this is bbc news. i'm rachel schofield. the headlines at 4: boris johnson launches the conservatives' election manifesto in telford, pledging to "get brexit done" and "forge a new britain". we are now, as you know, less than three weeks away from the most critical election of modern memory, when the stakes for this country have seldom been higher, and the choice has never been starker. the manifesto also promises to train 50,000 new nurses, at a cost of £750 million a year. meanwhile, the labour party pledges to compensate nearly four million women who lost out when their state pension age rose from 60 to 66. in other news, five teenagers have been arrested after a large brawl at a cinema in birmigham last night which saw a number

of police officers injured. voters in hong kong turn out in record numbers to cast their ballots in district council elections. and in half an hour, here on bbc news, the travel show visits an eco—friendly ski—slope in copenhagen, a city aiming to become the world's first carbon neutral capital. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. boris johnson has unveiled the conservative manifesto with a speech in which he promised to spend more money on public services without raising income taxes. he also pledged repeatedly to get brexit done, and vowed to keep the united kingdom intact. the headline promise of this manifesto is the conservative pledge not

to raise income tax, national insurance contributions or vat. the so—called triple tax lock. they also kept up the pressure on labour over the nhs by promising 50,000 nurses, more than double what labour are proposing. but there was no mention in the manifesto of boris johnson's promise to raise higher rate tax threshold to £80,000. that's the second tax u—turn by mrjohnson after he ditched the promise to cut corporation tax. here is what he had to say about his party's spending plans. it is this one nation tory party that has already embarked on the biggest cash boost for the nhs in a generation and today, in this manifesto, we pledge 50,000 more nurses and their bursaries, and 50 million more gp surgery appointments, and today, we make this guarantee to the british people, that we will tackle crime with 20,000 more police officers and tougher sentencing, and we will sort out our

immigration system with a points—based australian style system, that we will invest millions more every week in science, in schools, in apprenticeships, and in infrastructure, and control our debt at the same time. and that we can reach, and we will reach, net zero by 2050 with clean energy solutions. and we can do all these things, we can do all these things, here's the kicker, we can do all these things without raising our income tax, vat, or national insurance contributions. that is our guarantee. there we are, a flavour of the ma nifesto there we are, a flavour of the manifesto launch. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, was watching that manifesto launch in telford. what stood out to you? obviously thatis what stood out to you? obviously that is the headline announcement, 50,000 more nurses. there will be a i’ow 50,000 more nurses. there will be a row about that because labour are

challenging the facts. the conservative party seem to be suggesting they will recruit twice as many nurses as the labour party but they will spend less money, so i think there is going to be a little argument over whether that adds up and in the same way, there was an argument earlier over the pledge to build a0 new hospitals. expect the i’ow build a0 new hospitals. expect the row over the figures. apart from that, i felt it was a cautious, safety first manifesto, boris johnson rattled through it in ia minutes, a comparatively quick speech for a big formal manifesto launch. there was nothing new in it, more a consolidation of what we already know, brexit, yes, at the heart of this manifesto, the familiar pledges we have had before, 20,000 more police officers, more cash for helping schools outside of london, more prison places, a pledge not to increase income tax, vat or

national insurance, a pledge to pensioners saying do not worry, the triple lock stays in place and a pledge to brexiteer saying i will bring the brexit bill back to the commons before christmas. it seemed more a message of reassurance and that would fit in with what seems to be the psyche of the tory team at the moment, which is bluntly this, they think they are within touching distance of victory. the last thing they want to do at the moment is put out some contentious, controversial policy which might bring the house down. their strategy at the moment is safety first, stay on brexit, do not take any chances, so that is why we have ended up with what seems to me to bea we have ended up with what seems to me to be a slimmed down, stripped back manifesto, not much fuss about it, borisjohnson arrives in telford, delivers a short speech, the parts, and off, nothing to say here. they do not want any sort of

row, or controversy, over this ma nifesto, row, or controversy, over this manifesto, they want steady as you go with only a fortnight to go until polling day. indeed. thank you very much indeed. norman smith, live in telford. so much to get into with this manifesto. let's talk to anne mcelvoy, senior editor at the economist. great to have you with us. norman making the point this is a departure, playing it safe. how would you rate it alongside previous tory manifesto launches? there are two kinds of 20 manifesto lunches, one which said slash and burn on taxes, limit the size of the state. it was not that kind of launch at all. you could say that boris johnson is taking on the perspective that actually he has a right winger nche's close very cautious in terms of promising some sort of money, and those things hard to deliver for the nhs. it did not go as far as many people thought it would on public

