this is bbc world news, the headlines. plunging temperatures are gripping much of the united states and canada, with more than two hundred and fifty million people facing life—threating conditions. a second day of protests as thousands of people take to the streets of paris after a gunman with a history of racist violence, killed three people at a kurdish cultural centre. uk rail passengers are being warned to avoid travelling unless "absolutely necessary" as further walkouts are set to cause disruption later today. tens of thousands of visitors are expected to gather in bethlehem for the annual christmas procession ahead of midnight mass at the nativity church. and in his first christmas message as monarch,

king charles is to pay tribute to his mother, the late queen elizabeth ii. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for click. rock version of we wish you a merry christmas plays. well, ho... ho! ..hoand... both: merry clickmas! it's the first one from our new glasgow base, so we are here in the middle of pacific quay in the studio. yoo—hoo! good, innit? and we've got all of the latest tech decks... low carbon log fire... ..cgi baubles. ..and sustainable signage.

now, this is our last show of 2022 and i think we can all agree it's been a year, hasn't it? it's been a year. here we go. so he's doing the launch sequence now. ten. nine. seven. six. five, four, three, two, one. launching. whoa! i started it with the maddest idea i've heard of in ages — launching satellites into space by throwing them into orbit. right. eating on camera is always very messy. i had some cocoa—free chocolate. but is that still chocolate? really good. mmm, lovely. i beg your pardon? you had help from the likes of me — the trimmer, - younger—looking virtual version of you that has helped - with all of these - stories on the telly. marc met younger marc to try to make sense of the metaverse. it's really, really weird. it isn't at, like, a racetrack

or testing facility. we are fully in the centre of san francisco. and james went for a ride in a driverless taxi. later, it will be present—giving time — although i have to give you this now. catch. ooh, thank you! it's like one of those massage balls i had to use after my shoulder operation. it is not — give it a bounce. ball beeps in different tones. 0h, musical! it is, indeed. i'll explain more later. nice! yeah, i'll have it back now, thanks. but first, we're gonna hear a different kind of high note. yes — nick kwek has been on a flying visit to france. remember this? yes! whoa! what about this? galop infernal by offenbach plays. jet ski champion turned real—life green goblin franky zapata has been zipping around our airways for a while now but four years on, i'm back to meet the hoverboard inventor who many have

branded a daredevil. it's wrong, you know? i'm just a dreamer that is doing everything he can to achieve his dream. and franky certainly has been dreaming, big. this is huge. what's up here, then? thanks to a deep—pocketed german investor, he's taken his business to new heights. we are bridging all of these building in ourflying zone, so we develop projects, we just open the gates and we fly. he's got workers behind desks and lab counters, workshops, and even a factory floor — grand halls for grand ideas. we plan to build 1,000 machines a year. i'm here to see his latest emission, thejetracer. i'm here to see his latest innovation, thejetracer. check this out! sadly, i'm not legally permitted to fly this thing due to french regulation. and let's definitely not mention the fact that i'm dangerously close to the maximum weight limit of iiokg.

so, it's over to franky to show us how it's done. enjoy the flight. rock music plays. with ten rocket fuel—powered jet engines, this so—called flying race car can theoretically reach a top speed of 260km/h and is arguably more user—friendly than its hoverboa rd predecessor. the flyboarder, you need to be fit — like maybe ten times more than a water flyboard. with this one, just sitting — it's like a flying carpet. which is great because not all of us have abs of steel and the agility of a cat. personal mobility for me doesn't mean like you have to go somewhere and you will take a flying taxi. the way i imagine the mobility is you have your own flying machine in your little garden and then, you can take it every saturday or sunday or at night and you can go and visit your friends and land directly in their garden. mind the geraniums! it's absolutely bananas.

