this is bbc news. i'm julian worricker. the headlines at 2.00: a woman from hull is sentenced to three years in an egyptjail for taking painkillers into the country — her local mp has condemned the ruling. i think it is a damning indictment, to be honest with you, about good sense and fair play. this is a naive, young woman, a hard—working, decent woman who was simply naive. universities must protect free speech and "open minds, not close them" orface possible fines. millions of shoppers are hitting the high streets as they look for bargain in the boxing day sales. a mum from norfolk says she's been "overwhelmed" by the international response to her capturing the perfect image on her phone, of meghan markle, alongside prince harry and the duke and duchess of cambridge. and tottenham's harry kane sets a new record for the most premier league goals in a calendar year as he scores against southampton this lunchtime. in halfan

in half an hour i will be looking back on a momentous year for science. one that sort of spectacular finale science. one that sort of spectacularfinale on a science. one that sort of spectacular finale on a 20 year mission to saturn. that is a review 2017: the year in science. with me. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. a british woman accused of smuggling drugs into egypt has been sentenced to three years in jail. laura plummer, who's 33 and from hull, was arrested in october with 290 tablets of the painkiller, tramadol, which is banned in egypt. our cairo correspondent hanan razek explained the latest a short while ago. a bit of background, what happened?

i have just a bit of background, what happened? i havejust spoken a bit of background, what happened? i have just spoken to laura's mother, she is very shocked after what happened, after waiting two months and getting this verdict. laura was arrested in october trying to enter the country and they found around 300 tramadol tablets in her suitcase. lawyers said she brought those tablets for her boyfriend as he is suffering from severe back pain. this is a painkiller that there is prescribed and is fine to get it in the uk. however, it is banned here in egypt's and you can only get it through medical prescriptions, as it is popularly used among some young people as a sort of drugs, as it is a cheaper way to get drugs. what happens now

by way of a possible appeal? the mother told me laura has been moved to another police station to prepare to another police station to prepare to move ahead to the prison. however, the family is planning to appeal in the next 16 days. this has 110w appeal in the next 16 days. this has now been left with the solicitors and they will look after that. but as we spoke to lawyers and experts here, they said this can take between nine months to a year before another verdict before the appeal can go ahead. so what we are expecting now, laura will still be in prison for the coming months at least, until an appeal goes forward. and a three—yearjail term, how typical is that in egypt's for an offence such as this? as we understand it, it is good news. usually smuggling drugs in egypt's, you can face up to 25 years injail

and one lawyer told us, she could have faced even the death penalty for this conviction, or the accusation of smuggling drugs. however, three years is not typical. but given the amount, it wasn't a very big amount. this could be fine. but i think we will wait in the coming days and months to understand how the appeal will go if they will be able to appeal against the sentence. will it be different after the appeal? that is what we are waiting to know now. thank you very much. laura plummer‘s mp, labour's karl turner has been giving his reaction to the news. terribly disappointing to the family. the family are devastated. i have spoken to neville, laura's dad, already. i spoke with family members yesterday. they were optimistic this might be a happier result. but laura, most of all, will be absolutely devastated. she's not been well lately. she has suffered with sleep deprivation. she has been very anxious

about the sentencing hearing, and the trial, as it was. and clearly this is devastating to the entire family. but i think it's a damning indictment, to be honest with you, about good sense and fair play. because this is a naive young woman. a decent, honest, hard—working hull woman who was simply naive. going to visit a partner in egypt, taking with her what she thought was pain killers, and no more than that. it clearly is a banned substance, and whilst we must respect the laws and customs of other countries, there must be good sense and fair play as well. so this is a devastating result. why do you think it has come to this? what has happened, give us your legal perspective. well, look, she took drugs which are a banned substance to egypt. but to be fair to laura, it's notjust her own naivete, the british foreign office have only just updated their website to say that tramadol is a substance you must not take to egypt