spending. there was talk of an arms race with labour but whenjeremy corbyn put out such an expensive proposition, and you could think that you want to spend more on public services but that has got them quickly into the argument about who would be paying for it down the line, the very rich. borisjohnson, quite modest figures, by my calculations, not even the best part of £5 billion rises in public spending as we go forward, so he is obviously trying to keep to the message of prudence. at the same time, we committed tone in terms of green targets and taking carbon out of the atmosphere. you might say he seems to be promising to achieve a lot without spending a lot of money and with labour it is the other way around so it is whatever devil you prefer. trying to get in on labour territory, you said he did not want to get into an arms race, but they ventured into the nhs, which is big

with voters, 50,000 more nurses. yes and if you look at the costings for that, given they do not intend to raise the spending by a vast amount, you can pump a lot of money into buying more staff but one of the m essa g es buying more staff but one of the messages which he has been messages which he has been getting to,talking to simon stevens, the nhs in england, there are deficiencies which can be delivered in terms of retention of staff, it is a massive waste in the nhs, people are churning out because they are not happy with their conditions. they could put in a five year plan to try ha rd to could put in a five year plan to try hard to get more efficiencies, by being more consistent with the money you push to the front line but it will not be enough for those who say the nhs needs a radical spending reform but we come back to the boris johnson message, i will do a cautious manifesto, saying we will deliver back —— deliver brexit, who knows what the other guy will do about that, we are being unfair because we have not talked about the lib dems or other parties but one of

thoseis lib dems or other parties but one of those is not likely to be a number 10 on the 13th of december. brexit plus, ace of tory message, we care about public services, but we are watching the pennies, that is what borisjohnson was after watching the pennies, that is what boris johnson was after today. there was something for the elderly, the triple lock on pensions, free bus passes and so on, working age people will have heard the triple tax lock and so on, where there are any groups who missed out you might have wa nted groups who missed out you might have wanted to hear something but did not? young people come off badly in a manifesto like this. it is the triple lock on pensions, the locking in of the interests of the older photo, fertile conservative territory. tactically, this is a group that skews more towards brexit than any other group in the demographic, but not as much as people say, because once you get to my age, you are much more likely to skew that way. there are individual

exceptions and people understand that, but i do not think he wants to in —— to annoy the older demographic and that means a limited amount of money is at the other end of the age spectrum. it has been a problem with the skew in spending for many years and it will not change at this election. thought, good of you to come in. thank you very much indeed. five teenagers have been arrested after a large brawl at a cinema in birmigham yesterday evening which saw a number of police officers injured. fights broke out as police attempted to clear around 100 people from the star city leisure complex. two machetes were seized in the incident. 0ne witness described it as one of the "scariest momemts" of their life. jenny kumah is in birmingham. now many of the people here last night were families with young children and they were left shaken and frightened by the outbreak of violence here. they had come to see the new film frozen but they ended up seeing something quite different. the police say they were called

at around half—past five yesterday afternoon after reports of groups of young people armed with machetes and they say they needed to use tasers to restore order. they recovered two machetes from the scene and they found a knife nearby. in terms of injuries, they say seven police officers sustained minor facial injuries and also, today, more details have emerged about the five arrests, they include a 13—year—old girl who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting the police. she was arrested alongside a ia—year—old boy and a ia—year—old girl, and a 19—year—old man. a ia—year—old boy was also arrested on suspicion of obstructing the police. the police say they are trying to find out the reasons for this outbreak of violence and they would like anyone who took any video footage or photos to forward it to them so they can make more arrests.

birmingham police commissioner steve graham said that the police had no warning ahead of the incident, and will continue working to prevent similar behaviour from happening again. this seemed to happen spontaneously and as we said earlier on, we are not entirely certain what caused it so we will not get into that speculation, but it's reassuring we were able to deal with it in a relatively short time to make sure the public were safe. we have plans to make more arrests today and going forward but it is important to stress we are notjust about making arrests, from tomorrow morning we will have neighbourhood officers working in schools to try to reassure some of the young people who might have been there and were genuinely scared are not part of the disorder, and to divert other people away from this activity. let's get back to politics, the conservative manifesto launch and specifically the pledge made by borisjohnson for 50,000 specifically the pledge made by boris johnson for 50,000 more specifically the pledge made by borisjohnson for 50,000 more nurses in england. bbc heath editor

hugh pym joins me now. you have been having a look at the details. tell me what was said and you can unpick it for us. 50,000 more nurses by 202a was an eye—catching plan set out by boris johnson. what does it add up to? it is not the same thing as recruiting 50,000 new nurses it is adding 50,000 new nurses it is adding 50,000 to the workforce in england, currently around 300,000. there are lots of vacancies at the moment, it is difficult recruiting so the conservatives are arguing this is trying to deal with that problem, but that 50,000 figure includes recruitment overseas, and it includes better retention, policy is to hold on to nurses and make them or persuade them it is worth staying with more professional development of their careers rather than leaving early. the recruitment of new nurses is rather less than that, between 10000 and 20,000, based on more