clearly, this is forfun — a maximum of 50 minutes' worth, in fact — and obviously not a replacement for the family station wagon. but franky sees a market for flying experiences and is building full—scale training tools in preparation. so, here is our simulator. what is this? it's your time. hey, it's my time to get into the hot seat. steady... 0h, like a true athlete. this has exactly the same brain that you have in the real jetracer. hang on. so forward, i'm actually on this one now. yeah. so... exactly! good job! this is where we train pilots but it's also where we develop all ourflight sequence, all our failure, when what happens if you lose an engine, what has happened if you break a flight controller. the good thing is the trees aren't real so i could just fly through them without consequence.

it is actually easier than i thought it was going to be. yeah! and if you want, you can test now — the other thing is to land on the right point. mission accepted. come on, come on. oh, oh! i've missed it! yeah! congratulations! that's pretty good. good job! however, even with practice, some test flights go better than others. how safe is that thing? this technology, it's extremely safe. we can lose two engines, even two engines on the same half, and we're still flying. safer than a unconventional flight. you won't find the jetracer in the shops anytime soon but franky is taking it to america early next year, where brave members of the public can legally take it for a spin. so that's mean like we will be the first company in the world to have commercial flight with our machine. is that even real? is what i've just seen real? wow! i am not sure about

travelling in that. did you want to take a journey in it? i was absolutely terrified of the thing. i was so pleased i could not get in it. i'm not surprised. thank goodness for those legal reasons you weren't allowed to fly because otherwise, you would've had to have come clean and say, "no, i am terrified!" oh, i know. absolutely not, 100% no way. but he is taking it to america next year, as i said in the film, where members of the public can go on it — can pay to get on the thing and take it for a spin. would you? i don't think i would — in fact, definitely not! i think that i'm just seeing more and more of these flying cars, flying hoverboards and everything, popping up these days. what do you think has changed that is making this technology possible now? i think it's advancement in software. right. he's got a whole team of software developers beavering away there and it's becoming so advanced that they're able to do amazing stunts. so they're able to monitor the balance and everything like — at the speed you need it to stay stable?

yeah, that's right. and also, it may look quite rugged and like you're inside some sort of mechanics' workshop but when you see some of the jet engines, what's inside them, it's these really intricate wires and computer circuit boards. yeah. there's a lot going on in there. i'm not sure that would give you more or less confidence to get inside one. it probably didn't help. absolutely not. hey, nick, merry clickmas. merry clickmas to you, too. merry clickmas. unbelievably, that is not the only big technology story that's happened this year. we've had one of the world's richest men buying a certain social media company. we've seen job losses across the board — big tech has not been immune to economic forces. add to that cryptocurrency chaos, new devices aplenty, and ai evolving at pace. it's been a busy old time! well, here with all the latest on the last 12 months is the bbc�*s brand new technology editor, zoe kleinman. hello! hello, zoe! well, there's been a lot about elon musk and twitter. how has it been for you? i'm starting to feel like i'm

married to elon musk, actually, because everything that he does has a direct impact on my life. what an interesting story we've seen. we started in april with is he or is he not going to buy it? that went on for ages. then suddenly, he did buy it, rocked up with the kitchen sink and sort of threw... literally! ..literally with a kitchen sink, then kind of threw grenades into it, you know, and has caused an awful lot of disruption in that firm. do you think that he's just doing what he did with his other companies, which is go in and just, as you say, blow everything up? yeah, i mean, you know, i think the character of the man aside, he's so impulsive and such an oversharer that you end up kind of seeing what he's doing before he's really had a chance to think about it. if you do think about it, he is doing what big business leaders do. yeah. he's, you know, bought this thing for hugely more money than anybody else wants to buy it for. yes! and now he's got to try and make it work. let's not forget twitter has not been profitable in years, hasn't really grown its users in years, yet he's got to do something with it and i think underneath, the kind

