this is bbc news. our top stories: scientists in britain make a major new advance in the quest to generate energy from nuclearfusion. what we have managed to demonstrate is that we can create a mini—sun, the right kind of mini—sun, hold it there and get really good performance levels. protests spread across india and beyond against a ban on the muslim headscarf in some colleges in one southern state. virus and the vote: has global democracy become an unwitting victim of covid—19? a new report suggests it might. canadian police threaten to arrest lorry drivers who've shut down central ottawa as anger at mandatory vaccines spreads.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. a laboratory in the uk has smashed the record for generating energy from a nuclearfusion reaction, an important breakthrough in the world of clean power. it's a big step towards harnessing the stars as a source of energy. nuclearfusion is the holy grail of energy production because it might lead to a virtually unlimited source of low carbon power. our climate editor justin rowlatt reports. two, one, zero... this is the record—breaking reaction. it is more than 150 million degrees celsius — ten times hotter than the heart of the sun.

and it happened here, the world's most powerful fusion plant, jet fusion, in oxfordshire. it is, says the team here, a landmark for this technology. these results are really significant because what we have managed to demonstrate insidejet is that we can create a mini sun, the right kind of mini sun, hold it there for a sustained period and get really good performance levels, which is a major step forward in terms of our quest to get to fusion power plants. most nuclear reactors use fission. that's when big, unstable atoms like uranium are split in two. the reaction releases lots of energy and radiation. fusion is different. it involves forcing two atoms of hydrogen together, fusing them to create one atom of helium. once again, you get lots of energy and this time, just a tiny bit of short—lived radiation. creating mini stars inside reactors like this is one of the greatest technological challenges humanity has ever faced.

get it right, and it holds out the potential for producing almost unlimited supplies of energy pretty much forever. that's because the hydrogen fuel fusion uses is so readily available. the key part of this reaction only lasts for five seconds and only generated enough power for 60 kettles, but it is an important proof that scientists are on the right track. there is still lots of work to do, and athina kappatou is one of a new generation of physicists who plan to do it at a scaled—up version of the uk reactor being built here in the south of france. do you think you'll see commercialfusion in your lifetime? yes, i am confident — i want to believe in it. so, answer me this, why is it taking so long? it is hard, it is really hard, very complex, but it's worth it and we just have to do it for the future.

fusion energy is carbon—free, but it is not going to be ready in time to get us out of the climate crisis. that shouldn't stop this research, say supporters. the enormous promise fusion holds means we have got to keep working on it. justin rowlatt, bbc news, oxfordshire. well, earlier, ispoke to steven cowley, who's director of the princeton plasma physics laboratory. steven was previously the director of the culham centre for fusion energy where this latest successful research took place and gave his reaction to the current team's incredible achievement. actually, when i was there, we were working towards this success, it was taking a bit longer than we had hoped, and thejet team had to solve a number of difficult problems to get there. i am so glad they got there. it proves that when you think through the science rigorously, you can make it

happen, and i'm so pleased for them. it is wonderful to see. actually, i wish i was part of the team still, because it is so exciting. that is exactly what we wanted to hear, but it is a huge success story, congratulations to the team, and for your works as well, to lead up to this moment. we are talking about temperatures that are higher than the sun. it beggars belief how you manage that. talk us through how the machine manages temperatures that are just unfathomable? so, jet gets up to temperatures around 200 million degrees. centigrade. not that it matters, it is very, very hot. and to hold the fuel at that temperature, they hold this in a magnetic field, so it doesn't touch the walls, because otherwise it would not walls and it would cool the fuel. melt the walls. so you make this bottle out of the magnetic

field, a sort of cage that holds the fuel in, in the magnetic field, and the real skill here, the real scientific breakthroughs, weere to find the configuration of the magnetic field that made a sort of well—sealed bottle out of this, and it is really difficult to hold anything in a magnetic field, i always make the analogy, it is like trying to hold a piece ofjelly with knitting wool, because the magnetic field is kind of like knitting wool, and the plasma, which is what we call the fuel, is sort of like jelly. it tries to ooze through it. and after a lots of trying, we have actually kind of mastered the skill of making magnetic bottles. it is an absolutely brilliant image. ijust wonder, what was it, what was that breakthrough that made this jelly manageable? part of it is, we started by twisting the field around it.