training places. the conservative government scrapped the bursary for training of nurses in england in 2017. not caused a decline in applications. the conservative say, if elected, they will reintroduce the maintenance grant of up to £8,000 per yearfor nursing students, though not the fees, the reintroduction of three teas. in terms of the financial implications of this promise, perhaps less onerous than if they we re perhaps less onerous than if they were trying to recruit all these nurses from scratch? yes, it is a big number, 50,000, but it hangs quite a lot on whether you can retaina it hangs quite a lot on whether you can retain a certain number. 18,000 being retained who otherwise would have left, it is a big ask to recruit a certain numberfrom overseas at a time when that is not necessarily straightforward, though they have said they want to cut the visa cost for a nurse coming from outside the uk or any other health professional. the health surcharge

they have to pay for their own health would go up under the conservative government so that is a question, but there is a commitment with this maintenance grant to try to encourage more nurses to go into training, but that is not the whole story of the 50,000. have we had any response from nursing bodies like the rcn? they are still crunching through the figures, no. labour have applied for 2a,000 more nurses based on funding for training places and cutting fees back to zero in the maintenance grant. thank you. the headlines on bbc news... borisjohnson has launched the conservative party's election manifesto — promising to train 50,000 new nurses, at a cost of £750 million a year. he also said the tories can unleash the uk's potential without raising income tax, vat or national insurance. meanwhile, labour has pledged to compensate nearly four million women who lost out when their state

pension age rose from 60 to 66. staying with the political landscape of the day. staying with the political landscape of the day. 0ur political editor, laura kuenssberg, asked boris johnson whether the country could trust him with a majority. let's take a listen. you won the leadership of your party by making a big promise on brexit that you then broke, despite saying the buck stopped with you. now you are trying to win the country with a list of promises and significant extra spending. do you accept that, beyond this room and your party, it is a big leap of faith for the country to trust you with a majority? we are working very hard to secure a working majority, because... and get a parliament that works for the people of this country, because i think that when, yes, it is true that parliament did

vote to stop us from leaving the european union in the way that i wanted on october 31st, that was a decision taken by mr corbyn, jo swinson, the scottish nationalists, they decided to vote against our plan to come out. we have a great deal to do that now, and you know, i think the biggest issue at this election is really whether people have any confidence in politics any more, and i think the reason that confidence and trust in politics has been so undermined is because for three—and—a—half years they have seen politicians, engaged in constant prevarication, procrastination, dither and delay, when the people of this country voted to get brexit done. and we are the only... we are the only party... we are the only party at this election

that has a prospectus to do that. we have a deal that, as i say, is ready to go. let's get on and do it. and that, i think, is the way to bring our country together and to enable us all to focus on the priorities we care about, particularly the nhs. the bbc‘s reality check team are assessing the conservative manifesto pledges — our correspondent helena wilkinson has been looking at their findings so far. there was this headline about potholes of all things. tell us more. . if you drive on the road, you cycle, bicycle, motorbike, they can bea you cycle, bicycle, motorbike, they can be a real issue, they can cause accidents and damage to cars and bikes so the conservatives really going big on this. they are saying it will be the largest ever pothole fixing programme, if we zoom in and look at the figure, if you look, this is last year the number of potholes that were filled. this is

according to the at fault industry's latest survey. nearly 2 million repaired at a cost of 97.8 million. local authorities as well have said they filled over 300,000 more holes in the previous year, though the amount of money being spent didn't go up. the reason we understand is because these jobs were being done as part of planned works as opposed to it being on an ad hoc basis so what the conservatives promise today, they plan to allocate £2 billion or 500 million a yearfor the next four years, if they win the election, that is to fix potholes and if you go back to march, they, the government made an announcement and this figure is almost ten times the amount they promised in march. now, how much is it going to cost to fix all the roads? a huge amount of money and we also now from the aia

there is a huge maintenance backlog on the whole of the rail network, that would cost £9 billion, that needs to be spent on england's roads, so this is scene as yes, a big boost but it won't fix the whole of the network. 0k. big boost but it won't fix the whole of the network. ok. i love the idea there is someone counting the number of pot #a0e8s. —— holes. thank you very much indeed. we'll bring you more reality check analysis of the conservative manifesto in the next hour — looking at the party's plans on education and childcare. 0ur political correspondent norman smith has been in telford today, getting reaction to that conservative manifesto launch. what do we take from today's ma nifesto ? what do we take from today's manifesto? the big headline obviously is the pledge to recruit 50,000 more nurse, and beyond that, much of it pretty familiar terrain, at its heart of course that pledge to get brexit done, but a slight