without a doctor's note and proof it is prescribed to you. there are lessons to be learned from this. the british government have made representations to their counterparts in egypt. i have spoken with the foreign secretary directly about this case half a dozen times. i have got to be honest, i have been very impressed with the foreign secretary. his interest and knowledge about this case, and the fact that he himself has made representations to the prime minister of egypt directly about what a tragic case this is. this woman doesn't deserve to be incarcerated in an egyptian prison. to be honest with you, as much as i respect the customs of egypt, and the laws and the judiciary, and everything else, this will put people off travelling on holiday to egypt in the future. and i think the egyptian authorities need to be mindful of that. what can happen now, karl, anything?

the british government will make representations immediately. i am confident that the minister, alistair burt, who is responsible for egypt, will be on the phone pretty swiftly to try to get this sorry saga to a happier ending. it is a tragedy for laura plummer and herfamily, but it's bad for british citizens who want to visit egypt on holiday as well. as i say, the egyptian authorities need to be mindful of that. two people have died including a police officer following a collision in sheffield last night. police were responding to an incident when it collided with a citreon c3 travelling in the opposite direction on the a57. the 46—year—old police officer driving the car was pronounced dead shortly after the incident and a 61—year—old woman, who was a passenger in the citroen was taken to hospital but passed away shortly after. an investigation is under way the cause of the incident. the universities minister,

jojohnson, will use a speech today to warn that academic institutions must protect free speech. he'll say students must be able to both hear and challenge controversial views during their years of study. some universities and student groups have refused entry to speakers, as edward curwen reports. time spent at university must open minds, not close them. that's the view ofjojohnson, the universities minister, who will today set out a firm defence of free speech on campus. speaking at a jewish cultural festival in birmingham, he will say students must be free to challenge each other‘s views, and groups seeking to stifle those who do not agree with them must be stopped. his defence of open debate comes after speakers on subjects from the state of israel to transgender rights have faced bans, sometimes by student unions, for having views considered inappropriate. others have demanded so—called ‘safe spaces', where they won't hear about issues they may find upsetting. mrjohnson will say this cannot be tolerated,

reiterating universities have an obligation to protect free speech and encourage frank and rigorous debate. from next april, a new regulator, the office for students, will have the power to fine universities that fail to uphold free speech. the body representing british universities said it would not allow legitimate debate be stifled. the challenge for university leaders will be deciding where to draw the line between extremist speech and a frank exchange of views. edward curwen, bbc news. hms st albans was sent to escort a russian warship as it crossed close to the uk. rearadmiral

rear admiral chris parry said it is important not to overreact to the news. i wouldn't exactly echo the seriousness the defence secretary has put out. it is a normal deployment by a russian warship. she is entitled to do that under international law, the right of innocent passage. we do the same in the black sea and the baltic all of the black sea and the baltic all of the time. the russians have said, it is christmas, we will have to be at sea, so let's get somebody else out to have a look at us as well. he would expect somebody else to have a look, or new? iwould would expect somebody else to have a look, or new? i would hope this country would send a warship out to look at any warship that came close to us. it is also a chance to look ata to us. it is also a chance to look at a brand—new figure. it has systems and other equipment on it

and we want to have a close look at it. ordinarily we wouldn't get that close. what about the wider picture, if there is one, but relations between russia and the uk are not exactly great, does it add to the potential significance of something like this? it is coincidental rather than causal. the russians want to say to the world, we are back again now, we have intervened in syria. the president wants to show the russian flag around the world. there is no better way of doing that than actually putting in the navy. it has appeared on all sorts of tv and news channels and the fact of life is, the russian navy is on the up, getting increased levels of expenditure and they want to show they can go anywhere they want, at any time they want. they have done it in the baltic on the black sea, and when they approach the united

