this is bbc news. the headlines: engineers are scrambling to restore power supplies to hundreds of thousands of people as a winter storm affects large parts of the united states and canada. the severe weather forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and kept some of the busiest roads closed. the un has criticised a taliban ruling that bars afghan women from working for aid agencies, saying it violates their most fundamental rights. last week, the hard—line rulers announced women were banned from attending university. 10 civilians have been killed by russian shelling in the ukrainian city of kherson — one attack on saturday morning struck

the central market as people were shopping before mortar fire targeted other areas. russia has frequently shelled kherson, which was recaptured by ukrainian forces last month. now on bbc news, click. rock version of we wish you a merry christmas plays. well, ho, ho and... very clickmas. the first one from a new

glasgow base, in the pacific key in our studio, and we have all of the latest tech gadgets. low carbon log fire. cga bobbles. and sustainable signage. this is the last show of 2022 and i think we can all agree it has been a year. it has been a year. ten. nine. seven. six. three, two, one. whoa! i started it with the maddest idea i've heard of in ages— launching satellites into space by throwing them into orbit. eating on camera is always very messy. i had some cocoa free chocolate. is it still chocolate? really good. 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. mark met younger mark to try to make sense of the metaverse. it's really, really weird.

isn't that like racetrack or, we are fully in the centre of san francisco. and james went for a ride in a title for driverless taxi. later it will be present giving time although i have catch. thank you! it's like one of those massage balls i had to give up my shoulder operation. it is not. give it a bounce. musical! i will explain more later. nice! but first, we will hear a different kind of high note. nick kwek has been on a flying visit to france. remember this? what about this? 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 am back to meet the inventor who many have branded a daredevil. i'm just a dreamer that is doing everything he can to complete his dream. and franky certainly has been dreaming big. this is huge. what is up here then? thanks to a german investor he has taken his business to new heights. we are bridging all of these building in a flying zone so we do a lot of projects, we just open the gates and fly out. he has got workers behind desks and lab counters, workshops and even a factory floor. grand halls for a grand ideas. we are prepared to cut emissions. here is his latest innovation, thejet racer. check this out? sadly, iam not legally permitted to fly this thing due to french regulations. let's definitely comment on the fact i'm dangerously close to the maximum weight limit. so it's over to franky

to show us how it is done. enjoy the flight. rock music plays. with ten rocket fuelled jet engines, the so—called flying race car can theoretically reach a top speed of 260 kilometres per hour and is arguably more user—friendly than its hoverboard predecessor. you need to be fit, ten times more than a waterflow board with this one, it's like a flying carpet. which is great because not all of us have abs of steel and the agility of a cat. it doesn't mean you have to go somewhere and you will take a flying taxi. the way i imagine it is you have yourflying machine in your little garden and you can take it every saturday or sunday and you can go and visit your friends and land in their garden. mind the geraniums!

it's absolutely bananas. clearly this is for fun, a maximum of 50 minutes worth, in fact, and obviously not a replacement for the family station wagon. franky sees a market for flying experiences and is building full—scale training tools in preparation. here is our simulator. what is this? it is your time. it is my time to get into the hot seat. steady. like a true athlete. this is exactly the same brain that you have. hang on, matching with this one now. so... exactly! good job! this is where we train pilots but it is where we develop our flight sequence, or failure, when what happens with the engines, what has happened if you break a flight controller. the thing is the trees are not real so i canjust fly

through them without consequence. it's actually easier than i thought. yeah! if you want to now the other things, on the right point. mission accepted. come on. oh! i've missed it! yeah! congratulations! good job! even with practice, some test flights are better than others. how safe is that thing? this technology is extremely safe, you can lose two engines, even two engines on the same half and we're still flying. safer than a commercial flight. you won't find the jet racer 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. we will be the first company in the world to have commercial flight with the machine. is that even real? is what i have 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 that thing. so pleased i could not get in it. i'm not surprised. for those legal reasons you could not fly as well, no, i am terrified. absolutely not, 100% no way. he is taking it to america next year. members of the public can go on it there, can pay to get on the thing. 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 hover boards and everything popping up these days. what do you think has changed that is making is technology possible now? i think its advancement in software. right. he has a whole team of software development beavering away there and it's becoming so advanced that they are able to do amazing stunts. we are able to monitor

