this is bbc world news. the headlines... peace talks aimed at ending four decades of conflict in afghanistan are under way in the qatari capital, doha. representatives for the afghan government and the taliban insisted they were committed to stopping the violence. the us has helped to broker the talks. police on the greek island of lesbos have fired tear gas during a protest by migrants whose camp burned down on wednesday. efforts to build alternative accommodation for thousands of residents of the moria camp have been delayed by objections from local authorities. the british prime minister borisjohnson has warned that the european union could use an extreme interpretation of a key brexit deal to stop britain moving food to northern ireland. mrjohnson said the aim was to pressure britain to agree a trade deal on eu terms. now on bbc news...

click takes a look at how virtual reality is being used to solve the problem by transporting the emergency services into the digital world. this week, taser training. helpful humanoids. and. ..connected cows. moos. hey, welcome to click. hope you're doing 0k. if you've got kids, then i hope the whole back—to—school thing is going as well as it can do. to be honest, here, it is a little bit like that. how's it going with you, lara? it's tricky, isn't it?

i remember going back as a young child as though it was yesterday, when clearly it is not, and i think, as parents, we relive that experience through our children. we certainly do and, let's face it, education is just going to feel different this year. it is also going to be different depending on the age of the kids, really young children will probably be asked to bubble within a year group, older children will be asked to follow stricter rules, and universities, well, they're facing a whole world of challenges. yes, they're getting set to reopen, and for many, there will be some in—person education, but the role of remote learning is going to be more important than ever. for some courses, it's notjust about listening to a lecture — the practical is just as important. so i took a trip to an empty university science department to see how virtual labs could transform education as we know it. let's go. please wear a lab coat before entering a lab. where's my lab coat?

oh, there. most will be learning via a laptop, but, for some, virtual reality will place them in the experiment. and today, i get to be a science student. what type of molecule is shown in the picture above? i'll go for dna. you are a genius. i'm a genius! 0k, it was one question. i just want to press all the buttons. but not everything goes right first time. modules like this can let students learn about dangerous subjects safely. meanwhile, others let you bend the rules of reality. let's use an inverted microscope to have a look at some cells. i'm actually inside a cell, which is, of course, not something you could do in real life. weird. and the simulations give students access to expensive kit that not all universities could afford. in real life, this microscope would cost around £150,000.

at least this means more people can actually interact with this, albeit virtually. the vr experience was a bit glitchy, and another obvious issue is that not everyone has a vr headset. but for universities like this one, it's the pc version that's proving vital through the pandemic. this lab would be normally filled with 2a students, but because of social distancing, we can only have eight students. a mini—study that showed us whether students interacted with these virtual labs in situations, that their recall of the subject matter was really improved. so obviously when covid came along, we wanted to bring the virtual lab into every student's home in the context of an online seminar where it's led by an academic, and they're asked questions, they're checked on their knowledge as they go through the workshop. globally, overi million students have already accessed labster‘s tools, and the company says the pandemic is accelerating adoption.

as an example, the california community college system that has two million students, based on the urgent need, we entered a partnership with them in less than one month, and now theey‘re rolling out to hundreds of thousands of students right away. whether donning a headset or on a screen, users could also do a spot of surgery, go on a field trip or even visit mars. if you want to keep exploring the lab, feel free to do so. you can say hello to our iguana or have a look... there's a rodent. is that a mouse? 0k, there are some things i'd rather only see virtually. and learning through vr isn'tjust for students. professionals have been doing it too. 0mar mehtab‘s been finding out how the emergency services have been putting these to good use. whether it's saving lives in health care, battling blazes as a firefighter or keeping people safe as a police officer, the pandemic has made thesejobs

all the more difficult to carry out. but what about those that need to learn how to do the job in the first place? with emergency services being stretched thin, and social distancing in place, it means face—to—face training isnt as easy as it used to be. but that doesn't mean that they can't still be trained. sure, people have been using video calling or slide presentations, but what about. . .virtual reality? first up, firefighting. vobling have created a platform where you can customise a fire training scenario by specifying the environment, the type of fire itself, and how to put it out. this extinguisher that they provide has been fitted with trackers to make it feel like you are operating

a real one, and notjust a couple of controllers. aside from firefighters, it's designed to train office workers, so they can also learn how to tackle workplace fires. but what about the more serious scenarios? rivr have created a way for firefighters to learn almost on the go. by filming 360—degree videos of various set—ups, firefighters can put on a headset and go through the training as if they were there. now, looking at this, i thought, isn't this just playing a video? how exactly can this be any more useful in virtual reality? simply, we can't get those venues on a day—to—day basis ‘cause we can'tjust set fire to buildings. that also costs us in the region of between £10,000—15,000 at a time. so we ran a brief feedback session this morning with the crews that actually attended the scenario, and a number of other people who didn't go, and they were really engaged, almost entering the scenario themselves, verbally talking about what they would do and how