sense this was rather cautious ma nifesto. sense this was rather cautious manifesto. fair comment, welli sense this was rather cautious manifesto. fair comment, well i am joined by the conservative mp george free man, head of the one nation caucasus of tory mps, do you think this is fair it was a risk—averse ma nifesto ? this is fair it was a risk—averse manifesto? i don't. a huge investment programme, a huge end of austerity programme. boris johnson making clear he gets the message. a lot of places round the country have felt left behind and left out. corbyn's approach is to pull down. 0ur corbyn's approach is to pull down. our approach is to level up. investment and kicktivety. there is a message at the heart of that, a one nation conservativism that is absolutely committed to making sure that whoever and where ever you are, in northern ireland, scotland, wales or the deindustrialised north we are here for your and coming for you and we will give you the opportunity, and if we can get the brexit deal through, we can grow the economy and put more money into public service, you will know most manifestos are

big moments in campaigns, slight sense think is, well, to use mr johnson's analogy undercooked. it doesn't feel like a big moment, it is just doesn't feel like a big moment, it isjust something which doesn't feel like a big moment, it is just something which you have to do. oh, i would is just something which you have to do. oh, iwould say is just something which you have to do. oh, i would say the opposite. i think it is realistic, deliverable and it is cooked, ready. we have seen mr corbyn's approach, he is 50 billion here, 100 billion there, a00 billion here, 100 billion there, a00 billion there. the public see through it. empty promises, this is realistic, it is pragmatic, positive, it is funded, i think that is what people want. promises that politicians can keep that will work for them. on the promises front of course, he has ditched his promise to help middle—income earners by raising the hiring rate threshold. he has u—turned on the cuts to r co—ration tax, so doesn't that play into the bigger question mark which is can you trust borisjohnson? well, they weren't promises, they we re well, they weren't promises, they were aspiration and i supported the decision to focus our tax cuts at

the lowest paid, so it is national insurance reductions for those at the lowest end of the pay scale. in due course, when we have the extra revenue, it less would be lovely to reduce corporation tax, get more companies coming to britain. clear message we are in this for the low paid, the lowest paid families of britain. that is a strong one nation commitment. compared to corbyn ma nifesto commitment. compared to corbyn manifesto which the blue collar works in my constituency don't believe. there we are. new york's former mayor , the billionaire, michael bloomberg , has announced that he'll run as a candidate for the democrats, in next year's us presidential election. mr bloomberg, who's 77, said he'd changed his mind about taking part because the country couldn't afford four more years of president trump. president trump's lawyer — rudy giuliani — has said he's not concerned about being indicted for crimes now being investigated by the impeachment inquiry. this is after the us state department released records relating to the trump administration's dealings

with ukraine which show repeated contacts between secretary of state mike pompeo and mrgiuliani. are you afraid you could be indicted? oh, wow. how long have you known me? i have known you several yea rs. known me? i have known you several years. you think i am afraid, you i think i get afraid? i did the right thing. i represented my client in a very very effective way. i was so effective that i discovered a pattern of corruption that the washington press has been covering up washington press has been covering up for three there were a dizzying number of testimonies in the impeachment inquiry. so we have this week's hearing. that says to me this president believes he is above the law. welcome to the fifth day of this circus. the president has five

pinocchios on a daily basis. let us not go there. impeachment inquiry. so we have this week's hearing. that says to me this president believes he is above the law. welcome to the fifth day of this circus. the president has five pinocchios on a daily basis. let us not go there. he " loves not go there. he "loves your as". after two weeks of public impeachment hearings what stood out? we have heard from 12 witnesses over 50 hour, the biggest bombshell came from this man. the us ambassador to the eu. he confirmed there was a quid pro quo between the us and ukrainian. promising this in exchange for that. mr giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo. he says hiss team was total to work closely with rudy giuliani, the president's personal law.

and he said everybody in the white house knew about it. everyone was in the loop. for democrats, this is a trump doter saying he knew the white house visit was being used as leverage and he presumed the same went for suspended us military a. but trump and his republican defenders picked up on a different part of sondland's testimony, about a conversation he had with the president. i want nothing. that's what i want from ukraine, that's what i said. so, trump's off the hook? well, those instructions were given in september, just days before the ukraine dealings went public. was donald trump just covering his tracks? i'll call you back. phone calls were a recurring theme this week. on tuesday we heard from jennifer williams, a state department official, and lieutenant colonel alexander vindman of the national security council who both listened in on the now infamousjuly 25th phone call between donald trump and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. both thought the call was inappropriate. it involved a discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter. there were also revelations about a new phone call the very next

day between donald trump and the eu ambassador where they talked about investigations. that conversation was overheard by david holmes, another witness and confirmed by sondland himself. the initial part of the call, ambassador sondland, when the president came on the call, he sort of winced and held the phone away from his ear. yeah, sounds like something i would say. the call indicates how deeply involved donald trump was in all of this. so what does this mean for trump? a lot of foreign policy professionals and government were concerned about what was going on in the white house and one of the men at the centre of the controversy, gordon sondland has now testified that they were right. american viewers have been tuning in by the millions, but it is still too early to tell whether enough minds have been changed to put donald trump at serious risk. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there.