kingdom now, instead of going to the west of ireland they come down the channel. the fact they are coming down the north sea more than they did, you wouldn't suggest it is a cause for concern? i wouldn't. this is present operations, they simply wa nt to is present operations, they simply want to get attention, they don't wa nt to want to get attention, they don't want to show any aggressive posture. if we saw consistent deployment of this type of frigate and submarines capable of firing cruise missiles in and around the uk, we would have to ta ke ste ps, and around the uk, we would have to take steps, you are getting too close and you need to push away a bit. rear admiral chris parry. supporters of vladimir putin are meeting in moscow to begin the formal process of nominating him as their candidate for president in next year's election. mr putin is seeking a fourth term in office, and will run as an independent this time. it comes a day after the electoral commission barred opposition leader, alexei navalny, from standing due to a fraud conviction. our correspondent sarah rainsford is in moscow. let's talk about vladimir putin

first and what lies ahead for him. how much of a formality is all this? it is an absolute formality. it has already happened. more than 600 people gathered, athletes and cultural figures, people gathered, athletes and culturalfigures, figures from people gathered, athletes and cultural figures, figures from the world of music and ballet. and other very public faces here in russia, who came together to nominate mr putin formally as their candidate for president. he is running as an independent this year so this is the first stepping needs to take. he needs to submit impersonal, the signatures and documents gathered at this session here for formal approval. and then, if you like, the next stage of the race begins, he has to gather 3000 signatures from across russia to support his candidacy. but it is a foregone conclusion, he is the most popular politician in russia and is then

expected have real obstacles on the race back to the kremlin. alexei navalny would like to stand against him, but at the moment he is not allowed to, that is where we are at? yes, he has been told he is disqualified because of a criminal conviction he has forfraud. according to the law, until the conviction is spent, it is a suspended sentence and ten years after that, he cannot run for president. this was a legal point that was made. he fought it valiantly in the electoral commission, made a very passionate speech for why he should be allowed to run ‘s, saying he is the only real opponent to president putin and suggesting this criminal conviction was political and was meant to keep him out of the political race, the presidential race. but the electoral commission said it is a legality, a formality and he has now been barred. he is calling for a boycott,

he wants people to stay away from the election in russia to deny mr putin any legitimacy and he says this vote without him is no vote at all. sarah, thank you. millions of shoppers across the country are hitting the high street today, for the traditional boxing day sales. analysts at barclaycard suggest one in three of us will head to the shops today in search ofa bargain. but with the rise of discount deals for black friday, and more of us shopping online, has the post—christmas shopping spree lost some of its appeal? james waterhouse reports. no camping, no stampedes. bell tolls. but there was at least a bell for the boxing day sale faithful in london this morning. in selfridge's, one of britain's oldest store names, you can get your hands on almost anything. perfumes, make—up, clothing and, of course, shoes. 50% off prada shoes. that's really good. £250 saving. £215 saving.

we do love shopping! we like bargains more than full price stuff. they are normally 480, i got them for 230. it's decent, isn't it? we can actually get these online, but over here they are cheaper. so if we can find the size, then yes. otherwise online. different prices but similar scenes in york. retail analysts say they are seeing a shift in shopping behaviours, but only a slight one. the high street is still a significant impact on people's shopping because people going out for leisure and to meet people rather than just buying behaviours. that's the feeling in glasgow today as well. i think customers are very savvy, they're looking for depth of markdown. never mind 30%, customers today are looking for 50%—plus discounts. a bbc survey of a thousand shoppers suggested almost two thirds felt constant sales devalue the brand of the shop, and more people

are spending in the black friday sales and can't fork out twice. in selfridge's at least, people in their tens of thousands are walking around trying to find that dream discount. but this is the biggest store on the uk's busiest shopping street. the feeling from some experts and shoppers is that the boxing day sales have lost their appeal. for many, the boxing day sales are as traditional as the turkey itself, so it's going to take a lot more to put them off. james waterhouse, bbc news, oxford street in london. our correspondent fiona trott has been speaking to shoppers in york. a lot of people have been telling us they have been out since eight o'clock this morning, stocking up on things like clothes for the rest of the year, because of course clothing and footwear, those prices have increased by about 3% since last year. others have been heading to jewellers. they are treating themselves to luxury items that they wouldn't

