this is bbc world news, the headlines... more than 60 people have been killed in winter storms across north america. president biden has approved an emergency declaration allowing federal support for new york state, where blizzards have blocked roads and power lines. china will scrap quarantine for travellers from the 8th of january, marking the biggest shift from the country's zero—covid policy. the move comes as china struggles with the virus�* spread after restrictions were lifted. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen, has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service. she says the move is to counter growing pressure from beijing. two people are arrested after a woman is shot dead, at a pub in merseyside, in the north west of england on christmas eve.

you are watching bbc news. next it's time for click. rock version of: the twelve days of christmas. well, ho, ho, ho! ho! and merry clickmas! 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. yeah. yoo—hoo. good, innit? and we've got all 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. seven, six... ..four, three, two, one... 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. is that still chocolate? it's 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 and make sense of the metaverse. it's really, really weird. it's not like a racetrack or a 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 do have to give you this now. catch. oh, 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. ah, musical! it is indeed. i'll explain more later. yeah, i want it back now, thanks. but first, we're going to hit a different kind of high note. yes. nick kwek has been on a flying visit to france. remember this? yay! 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'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 accomplish his dream. and franky certainly has been dreaming big. this is huge. so what's up here then? so, this... thanks to a deep pocketed german investor, he's taking his business to new heights. we are building all this building in ourflying zone. so we develop projects which 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 per year. i'm here to see his latest innovation, thejet racer. 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 110 kilos. so it's over to franky to show us how it's done. enjoy the flight.

with ten rocket fuel powered jet engines, this 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. the fly board there, you need to be fit, like maybe ten times more than a water fly board. with this one, ijust sit in. it's like a flying carpet. which is great, because not all of us have abs of steel and the agility of a cat. 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 this garden. mind the geraniums. that is absolutely bananas. clearly, this is forfun. a maximum of 15 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's this?! it's your time. hey! it's my time to get into the hot seat. steady. 0h, like a true athlete. this is exactly the same brain you have in the realjet racer. hold on. so, forward. i'm actually on this one now. yeah. so... exactly. good job! it's where we train pilots, but it's also where we develop all ourflight sequence, all our failure. what happened if you lost the engines? what happens 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.

if you want, you can test. the other thing is to land on the right point. mission accepted. come on, come on. oh, oh, oh — no, i missed it! i've missed it! yeah! congratulations! good job. however, even with practice, some test flights go better than others. how safe is that thing? this technology is extremely safe. we can lost two engines, even two engines in the same arm, and we're still flying. it's safer than in conventional flight. you won't find the jet racer in the shops any time 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 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, like, so pleased that i couldn't get in it! i'm not surprised. thank goodness for those legal reasons you weren't allowed to fly, because otherwise you'd have had to come clean and say, "no, i am terrified." absolutely not. 100%. no way. but he is taking it to america next year, as i say in the film, where members of the public can go on, can pay to get on this 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, at the speed you need it to stay stable? that's right. and also, it may look quite rugged and like you're inside some sort of mechanic's workshop, but when you see some of the jet

engines, what's inside them, these really intricate wires and computer circuit boards, there's a lot going on in there. i'm not sure if that'll give you more or less confidence to want 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 on 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. but 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 the kitchen sink, then kind of threw grenades into it, you know, and has caused an awful lot of destruction in that firm. do you think 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, ithink, you know, the character of the man aside, he's so impulsive and such an oversharer that you end up kind of seeing a lot of 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. he's, you know, bought this thing for hugely more money than anybody else wants to buy it for. 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. 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, there's so much, isn't there? you've got the kind of human interest side, you've got 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. a couple of really interesting things have come out this year. we've had the 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. but it's gone down pretty well. cameras gradually get better. cameras getting better. the battery life is noticeably better. battery life generally holds stuff back, doesn't it? you know, i always think these things could do so much more if they only had a bit more power, much like myself! but hopefully we'll get there one day. and the other thing i thought that came out this year, which was fascinating, was meta coming out with this new vr headset, the quest pro. fascinating, not least because of the price. did you see the price?!

1500? _ £1,500, and also dollars. it's the same, the same money. i mean, it kind of suggests it's still not a consumer thing, this. this is still not aimed at people in their homes, just having a laugh. it's not going to be at that price. i mean, you'd have to be a very wealthy and very passionate user of vr, wouldn't you, to fork out that kind of money? i think you're right. i think they are 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 in vr. it wants you to 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? 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, gpt3. 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. they used to be good because they were funny, weren't they? you'd try and game a chat bot 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 too 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. and 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 the colours were kind of effervescent, all this kind of thing that was lovely, a joy to read. i said to my partner, "imagine you're in a marshmallow land." and he went, "mm, it would be a bit sticky, wouldn't it?" and i was like... which is more human. it's more human, exactly! i don't know which one i'd buy in prose. i'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 was what gave it away. it was too good at what it does. 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 of an eye. 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 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's found someone who is "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 effort. the european commission has warned meta it could face up to $11.8 billion in fines for alleged antitrust breaches. the eu's executive arm said it believes meta has distorted competition for 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, overtaking the title's previous holder — a photo of an egg. right, gift—giving time now! i've got one for you. you've got one for me.