light winds and all that moisture around meant it was a dull and misty day for most of us today, but there's signs of change in the south—west. we've got an area of low pressure again. more weather fronts bringing some rain up from the south—west overnight, picking up the breeze a little. maybe breaking a few holes in the cloud, but lifting the mist and fog. it should be mild and frost—free, particularly to the south—west, where we have the cloud and the rain. that will move northwards and eastwards tomorrow. some rain for a while in northern ireland, easing off in the afternoon. not much rain for scotland. most of it on and off for england and wales. maybe seeing some late sunshine in the far south—west, where it is particularly mild. the best of the sunshine probably in the far north of scotland. the next area of low pressure is racing in for tuesday. this has got some tropical air, remnants of tropical storm sebastien in the mid—atla ntic. that will bring some heavier rain northwards across the uk. it will also strengthen the winds through the english channel, with the strongest of the winds on tuesday for south wales and the south—west of england.

hello, this is bbc news with rachel schofield. the headlines: borisjohnson has launched the conservative party's election manifesto, promising to train 50,000 nurses at a cost of £750 million a year. he also said the tories can unleash the uk's potential without raising income tax, vat or national insurance. jeremy corbyn says the manifesto was "paid for by billionaires, written for billionaires and delivered for billionaires." meanwhile, labour has pledged to compensate nearly four million women who lost out when their state pension age rose from 60 to 66. in other news, voters in hong kong have turned out in large numbers to vote in local elections, seen as a test of support for the territory's chief executive, carrie lam. five teenagers have been arrested after a large brawl at a cinema in birmigham last night

which saw a number of police officers injured. 0k, ok, let's return to one of those headline stories. there's been a record turnout for the district elections in hong kong which will give an indication of levels of support for the government after months of pro—democracy protests. 0pposition parties hope the results will reflect public anger about how the chief executive, carrie lam, has handled the demonstrations. from hong kong, our correspondent jonathan head reports. the queues formed early and ran long right around the block in taikoo shing. just a local ballot, true, for relatively powerless district councils, but the significance of this first full test of public opinion since hong kong's crisis began more than five months ago was not lost on these voters. there are so many people here. many people are actually waiting for

this opportunity to say something. it is like approving or disapproving the legitimacy of the protest. it is an election, one way or the other, so it shows that people in hong kong believe in elections. that is very important. it is not long since the police were doing nightly battle with black—clad protesters. today they were deployed to secure the polling stations. but there was no sign of trouble here. the opposition wants this election to go smoothly, in the hope that a decisive swing in its favour might force chief executive carrie lam, here casting her vote, to make the concessions she steadfastly refused to make in the face of protests which have brought hong kong to its knees. it is already eight hours since voting started and still there are these impressive lines of voters at polling stations. everyone here knows this is about a lot more than just local councils. they also know that whatever

the result of this election, everything depends, in the end, on whether china can be moved to support concessions. yet still, you can see how important it is for them that their voices are heard. the university campus which saw such dramatic confrontations only a week ago is quiet now. ringed by police, the last few determined activists are hiding on its upperfloors refusing to surrender. this stage of the protests is all but over. but once the election is done, the anti—government campaign will surely resume somewhere else. jonathan head, bbc news, hong kong. pope francis has called for "a world without nuclear weapons". he was speaking on a highly symbolic visit to nagasaki, one of japan's two cities devastated by atomic bombs during the second world war. janey mitchell reports. the unspeakable horror of the us atomic

bomb attack was how pope francis described the suffering of the victims, encapsulated in this photo of a young boy carrying his dead baby brother on his back in the aftermath. the pope prayed silently in torrential rain at the memorial to the 7a,000 people who died, instantly and in the months after the attack in august 19a5. addressing hundreds in waterproofs at ground zero of the bombing, he said nuclear weapons were not the answer to the desire for peace and security. translation: convinced as i am that a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary, i ask political leaders not to forget that these weapons cannot protect us from the current threats to national and international security. we need to ponder the catastrophic impact of their deployment. the 82—year—old pope also hit out at what he called

