this is bbc news. the headlines... israel says a planned ground assault on the city of rafah could be suspended if a deal emerges to free the hostages still held by hamas. key international leaders are heading to saudi arabia, where they are expected to hold talks on the war in gaza. this week is expected to be a pivotal one in scottish politics. confidence votes are planned in both the first minister, humza yousaf, and his government. mr yousaf has written to opposition leaders in an attempt to find common ground. the un security council expresses deep concern over an imminent attack on the sudanese city of al—fashir, by the paramilitary rapid support forces. in a statement, the un's spokesperson says any attacks will have �*devastating consequences�* for the civilians. the grand final of esl one gaming tournament is taking place in birmingham. one of the gaming teams will win a share of 800 thousand pounds prize money whilst competing in the multiplayer battle arena game — dota 2.

now on bbc news, click. this week... speaks basic chinese. james is racing across the globe, testing the latest ai translation tools. we're in miami to see the data behind basketball. whilst you're there, why not grab yourself a beer and turn it into leather? sings operatically and we're on the stage helping musicians get used to what it feels like to get a standing ovation or a slow clap.

how did it do that? thank you! i think we've heard enough. yeah. voice exercises ladies and gentlemen, - this is your call to take your places for the performance. places, please. places. ok, they're ready for you. good luck. thank you! heartbeat thumps your heart is racing. the adrenaline is flowing. this is your moment. applause it's time to conquer your nerves, face the crowd, and let all that practice pay off. # sweeter than roses. . . #

some say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert and, forjosephine shaw, this performance is part of that journey as she blows our socks off with a rendition of sweeter than roses to a very unusual audience. trills i've always loved singing. my parents say i was a bit of an annoying child growing up. i was making lots of weird noises and apparently would hum myself to sleep. so, eventually, they were like, "let's put this into something "useful," and got me some singing lessons. talk to me about nerves. do you get them? and how do you get over them? yeah, i get nervous all the time. getting over them, it's always a tricky balance. sometimes, the adrenaline helps you but also, you don't want the nerves to affect your singing or your technique if you're getting all tense. music distorts, cuts out

researchers here at the royal college of music in london say that practising and then performing is very different to practising performing. and so, while it's difficult to get regular access to the real theatres and venues, they can simulate the experience here, in their performance laboratory. and that simulation begins before they step out into the lights. one of the things we've learned from our research is that our body's stress response to performance can be as, if not more, powerful backstage than it is onstage. it's that anticipation of performance where anxiety can really hit. and this helps us tailor ourtraining to make sure we're not only preparing them for what happens onstage, under the lights, in front of the audience's eyes, but also how they're coping backstage. how do they manage that anxiety? how do they get themselves physically and mentally into a place where they're ready to walk out onstage and give their best performance?

the parallel to that in the surgical world would be allowing surgical students to go through the process of gowning up, washing up, doing a preoperative briefing with their team and making sure that they're all on the same page. and once the students are onstage, george waddell can control everything. he can change the venue. he can change the reaction to make the night go as well... silence ..or as badly as he wants. the performance laboratory is running in unreal engine, the video game software. each member of the audience is an individual video games character. they all behave independently and they don't all always show up — i got lucky tonight! and what's really interesting about this space as well is there are 64 speakers hidden in the walls and ceilings, so if you change the venue, that changes the acoustics, which forces you to change your performance. getting that sense of the acoustic makes it not

so huge a jump when you're then performing onstage, compared to in all the practice rooms we have, which tend to be a much drier sound. so, when it's suddenly a much bigger space that you have to fill, it's great to get a little bit of an experience of what it might sound like ahead of time. so, there's the prep, there's the lights, there's the sound. but let's talk about that audience. it's a weird crowd in tonight, i can tell you. we want to test our performers�* focus. we want to make sure they can hold it together. so, that might be very subtle — a little cough, perhaps. soft coughing and it might be more dramatic. phone rings audience member shushes the performer is expected to ignore this, i guess. that�*s right. and even if there�*s a momentary lapse, it�*s about then continuing after that. i mean, performers make mistakes. it�*s how they react after that mistake that sets apart the professional. for many of our performers, it�*s not actually this full house that is the most

intimidating to them, it�*s perhaps when the marketing hasn�*t gone so well... laughs ..and there are just a rare few in the audience. this can be quite intimidating, trying to bring that energy to a sparse crowd. i�*ve been there! well, i think we all have, unfortunately. but this new multimillion—pound performance lab isjust part of the work the college has been undertaking to help prepare students for the real thing. heart rate and breathing monitors measure activity and stress levels, and special glasses can even track the musicians�* eye movements to find out if they�*re being distracted mid—performance. plays sorcerer's apprentice they also measure how dilated your pupils are, which can be another indicator of anxiety. now, it is possible to practise more thanjust musical performances here — public speaking, business presentations — the venue and the audience are ready for any type of rehearsal.

