then bringing up old hurts and deliberately finding people in anguish to put on our screens. i'm fed up with it. now the bbc's director—general lord hall and out the corporation's annual plan this week, and he addressed what he called the huge competition presented online by companies such as amazon and netflix. one of the responses he proposed was the development of virtual reality content including in news and current affairs. there has a ready been some work in this area including a short vr film which dramatises a syrian family's journey to europe on smuggled boats. we are all tired. the film, based on real account of it by bbc news and animated by the makers of wallace and gromit won an industry award this week. it may not be news as we know it, but could it be the future? virtual reality footage like that is only properly experience by wearing a headset. but a simpler version, 360 degrees video can be viewed online or on mobiles. the first such report was filmed following the terrorist attack in paris on —— in november 20 15. terrorist attack in paris on —— in november 2015. this is terrorist attack in paris on —— in november 20 15. this is what terrorist attack in paris on —— in november 2015. this is what it is like in paris today. this is the place de la republique. the reporter is holding the camera on a selfie stick, the intention to provide an immersive type of viewing. but what questions do these technologies raised the bbc and could they revolutionise the way viewers consume news? to discuss this i am joined by the head of the bbc‘s new virtual reality hub. can you explain the difference between vr and 360? 360 video allows you to view all the way around. you can move your phone like this and what it all the way around. but when you watch on a virtual reality headset like this, you feel like you are there, you are much more immersive. a true vr is made from computer graphics and it really does trick your head into thinking that you are somewhere else. so if a giant pit for example opens up for you your heart might start beating faster and you really would get that fear of being in a real situation where you are scared. and we should say that the audiences seeing some 360 degrees footage of the large hadron collider, you get a sense of your scale, it is more than just getting a sense of some news footage. but vr is different. you have a film that has been made for bbc news on it? this is a film we made about what it was like to be a firefighter, this was a firemen at rescued six children from a house fire in 2012. you have the phone slotted in the front, which is playing it, when you watch. so straightaway it is a dramatisation ofa straightaway it is a dramatisation of a real event, i am straightaway it is a dramatisation ofa real event, iam in straightaway it is a dramatisation of a real event, i am in someone's room and you're watching how fire starts. it is amazing, it does feel like you are in a room with this person, and a fire officer talking to me from his station and explaining the background to this incident that they had to tackle. just the scale of it, you feel like they are life—sized, it is very different to just watching something ona different to just watching something on a flat screen. yeah. if it works well on a flat screen it is not virtual reality. well obviously you have to make choices about what kind of stories might get that kind of treatment. how do you decide what might bea treatment. how do you decide what might be a vr or 360 story, and what the benefit might be to telling the story that way? the benefit is allowing the story —— the audience to step into the story. they are seeing it as you would be if you are a reporter. for a foreign reporter for example to stand in place and allow your audience to look around and almost smell and feel the sights and almost smell and feel the sights and sounds of the place you're standing in. so that's why it offers at such amazing opportunities. or as you saw in a firefighter one it enables you to be there with someone seeing how they do theirjob and feeling as if you are there with them, so it is be there or be them. this is aimed at a different audience, perhaps one that don't use regular bulletins orjust reading stories or watching videos on the website? tv news tackle long time to ta ke website? tv news tackle long time to take off in the early television service, and we are at that stage right now where we have not even really worked out how you would deliver this regularly to an audience, it is still highly experimental. we are starting to understand the stories that really benefit from it, it is early days. the bbc has obviously developed content the bbc has obviously developed co nte nt for the bbc has obviously developed content for new technologies before, and there is stuff with mobile phones when they were a new way to deliver news, only 2 million people have vr headsets, and the bbc presumably is spending a lot of money developing stuff for them. is that really a smart investment at this stage? when spending a lot of money, we are investigating it and trying to see what audience benefits we can “— trying to see what audience benefits we can —— we are not spending a lot of money. there would be no point bbc spending an enormous amount of money until there is an audience, but it is a chicken and egg thing. if we can start to find really extraordinary ways to tell stories using virtual reality that do allow people to step in and understand the world in completely new ways, that is completely justifiable. world in completely new ways, that is completelyjustifiable. because things like that film about the refugee experience, which has won awards, i wonder how many people have actually seen it, ordinary people? they won't yet. but eventually more people will be able to. and that was a very early prototype really, to see whether you could, through virtual reality, put people in a place where they would see what it was like to be refugees trying to travel across the mediterranean in the boat with them, feeling the splashes as the waves passed by the boat, and feeling the terror as they