it is a bit like, you know, if you're grandma tells you to wind will back onto the needle, if you keep going at the same direction at kind of falls apart. you have to wind it around so that the wool was on top of itself, and that is what we do with magnetic field lines. magnetic fields are like lines in space. we lay them on top of each other, in a way that is a bit like winding wool onto a ball of wool, and then what we have learned in this decade is how to add to that a little flow of the fuel and that flow of the fuel near the edge makes a very good insulating layer on the edge, and just managing that layer was what happened in the last few years, rather cleverly, by the jet team. i am so grateful you are using such simple

imagery because it is mind blowing, isn't it? when it comes to commercialising something like this, we are hopeful that this will be the green energy that we are striving towards, but is this something that will be commercially available, achievable? that is always the question, right? we have done fusion, and whatjet has said is that it is possible to do fusion, to make energy out of fusion. one day, the planet will be powered at least partly by fusion, because it is such a perfect way to make energy. the trick will be to get it as fast as possible, because it would be very, very helpful in decarbonising the world's energy supply and stopping the climate change that is happening. now, the us national academy of sciences this year came out with a report that

said the us ought to aim for the first electricity from fusion on about the late 2030s, 2040 timescale. the british government has funded a design process to design the first british reactor on about the same time scales, so we are all looking to try to get some electricity before the middle of the century. actual impact, you know, might be more towards the second half of the century, but first electricity, that is going to be the moment at which you can see that it is commercially viable and we can take this forward. stephen cowley who had worked on that team that made that incredible breakthrough stop. protests are spreading across india against a ban on the muslim headscarf in some colleges in one southern state. the controversy began when hijab—wearing students were denied entry to their schools in karnataka.

all high schools and colleges in the state have been shut down for three days. protests have now spread to other cities, including kolkata and chennai, two of the country's largest cities, and hyderabad. the pakistani government has criticised the ban, and summoned the indian ambassador to formally express its concern. anbarasan ethirajan reports. the anger against some colleges in karnataka state refusing to allow students to wear the hijab has spread to other parts of india. hundreds took part in the rallies in the cities of kolkata, chennai and hyderabad. the controversy has rocked karnataka, where high schools and colleges have been shut for three days. muslim women say wearing the hijab is part of their faith and their right. imposing dress code should be compatible with the fundamental rights. the fundamental rights state in article 19—1 the right to speech and expression, and we have the religious freedom, which gives us the right to practise, profess and propagate religion.

all chanting. the hijab issue has taken a communal twist. here, hindu students arrive at schools with saffron hats and shawls — this colour seen as a hindu symbol. they oppose their student colleagues for wearing the islamic headscarves. a place of learning has now become a battleground for the two communities. the hindu nationalist bjp government insists that they are only trying to implement uniform rules. karnataka is following a uniform dress code in the schools, and it is a discipline in the education interest and every student to follow the discipline. they cannot come as they want to the schools. the global education activist malala yousafzai says... critics say minority muslims in india are already feeling marginalised and discriminated against in the hindu—dominated india.

but the government denies the allegations. for now, the uneasy stand—off over the hijab continues. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news. coronavirus restrictions in england could end earlier than expected, according to the prime minister, borisjohnson. the rules are due to expire in march, but mrjohnson told mps the restrictions could be lifted by the end of this month as long as the data remained positive. the announcement took many by surprise and the opposition labour party have suggested the move was an attempt to divert attention away from the controversy over downing street parties. is global democracy under assault in the wake of the coronavirus? yes, says a new report examining 65 independent states and two territories. it says it's found the lowest numbers for people living in a democracy for almost two decades,

and that less than half of the world's population live in a democracy of �*some sort�*. stephanie prentice has been looking at this and joins me now. tell us more about this report, and what exactly it's claming. there is a lot to unpack with this report but let's start with a few key takeaways. this is an index that comes out from the economics intelligence unit, they examine and territories around the world to see how people are living and how free they are in general. a quick recap on pillars we looked at during this research. they are elections and how they are managed. governance, political participation. political culture and civil liberties. what they found is this year they recorded the lowest figures for democracy since assessments began, back in 2006. that means less than 45.7% of people living in some

sort of democracy, in 2021, compared to 49.4% the year before. with that in mind but the body is suggesting is the world is losing the battle against authoritarianism was at fault. one majorfactor is the pandemic, covert restrictions caused some countries to slide into or edge closer to a new category, that includes the uk it took two positions down the index, to floor direct —— democracy. france and chile are now in that democracy, blow total democracy. germany it is suggested covid—i9 rules at diminishing civil liberties, lockdowns and vaccine passports normalising emergency powers. another big factor is china. on the scale of the population there, this report has been called the china challenge. date estimates more than a third of the world �*s population living under what it