and then, there�*s this lot. yes, you can even simulate an audition panel. george can make each of thejudges purr like sharon osbourne or sneer like simon cowell. so, what are they going to make of this little stand—up routine i knocked up with the help of chatgpt? good evening. how�*s everyone doing tonight? i mean, have you seen those vocal processors? they can turn a voice that sounds like a dying cat into something that could rival freddie mercury. how did it do that? thank you! i think we�*ve heard enough. yeah. yeah, i think i�*ll leave it to the experts. # ..is love to me.# cheering and applause

# oh, i�*m living my best life # best life...# welcome to miami — a city of golden beaches, glamour and entertainment... # wanting it, wanting more...# .and the home of the miami heat basketball team. # i just want to celebrate # life�*s too short.# tonight, i�*mjoining fans for a match. it�*s an experience not to miss when visiting this city — as much about the pre—game entertainment as it is about the sport. but this isn�*tjust a sports team — this is a tech start—up. most people wouldn�*t think of this when thinking of a professional sports team, but we have a very robust technology operation. as spectators move around the venue, data is carefully being gathered about everything they do and purchase before being analysed

on the team�*s own data platform that they call 601 analytics. we knew that we had reached an inflection point — and this was roughly eight, nine years ago — where we have all of this technology in the building and we wanted to know what the technology was telling us. and so, we went to market to see if there was anything out there. we couldn�*t find anything, so we started building it for ourselves. after a few years, we found it really impacted our business. so, think about from the time you walk into a building, the time you purchase a ticket, you purchase something at food and beverage. i can even see when folks scan into the building what gates they�*re coming in from, so if we need to redeploy staff and release the bottleneck. we can see what people are doing in the arena. we can see whether they�*re transacting with us, whatjerseys they�*re buying, where they�*re buying them at ourfingertips. it�*s like having an app for your entire business. not only does the 601 analytics platform create individual fan profiles, it can also be used to analyse historical data

and make predictions about future games. this allows the team to bring in the right resources, potentially saving money. it�*s perhaps not a surprise that data about all these transactions is being gathered but what strikes me is that this is a sports club taking the tech into their own hands and spinning out a successful start—up. it is an interesting model but i think that�*s what contributes to our success because if you think of a tech company and the customers that they serve, how many tech companies actually live in the customers�* world day in and day out and get their questions and their asks and understand their problems? now, their services are being used by more than 20% of nba teams and their market is growing with customers beyond just the main basketball league. so, our clients range from sports teams in the nba

all the way over to venue operators that are hosting concerts, comedy shows, different art events and things like that. we found something that we needed. like we said, we built something that we could use ourselves and other teams were just kind of knowledge—sharing with us and asking us, "hey, you know, what are you guys doing over there?" and we realised this is actually something that other teams can benefit from, so why not share the wealth of knowledge? now, this start—up are taking their product outside of the us, too — theirfirst venue using this tech in the uk opening in manchester this year. but back to miami, and the data being gathered at this stadium is helping in some slightly more unusual places. you might think everything here is about the action on the court but this is miami so, of course, there�*s a nightclub underneath the stand. # so, baby, why don�*t you dance with me? # baby # wanna see ya # dance with me

# closer...# it's a straight—up nightclub. it's ultra lounge, nightclub, loud music, lights going everywhere, cryo effects, confetti and stuff like that. so, that's kind of what we do here. data is even helping you choose the music for the nightclub? it helps us put together music platforms that, you know, are very, very, very broad, you know? so, pre—game experience, given the fact of what our demographic breakdown is, i know that we need to play music that is going to cater, you know, from all the way from the '60s all the way up to current music. with the game about to start, the fans are packing into the stadium, but do they realise just how much data is being gathered about them? you don�*t realise it but you are aware, because when you log into your amazon account and it remembers the kind of paper towel that you last ordered, that�*s a piece of data on you, but you find it relevant

and you find it helpful. we try to do the same thing, and we�*re doing it because the fans expect it. with technology now impacting every aspect of running a business, i�*m sure it won�*t be long before more sports teams are following the start—up model of miami heat. thank you. time for a look at this week�*s tech news. presidentjoe biden has signed a bill that could see tiktok banned and in america, unless its chinese owner bytedance sells its stake in the firm within nine months. the bill was passed through congress earlier in the week. tiktok says the law is unconstitutional and it will challenge it in court. if this bill becomes law, it�*s not that tiktok isjust going to disappearfrom our app store orfrom our phones here in the us, it�*s going to be unavailable in app stores for download or updates, which means that the app is going to become slower, it will become

more clunky and eventually, it will be unable to use. lgbtq+ dating app grindr is being sued for allegedly sharing personal information with third parties. a claim lodged at london�*s high court says highly sensitive information, such as people�*s hiv status, was allegedly shared with advertisers. grindr said it will respond vigorously to the claim. and after five months, nasa says its voyageri spacecraft has become beaming usable data back to earth. the 46—year—old probe started spouting gibberish in november, due to a fault, but has since started communicating more sense with scientists after a successful fix. i really, really wish that i could but, unfortunately, i can�*t speak any other languages fluently other than english.