of the interesting way in which he chooses to communicate what he's doing, he is actually following the script of what big business does. yeah. the thing about it is that there's so much, isn't there? you've got the kind of human interest side, you've got and the craziness, you've got, you know, the sadness of these people who've worked for this company and are now losing theirjobs, you've got the, what are they going to do next, you've got the changing decisions and the u—turns. you're kind of seeing inside a machine that we don't normally see. let's talk about hardware. couple of really interesting things, ithink, have come out this year. we've had iphone 14 — sort of about time for a new iphone, wasn't it? i mean, kind of evolution rather than revolution. it does everything it did before but a little bit better. yeah — cameras gradually get better. camera's getting better, the battery life is noticeably better. battery life generally holds stuff back, doesn't it? you know, ialways think, "0h, these things could do more if they only had a bit more power" — much like myself! but hopefully, we'll get there one day! laughter. and the other thing i thought

that came out this year which was fascinating was meta coming out this year with this new vr headset, the quest pro. yeah. fascinating not least because of the price — did you see the price? i know! 1500! £1500 — and also dollars. it's the same — the same money. i mean, it kind of suggests it's not — it's still not a consumer thing, this. this is still not aimed at people in their homes, just having a laugh. no, it's not going to be, at that price. no. i mean, you'd have to be a very wealthy and very passionate user of vr, wouldn't you, to fork out kind of money? i think you're right — i think they're definitely aiming at early adopters and also businesses. you know, meta really wants people to use this as a business tool. it wants you to train vr, it wants you sit at your

desk in vr. and while gaming is a big part of that, i think in terms of a carrot to get people to have a go, ultimately, if they want you to spend all of your time there, you've got to be able to do the boring things in it as well, haven't you? but what are you excited about next year? one thing that i think is really interesting, and we're just kind of seeing it start to come out now, is this idea of language learning models, gpt—3. i know it's a buzzword but basically, what it is is a computer programme that will write very beautiful text, i know it's a buzzword but basically, what it is is a computer programme that will write very beautiful text, and they're getting better and better. weren't they? yeah. you know, you'd try and game a chatbot and get it to say something rude or silly and now, they are really very eloquent. but in a way, i think, they're kind of top eloquent. i tried out google's lamda — which you may recall was the one that one of its engineers believed was sentient. google has always consistently argued it was doing exactly what it was trained to do. yeah, yeah. but having had a very limited play with it, i could sort of see what it meant. i was kind of limited

in what i was allowed to ask but one of the questions was "imagine you're in a marshmallow land" and i got this incredibly beautiful response about, you know, how soft the floor was and how the clouds were puffy with marshmallows and how, you know, the colours were kind of effervescent, all this kind of thing that was lovely, a joy to read. but, you know, i said to my partner, "imagine you're in a marshmallow land," and he went "it would be sticky, wouldn't it? " and i was like, yep. which is more human. it's more human. exactly, exactly. crosstalk. ..prose — they'd probably buy the novel that you just mentioned rather than his comment. yes. i mean, it's not really a fair comparison but in a way, that is what gave it away. yeah. it was too good. i guess they need to make it seem a bit less clever. but if they do get it right, you know, we need to watch students because this thing could write essays in the blink ofan eye. this is true. and how, if it's good enough, how are we going to know? well, on that note, thank you very much, zoe. merry clickmas! have a rest. thank you very much. i'm going to try! right, time for a look at this week's tech news now.

fortnite maker epic games will pay $520 million after reaching a settlement with the us federal trade commission. the us consumer protection agency said epic violated children's privacy and tricked users into making unintended purchases with deceptive design. twitter users have voted for chief executive elon musk to step down as the head of the platform. mr musk said he would abide by the results of a poll that he'd tweeted. 17.5 million users voted in it. around 60% of them said he should go. he's since confirmed he will resign, but only once he has found someone who is, quote, "foolish enough to take the job". clearly, he's veering all over the place, isn't sure exactly what he thinks he should do, and seems to be looking for outside affirmation of all his efforts. the european commission has warned meta it could face up to $11.8 billion in fines for alleged anti—trust breaches. the eu's executive arm said it believes meta has distorted competition from rivals by tying social network facebook to facebook marketplace. and after helping secure the world cup trophy for argentina, footballer lionel messi has secured yet another win — his instagram post celebrating the triumph is now the most—liked to post on instagram, post on instagram, overtaking the title's previous holder, a photo of an egg. gift—giving time now.