they do it. right, that is what is going on with firefighting. let's move on to health care. fundamental vr systems help train surgeons and nurses on how to perform certain tasks during procedures. by using haptic feedback through the tools, the user can feel how they are doing in the virtual procedure. is this on something, is it...am i touching something? no, it's in the air. and the system is also accredited which means it is also a way for some in health care to earn credits for the course. and their multi—user system means students can remotely patch in to virtual surgeries to watch and learn, an alternative to traditional learning and examination. so the pandemic has just accelerated, in my view, a trend that was already taking place, and that is about being able to go 2a hours a day into a learning environment, now that they can't get into the operating room as easily as they used to, the numbers of cases are dramatically reduced. people don't want to come

into hospital at the moment, and this is an opportunity to fill some of that gap. but for more covid—i9 specific scenarios, a hospital in taiwan is already trailing another system. created by simx and htc, doctors can use this vr set—up to train how to interact with patients who may have covid—i9, such as putting on protective gear, taking temperatures and gathering medical samples, so there's less wastage of real ppe, and no risk of contracting the virus. that's health care done. so, finally, let's look at the police. we went out to the police constabulary in derbyshire where officers are learning how and when to use a taser in virtual reality. normally, you'd be taught in a room where someone in a big blue padded suit would approach you with a rubber knife, and officers would use mock taser

cartridges to secure the bad guy, like this. but these cartridges are expensive, around £30 a pop, and being in a room in your workplace isn't exactly the same as a life—threatening scenario. so virtual reality company avrt have created a massive space using these sensor mats where officers can put on a headset and roam around a virtual environment. would you mind just stepping onto that side for me? they can be transported to a normal street, an alleyway or a rooftop to create a more realistic feeling. and an instructor even adds a voice so it feels as though you're dealing with a real person. and things got intense. put the weapon down, put the weapon down! stay on the floor, stay on the floor! stay on the floor, please! it highlights a few flaws that we have in sort of real—life training in terms of, obviously, people come to do a role play and there is somebody in a big blue suit, there's a taser suit, and it kind of gives people

a precondition of what they think is going to happen. so in the vr world, it's just nice that we can input certain scenarios they are not aware of. i completely mirror that. you do get fully submerged into the scenario which you don't think you will by putting something over your face and ears. but as soon as that headset goes on, and the headphones go on, you do get straight into it, and you forget about everyone else around you, and you just deal with what you're seeing. then it was time for me to give it a go, to test how immersive it really was, and see if it would affect whether i pulled the trigger or not. put the knife down, hey, take a step back! david, david, go back! 0h, hey...david! drop the knife, drop the knife! david, stop, stop where you're standing! i've got a taser! do not get any closer, put the knife down! put it down! that don't feel good, honestly. honestly, i...twice, twice i've gone into that and i have purposely not fired this, and the third time i forced myself to fire it, forced myself, and i hated it, i knew i would hate

it, and i did hate it. i really did feel stressed, and the instructors' personal responses to what i was saying piled even more pressure on me. i really did think about the gravity of actually firing that taser. i think that's enough, i think we've done enough now. yeah. we happy? cool there is, i think, an issue with trust between the public and the police force, and a lot of that is down to how force is deployed by the police force. there is a huge story that goes on before the deployment of a weapon, before a weapon is even drawn, before any use of force is engaged. we can really capture, right from the start that first interaction with someone, measure what sort of empathy we're getting from our police officers, and actually make officers accountable for the training of their decision—making process, right up to, and including,

that use of force. but do these simulations actually help people to learn effectively? one of the research challenges is proving the effectiveness of the training. so you're training for a dangerous situation and making sure that transfers to real world is a challenge because you can't ethically or safely expose people to this dangerous situation to see how well they perform. what i've seen in this area is that people have a tendency to be very excited about this technology, and perhaps not ask to see the evidence that it's effective. i think it should be used cautiously until we have the evidence to use it to a greater extent. so crossing from the real to the virtual world may seem like an obvious alternative to traditional training, but given how much is on the line with the work of these emergency services, and how new this all is, perhaps it's better to use virtual reality to complement, rather than replace, for now.