speaks basic chinese speaks french what if i could speak polish? speaks polish artificial intelligence is making it far more easy to communicate in any language, from budget options... speaks russian ..to some pretty high—end versions aimed at the corporate sector. the implications of this tech are huge, but how good is it, and does it really work? this is how we are able to recreate an accurate creation of your head. the first company we�*re reviewing is called heygen. now, heygen didn�*t want to be interviewed as part of this piece, but we�*ve reviewed them anyway. it�*s simple. try to make sure you look straight to the camera and do not look anywhere else during the recording. you upload a video of yourself and then, you just simply wait for the al to translate that

video into pretty much any language that you choose. the key thing that you have to remember is you have to leave... i do a quick video of myself, upload it onto heygen and wait and then, out pops a video of me speaking the language that i chose — in this case, spanish. speaks spanish and here�*s the really cool bit — when omar, the producer on this piece, got into the shot, it detected his voice was different to mine and translated his voice too. you are in shot, my friend. speaks spanish i�*ve actually managed to fool some friends using this — it really is impressive. in london, there�*s one company that�*s trying to make an absolute killing out of this technology. synthesia was one of the very few minted unicorns last year in europe — a company worth more than a billion dollars. it�*s based in london and it makes avatars designed to be used

by corporate clients. but before my avatar is made, the system has to learn what i look like and what i sound like. my name is james clayton and this video recording... the idea is that you can generate a video of yourself saying anything in any language that can quickly be sent to employees, like a sort of visual email. if you think of tiktok�*s interface, there�*s almost no text, unless you click on the comment section. you�*re literally swiping through videos, right? and i think that as video becomes so easy to produce, i think we�*ll see that more and more of our online experiences is going to be kind of video first. with my avatar created, i had a play around with it. creating the video itself is easy — it�*s like making a powerpoint presentation. today, we celebrate world book day. speaks arabic yeah, so that that feels to me like what i�*m saying. my hand movement is right.

roughly, my facial expression is right but, at the same time, you can still definitely tell that that�*s an ai—generated avatar. but, at the same time, is that better than just words on a page? and, actually, for a lot of people, particularly visual people, considering that that�*s only taken five minutes, perhaps that is quite useful. i wanted to see what victor thought of my take. i played around with it and it looks like me but i don�*t think anyone will be fooled into thinking that it actually was me. what would you say to that? i think you�*re right. i think by the end of this year, if not before, we�*ll definitely get there. but i think what we have seen in basically all modalities, really, with al, right, is that we can all see that it�*s very impressive but it�*s not really there, right? like, gpt technology is still inaudible. these technologies are still not one to one on par with a real person. that said, i can see why this tech is sparking so much interest. the applications for it goes way beyond corporate videos.

we�*ve seen that with, like, ngos all over the world, where they can produce video content instead of written content for people who may have a difficult time reading if you do it in local languages. so, just this kind of dissemination of information in people�*s native language via video and audio is very, very powerful. ground control... as it gets easier and easier to change the words that come out of our mouths, there�*s also a worry that this kind of technology could increase the amount of misinformation on the internet. i still believe... but when it comes to translating educational videos or sending a message to someone in their own language... speaks german at kernel brewery in london�*s bermondsey, something unusual is brewing. this grain left over from beer production is commonly used for animalfeed or can even end up in landfill but here, it�*s getting a new lease of life. it�*s going to be transformed

into a leather alternative known as new grain — no animals, no plastic. and now, it�*s time for all of this to head back to arda biomaterials�* lab around the corner. once these sacks arrive at the lab, it�*s time for the process to begin. first of all, it�*s emptied out into a container like this and then, an alkaline solution is added. that�*s stirred for about an hour to extract the protein from the grain. then the husk will be separated and the protein liquid will move along to the next stage, where some natural ingredients will be added. this will be stirred for another couple of hours and at this point, protein strings start to develop and that means that it�*s ready to be poured into the trays. now, this tray here has got a pretty smooth finish, so that�*ll create something that looks like a lot of natural leathers. if you want something even smoother than that, well, there�*s a tray for that, too. and for something that�*s a bit more of a crocodile look,

well, you�*ve even got a version like that. varying the beer that the grain comes from — by, say, using stout — will result in different final colours. after the material�*s been sitting in the tray for a day, it�*s ready to peel off. that�*s so smooth — that�*s like pvc. yeah, no, we�*ve... it�*s completely shiny because it�*s unbacked. and now, thatjust needs its sustainable backing added. one of the big environmental issues with leather production is actually the tanning process, though — and arda is hoping for a solution. we are exploring using natural colouring agents, so there�*s actually a lot of deep tradition in old tanning before the advent of petrochemicals or chromium tanning. so, we�*re exploring these old dyes that are naturally derived and work with the environment and biodegrade. and now for a look at some of the finished product — we�*ve got a whole roll of it here. it looks very much like leather. this one�*s quite soft.