calls authoritarian rule most of those people are in china. other countries that didn't do well are north korea, no price to anyone, afghanistan also since the taliban takeover back in august. 50 since the taliban takeover back in august-— in august. 50 quite overwhelming - in august. so quite i overwhelming actually in august. so quite - overwhelming actually if you think about the details. do you have any hope within this report? have any hope within this re ort? .,, have any hope within this reort? , ., . report? the most democratic laces report? the most democratic places to _ report? the most democratic places to live _ report? the most democratic places to live in _ report? the most democratic places to live in norway, - report? the most democratic| places to live in norway, new zealand and finland. they continue to see very high levels of and political freedoms, and the report said there was a stark performer this year, taiwan. it was a full democracy after the election in january, full democracy after the election injanuary, a really high turnout and lots of young people turned out. globally, taiwan from 31st to 11th. quite a “um -. taiwan from 31st to 11th. quite a jump- as _ taiwan from 31st to 11th. quite a jump. as always, _ taiwan from 31st to 11th. quite a jump. as always, thank- taiwan from 31st to 11th. quite a jump. as always, thank you | a jump. as always, thank you very much for talking us through that. a bit of optimism in that report. thank you so

much. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, not so modern man: the discovery in france that shows homo sapiens may have arrived in europe a lot earlier than we thought. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela. a free man taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini, has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti havej flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting - of their former president, 'ba by doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had

brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: scientists in britain make a major new advance in the quest to generate energy from nuclearfusion. protests spread across india and beyond against a ban on the muslim headscarf in some colleges in one southern state. canadian police have warned truck drivers that they'll be arrested if they continue their blockade of the capital, ottawa. automotive companies either side of the canada—us border say that production

is being hit by the blockade. hundreds of trucks are lining the streets as drivers protest vaccine mandates for a second week. from ottawa, samira hussain reports. for the third consecutive day, truckers furious at vaccine mandates have blocked the busiest land border crossing in north america. horns blare the economic impact could be serious. 25% of all trade between canada in the united states happens here — or it did, until angry truckers decided to intervene. in canada, rage seems to have spread as fast as omicron, which seems strange in a country where politics used to be a pretty civilised process. now, police in the nation's capital are calling for reinforcements as they work out how to dismantle an occupation. hampering their efforts, reports that a quarter of trucks have children living in them. for now, the tactic

is to slowly starve the convoy of cash and fuel. if one of the aims of this week's long protest is to eliminate vaccine mandates for truckers crossing the border, well, that hasn't happened yet. but as covid—i9 cases begin to recede here, as it is across north america, some of the restrictions that protesters here despise are disappearing anyway. the western province of alberta is ending vaccination requirements to dine indoors and mask mandates for schools. other canadian provinces have indicated they will follow suit in the coming weeks. canada's attempts to control one global threat, covid, seems to have stirred another, an angry populism that rejects government control. and as the threat of covid starts to wane, the question for political leaders is — how much of that anger will remain? samira hussain, bbc news, ottawa.

let's get some of the day's other news. the american singer, betty davis, whose music has influenced generations of artists, has died at the age of 77. davis enjoyed little commercial success during her career, but her raw, sexually candid songs from the �*60s and early �*70s won a cult following and paved the way for later artists such as prince and madonna. the main suspect in the 2015 paris attacks, salah abdeslam, has told a french court he has not killed or injured anyone. 130 people died and many more were injured in an islamist attack at the bataclan concert hall. mr abdeslam is believed to be the sole surviving member of the is group. footballer kurt zouma has had two cats removed from his home after a video emerged of him mistreating them. the player has also been fined around £250,000 by his club, with the money being donated

to animal welfare charities. sportswear firm adidas have dropped their sponsorship deal with him. anti—vaccine protesters clashed with police outside of new zealand's parliament on thursday. dozens were arrested after demonstrators, who have laid siege to the legislature over the past three days, were ordered to move on. the protest began tuesday in solidarity with the freedom convoy in canada. the us national archives has asked thejustice department to investigate donald trump for his handling of official documents relating to his term as president. it comes days after the archives said it had retrieved 15 boxes of papers that mr trump should have turned over when he left the white house, but had instead taken to his florida home. they include letters between mr trump and the north korean leader, kimjong—un, and the presidential handover letter from ba rack obama. the former us republican

vice—presidential candidate sarah palin has been testifying in court against the new york times. ms palin sued the publication after a 2017 editorial linked her to a shooting that seriously wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords. the trial was delayed after ms palin tested positive for coronavirus. a discovery in a cave in france shows that modern man arrived in europe some 12,000 years earlier than previously thought. our science correspondent pallab ghosh has the story. sifting through ancient remains, archaeologists have been scrabbling in the french summer heat, looking for clues to our own history. and they've discovered that the very first modern humans to have arrived in western europe came thousands of years earlier than previously thought. we are now able to demonstrate

that homo sapiens arrived 12,000 years before expected, and this population were then replaced after that by other neanderthal populations, and this rewrites literally all of our books on history. neanderthals had been living in europe for hundreds of thousands of years. the current theory is that homo sapiens arrived from africa around 42,000 years ago, and shortly after that, the neanderthals went extinct. but now, it appears that some of our species arrived 511,000 years ago — that's thousands of years earlier — and it means both homo sapiens and neanderthals may have lived on the same continent for much, much longer than previously thought before modern humans eventually gained the upper hand. scientists have been studying fossils for more than 100 years to find out why neanderthals went extinct and we survived. until now, the view was that we came along and quickly overwhelmed them.