hello and welcome to the week in tech. it was the week that ghost robotics teamed up with the us air force on exercise to guard a base with robot dogs. google abandoned plans to lease an office in dublin for over 2,000 staff. and microsoft revealed the smallest xbox ever — the series s will go on sale in november alongside its most powerful console, the series x, and $200 cheaper. it was reported this week that south korean semiconductor manufacturer samsung and sk hynix would no longer be selling components to huawei. new orders would not be ta ken after september 15. the move follows us sanctions on the chinese tech giant. american car manufacturer general motors took a 11% stake in electric vehicle company nikola. gm will help make the badger hydrogen—electric hybrid pick—up truck. the badger is expected to go into production by 2022. uber laid out plans to go fully

electric vehicle fleet by 2030 in north america and europe with the rest of the world coming online by 2040. the company says it will spend $800 million to help drivers switch to electric cars. and finally, the consumer tech show efa took place in berlin this week, bit online, bit in person, far fewer spectators and, unsurprisingly, highlights included coronavirus—related tech, including this mini—dishwasher called bob, adapted to sterilise face masks with uvc light, and wearable air purifier from japanese company creative technology. now, in recent years, technology has played a big role in making homes more accessible for older people and those with care needs. smart devices, for example, which we now take for granted. but one university in scotland is trying to take things to the next level, and paul carter has been to find out more. click theme plays

you'd be forgiven fir thinking it's a regular saturday morning, i'm at home watching click. but actually, i'm not at home, i don't usually have three robot friends in my house. pepper's here, pepper's watching click as well. i'm actually in a laboratory that's made to look like a home, and what you can't see is it's absolutely fully kitted—out with sensors and internet of things devices to enable people who have care needs at home to live more independently. some, you might recognise, you might have in your own home. alexa, turn on the kitchen lights. but there are also a raft of other things embedded all throughout this set—up to detect the various needs of the people that might be living in somewhere like this, including some help from these fellas. hey, pepper. part of the wonderfully named

national robotarium, based at heriot watt university in edinburgh, this so—called ambient assisted—living lab is almost fully functioning, and includes a lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. it uses a combination of sensors, cameras, internet of things and cloud technologies to provide a space where researchers, care providers and end users of assisted—living services can co—create technologies and solutions. but why does this need something built to look like a flat, and notjust a conventional lab? it's very important for us that it looks like a domestic environment, where people can actually carry out the normal activities because one of the reasons is that we want to collect the data about those activities, and we wanted to do it in an environment that is as naturalistic as possible, so that when we use the technology

in the real world, in the real environment, we are more sure that that technology will work. this laboratory is designed to be used for real—world research by postgraduate students, using data to study what applications and solutions can be used by care providers in the future. it's also experimenting with robotics to see how these can be used to complement existing care services and to test the interaction with people using them. we are testing rfid, radio—frequency identification. you may see some of the tiles on the floor that we are testing at the moment, and they provide the information on whereabouts of humans, and that we can also understand that by using machinery techniques and detecting disturbances in the radio frequency environment that tell us where people are in their home and, again, to understand how well they are moving about,

if they have fallen down, if they need any help. normally, this lab would be working with the most important people in this process, the end users of services. however coronavirus, like most areas of life, has impacted the lab and its ability to carry out its work. however, one phd student has created a 3d model of the facility and, through cameras already installed, it's hoped it can be used remotely. the fact that there's a real focus on the end user and this being a collaborative process is really positive, and i think also that the lab has remote access, so even with social distancing in place, more and more people can become involved, and the more people that are involved, i think the more suited the tech will be for meeting individual needs. now, smart homes of the future concepts aren't new. indeed, on click, we've seen many iterations over the years, but the people involved in this project say their aim is to create and provide realistic, affordable solutions that aren't just a concept.

that was paul. now, you may remember that just before lockdown, our very own nick kwek moved to australia for a year, and what a year it's turned into. not one he expected, i can tell you that. but we do occasionally check up on him to see how he's doing. and he's been keeping well away from other people, as he should have been doing, but he seems to have been spending some time with some cows. yeah, right. so behind brazil, australia is the second largest exporter of beef in the world, and the farms there, they're just enormous. some are the size of small nations. so nick's been looking at the tech that helps keep the cows happy and healthy, whilst keeping track of their movements. oh, dear lord. rockhampton, the beef capital of australia. home to many a head of cattle, some more static than others. cow moos in the remote farms around here,

producers frequently can go a full year without manually checking on their livestock. but now 0ld mcdonald is using tech to get daily status updates. no, the cows haven't started their own whatsapp group. they are part of a system that uses a field full of gizmos to inform farmers all about their herd's health. at its heart are these solar—powered walkover ways. so the cows walk along here and they get weighed on this smart scale. they're identified through an rfid tag on their ear, which is read through a sensor on this wall, and it means that the cows need never leave their paddock, the farmer need never leave their office. they can sit back and remotely monitor the growth of their livestock. the scales could save time and money, alerting the farmer of cows ready for market, or, if they've lost weight, which ones needs a feed