the money squandered and the fortune made in the arms trade. the pope's message has passionate support from elderly survivors of the nagasaki bomb. translation: even if a third atomic bomb was dropped onjapan, we must not accept a fourth be fired anywhere else, we must not use atomic bombs in retaliation. i don't believe in nuclear deterrents. from the memorial, the pope went on to pray for peace at a mass at a nagasaki stadium, before travelling on to hiroshima, the city hit by the world's first nuclear attack three days before nagasaki. the pope is fulfilling a long—held ambition with his trip to japan, a country he wanted to visit as a young missionary. now his message is one many hope will have international resonance. janey mitchell, bbc news. a large cache of mummified animals found in an ancient egyptian burial site have been displayed

for the first time near the capital, cairo. cats, cobras, birds, and crocodiles were discovered along with hundreds of artefacts. gail maclellan reports. saqqara. for3,000 years, a burial ground, once the necropolis for the ancient city of memphis. egyptologists are excited by this first display of the artefacts found last year. translation: what makes the discovery special is the diversity of the antiquities found, like mummies of animals and sacred birds and sacred cats. the cache includes 75 wooden and bronze statues of cats, mummified birds, masks, crocodiles and an enormous beetle many times the normal size. the most lovely discovery out of those hundreds? that scarab. it is the biggest and the hugest

scarab all over the world. but what makes the find unique is that archaeologists suspect some of the large cats are actually lion cubs. they were found near the remains of an adult lion discovered in 200a. almost a,a00 years old, this ancient civilisation continues to intrigue. gail maclellan, bbc news. a really extraordinary exhibition. the bbc teatime news is coming up at ten to five. first, it's time for the travel show. we start this week in copenhagen. by 2025, the danes hope this will become the world's very first carbon—neutral capital city. we sent cat moh to find out how they are getting on. denmark is a country that takes its eco—friendly reputation very seriously. it is claimed that more than two—thirds of their waste is recycled, and 30%

of all their energy consumption comes from renewable sources. they even say the harbour is clean enough for you to swim in. not something i'll be trying on a cold winter's day. instead i am on a goboat, one of a fleet of electric boats available to hire here in copenhagen. it is charged back at the dock with solar panels. that means no noisy engines, and low co2 emissions. this green drive has had another added push, with the opening of a new tourist attraction — built on top of the unlikeliest of buildings, a power station. fuelled by waste and billed as one of the most environmentally friendly plants of its kind, opened last month, the copenhill spans more than a0,000 square metres.

this slope i am on works its way from the bottom all the way up the side of the building, and it's open every day of the week for hikers, sightseers and even skiers. the ski slope is made from a slippery synthetic material which is coloured green to stop the slope from discolouring. they are still doing a bit of work up here, but look, right over there, that's sweden, which is very cool. and on the other side, we have this amazing view of copenhagen. and how did you guys come up with putting a ski slope up here? one of the things we realised quite quickly is that if you take a section of the building it actually steps down from low to high, from the area where the trucks drive into the boilers, the flue gas treatment areas, up to about 90 metres.

the other thing about denmark is that danes love to ski, but denmark is completely flat. so they will drive for three hours to sweden to ski on a slope that is about 80 metres high. so we quickly realised that since we have mountains of trash apparently, we could turn it into mountains of recreation and skiing, that could become a public amenity in the very centre of the city of copenhagen. sustainability tends to be this thing that is seen as a protestant act, something you do which means that you have to do less of something, that you somehow have to have less life experience. but what we really wanted to do with this project is express that somehow sustainability can be something that is positive and fun, and actually gives more back to people, and to the city. inside, a glass lift shows people the inner workings of the power station.

and tours are available as an apres—ski activity. so explain to me what's going on, there seems to be a mix of leftover tree branches, but also general waste as well. that's correct. we receive waste from five municipalities, both from households and from industries, all the waste that cannot be recycled. how often do these trucks come, because there seems to be a steady flow, even just standing here for the past few minutes. we have around 300 lorries coming in on a daily basis. inside the waste silo, giant grabbers mix the rubbish before dropping it into the furnace. this is where the waste is being incinerated, i will show you over here, it is quite a sight. oh, my eyes! it is like staring

into the pit of hell. the plant generates electricity, and potentially enough annual heating for 150,000 homes. we have waste in copenhagen, we will keep on producing waste in copenhagen and in the rest of the world, so this is a product that is already here so we might as well use it for something reasonable, something that makes sense. back on the slope, it's time for me to get my skis on. can i borrow your boot for one moment? just one is fine, thank you. i have not been on a dry ski slope for maybe 15 years. you will have fun. i have been on actual snow. yeah, well, it is quite different. speed is your friend up there. speed is my friend... yeah.

i don't really know how this is going to go, if i am going to wipe out. i just want to make it down without falling over! she screams. after that initial wobble, i was soon feeling confident. maybe a bit too confident. she laughs. that went really well! and the copenhill is open now to skiers of all abilities. rwanda has just topped the 2020 africa destination list, and i am here in the capital, kigali.