i got one for you, you've got one for me. this is kind of awkward, because i got something that is maybe for your kids, but you can enjoy them as well. these are the storyphone headphones. the idea is to provide education and entertainment for kids without any screen time needed. so the stories can be stored in them, and these little discs that are here are known as story shields. there are a whole range of topics you can have. and also zen shields, some special relaxing ones to help soothe the kids. and there are play shields, which i think are the most interesting element. they allow you to record your own story. so parents and grandparents may want to do that, and it means the story can live through the generations, as long as you hang onto this device. you can even put a picture on there as well. marvellous. i have a present for you. thank you, it's very kind. would you like to know any more about your odd ball? give it a tap. it's a musical instrument

for people who have absolutely no musical talent. that would be like you and me. exactly, and the thing is, it only gives you notes that go with all the notes that you've previously played, so it makes you sound like a superstar. you can switch to different instruments, and the best thing is you can play along with a click track and build something up that sounds even more impressive. so you kind of like... odd ball plays. you've got that one going on, and then you can kind of start playing along with yourself. ok, that's like a whole band, and itjust is... all me, and you can add some drums as well. and if you get it right, which i haven't, it can sound quite good. right, and you seem to be having a lot of fun with my christmas present. exactly, you play with that. merry clickmas. there are some members of households that enjoy a bit of pampering, so let's cross to shona mccallum for some cat tales.

in order to spent christmas with our family and friends, some of us need to leave our furry friends behind. luckily, tech can help make that a bit easier, and i've got louis, ella and django to help test it out. the petcube play 2 is a wi—fi camera to help you keep an eye on your cats when you're away. you get a basic viewing option with the device, but can upgrade to a monthly subscription to add online recordings. it doesn't mean they will get to listen to you, though. louis, get down there! it also has a laser toy which can be set to autoplay to keep them engaged while you're away.

come on, kitties. then there is the petlibro healthy cat feeder. i can dispense food whenever i like, but you can also set up a feeding plan, customising when to feed them and how much. it's all automatically taken care of, whether you're busy or not. and what about keeping them hydrated? the petkit eversweet is a smart water fountain that hopes to help with that. it keeps it clean and alerts you when it's in need of topping up. and after all that eating and drinking, yourfelines might be in need of a kitty litter tray. but you might not want that stinking up your home over christmas, so that's where the litter—robot 4 comes in.

it cleans itself after use through its rotating and sifting process. using lasers and weight sensors, it knows when a cat enters and exits, and it tells you when the jar is full. although this convenience comes at a hefty price, around £600, meaning this won't be on every cat owner's list for santa. but after all that, if you're still concerned about your cats when you get home the next day then a south korean start—up might have an answer. ttcare lets you check your pets' health from the comfort of your home, and you can do this through the app by taking a photo of their eyes. it is billed as the first mobile application which identifies symptoms of disease. it does this using a! which is trained to detect early signs of sickness. the app covers the first time for free, but an annual

subscription after that will cost you about £40 a year. come on. i think the festivities have got to ella as well. apart from having the most beautiful green eyes, there are no abnormalities, so that's great. now i can officially relax and snuggle down with my fur babies. that was shona. and we can't talk christmas without talking about toys, and paul carter has been testing out a very special one for us. now, i have to say the big kid in me is very excited right 110w. growing up, i obsessed with transformers, and particularly this guy. this is 0ptimus prime, leader of the autobots. greetings, friends. i am 0ptimus prime.