we�*ve got some here that have been dyed — it�*s external companies that do that, because that�*s not actually done here. but there are different textures. this is a bit harder, a bit more like a leather that maybe you�*d have on a sofa. now, if i smell it, because i know that is the instinct with leather... ..it doesn�*t smell of much — a bit like a new car maybe, which i guess could be the smell of leather. it�*s not quite the same but they are looking at being able to customise it to smell however somebody might want it to — or of nothing, possibly. these two are made from different types of beer, so the colour is authentic. they do feel less like leather to me, i think because they�*re harder and more solid. the more flexible ones that are used for something like a handbag feel more like leather and they�*ve just got that movement to them. on a big sheet here — this could make a bag that could actually fit my laptop — that feels a lot softer, it moves around more like leather does. but i think the main point is there�*s a lot of flexibility as to how the finish

is going to end up looking and what can be done to it afterwards. there�*s competition, though. there are lots of other leather alternatives that are coming online and they each have different positives and negatives. our solution offers a way to scale. do you think it�*s going to be cheaper than leather? yes. how much cheaper? well, currently, a lot of the breweries we work with at the moment give away their grain for free, so our feedstock is coming in at an extremely low value. some of the bigger breweries sell it. it�*s quite low. so, at scale, we calculate that we can undercut leather and plastic leather. and when do you think i�*m going to be able to go out and buy a handbag made out of this? hopefully, this time next year. and it�*s going to be a cheap handbag? it�*ll start as a small collection to certain clients and then, into luxury... right. ..and then, slowly moving down the luxury market into more commodity and high street. and what�*s worth having if there isn�*t a queue or a waiting list? and that�*s it from us in the performance lab

at the royal college of music in london. hope you�*ve enjoyed the show. we�*re about to find out whether this lot have. thanks for watching, and we will see you soon! cheering and applause oh! oh, thank you! thank you, thank you! hello there. it was a chilly start with a touch of frost in the north—west but that is where we have seen the lion�*s share of the sunshine. it was not a morning for playing golf in st albans, heavy overnight rain left a lot of large puddles around and that rain is continuing to drift steadily

northwards. that means that much of eastern england and east scotland staying cloudy, wet and often windy at times, making it feel quite cool. further west we keep on to that sunshine with a few scattered, like showers. here highs of 13 degrees but factor in the wind and rain, only seven in parts of eastern scotland. as we move through the night, the low pressure falls away, the isobars stay with us, another front pushing in from the west. that will bring rain into northern ireland, scotland and western fringes of england and wales but ahead of it, sunshine and with a southerly breeze, some warmth. so anywhere from east yorkshire down to dorset a much at a day, sunny and pleasantly warm. low pressure is going to sit out to the west for a couple of days but the wind direction continues to change for a southerly and we will continue to tap into this warm air coming off the near continent, so a change to

the near continent, so a change to the feel of the weather and the irony is tuesday is the final day of april and we will see above average temperatures quite widely. some showery outbreaks of rain out to the west but much of central and eastern england and scotland dry, subtle, pleasantly warm, temperatures peaking in the high teens. wednesday could be a messy day, we might drag in more cloud off the north sea and thick enough for some drizzle and by the end of the day, we will keep an eye on a future was moving up from the near continent but again, pleasantly warm out there, 16 to 18 degrees widely across the country. low pressure will pull away and as we head towards the all—important bank holiday weekend, here is just an early heads up for you, high—pressure building in and looks likely to quieten things down. there will still be a few showers, may longer spells of rain on monday but on the whole, it looks quite promising.

live from london. this is bbc news. the us secretary of state heads

to saudi arabia as diplomatic efforts intensify to stop israel�*s move into rafah. uk ministers insist health is a priority after tory mp daniel poulter defects to labour because of concerns over how the nhs is managed. the tesla boss, elon musk, meets government officials in beijing. they�*re discussing the future of us—china relations over electric vehicles. hello, i�*m lewis vaughanjones. welcome to the programme. we start in the middle east, where the palestinian president says only the us can prevent an israeli attack on rafah, where more than a million have fled. efforts are under way to negotiate a truce between israel and hamas. the us secretary of state is meeting arab leaders to discuss the situation. israel�*s foreign minister says this is possible if hamas agrees to free its hostages.

but there�*s no sign of that happening at this point.