supplement to beef them up. sometimes you'll see, during a drought period, that weight line will start to go down, and that's a good indicator that you're not getting enough nutrition to your animals, and you can get that early indication from the weights much quicker than you can if you are doing it by the naked eye. 20% of the calves don't turn up at weaning, and there's a whole range of different causes — it might be disease, it might be wild dog attack, but we don't actually understand that. so we're using the calf alert devices as a research tool, and so that goes into the back end of the cow, and sits there quite happily until that cow's about to calve, and as that calf is pushed out the back, this thing pops our and hits the ground, and then the radio signal being transmitted out of that is picked by some antennas that are placed around the paddock, and tells us that cow has actually had that calf. of course, not every farmer wants to implant devices into each of their cows. some may prefer earings

and necklaces, wearables that can track specific behavious and, crucially, monitorfor disease. they could even reveal eating habits and prevent overgrazing by inferring how much grass is left in their paddock and, depending on how the cows move, if they are in labour or if they're being stolen by rustlers. we've developed algorithms that can actually detect when an animal is moving in a paddock, such that it's being interfered with by somebody trying to muster it up to a set of yards to put it on a truck. researchers have also developed smart water pumps so troughs can be automatically refilled. farmers can gauge how hydrated their animals are, and how much water they're actually using, crucial in periods of drought. properties can be measured in the square kilometre instead of a hectare an acre, so we're dealing with thousands of animals spread over very large landscapes, and so you could be driving four hours every day, just to check on whether there's

water in a trough, whether the fences are broken, and you may not even se an animal during that time, so if we can provide an automated way of getting them information, without leaving the homestead, that's a massive saving ikn time and labour. stud producer geoff maynard is a local third—generation farmer who's been trialling central queensland university's technologies on his prized livestock. preventative measures, which this greatly helps, if you can prevent that from happening, identify it early, you are so far in front, the cattle are in front, and if you're trying to be on the back foot and react to something. you know, if you can make your cattle happy and content and healthy, your production, your rebreeding, the quality of your product is all connected. that was nick, living his best life in australia. and don't you think you managed to smuggle this shot past us wiithout us noticing,

mr kwek, you prime stud of ideal weight. ah, briliiant. i miss nick, not that most of us get to see each other anyway. that's true, that's true. and that is it for this week. as always, you can keep up with us on social media on youtube, instagram, facebook and twitter on @bbcclick. thanks for watching, and we'll see you soon. bye— bye. hello there. big differences in the weather this weekend depending on exactly where in the uk you are spending it. for many places, it's going to be largely dry and it will turn warmer, particularly in the south. the further north and west you are, some wet and blustery weather in the forecast

where you are closest to a band of cloud and rain. you can see it here on our earlier satellite image, it is like a pipeline of moisture that is ploughing towards the north—west of the uk. that will bring some outbreaks of rain. that cloud starting to encroach across parts of western scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon, some outbreaks of rain later in the day, ahead of that still one or two showers. for england and wales, largely dry through this afternoon with some spells of sunshine. a little bit breezy in the south but quite windy further north, the average wind speeds there, but we could see gusts of a0 or 50 mph in exposed spots in northern scotland. 13 degrees at the top temperature here, 22 down towards the south—east of england. through this evening and tonight, much of england and wales will stay dry but for northern ireland, for scotland and the far north of england, we will see some heavy burst of rain spilling in, it will once again be quite windy overnight, temperatures of around 11,

12 or 13 degrees at most places. as we head into tomorrow, that pipeline of moisture i talked about, this frontal system will still be close to north—west scotland, still providing some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain, in fact over the north—west highlands, over some of the hills and mountains, we could see over 150 millimetres of rain, a met office yellow warning, the risk of some localised flooding and transport disruption. rather cloudy from much of northern ireland and southern scotland, the further south you are across england and wales you'll see some sunshine, a bit warmer as well. 2a or maybe 25 degrees toward the south—east. now, as we move into monday, we still have this frontal system up to the north but what we will really start to feel the effect of is some warmer air wafting its way up from the south. so, lots of dry weather on monday, the best of the sunshine of england and wales, more cloud for northern ireland and scotland with some patchy rain, but it will be warmer, 20 degrees in glasgow, perhaps up to 29 in london and for parts of the south on tuesday, it is possible it could get to 30 degrees, but it will turn cooler for all of us from mid week onwards.

a leading scientist has warned that the uk is "on the edge of losing control" of coronavirus, as infections rise. professor sir mark walport, a member of the government's sage advisory committee, said people needed to to limit their socialising to ensure children can remain at school