Meridian Technology

A photojournalist has been arrested by police after using a drone near Gatwick Airport. Eddie Mitchell - approved by the CAA to commercially operate small unmanned aircraft - was held for hours.

It may be hard to imagine now, but there was a time when there were no mobile phones. Thirty years ago this week, the first ever call from a huge transportable device was made in the UK, on the Vodafone network - now one of the region's largest employers. A few examples of the metal monster still exist, so we asked some schoolchildren what they made of them...

The Heathrow skyline changed forever when one of its most iconic features – the orange and white radar next to Terminal 1 – was removed. NATS installed the radar in the early 1980s. It then remained operational and untouched until 1999 when the antenna was replaced. The radar provided en route and airport radar services until it was finally decommissioned two years ago and replaced by the new radar station in Bovingdon.

The latest addition to the Condor Ferries fleet – Condor 102 – will arrive in the UK today, completing her maiden voyage into her new base of Poole.

Escorted by a tug, Condor 102 will sail past the Sandbanks peninsula and alongside Brownsea Island, before berthing at Poole Port at approximately 1000.

Her arrival will conclude her 10,500 nautical mile journey from Cebu in the Philippines. The sleek new state-of-the-art 102m trimaran represents £50m of investment in the route to the Channel Islands.

The best vantage point will be from the Sandbanks peninsula, along Poole Harbour or from Baiter Park.

After sea trials, Condor 102 will come into service in late March, sailing from Poole to Guernsey and Jersey.

Work continues on the rail network over the festive period, with 11,000 staff working on track and signals. Among the key projects in the south are:

London Bridge - Over 1,000 staff are laying new track, signals and working on the station redevelopment that will ease capacity. It is part of the £6.5 billion Thameslink Project. It will lead to improvements to rail services from Sussex, Surrey and Kent to London. Work continues until January 5th.

Reading - A new flyover is being completed to ease congestion outside the station costing £45 million. It is one of the final phases of the £900 million station upgrade. The new flyover opens on January 4th.

South West Trains - Hundreds of staff are working on the lines into Waterloo to renew points. Work continues during weekends in January and February.

West Coast - At Watford major work is being carried out to improve services through Buckinghamshire to the north and Scotland.

A record 11,000 rail engineers are working over the festive period to maintain and renew track and signals.

Network Rail staff are out at 3,000 locations with £200 million being spent.

Among the key projects in the south are:

London Bridge - Over 1,000 staff are laying new track, signals and working on the station redevelopment that will ease capacity. It is part of the £6.5 billion Thameslink Project.

It will lead to improvements to rail services from Sussex, Surrey and Kent to London. Work continues until January 5th.

Sussex Police is investigating security breaches of its external website.

Three breaches 'have been identified within a contained area of the website and could possibly be linked'.

He became a global star - sharing stunning images of earth - from space. And, today, Chris Hadfield was in the region, launching his new book.

The astronaut took photos from the International Space Station - and put them on Twitter last year.

We caught up with Chris Hadfield and asked him what it was like looking down to Earth from space!

Radio controlled drones are the ultimate boy's toy and, despite costing anything from hundreds to thousands of pounds, shops are reporting huge sales this Christmas.

But a new report shows how disaster was narrowly avoided earlier this year when a drone flew within 20 feet of a passenger plane landing at Heathrow.

It's prompted fresh warnings of the dangers of using drones. But, as Emma Wilkinson reports many people say they're great fun - when used responsibly.

One hundred jobs have been created in Hampshire thanks to a multi million pound contract for BAE systems.

The announcement comes a year after 900 jobs were lost at the Naval base.

Reporter Sam Holder spoke to Les Gregory from BAE and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon MP.