crossed the sea. that is what it was trying to achieve. that was a reconstruction based on reports, but if you're filming in 360, you get issues about privacy and whether distressing images might be caught up in that wider sweep of things, you have less control over what you are filming, don't you? there would be lots of things we have to address as this technology develops further. but they are not really a ny develops further. but they are not really any different from a reporter forming something on a mobile phone. it is just that it's all the way around, and you might be filming things that you don't even see. you may only spot them later when you are editing. but in the rush to give an immediate experience, which is what a lot of social media does, things like periscope, is the bbc in danger of throwing away editorial thinking and decision—making that distinguished bbc news? most foreign reporters get really excited about virtual reality, because in the end one of the bbc‘s missions is to help people to understand what is going on in the world. and so if you go back to those principles of what we are all about and work out how virtual reality or 360 could enable you to achieve this, i don't think thoseissues you to achieve this, i don't think those issues will be so difficult. thank you so much. finally, while we are looking towards the future, as stephen hawking was taking a long view on sunday, when he met us ahead ofa view on sunday, when he met us ahead of a conference to mark his birthday. in an exclusive interview with bbc news, professor hawking told me that he was worried about the future of our species. what are your views on president from's decision to withdraw from the paris climate agreement, and what impact do you think that will have on the future of the planet? we are at the tipping point with global warming where it becomes irreversible. to push the earth over the bridge, where it becomes up like a planet that ranks selfie recounted. that decision ran at the end of the sunday night bulletin. that a kerobokan and he rang us. stephen hawking gave an interview to the bbc where he basically said, the end of the world is nigh, because we are close to the tipping point at which global warming won't, we won't be able to stop it. and earth will end up able to stop it. and earth will end up becoming another venus. and you put it as a minor item at the end of the news. things are grim, and you are treating it as a minor item on the news. thank you for your comments this week, if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs, or even appear on the programme, you can call us: or e—mail us. you can find us on twitter and do have a look at our website. there you can catch up with previous writ discussions we have recorded and if you ever miss an addition on the programme you can catch up on the bbc i player or via our website. that is all from us, we will be back to heal thoughts about bbc new coverage next week. goodbye. —— to hearyour bbc new coverage next week. goodbye. —— to hear your thoughts. the brightest but fretted conditions to at the weekend will be found in scotla nd to at the weekend will be found in scotland and northern england this morning. to bridges in the towns and cities in single figures, muddy start, some not below 1819 degrees are some parts of the midlands, wales and southern england. low—level cloud compared with yesterday morning, pretty misty around some of the coast of devon, cornwall and the far south—west of wales. a cloud may threaten the odd shower, there will be some breaks and some sunshine coming through, but not as much as we saw through friday morning. sunshine over northern england, scotland and northern ireland, but it will quickly warm up over those sunshine with just light winds. any sunshine across the hebrides will be shortly, the cloud thickened up and the breeze strengthened and we see the rain become more persistent in the afternoon. some of that spreading towards orkney and shetland by midday. the cloud across southern parts continues to threaten one or two showers, most will be dry and certainly from north wales, north midlands into the heart of scotland, that zone is where the best of sunshine will be. strong sunshine about even if it is not as warm as it will be further south. there is a chance of a few showers at wimbledon on saturday as they will be over the next few days, much of it will be dry, and certainly foremost as we go into saturday evening it will be dry but the rain across goal and becomes more persistent pushing down into the highlands through the night. it is all linked it this weather front with gusty winds around, but as the address its way south was to take into sunday, it grinds to a halt across parts of southern scotland and northern ireland. there will start to up through the day. to bridges across the board on the mild category if not muddy across the south, a misty start across many southern and western coasts of england and wales. the cloud will break up with some sunny spells, at the rain across southern scotland and northern ireland patchy in the morning because we are heavy and persistent into the afternoon. sofa that the warmest, temperatures up on saturdays values, we will see some sunshine in the temperatures to the midteens. it was its way eastwards into monday, it is still the focus for some showers, just about anywhere could showers on monday, some heavy slow—moving, maybe with some heavy slow—moving, maybe with some thunder, a bit of sunshine in between, lifting to bridges to mid— high teens, may be low to mid— 20s. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: violence and looting on the streets of hamburg as presidents trump and putin meet for the first time at the g20 summit. there was plenty of disagreement between the pair on alleged election interference but progress on syria as a new ceasefire is agreed. warning over president maduro's constitutional changes in venezuela — church leaders say it will turn the country into a military dictatorship. and preparations for a controversial exhibition in switzerland that could include works looted by the nazis.