the first live show this sunday on the 6th, but i can't dance at the moment. i have to thank the nhs for being so quick and proactive. i start physio today and i should be walking on my leg within three weeks. in 4—5 weeks, i should be dancing again. that is in a perfect world. fingers crossed, touch wood, yeah. stacey dooley may have onlyjust

popped the strictly glitterball trophy on her mantlepiece, but there‘s already a new dance talent show waiting in the wings. it‘s called "the greatest dancer" and among the judges is cheryl, who‘s been telling us about her ballet past, and some nasty dance injuries. 0ur entertainment correspondent, colin paterson, has been visiting the sets. strictly only finished a couple of weeks ago, but it‘s already time for a new saturday night bbc one dance show — one that‘s more street than ballroom. and there are three familiar faces who know all about going through the pain barrierfor dance. cheryl. i slipped. that was painful, but i had to wear a brace and carry on, because i was on tour. graeme swann‘s strictly partner, 0ti mabuse. and ijust hit the floor and i didn't slide and the shoulder just went... cracking. then i had to continue dancing. and glee‘s matthew morrison. my hip actually came out

of the socket once, so, but it is back in, all good. thankfully, things were going rather smoother on the day we were on set. good morning. and backstage, cheryl explained how delighted she is to have returned to her first love. i actually went to the royal ballet when i was nine. i was one of the youngest in the country to get a place in the summer school and, yeah, i was really passionate about ballet when i was younger. it kind of wore off when i was 11 or 12 and i discovered music. and boys. not boys so much. honestly not boys so much — at 12! yeah. the competition has officially begun! no judges on this show. the trio are called dance captains. but they know what they want to see. really fresh choreography and dancers who are willing to take the risk. and for me, i think it's really important that the first winner of the show kind of opens the doors for many others to come and is kind of an inspiration as well to other dancers. it's tough. it's a tough world out there for dancers, so i am so happy to be on a show that shines

a light on the talent and the struggles and the love that these people have for this artform. and this is the reception where the dancers arrive and meet amelia. hello. are they ready for me yet? absolutely, time for your addition. excellent. this is where the contestants perform, into a mirrored wall. now, it may look like a normal dance studio, but the audience are on the other side and they can see through. cheering and applause. if 75% of them vote yes, then the dancers are through to the call—backs. the greatest dancer is made by simon cowell‘s production company psycho, but the hosts — former strictly winner alicia dickson, and jordan banjo, from diversity — say that for once he‘s keeping a low profile. i haven‘t seen simon pop up yet. apparently, he's auditioning later on, though. who knows?

what is he like as a dancer? as a dancer, i‘ve never seen simon cowell dance in my life. have you? is he just not a dancer at parties, then? i‘ve never seen him dance, but he does like a bit ofa head nod and a hand... hand movement when he is on the desk on britain‘s got talent. that's enough for simon. he's just a smooth fella. he‘s just cool. people are going to have to do far more than nod their heads to progress when the show starts on saturday. that is coming in 2019. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. nothing to dance about. a lot of cloud across the uk. it has been cold in eastern scotland and south wales. some frost this morning. with all this cloud, temperatures above freezing. it is all underneath this area of high pressure. that is not moving very fast. where you have cloud underneath that, we call it i

teased rash anticyclonic groom because it does not move or change very much. you can see with all that cold around. a few breaks in the cloud. eastern parts of scotland through mid and south wales and the south—west, some brighter skies. but for most, it stays cloudy through the course of today. beneath the clouds, it feels quite chilly. maximum temperature is at best around three or four celsius when you have the cloud, perhaps not as cold in northern ireland and western scotla nd cold in northern ireland and western scotland where you have a southerly wind. temperatures 8—9dc. tonight, computer graphics struggling. it is going to remain quite cloudy for many overnight. some pockets of clear spells allowing temperatures drop below freezing. for most, temperatures just above. largely frost free but some pockets. just chasing cows around. —— cloud.

patchy mist and fog in central and southern areas but for most, it remains cloudy throughout friday and any breaks here and there. temperatures about pre—6dc for many. into the weekend, this area of high—pressure sticks with us. some weather fronts skirting and western areas but as it bumps into the high—pressure, any rain associated with that eases away so looking largely dry over the weekend. this saturday. 0nce largely dry over the weekend. this saturday. once again, rather cloudy theme. the anticyclonic gloom continues with some breaks in the cloud. across eastern areas on saturday. temperatures about 5—6d, a bit milderfurther north saturday. temperatures about 5—6d, a bit milder further north and west. sunday, more of the same. a few bright sunny spells from time to time. temperatures perhaps a bit higher, 8—9dc. so not a lot going on

with the weather at the moment, high pressure firmly in charge and that keeps things very settled, but also quite boring for us, goodbye. the main stories this morning: china makes history with the landing of a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon. a prophet warning from apple panics investors. a sharp rise in online sales for next over the christmas period. two people are arrested in manchester on suspicion of helping migrants cross the english channel into the uk. the curious case of the north korean ambassador to italy who has gone missing, according to south korea‘s spying agency. pep guardiola‘s manchester city