in the dark ages, the tech didn't really exist to make a fully automatic transforming robot, but now it does. this is the robosen 0ptimus prime interactive robot. and not only does it transform, it's also a voice controlled, which means i get to say something i've always wanted to say. 0ptimus prime. greetings. transform. now, as you might expect, it also comes with an app, and through the app you can do a number of different things such as... be cool. very cool.

well, as you can see, we've had a bit of a failure there, and that's been happening quite a few times when we've been testing it. the instructions do say that it needs a flat surface to operate on, ie not carpet, which may not be practical for everybody. and it does have some difficulties, as we can see. as well as the main 0ptimus prime unit, you can also purchase as a separate add—on this trailer unit, which also transforms as well in its own right. robotic laser sounds. 0ptimus prime. greetings. transform.

now, this does come with one quite big caveat, particularly in the current cost—of—living climate, and that's the price. it's not exactly stocking—filler cheap. the 0ptimus prime unit itself retails for £1 short of £1,000, and the trailer unit is an extra £600 if they are both brought together. in the uk it's a limited edition, and it's limited to 500 of each. now, at that kind of price, unless you've got a lot of loose change lying down the back of your sofa, the war against the decepticons willjust have to be put on ice. 0ptimus prime. greetings. roll out. let's roll. wow, that was paul. mum, can i have one? all you're getting is this,

the screen with fire on it. that's the problem with led screens — they don't put out as much heat as plasma. no, it doesn't really do the trick, does it? that's all from us for this year. over the next couple of weeks there will be two repeats running, and then we will be at the consumer electronics show in las vegas. can't wait. thanks for watching, and have yourself a very merry clickmas. # rock version of 12 days of christmas plays # hello. it's going to be a very mild christmas for many of us. we have some sunny spells, a few showers thrown in, too. having said that, later in the day, tomorrow on christmas day in the highlands, we could have some snow. so it could well be a white

christmas for some of us. here's the satellite picture and you can see the weather systems streaming in from the southwest. that's a very mild direction. the air is coming in almost from the subtropics. so subtropical maritime air over us right now. yesterday, it was around 1a degrees in the southeast and another very mild day to come today. so the forecast for the afternoon for christmas eve, a lot of fine weather across the bulk of england, wales, eastern scotland, too. but come the afternoon where we are expecting showers to spread in off the atlantic, some of them could be quite heavy. temperatures between around six in lerwick and 12 in london. so here's the forecast for this evening. and overnight, with low pressure close by and weather fronts circling the uk. it will be quite a miss on the weather front. so heavy showers, clear spells here and there and a very mild end to the night and start to christmas day. nine degrees on the south coast of england, six

degrees in stornoway. now, here's that area of low pressure with the weather fronts close by. so very hit miss weather to come on sunday. certainly some sunshine in the forecast, but be prepared for a few showers, too. there could be some persistent rain for time in the morning for a time in the morning and into the afternoon. roughly from the isle of wight through london into east anglia here. so possibly wet at times, but elsewhere it's that mixed bag of sunny spells and showers on christmas day and very mild 11 degrees in the south. so on those showers in scotland come the evening, the wind will switch direction and christmas day evening will see some of that snow settling across the highlands and the temperatures into boxing day, you can see are close to freezing. so we will see some snow lying on the ground, but that's mostly in the hills. a very blustery, cold day on boxing day, at least temporarily. in scotland, temperatures four orfive degrees, a little bit milder there in central england, around six and south on the south coast. and then after that, after that brief colder spell, it's going to turn milder once again.

and you can see the run up to the new year is looking pretty unsettled with gale force winds and rain at times. goodbye.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm geeta guru— murthy our top stories: plunging temperatures are gripping much of the united states and canada, with more than 200 and 50 million people facing life threatening conditions. we have had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures and everything that mother nature could wollop at us this weekend. here in the uk rail travellers have only a few hours left to complete theirjournys as more rail strikes begin. protests turn violent as thousands of people take to the streets of paris after a gunman with a history of racist violence, killed three people at a kurdish cultural centre.

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