the city is a hub for new start—ups, it has a buzzing art scene, and great local entertainment. but while most travellers whizz through here to get straight to the rwandan wildlife, i have come to see what the capital has to offer. welcome to rwanda! the city is impressively spotless, there is wi—fi everywhere, and perhaps most importantly, there is a real sense of pride bursting from every single person i talked to. this is thanks in no small part to the national made in rwanda initiative, a movement to support and inspire local businesses, and the made in rwanda label is now a badge of honour. this all reflects the new rwandan identity, no longer divided along ethnic or tribal lines. i am at the house of tayo, where designer matthew rugamba set up shop eight years ago. he has seen his brand grow

in popularity since the launch of made in rwanda last year. he has even seen his clothes strutted on the red carpet of the premiere of blockbuster film black panther. i want to show the best of rwanda, there is a lot of undiscovered talent here. it is part of my mandate to utilise as much local talent and expertise as i can. it's very important that we build a local ecosystem of models, photographers, lighting experts, only when we do that we can say that we have a local fashion industry. tayo and other city designers are not only thriving here in rwanda, but are now selling their goods abroad. fashion is not the only thing that is growing here, thanks to the made in rwanda slogan. music and dance has always been a way for people to express themselves, and now, with the national revival, you can't go far here without hearing a drumbeat. inema is one of east africa's largest arts centres, with a range of rwandan

cultural experiences. how do i look? good? i have noticed this real sense of pride to be rwandan. why is this dance so symbolic of rwandan culture? it is very essential for the kids to have some sort of identity, and to grow understanding of dance, their culture, it is very good as you move forward. well, i guess you can tell what's going to happen next. oh man, here we go! i think i made it through about half of that choreography. these kids are so good!

i've had so much fun today getting stuck into rwandan culture. now i'm ordering a cocktail and i am about to kick back and enjoy a concert, rwandan style. i am here to see dayo perform, one of kigali's rising music sensations. the inanga is our cultural, traditional music. it is our history, it is our identity. many years ago it was getting disappeared. so i decided to introduce my music to the new world. such a beautiful sound. the lyrics of your music, what do they mean, what are you saying in your songs? i want everyone to know our culture, how we are doing, our history. if everybody listens to our story, where we come from, how we are going on.

it gives the inspiration to other nations, so i want to tell the people about our country. this new generation of rwandans who have now moved on from the country's darker, violent past, are shedding light and colour across the country. and while most travellers rush through kigali, it is worth keeping some time aside to explore the people, their passion, and their crafts in this bustling city.

boris johnson launches the conservative manifesto, saying the coming election, is the most critical, in modern memory. he's promising 50,000 more nurses, and he won't raise income tax. only the conservatives, he says, can unleash britain's potential. let us go for sensible, moderate, but tax—cutting, one—nation conservative government, and take this country forward. thank you all very much. cheering. the prime minister publishes his blueprint for britain but do his sums and strategy add up? we'll be looking at the conservative pledges, and the promise to bring the prime minister's brexit deal before parliament by christmas. also on the programme. huge turnouts in hong kong in local elections, with voters

giving their verdict on months of pro—deomcracy demonstrations. and five arrests, as machetes are seized by police attempting to break up a mass brawl in birmingham. good afternoon. borisjohnson has launched the conservative party's election manifesto, promising to get his brexit deal passed by parliament as soon as possible after the election if he wins. in a speech in telford in shropshire, he offered what he called a "route map" to take the country forward. for the nhs in england, there's a pledge to add 50,000 more nurses and restore nursing grants, that's on top of an existing promise to pump tens of billions more into the health service. he said there'd be no rises in income tax, national insurance

and vat for five years. and he pledged to raise the threshold at which people start paying national insurance to £9,500, a saving of £85 a year per person. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg was at the manifesto launch, and her report contains some flash photography. ahead but farfrom clear. feeling optimistic? tories out! the tories know it is theirs to lose. but who would bet on much these days? this time last year borisjohnson was a controversial backbencher. now defending his own position as prime minister. and with a list of promises trying to secure the conservatives another five years in charge. how is that? his number one rallying

cry, to move on and leave the eu in january. do we want more delay, more dither and drift and deadlock and division? do we want 2020, to be another year of defeatism and despair? no, we don't, get brexit done, and we can restore confidence and certainty to business. get brexit done and we will see a pent—up tidal wave of investment. get brexit done and we can focus our hearts and minds on the priorities of the british people. the conservatives had already vowed extra money for the health service but there is a new promise to recruit more nurses. today in this manifesto we pledge 15,000 more nurses and their bursaries and 50 million more gp surgery appointments, and we make this guarantee. cash to scrap hospital parking charges, taxpayers'