do normally because the cost of living is so high. so, yes it is busy on the streets here in york today, but local people are telling us it's not as busy as it has been in previous years. they say they are feeling the pinch. we also spoke to a retail expert here in the city earlier, his says there may also have been sales fatigue, over the past year or so. we get online deals every single day and of course there would have been people here for black friday and the sales leading up to christmas eve too. and for the rest of the day, what are you anticipating? well, there are predictions aren't there, a third of us in the uk will be hitting the streets today, spending a record £4.3 billion. that will be in increase of about 12% since last year and retailers are hoping that's the case, because the british retail consortium will tell you that non—food sales have seen the weakest area of growth since they started collecting

information like that in 2011. the headlines on bbc news: a british woman accused of bringing 300 painkiller tablets into egypt, has been sentenced to three years injail. laura plummer‘s family say they plan to appeal the verdict. the universities minister, jojohnson, is issuing his clearest warning so far that academic institutions must protect free speech. as the boxing day sales get under way, the head of the british retail consortium says prices for many everyday items will rise unless the government focuses on new post—brexit trade agreements. the department that is responsible

for retail says about 80 trade deals will be lost in the uk exits the block and replacing them will be a big task. the job in hand is focusing on those trade arrangements and replicating the bits, particularly from the point of view of uk consumers. we are talking about everyday products people by what fish from norway, clothes from turkey, all of those products that are on our shelves, on websites we are on our shelves, on websites we are buying from each and every day, each of those have lower tariff rates on them than would exist if we didn't have those deals in place. what we are trying to do with the research we have gathered from our membership, so from many of the retailers in this country, is

highlight which countries are most important for what people in the uk are buying everyday. south africa and turkey are the top two. but a bitter focus on it, and turkey are the top two. but a bitterfocus on it, given and turkey are the top two. but a bitter focus on it, given that the focus up to now has been about the relationship with the eu. let's recognise that there is another world out there which is the relationship with all those other countries. that has an impact on uk consumers. a 20—year—old man will appear in court after a fatal stabbing in middlesbrough on friday. the man died in hospital yesterday. out of all the photographers waiting to snap a picture of the royal family at the christmas day service in sandringham, it was a mum from norfolk who managed to capture the perfect image on her phone. this photograph taken by karen murdoch has now

been used by journalists from all over the world. she says she hopes its sale will help with her daughter's university costs. she spoke to bbc breakfast this morning and explained what it's been like since she took the image. in one word, overwhelming. i've had five likes, maybe, on a tweet before! i just... it is a nice photo, though. i do like it. it's a great photo! yeah, it's lovely. but it's bonkers. now, there's another word for you — bonkers! laughter. so, karen, tell us how you managed to get that shot. because you were down there with your daughter. paint the picture for us, how did you get that perfect picture? yes, well, i was with my daughter, rachel, and my friend sara. and i literally, and i hate to sound like a bit of a geek here, but i was fangirling! i was literally, we were all like, "merry christmas!" as you can probably tell, i can get a bit excitable. and that's it, it was just lucky.

it was pure luck. i took it on my iphone. yeah, a great picture, yeah. and i'm glad everybody liked it. so you shouted merry christmas, they turned round and gave you a smile, and then what happened? you put the picture on twitter and facebook and the like? well, what i did... oh, this is embarrassing! but i couldn't remember if meghan had an h in her name or not. so i put her name in and ijust... i think it was the bbc website just saying, the royals are attending. so i put my picture in the comments. and the rest, as they say, is history. the queen has come top of the christmas day television ratings. she achieved combined figures of 7.6 million. in second place was mrs