the balance and everything like that? speed you need stay to stable? yeah, and it may look quite rugged and you are inside some sort of mechanics workshop when you see some of the jet engines, what is inside them it is intricate wires and computer circuit boards. yeah. there is a lot going on. i'm not sure it would give you more or less confidence to get inside one. it probably did not help. next, mary clickmas. mary clickmas. unbelievably, it is not the only big technology story that has happened this year. we of the world's richest men buying a certain social media company. we see job losses across the board, big tech has not been immune to economic forces. add to that crypto currency chaos, new devices are plenty, and ai evolving apace. it's been a busy time! here with the latest is the bbc�*s brand new technology editor zoe kleinman. there has been a lot about elon musk and twitter so how has it been for you?

i'm starting to feel like i am married actually because everything that he does as a direct impact on my life. what an interesting story we've seen, starting in april with is or is he not going to buy it and it went on for ages and suddenly he did, rocked up with a kitchen sink and sort of threw... literally! literally with a kitchen sink and throw grenades into wet and has caused an awful lot of disruption into the firm. do you think that he is just doing what he did with his other companies, which is going in as you say blow everything up? i think the character of the man aside, he is so impulsive and such an over sharer that you end up kind of seeing what he is doing before he has really had a chance to think about it and if you do think about it, he is doing what big business leaders do. yeah. he has bought this thing for hugely more money than anybody else wants to buy it for. yes. but he has got to try to make it work and let's not forget twitter has not been profitable in years, has not 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 this business does. yeah. think about it is that there is so much, isn't there, the human interest side and the craziness, you've got, you know, the sadness of these people who have worked for this company and are now losing theirjobs, you've got the what are they going to do next, the changing decisions on what you can kind of see inside a machine. yeah. but we don't normally see. let's talk about hardware. the iphone 14, sort of about time for a new iphone. kind of evolution rather than revolution, does everything it did before but a bit better. camera is getting better. the camera is getting better, the battery life is noticeably better, battery life generally holds stuff back. i think these things could do more if they had a bit more power, much like myself! hopefully we will get there one day. the other thing i thought

was interesting that came out this year with which was fascinating was meta coming out with a vr headset, the quest pro. yeah. fascinating not least because of the price, did you see? i know! 1500! pounds, and also dollars, the same, the same money. it kind of suggests it's still not a consumer thing, this is still not aimed at people in their homes, just having a laugh. it will not be at that price. you have to be a very wealthy and passionate user of vr, wouldn't you, to fork up kind of money and i think you're right, they're definitely aiming it at early adopters and businesses, you know, mentor really wants people to use this as a business tool, to train vr at your desk and while gaming is a big part of that, i think in terms of a carrot to get people to have a go, ultimately they want you to spend all of your time there you have to be able to do boring things with it as well.

what are you excited about next year? one thing i think is really interesting and we're just kind of it start to come out now is this idea of language learning models, gp t3, i know it is a buzzword but, what it is is a computer programme that will write very beautiful text and they are getting better and better too. i used to do it because they are funny because you try to game a chat wanting to say something rude or silly and now they are really very eloquent. but in i think they are kind of too eloquent, i tried out google's lando which you may recall was the one the one with engineers believed were sentient. google has always consistently argued it was doing exactly what it was trained to do but having had a very limited play with it i can 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 are in a marshmallow mat and i got this incredible beautiful response about how soft the floor was and how the clouds were puffy with marshmallows and how the colours were kind of effervescent and all this thing that was lovely,

a joy to read, that i said to my imagine you are in a marshmallow land he went it would be sticky, wouldn't it? which is more human. exactly, exactly. they will probably buy the novel rather than what you mentioned. it's not a fair comparison but that is what gave it away. it was too good. guess they need to make it a bit less clever. if they do get it right, we need to watch students because this thing could write essays. this is true. and how if it is good enough, how are we going to know? l on that note, thank you very much, sally. rock music plays. merry clickmas, have a rest, zoe. i will try! time for a look at the tech news now with fortnite maker epic games paying $520 million after reaching a settlement with the us federal trade commission. 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 the pole that he tweeted. 17.5 million users voted in it, around 60% saying he should go. he has since confirmed he will resign but only once he has found someone who is, quote, foolish enough to take the job. clearly, he is 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 says it believes they have extorted 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 post on instagram. 0vertaking the titles 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. 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, there are also zen shields, some special relaxing ones to help soothe the kids, and there are play shields, which i think of 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 is very kind. would you like to know any more about your 0dd ball? give it a tap.