money for more childcare and an infrastructure fund, all he claims without raising tax. we can do all these things without raising income tax, vat or national insurance traditions. that is our guarantee. in this manifesto. there isa guarantee. in this manifesto. there is a vision for the future. borisjohnson is a vision for the future. boris johnson says is a vision for the future. borisjohnson says he never wanted this election but it is both a huge risk and a huge opportunity for him and his party. let us go for sensible, moderate, tax cutting, one nation conservative government, and take this country forwards. thank you all very much. you won the leadership of your party by making a big promise on brexit you then broke despite saying the buck stops with you. now you are making promises and significant extra spending, do you accept beyond this room and your party, it is a big leap of faith for

the country to trust you with a majority? the biggest issue is really whether people have any confidence in politics any more. reason confidence has been so undermined is because the three and a half years they have seen politicians engaged in constant prevarication, procrastination, dear the and delay when the people of this country voted to get brexit done. the tory leader is now right in the fray right in the middle of this campaign but none of the steps spelt out today are designed to create the fireworks he is famous for. people are asking positions are you going to stick to what you are saying. we couldn't be clearer about getting brexit done. we want to spend more money on our priorities, nhs, police, schools, if we keep the economy strong. compared to labour, this is a pamphlet rather than a phone book,

but designed to keep the tories out of trouble rather than shake up the fundamentals of the campaign. is this a winning manifesto? we are fighting very hard. the contrast between him and his rivals has been there since day one, borisjohnson would rivals has been there since day one, boris johnson would take rivals has been there since day one, borisjohnson would take us out of the eu in less than 70 days, that is the eu in less than 70 days, that is the choice, vote to leave at speed or vote for the chance to stay. let's take a look at some of the numbers in the manifesto in a little more detail. 0ur economics editor, faisal islam is here. faisal. the conservative manifesto contained no rabbits out of the hat. no huge tax cut, nor rise or new big spending item. it has been designed as a "steady as she goes" modest effort. the equivalent of a rather low—key budget, with some targeted help. by design, the tax and spend numbers are just much smaller than the lib dems, and especially labour.

there is extra nurse recruitment and appointments costing about £1.5 billion a year on top of existing commitments. this there is £600 million a year on a national skills fund. the national insurance threshold costs the exchequer £2.5 billion a year. a total of £6.5 billion in spending rises and tax cuts. it's very modest. and although this spending builds on rises already announced, it doesn't undo 10 years of austerity. all of that basically is funded by not cutting corporation tax, a tax on business profits, to 17p and leaving it at 19p instead. about half a billion is also raised from increasing the money charged to migrants to use the health service. this is not a transformative and effective in terms of tax and spending pledges, it is steady as she goes, take on board the increases announced earlier this

year, and not much in addition. the big takeaway here is that most of the cuts we have seen over the last decade will be baked into spending over the next four years, u nless spending over the next four years, unless more money turns up later on. the big picture is several billion a year not several tens of billions. on top of all this, there is extra investment spending of £8bn a year for things like research and development, and potholes. but they do have space to do a lot more within the new borrowing rules. but the chancellor and prime minister want to keep a tight ship. a little bit more spending, yes, a bit more tax, too, but less than 1% of the size of the economy. so, what other measures are in the conservative ma nifesto ? well, there's a commitment to an extra 20,000 police officers for england and wales, though, that would only restore force numbers back to 2010 levels. there's a pledge for the uk to be

carbon neutral by 2050, and the promise of £7.1 billion a year for schools in england by 2023. 0n immigration, the conservatives want to introduce an australian—style points system. 0ur chief political correspondent vikki young has been gauging the mood in rother valley in south yorkshire, an area that voted heavily to leave the eu, and where brexit and trust are key election issues. who are voters moving towards in this former mining town, an area that overwhelmingly backed leaving the eu. so is borisjohnson's promise chiming with leave voters? i want out and over so we can get on with the real things that influence the ordinary people like us. who can do that for you? the conservatives or the brexit party. | the conservatives or the brexit party. i hope what he is saying he will do happens. will you give him a chance? yes. in this area, labour have

a lwa ys yes. in this area, labour have always been strong, what is their view on brexit? they can't decide one way or the other. outside the leisure centre members of this running club are limbering up, many are still undecided about how to cast their vote. it has always been labour, this changing their views. is that because of brexit? maybe. they promise before an election but then they don't deliver. very up in the air. it has been predominantly labour in this area but i will be backing boris all the way. i do like him as a person. he might not be trustworthy but i do like him. at first glance a seat like rother valley isn't an obvious place for borisjohnson to search for victory, it has only ever been labour. this

area voted heavily