0h, hang on. this is kind of awkward because i've got something that's maybe for your kids. 0h! 0k, fairenough. you can enjoy them, too. there you go. these are the storyphone headphones. now, the idea behind them 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. now, there's a whole range of topics that you can have. there are also zen shields, which are 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 or grandparents may want to do that. and it means a story can live through the generations. as long as you hang on to this device, you can even put your picture on there as well. marvellous. i have a present for you. oh, thank you. that's very kind. it is. would you like to know more about your 0dd ball? tell me all. 0k. it is called the 0dd ball. give it a tap. it plays music 0h! see, it's a musical instrument for people who have

absolutely no musical talent. that'll be like you and me. exactly! and the thing is, it only gives you notes that go with all the notes it's 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... ok, you got that one going on, and then you can start playing along to yourself. 0k. that's like a whole band. yeah, absolutely. and it's alljust you. all me. and then 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 present, spence! yeah, absolutely. you play along with that. merry, merry clickmas. thank you. so we've done gifts for humans, but of course, there are other members of some households that enjoy a bit of pampering over christmas too. so let's cross to shiona mccallum for some cat tales.

in order to spend christmas with our family and friends, some of us need to leave our furry friends behind. but luckily, tech can help us make that a bit easier. and i've got louis, ella and django to help test it out. the petcube play 2 is a wifi camera to help you keep an eye on your cat 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'll get to listen to you, though. louis, get down there! it also has a laser toy which can be set to auto play to keep them engaged while you're away.

come on, kitties! then there's the petlibro healthy cat feeder. via an app, i canjust dispense a bit of food whenever i like, but you can also set up a feeding plan, customising when to feed them and how much, so it's all automatically taken care of, whether you're busy or not. and what about keeping them hydrated? the petkit eversweet 3 pro is a smart water fountain which hopes to help with that department. its filtration system keeps the water clean and it alerts you when it's in need of topping up. and after all that eating and drinking, your felines 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 each use through a 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 to 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. tc care lets you check your pet's health from the comfort of your home. and you can do this on the app by taking a photo of the eyes. it's billed as the first mobile application which identifies symptoms of disease. it does it using ai, which has been trained to detect early signs of sickness. the app comes with the first scans free, but an annual subscription after that will cost you around

£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. lara: that was shiona. and we can't talk christmas without talking about toys. spencer: no, and paul carter's 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 was obsessed with transformers, and particularly this guy. this is optimus prime, leader of the autobots. greetings, friend. i am 0ptimus prime. now, back in the dark ages when i was a kid, 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 voice controlled... ..which means i get to say something i 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. he laughs.

well, as you can see, we 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 actually transforms as well in its own right. trailer whirs. three, two, one. lasers fire. 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're both bought together. in the uk, it is 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 mayjust 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 the fire on it. that's the problem with led screens — they don't give out

as much heat as plasma. no, it doesn't really do the trick, does it? and that's all from us for this year. over the next couple of weeks, there'll 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. happy clickmas. rock version of: the twelve days of christmas hello there. it was a cold and wintry scene across scotland on boxing day. for many parts of the uk today, it is going to be turning milder, but only because we've got atlantic winds that are strengthening and blowing in some wet weather from the west and we're seeing some

more snow actually in the colder air that we've got still in scotland. there's more cloud and rain looming in the atlantic for tomorrow. but this is the cloud that's been bringing the wet weather into day and through the afternoon. we've got more snow mainly over the hills to the north of the central belt, turning back to rain in the south and then drying off later in the day. some sunshine after the morning rain in northern ireland. but we've got this cloud of rain coming into england, wales, wales in the southwest could see some heavy rain in the hills together with some strengthening winds. east anglia and the southeast probably staying dry until after dark and temperatures widely getting up to nine or ten degrees, a little bit colder in northern scotland where we still got that mixture of rain, sleet and snow first thing in the evening. it does tend to become drier here. a few showers for a while. the wet weather in england and wales moves away, but then returns back into the south and southwest later on in the night. so it's only a brief respite in between all this wet weather. it won't be as cold tonight as it was last night, but we follow this wet weather here in the southwest. again, some heavy rain across wales over the hills and that wet weather moves across the whole of england and wales, across northern ireland,

up into the southern half of scotland. it may turn drier in the afternoon across parts of england and wales, maybe some late sunshine in wales and the southwest, and it may well stay dry in the far north of scotland where temperatures are six degrees but could make 13 in the south east of england. it'll also be windy with that wet weather that's coming in tomorrow around that area of low pressure that then tends to move away most of the wet weather. but we're left with a run of strong winds on thursday again. and that will bring bring some sunshine, but also some frequent showers in western areas. some of the showers get blown into eastern parts and it mayjust be cold enough for some winter illness over the hills, particularly in scotland, temperatures around 6 to 10 degrees on thursday. we look ahead into friday, another area of low pressure coming in from the atlantic. this will also bring some very windy weather. i'm going to find some more rain as well. and thatjust continues this very unsettled, often wet, often windy theme as we head towards the new year.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm annita mcveigh. our top stories: at least 60 people have been killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden has approved emergency federal help for new york state, as the arctic freeze continues. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen, has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service — in response to growing pressure from beijing. two people are arrested after a woman is shot dead at a pub in merseyside, in the north—west of england, on christmas eve. in the wake of a polar explorer — the mission to restore the ship's cabin used by ernest shackleton.