it is a musical instrument for people who have absolutely no musical talents. 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. great, 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 for some cattails. in order to spend 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 are 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 are away. come on, kitties. then there is the pet libro healthy cat feeder. via an app 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 is all automatically taken care of, whether you are busy or not. and what about keeping them hydrated? the petkit eversweet is a smart water fountain hopes to get help with that. it alerts you when it is in need of topping up. and a filtration system keeps the water clean. 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 four 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 drawer 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 are still concerned about your cats when you get home the next day then a south korean start—up might have an answer. kitty care lets you check your pets' health from the comfort of your home and you can do this on the app by taking a photo of the 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 comes with the first scans 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 furbabies. 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 now. growing up, i obsessed with transformers, and particularly this guy. this is 0ptimus prime,

leader of the autobots. greetings, friend. 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 0ptimus prime interactive robot, and not only does it transform, it is 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 have 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 out 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 £1000, and the trailer unit is an extra £600 if they are both brought together. in the uk, it is a limited edition and it is 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 are 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. 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. good morning. the countdown is over — it is now christmas day — and a popular weather question for christmas day is, of course, will it be a white christmas? starting us off today, you'd be forgiven for thinking "no chance!" we're in some fairly mild air, really, top to tail across the uk, which is being

pulled in from the atlantic on a south—westerly wind. but there is some much colder airjust sitting to the north of the uk, on the northern flank of this area of low pressure. this low will drive the weather across the uk this christmas day. it will push bands of showers through with some sunny interludes between times but occasionally, the showers lumping together into more persistent spells of rain, perhaps for northern ireland and northern england through the afternoon, later in the day towards the south—east. mild to the south. afternoon temperatures, 10, 11 degrees. but notice, the keen—eyed amongst you, the map turning blue across scotland through the afternoon — temperatures will actually come down through the day. now, the definition of a white christmas is not for blanket snow coverage butjust one flake of snow to fall anywhere in the uk during the 2a hours of christmas day. so, colder air in across scotland with showers coming in through the evening, and it looks like we could see a white christmas here. perhaps the odd flurry for northern ireland, too. for boxing day, the colder air extending, though, all the way south across the uk. a frosty start. look out for some ice across scotland, parts of northern england after the showers overnight. the south—east and east anglia

getting off to a frost—free start but the colder air will trickle in here through the course of boxing day. i think there will be a lot of brightness once any early rain clears from the south—east, but it will feel chillier. further north, the showers continue and they're likely to be wintry across western scotland, drifting some down into the pennines, the odd one across the mountains of northern ireland as well. and temperatures lower across the board for boxing day afternoon. however, this spell, if you like, of cold weather is barely a fleeting glance, really, of arctic air, because as we look further on into the week ahead, the final days of 2022, we start to pick up a more atlantic influence. once again, areas of low pressure whirling in from the atlantic. 0ur temperatures return closer to average values, if not slightly above, but there will be some quite showery, if not wet and windy, spells of weather to come in the following days.

this is bbc world news. i'm david willis. our top stories: the struggle to restore power to millions in north america as one of the worst winter storms in living memory grips the region. the taliban clamps down further on women's rights in afghanistan, barring them from working for aid agencies. ten civilians have been killed by russian shelling in the ukrainian city of kherson. 0ne attack struck the central market as people were shopping. and the worry here and on another frontlines of this war is that the bombardment could get even more intense over christmas and in the new year. the pope remembers those who are caught up in devastating wars as he holds his christmas eve mass in the vatican.

# i can't get no sleep. and maxijazz, lead singer of the band faithless,