brown's boys on bbc one with 6.8 million followed by strictly come dancing with 6.5 million and call the midwife with 6.3 million. to sit down and watch the queen's christmas broadcast as a family perhaps is still one of those big christmas day tradition is that people have done. it was on sky, itn and bbc and that is why it has topped the christmas day broadcast. it is worth saying that once catch—up viewing for the christmas period is taken into consideration, another programme will probably rise to the top of the list, but the queen is a traditional pa rt list, but the queen is a traditional part of christmas day, people coming together to sit down and watch. the bbc likes day as a chance to show off and give audiences the chance to see the range of its programming across drama, see the range of its programming across drama , across see the range of its programming across drama, across entertainment and comedy. had strictly come

dancing, call the midwife, doctor who and all those programmes are there in the top ten of most watched on christmas day yesterday, which the bbc dominated. the only itv programme that managed to creep into the top ten was coronation st. but yes, huge range of programming on bbc one in particular yesterday and that seems to be what he was wanted to sit down and watch. how did you spend your christmas day? eating? drinking? bit of telly? how aboutjumping out of a plane wearing only a floppy suit? that's what the competitors at the wingsuit flying world cup got up to as tim allman explains. you know what they say — what goes up must come down. a principle they understand all too well at the wingsuit flying world cup. teams from around the globe competing in this extreme and hair—raising sport. translation: itravelled more than 400 kilometres to see this. we arrived here early

in the morning, just to watch the wingsuit flying show. it's spectacular! you can say that again. a couple of skydivers perform a 360—degree rotating nosedive. while others piggybacked from their team—mates. but not everybody was happy with how things turned out. translation: i think our performance this time didn't reflect our real strength. we will get to our best through regular competition. i hope we perform better next time. the chinese team finished third overall, behind the winners, france, and the united states, who came second. it is a nonprofit event, and the local school received a cheque worth more than $30,000. so some charitable spirit, combined with a little heart—stopping terror. how can you get more festive than that? let's check on the weather

prospects. i spend most of my life in the clouds. different life. what are we forecasting for the next few days. the weather tonight is going to turn potentially wintry in some parts of the country. not serious no, but it could turn wintry across the hills of wales, maybe the peak district and we could see some snow falling across the cotswolds, the chilterns. maybe by the end of the night, around the south downs. looks quite around the south downs. looks quite a substantial area on the weather map but we mostly talking about the upland areas of southern part of the uk. further north, the skies will be clear and there will be ice around. in some areas temperature will be down to minus eight in the

countryside. the morning looks wet and there will be a strong wind. some sleet and snow falling in the towns and cities but mostly sleep. for the majority of the country wednesday afternoon is looking cold and crisp across most of the uk. get out there and run off those calories. that is it from me, goodbye. this is bbc news, our latest headlines a british woman accused of smuggling drugs into egypt has been sentenced to three years in jail. laura plummer, who's 33 and from hull, was arrested in october with 290 tablets of the painkiller, tramadol, which is banned in egypt. her local mp condemned the ruling.

the universities minister, jojohnson, has given his clearest warning yet that academic institutions must protect free speech. he says universities must "open minds, not close them", and students should have the resilience to take part in frank discussions. the boxing day sales are under way with millions of shoppers expected to be on the hunt for bargains. a bbc survey has suggested that online shopping and early black friday deals have made the post christmas sales less appealing. a policewoman was killed in a crash on christmas day. jay tabb and only a57in on christmas day. jay tabb and only a 57 in sheffield. —— it happened

only a 57. now on bbc news, rebecca morelle looks back on the year in science — from a spectacular eclipse that wowed millions of americans to the end of a 20 year mission to saturn. that's review 2017: the year in science. from a spectacular eruption at mount etna, this was the year we experienced a volcano's devastating power first—hand. to one of nature's most awe—inspiring sights, a total eclipse that wowed america. in 2017 we also met this rhino, she could be the key to saving a species from extinction. and we saw a car that is pushing the boundaries by attempting to hit record—breaking speeds.