this is bbc news. the headlines: hundreds of people are fleeing the ukrainian city of kherson because of intense russian shelling. bombardment of the city has increased sharply over the past few days. on tuesday, a shell hit the maternity ward of a hospital. president zelensky said russian air strikes would not harm the spirit of ukrainians. at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms sweeping across north america. us officials are calling it the "blizzard of the century". the storm has affected a vast

area from canada in the north down through the us and reaching as far as mexico. the un security council has said restrictions on female aid workers in afghanistan go against commitments made by the taliban to the afghan people. the un said the ban on women working for aid agencies would have an immediate impact on humanitarian operations. now on bbc news, click. rock version of: the twelve days of christmas. well, ho, ho, ho!

and 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? 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 taken 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 260km/h, 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 yourfriends 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. oh, 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 our flight 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. now, 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 it, 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? 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... 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. oh, hang on. this is kind of awkward because i've got something that's maybe for your kids. 0h! ok, fair enough. 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 odd ball? tell me all. 0k. it is called the odd 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... funky tune 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. 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. 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 optimus prime. now, back in the dark ages when i was a kid, the tech didn't really exist to make a fully automatic transforming but now it does. this is the robosen optimus 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. optimus 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 optimus 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 optimus prime. 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 optimus 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.

optimus 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. music - rock version of: the twelve days of christmas

hello. on tuesday, it was cold enough for snow in parts of scotland. through the rest of this week, and indeed the rest of the year, there will be some snow, but only really over hills in the north, because elsewhere it'll be too mild for that — some spells of heavy rain instead and some strong winds. a lot of rain to come, actually, particularly over the hills in wales and the western side of england. some places here could see over 100 millimetres of rain over the next five days, so that could cause some flooding and some disruption. and this bout of wet weather will move its way northwards and eastwards during wednesday, a frontal system pushing in quite quickly from the south—west. rain moving quickly northwards across england, wales, into northern ireland, southern and central parts of scotland. we may see some snow mixing in over the highest ground of the grampians. it's going to be windy, particularly across england and wales. those are the gusts we can expect through the afternoon. but it will be mild for most, 11 or 12 degrees for much of england and wales,

ten there for northern ireland. for scotland, highs of six or seven degrees. now, as we go through wednesday night, this band of rain — with some snow over the mountains in scotland — plenty of showers following on with some blustery winds. overnight, temperatures generally between 4—8 degrees. but as we go into thursday, a subtle change because as this area of low pressure drifts through and we end up on the back edge of it, well, the winds will shift direction to a north—westerly, so it's going to feel a little bit chillier on thursday. nothing exceptional for the time of year. it's certainly not going to be a cold day butjust a slightly chillier one, 6—10 degrees, sunny spells, some showers, which will be wintry over high ground in the north. and then for friday, another weather system. an area of low pressure hurtles in from the atlantic. that will bring some very heavy rain, again, moving its way quite quickly northwards and eastwards, with some snow over the mountains in scotland, clearing to sunshine and showers. the risk of gales in places on friday. but with the winds broadly coming from the southwest, it is going to be a mild day.

now, for the end of 2022 and into the start of the new year, northern parts of the uk will see something a little colder and there could be some snow over the hills. further south, it'll be milder with some rain at times.

this is bbc news. our top stories: hundreds flee the ukrainian city of kherson because of intense russian shelling. we'll have a special report from on the ground. behind me, actually, is where an explosion took place just over an hour ago. five people killed here, 20 were injured. every single day, there are people being killed the city. more than 60 people are killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden approves emergency funding. the un security council denounces a ban by afghanistan's taliban—led government on women attending the un security council denounces a ban by