but the new evidence suggests that the two species lived in europe for thousands of years, suggesting that the relationship wasn't that brutal, and there were more complex reasons for why the neanderthals died out. well, the neanderthals got these typical neanderthal features — a longer, lower brain case, big brow ridge over the eyes. the interaction of the two species, published in the journal science advances, are an important part of our own history. it wasn't an overnight takeover by modern humans. so, in some cases, neanderthals had the advantage. at other times, modern humans had the advantage. so, it was more finely balanced. was there a single thing that our species had that meant that the neanderthals didn't survive? we don't know the answer, but i think it's organisational, probably more than anything, that we were networking better, our social groups were larger, we were storing knowledge better and we built on that knowledge more effectively than the neanderthals were doing. the discovery that the two

species could have coexisted for thousands of years means that scientists will have to develop new theories for why neanderthals died out and our kind survived. pallab ghosh, bbc news. just remarkable seeing those two skulls together there. a reminder of our top story: scientists say they've made a breakthrough in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion, which could eventually offer an almost unlimited source of low—carbon power. the jet laboratory in britain has broken its own world record for the amount of energy it can extract by squeezing together two forms of hydrogen. the output produced over five seconds, it's not huge, but the researchers say it validates design choices that have been made for a much larger fusion reactor being built in france. as always, more on all of our

stories on our website. i am on social media. do get in touch with me on the team. goodbye for now. hello. a colder day for all of us on thursday, but across the northern half of the country, quite a wild day to come — all due to this amazing swirl of cloud we saw to the south of iceland on wednesday. it's an area of low pressure which, as we start thursday morning, will have moved in across the western half of scotland in particular. to the south, we still have a weather front set to clear that will be sweeping away the last dregs of the milder air. to the north of it, a chilly start, risk of ice in places, a few wintry showers — but as i said, a particularly wild start to the day in parts of scotland, 60—70mph gusts across the western isles and those north—western coasts, big seas as well, and blizzards on the mountains. we'll see wintry showers across northern england, northern ireland, and parts

of wales, but sunshine in between those and a blustery wind. strongest of the winds in scotland transfer eastwards through the day. winds always lighter further south and once you've got rid of the morning cloud and patchy rain, it should be a bright and sunny day. the winds, though, will be a key feature — strongest through the afternoon in eastern scotland with gales. and it's here and across north—east england where it will feel substantially colder than the thermometers would suggest, made to feel well below freezing as we go through the afternoon. so a cold end to the day, rain, sleet, snow showers and strong winds clipping eastern parts of england for a time during thursday night, then skies clear, winds fall light. coldest night of the week, coldest commute of the week as we go into friday morning — temperatures could be as low as —10 through some scottish glens, a widespread frost and some ice to watch out for. but a lovely, crisp day to come for many on friday — a few wintry showers in the west, building amounts of cloud, as well, but most staying dry with sunny spells, best of which in the east. temperatures actually a degree so lower than normal for the time of year. but after a cold start to friday night, as you go into the weekend,

it'll turn milder, and with it, some wet and windy weather. on saturday, especially in the west, outbreaks of rain coming and going all day long, more persistent through the afternoon in parts of northern and western england and wales. some parts of north—east scotland may get away largely dry, staying largely dry to east anglia and the south—east, but even here we will see rain and strong winds sweep through as we go through into saturday night. and then for sunday, we just have to watch the potential development of this area of low pressure. a bit of uncertainty attached, keep watching the forecast, but it could bring some more persistent rain later in the day and strong winds around the english channel. further north, though, something a bit brighter, sunshine and showers, but feeling a little bit chillier. that's how it's looking. see you soon.

this is bbc news,

the headlines. scientists say they've made a significant breakthrough in nuclearfusion — bringing the possibility of an almost unlimited source of carbon—free power a step closer. experiments at a laboratory in britain produced 59 megajoules of heat during a five second burst of fusion, more than doubling the previous record. protests are now spreading across india and beyond against a ban on the muslim headscarf in some colleges in one southern state. hundreds of demonstrators came out on to the streets of kolkata and chennai. canadian police have threatened to arrest lorry drivers and protesters who've shut down central ottawa for two weeks protesting about covid rules. they've warned that blocking streets in the federal capital may amount to a criminal offence. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur.