‘dry. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at apm. japan is to restart commercial whale hunting next summer — in defiance of a global ban. campaigners say they‘ re worried by the decision. because ifjapan, if you like, gets away with this, other countries may want to try and do the same thing and then more and more populations will be exposed to whaling. queues for the boxing day sales but the number of people on the high street today has fallen — for the third year in a row. dozens of people are injured after a powerful earthquake hits around europe's most active volcano, mount etna on sicily. sister wendy beckett — the nun who became famous around the world as a art historian, has died at the age of 88. i will be looking back at a turbulent and fractures year in politics. dominated by brexit,

brexit and a bit more brexit. there has been more going on, too. that is... good afternoon. there's been international condemnation of japan's decision to withdraw from the international whaling commission and resume commercial hunting. the government of australia described it as "regrettable", new zealand said it was "u nnecessa ry". japanjoins iceland and norway in defying the moratorium on commercial whaling, first introduced in the 1980s. this report from navteonhal contains images you may find distressing. it's a bloody business. ships like this are only catching and killing whales for what the japanese authorities claim are research purposes. but japan wants to commercially hunt species, too.

officials in the country say eating whales is part of their national culture. translation: at the international whaling commission meeting in september, it became obvious that it is not possible for states with different views to exist side by side, which led to our decision to leave. the hunting of whales was banned by the international whaling commission in 1986 after they were almost driven to extinction. but countries like iceland and norway still hunt mainly minke whales, which are not endangered. and japan catches between 200 and 1200 whales per year under a programme of scientific research. this move has brought condemnation. conservationists argue it could undo the progress made over the last few decades. well, it is notjust about what japan does, it is now about whether other countries will follow suit, whether other countries will also step outside of the whaling commission.

because ifjapan, if you like, gets away with this, other countries may want to try and do the same thing and then more and more populations could be exposed to whaling. so we are very concerned about the potential for an expansion, again, of whaling outside of any international control. japan's withdrawal from the international whaling commission means it will resume commercial whaling byjuly 2019. it claims this will be restricted to japan's territorial waters and economic zones, meaning ships will cease whaling in the antarctic ocean. and japanese boats will only hunt species with healthy population numbers. but this controversial practice is now likely to face renewed scrutiny. sister wendy beckett, the nun who became famous around the world as an art historian, has died at the age of 88. she died this afternoon at a carmelite monastery in norfolk. david has been taking a look back at her life. scripture tells us that the angel

gabriel was sent by god to a virgin in the town of nazareth. cinder wendy beckett, a man talking about paintings. who would have guessed this would have been such a hit? —— sister wendy beckett. it happened like this. she simply stood and spoke and millions in britain, america and around the world sat and listened. i really cannot afford spend time looking at them. i went to get onto this... even more remarkable was she had only ever seen most of these paintings in books in her little caravan in the woods. sister wendy beckett was a hermit. it was an old caravan that i got for £60 and it stood on blocks

and it was an insulated and it had a skylight that the rain came through. but i loved it. she was 16 when she first joined the nuns. as a child she had been almost too clever. first joined the nuns. as a child she had been almost too cleverlj never expected to be able to talk to anybody. i took that for granted thatis anybody. i took that for granted that is how people were. they never found anybody they could talk to.- oxford, her tutor wasj r r tolkien. she received a congratulate first. coping with work and epilepsy led her to seek almost total solitude. then during a rear excursion to a gallery, she was overheard talking about art. it was that that learnt to her tv career. —— led to her career. she found the idea of fame

and tv career not enjoyable, she enjoyed solitude. even at last she sat alone. —— even at maths. i have been tucked away in the belfry of the graveyard. thanking god for allowing me a life of such in imaginable happiness. lucky me. sister wendy beckett, who has died today at the age of 88. bargain hunters have been hitting the high street to take advantage of the annual boxing day sales. some people began queuing at midnight to bag a deal when stores openeed this morning.

shoppers are expected to spend around £4 billion today — despite many shops having slashed their prices before christmas. our business correspondent joe miller has more. it isa it is a site that will bring much needed festive cheer to britain's ailing retailers. bumper discounts... shoppers in manchester, newcastle and cardiff queued from the early hours of the morning. boxing day is great because you can decide from what you want. you can decide how to match christmas presents. i usually spend christmas in doors so it is nice to get fresh air. millions more are expected to visit shopping centres. the starting gun was fired a few weeks ago. black friday, an american import, is increasingly popular on line and the high street. shops have slashed prices one month before they used to. after a miserable year, to do‘s sales could be the last chance from

many struggling shops. even a busy boxing day may not be enough. there are warehouses piled high with unsold goods and it is making them offer steeper discounts. it is a race to the bottom. in the west end in london, it is looking up. footfall up by 10:30am this morning. a lot of customers here driven by the low pound. people want to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air. customers can get up to 70% off, good bargains. up to £50 million is expected to be spent in london. household debt is rising. shoppers have less disposable income all together. the struggling high streets will be hoping the christmas splurge stretches well into the new year. our correspondent alison freeman is at the metro centre in gateshead. you have been there most of the day, how has the trading being? how was

the footfall, the jargon? it has looked very busy. you would certainly not see the amount of people on a normal wednesday. the centre has told us footfall is not as high as they expected. not as good as last boxing day. it still is one of the busiest days of 2018. all round they have done pretty well. there have been queues of people here from three o'clock this morning. the first 1000 people are so morning. the first 1000 people are so cute up to get into that next sale. there have been queues at tales in the smaller shops as well. we have seen queues outside lush, because matic store. victoria's secrets are said to have the best days and they opened up. —— the cosmetic store. footfall is not as big as last year, but certainly a

good deal. how have retailers been doing this year? what is the picture? presumably they have suffered as much there as an other parts of the country. yes, we have seen big names getting into trouble here at the metrocentre. the house of fraser has been in the metrocentre since 1986 is now facing closure because mike ashley could not come up with a plan to save it. the problems that are being phased throughout the country are reflected here. chatting to people, they said they were coming here to spend their money and spend it on christmas presents they baby did not get yesterday and also christmas money that they were given as a gift. we asked them if they were worried about brexit and uncertainty about the finances of the future, that they wanted to be here today, the one to dispel the money today. alison, thank you very much. —— they

wa nted alison, thank you very much. —— they wanted to spend their money today. katy austin is on oxford street in central london. enough around today? absolutely. you can see the crowds around me. it has got busier and busier today. judging from this, the tradition of boxing day sales is alive and well. yes, the west end shops are reporting they have been very busy. i 10:30am, it was noticeable that footfall was noticeably up from last year. up 1596, noticeably up from last year. up 15%, we think. we were here this morning and there were people who had been queueing for the 6am next sale. they had been here since two in the morning. we had spoken from international shoppers, tempted by the weaker pound. they had been spending their money. that is contrast with the national picture thatis

contrast with the national picture that is being reported by national a nalyst that is being reported by national analyst today that actually says footfall has gone down from last year, to 4.2%. that is the third row in the year that has happened. over thatis in the year that has happened. over that is a sign boxing day is becoming less important, according to analysis. we see black friday, a new tradition, and a lot of discounting that is done before christmas to tempt shoppers in, to try and keep the tills ticking over. this is the end of a very challenging year for the retail sector. shops here and around the country will be hoping people have been spending their money in the sale today, whether in—store or online. there is still a bit of time, i will let you go and get some bargains. thank you very much. the authorities in italy say that around ten people have sustained minor injuries after an earthquake measuring four point eight hit an area surrounding mount etna on the island of sicily. more than 150 tremors have been felt since europe's most active volcano

erupted on christmas eve. james reynolds reports from rome. ? the earthquake hit the slopes of mount etna at around 3:20am. it damaged nearby homes and buildings. in a nearby village, an 80—year—old man had to be rescued from his home. translation: my father-in-law was under the rubble. it is a miracle, he's born—again. it's a miracle we're still alive. some decided to take shelter in their cars or in local gyms. anywhere just to be safe. people here are used to living with the constant fear of eruptions and earthquakes. mount etna dominates the island of sicily. it is the biggest active volcano in europe. in recent days, scientists recorded more than 100 tremors,

causing the authorities to restrict flights to the regional airport in the city of catania. one official concludes, our country is unfortunately very fragile. a man has died after being hit by a police car in liverpool. the victim, who has yet to be identified, was knocked down on scotland road shortly before 7 o'clock last night. the merseyside force has reported the incident to the watchdog, the independent office for police conduct. three more migrants trying to reach britain by sea were intercepted overnight, the home office has the men, who were on board a small boat, were rescued by the french authorities near dover. authorities on both sides of the channel picked up a0 migrants yesterday, who were also trying to reach britain. our correspondent emily unia has been in doverfor us. it's thought in the past 2a hours the 43 people who have arrived may have been encouraged by the fact

the weather has been quite good, the seas have been calm, so what is a very dangerous crossing anyway has been somewhat safer. but also bear in mind it's the holidays, so there are a lot fewer cross—channel ferries going and all the other big ships have probably would down a bit for the festive season, so essentially they are seizing their chance to make what is an extremely risky crossing, at perhaps a quite good time. the headlines on bbc news... japan is to restart commercial whaling next year — conservation groups warn the move will have serious consequences. despite queues for the boxing day sales — the number of in—store shoppers falls for the third year in a row. several people have been injured and buildings collapsed, after an earthquake close to the erupting mount etna in sicily. she has had a busy week already but

holly hamilton is still working. she is at the sports centre. good afternoon. it is boxing day as well. we've had one result already with wolves snatching a draw from fulham with a scrappy late equaliser at craven cottage. ryan sessegnon, who had only come off the bench just eight minutes earlier, gave claudio ranieri's side the lead with 16 minutes to go with his first premier league goal. replays confirmed that the ball had easily crossed the line. but wolves subsitute romain saiss tapped home ivan cavaleiro's cross with just five minutes to go to equalise. fulham were inches away from a winner in the 90th minute — onlyjust cleared off the line by conor coady. that result takes fulham off the bottom of the table, three points from safety. elsewhere, liverpool are aiming to keep their ii—point lead at the top with a win over newcastle at anfield. they lead 2—nil thanks

to dejan lovren and a penalty. jurgen klopp‘s side could even increase their lead over second—placed manchester city if they drop points at leicester — it's currently 1—1 at the king power. elsewhere, everton lead at burnley, manchester united are beating huddersfield and spurs lead bournemouth 3—0. highlights of all the games will be on match of the day at 10:20 tonight on bbc1. there's also a full programme of matches in the scottish premiership. quite a game at pittodrie with leaders celtic beating aberdeen 4—3. scott sinclair scored a hat—trick in the victory — this was his second to give brendan rodgers side a 2—1 lead with fifteen minutes to go. the home side levelled to make it 2—2 from the spot thanks to sam cosgrove — that was to be first of four goals in seven minutes. celtic retook the lead before sinclair got his third to make the points safe. aberdeen had time to get another but not enough to see the reigning

champions go back to glasgow with all three points. (gfx) well that results cements celtic‘s place at the top of the table. second placed rangers are also in action and lead hibernian one—nil at ibrox. you can follow all of those matches on the bbc sport website. australia opening batsman cameron bancroft has told fox sports it was david warner who told him to tamper with the ball during the test between australia and south africa in march. bancroft was later banned for nine months for attempting to manipulate the ball with sandpaper. warner and then captain steve smith were both banned for a year. bancroft was speaking to former australia wicketkeeper adam gilchrist definitely i was asked to do it. i did not know how to be true to myself in that moment. i did not know any better. dave suggested to me to carry the action out on the

ball. given the situation we were in in the game, i did not know any better. i did not know any better because i just wanted better. i did not know any better because ijust wanted to better. i did not know any better because i just wanted to fit better. i did not know any better because ijust wanted to fit in and feel valued, really. on the field, india took early control of the third test against australia in melbourne. the tourists won the toss and decided to bat first. the home side took only two wickets — both thanks to pat cummins. debuta nts agarwal and cheteshwar pujara both made half centuries to take indias total to 215—2 at the close with pujara not out on 68. the series is tied at one test all. and clan des obeaux has won the king george the sixth chase. the horse, part owned by sir alex ferguson and trained by paul nicholls and ridden by harry cobden, was a 16 to one shot at the start of the race and beat 2016 winner thistlecrack in a close finish. second favourite waiting patiently failed to finish the race. the gold cup winner native river was third. that's all the sport for now.

you'll find the latest goals and text commentary from today's premier league games on the bbc sport website. more from me in an hour. goodbye. holly, thank you very much. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has ordered a review looking at the way britain could help persecuted christians around the world. the review, led by the bishop of truro, will look at government efforts to help some of the 215 million christians who faced discrimination and violence last year. this is whatjeremy hunt had to say. there are people in very poor countries, themselves very poor, who can suffer terribly for no other reason than their faith, and when that faith is christianity, that is not a reason to do nothing. we need to do something, just as we would if they were muslim or buddhist and being persecuted for the same reason. scientists in cambridge have created a digital model of a cancer.

the tumour sample — taken from a patient — can be studied using virtual reality. researchers hope it will provide new insights into how cancers spread. our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. this is 21st—century pathology. on the conveyor belt is a wafer thin slice taken from a human tumour. multiple slices, each just one cell thick, are analysed to reveal all the characteristics of the cancer. then the sample is reassembled digitally so it can be studied, using virtual reality. we are on the bleeding edge of nearly every technology. greg hannon, director of cancer research uk's cambridge institute, showed me round his virtual lab, where we are transformed into avatars. this giant multicoloured cloud of bubbles is the virtual tumour. the tissue sample it came from was the size of a pinhead. the purpose of this project is to understand how each of these

cell types influences each other. what messages do they send to each other and how does that influence their behaviour? this shows how the incredible diversity of cancer cell types interact in order to evade the body's defences. now that knowledge may ultimately help in the search for new treatments. at this point, we decided to go and explore the tumour in more detail. i think here you can really start to appreciate its structure. i'm noticing something interesting here. we willjust move around. it looks to me like there are sets of tumour cells that are floating above the structures, almost as if they are streaming out. it is when those cells leave the duct to become invasive disease is when they become really dangerous. so here, are you capturing potentially the moment when this cancer begins to spread? yes. i think that is what is really

remarkable here because i think unless we're looking at the tumour in this detail, this resolution, in this many cells in this dimension, we would never be able to find such an event. researchers at the crick institute in london say that the virtual tumour will help explain how cancers interact with healthy cells and eventually spread. it is a huge step forward. it is so much more dynamic and real than what we've been able to do in the past by looking at very static analyses of what is happening in essentially two dimensions. this virtual pathology lab can be accessed by researchers anywhere in the world, helping scientists share knowledge in the fight against cancer. officials from north and south korea, have carried out a ground breaking ceremony for a project to modernise north korean railways and roads and connect them to the south.

the ceremony, which also included members of families divided by the separation of the two countries 68 years ago, was held in the border town of kay—song. from seoul, laura bicker reports. a north korean band welcomes the south korean officials as the train from seoul crossed the border dividing the two countries and arrived at panmun station in kae—song. the ceremony included laying some railway sleepers and putting up joint road signs. the south's president moonjae—in and the north korean leader kim jong—un agreed earlier this year to work towards connecting the peninsular‘s transport systems. south korean engineers have spent the last few weeks inspecting hundreds of miles of the north's railways to check the work needed to modernise the network. it's thought it will take billions of dollars of investment. translation: we are very much aware that the re—connection of our railways and roads means more than just physical reconnection. people and supplies will come and go through the routes and interchange

cooperation in various fields. but this ceremony is as far as the two koreas can go for now without breaching strict economic sanctions designed to target the north's nuclear weapons programme. seoul received an exemption to sanctions from the un security council to carry out today's ceremony. laura bicker reporting there. the queen's christmas broadcast was the uk's most watched christmas day programme — 6.4 million viewers tuned in. michael mcintyre's christmas special, on bbc one, was the day's next most watched with six point1 million viewers. our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba, explained why the queen's annual speech has come top again this year. that is not that surprising. it is traditional to sit and watch the queen at three o'clock. and that

advantage of being on multiple channels, not just bbc advantage of being on multiple channels, notjust bbc and itv, but some of the sky channels as well. michael mcintyre with 6.1 million. most people watched the queen on bbc one. the bbc did dominate the ratings as far as the top ten are concerned. ratings have been going down consistently for ten years. ten yea rs down consistently for ten years. ten years ago, 14.3 million watched wallace and gromit, a matter of loaf and death. that is twice as much as any programme yesterday. we are seeing a downward trend. the seven—year—old american girl, whose phone call with president trump on christmas eve went viral, has insisted her belief in santa claus remains unshaken. mr trump caused outrage in the us, after he appeared to question the existence of father christmas in a conversation with

collman lloyd, just hours before santa was scheduled to begin his deliveries. are you still a believer in santa? because at seven, it's marginal, right? well, the girl on the other end of that call has been speaking about the conversation from her home in lexington, south carolina. according to the post and courier newspaper, collman lloyd admitted she was left confused by the president's use of the term ‘marginal‘. let's have a listen to her side of the conversation. probably put out some cookies, and then we're hanging out with our friends, so that's pretty much all. well, that is very good. well, you just have a good time. yes, sir. are you still a believer in santa? yes, sir. because at seven, it's marginal, right? yes, sir. you got to say hi to mr president. collman told the paper she was glad to have spoken with the president at christmas. she also confirmed she had left

cookies and milk out for santa, and when she woke the following morning, they were gone. i think that as proof. now offer a look at the weather. no big changes in the way for the weather for today or the next couple of days. it will stay mild across most of the uk. a touch of frost in the morning, but thatis touch of frost in the morning, but that is pretty much it. a lot of clouds across the british isles. that is in a mild direction. this is what the temperatures look like. eight or nine celsius. then this evening and overnight, more or less the same. variable amounts of cloud. temperatures made it down to three celsius. a touch of frost for rural areas. some sunshine to greet us in the south of the country. the

north—east getting a bit of sunshine in the afternoon. temperatures are similarto in the afternoon. temperatures are similar to what we have right now. eight or 10 celsius. hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: japan confirms it will restart commercial whale hunting in july, defying an international ban. despite queues for the boxing day sales, the number of people visiting the high street today falls for the third year in a row. several people have been injured and buildings collapsed, after an earthquake close to the erupting mount etna in sicily. sister wendy beckett, the nun who became famous around the world as an art historian and broadcaster, has died at the age of 88. now on bbc news, it's been one of the most turbulent years for british politics in decades. with brexit dominating parliament, and no clear way forward, the bbc'sjo coburn looks back at a troubled 12 months in review 2018: the year in politics. and a warning — this film contains some flash photography. it has been another incredible year

in politics, with one issue dominating the agenda over all others — brexit. that doesn't mean there haven't been other important issues to grapple with — the windrush scandal, the row over anti—semitism, and many other scandals. and we launched a new political show — politics live. first, theresa may reshuffled her government in a bid to change