this is bbc news i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 6pm. japan is to restart commercial whale hunting next summer, in defiance of a global ban. campaigners say they‘ re worried by the decision. cos 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. 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. president putin witnesses the final test of a hyper—sonic missile which he says can penetrate any missile defence system. a murder investigation is under way in leeds where a 30—year—old man was killed yesterday. sister wendy beckett, the nun who became famous around the world as an art historian and broadcaster has died at the age of 88. and liverpool extend their lead at the top of the premier league to six points with a four—nil win over newcastle. more on this and the rest of the day's action on sportsday in half an hour here on bbc news. good evening.

there's been international criticism ofjapan's decision to resume commercial whale hunting. the government of australia described it as regrettable and new zealand said killing whales was unnecessary. japanjoins iceland and norway in defying the moratorium on commercial whaling, which was introduced in the 1980s. our science correspondent victoria gill's report contains some distressing images. they are the ccean's gentle giants, but these majestic mammals are now at the heart of an international dispute. it's all about the bloody business of commercial whaling. business that japan says it will resume in the summer of 2019.

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 international whaling commission is the body that banned the hunting of whales in 1986 after many species were almost wiped out. but countries, including iceland and norway, still hunt primarily minke whales, which are not endangered. japan already catches between 200 and 1,200 wales every year under a programme of what it calls scientific research. the country's hunted whales for centuries and the meat was a key source of protein during desperately poor years immediately after world war ii. translation: people around my age remember the old times when we would eat whale meat. there are shops that sell it and i sometimes buy some, but it's not like people are queueing up for it. 0fficials though, still say that

eating whales is part of japanese culture and it can be done sustainably. but this decision has sparked condemnation. conservationists say it could threaten populations of whales that have recovered since the ban. it's not just about what japan does, it's now about whether other countries will follow suit or whether other countries will also step outside of the whaling commission, because ifjapan, if you like, gets away with this, other countries might want to 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 says commercial whaling will be restricted to its own territorial waters and economic zones, so its ships will cease whaling in the antarctic 0cean. despite the reassurances though, many are calling on the country to reconsider. victoria gill, bbc news. i'm joined now by lewis pugh, an endurance swimmer and ocean

advocate, he's also a un patron of the oceans and joins me from cape town. thank you forjoining us. this decision was not unexpected, what do you make it? yes it was not unexpected, two things, first of all i welcome their decision to stop killing wales, that was the decision long overdue, but it's vary sad that japan has decided to leave the international whaling commission and to resume killing the wales in their own waters, i think is dangerous for countries to break out of global agreements and set up their own rules of. to be fair, they are following the other countries like iceland and norway for example have done this. yes, but the issue here is that japan now will be hosting the rugby world cup next year and the rugby world cup next year and the olympic games in 2020. so, while they have withdrawn from one

conflict which is in the southern 0cean, now they've entered a potentially much bigger one because it's one thing to have protesters down in antarctica, but it's another altogether to have them around your stadiums. so japan has been spending money speaking —— bringing them and believed them up so i think this decision to hunt wales right before these events will harm them significantly. you would know the impact of back and have on major cities during televised sporting occasions, do you think they may misjudge the timing of this?” occasions, do you think they may misjudge the timing of this? i think they've made a significant mistake on this issue, i think they're going to find that during the world cup and during the olympic games as i've said, huge protests will be interesting to see how they handled them. would he make of the argument that they are advanced many years on this and it's a matter of its sovereign rights as an independent nation to hunt these group animals and their own waters where they have

110w and their own waters where they have now accepted and are going to do it in antarctica, and it's part of the japanese culture to hunt them and eat the meat. let me start by saying i'm notan eat the meat. let me start by saying i'm not an expert onjapanese culture, but let me say their are many surveys done on the issue and from reading the surveys, it's quite clear most japanese people do not eat whale meat any longer and only a small portion strongly support hunting them culturally and economically, it's only important to a handful of small fishing towns around japan. so it's a political decision which is being made by japan to resume commercial whaling. the other issue though, is that they migratory these creatures move from water to water and i suspect you will find other countries and quickly, japan, these are not your animals to kill. on the decision

they have made and the general view around the world that whale hunting is not something we want to do, why is not something we want to do, why is it we make these decisions between the these creatures and other marine creatures we happily hunt and consume? it's interesting, i was listening to an interview a few days ago who is describing kind —— hunting wales —— hunting down in the 1960s, and he was describing these enormous animals coming up and in those moments where —— where they attempt to shoot the whale with a harpoon and these are enormous animals are member, it's vary, vary difficult even though they are norma's because they are partially underwater to kill them humanely with one shot and many times these animals were dragged along for long periods of time in agony. i think certainly the british public and the nations of australia and new zealand

and southern nations around the southern hemisphere, they feel vary strongly that commercial whaling is not humane and is never been humane and should now and no longer be practised. thank you vary much for joining us. thousands of bargain hunters have been hitting the high street for the annual boxing day sales, with some starting to queue from as early as midnight to bag a deal. but the number of in—store shoppers around the uk fell for the third year in a row, according to analysts, though shoppers are still expected to spend around 4 billion pounds today. joe miller reports. prices slashed, bargains galore... it is yuletide ritual that stretches back decades and one that shoppers in cardiffjude in the early hours to perform. lowered by the promise of bumper discounts, they turned out in their droves, from liverpool to belfast to gateshead. boxing day is great because you can decide what you want, from christmas presents, you can decide what will match them. boxing day is nice to come out and get some fresh air. it is a sight that will bring

much—needed festive cheer the starting and was fired a few weeks ago, black friday and an american import is increasingly popular both online and in stores. it's taken the wind out of boxing day sales. the number of shoppers out and about this morning was more than 9% lower than on black friday. and for percent lower last year, things were worse in shopping centres which saw almost 7% fewer customers. retailing is a vary type environment and the confidence has been low for about two years and all we need us or certainty and political certainty and shoppers can start to feel better about spending money. in west end, different story

altogether, here bargain hunters are out in force, 15% more of them that last year. among them, many visitors from overseas, here to take advantage of a weaker pound. a keen shopperfrom advantage of a weaker pound. a keen shopper from pakistan said advantage of a weaker pound. a keen shopperfrom pakistan said he's been to would have thousand pounds. shopperfrom pakistan said he's been to would have thousand poundslj to would have thousand pounds.” come here for the good price in london, everything is half priced at shopping year is for the best. getting customers through the door is not the only challenge, where houses are full of stock and retailers are forced to keep cutting prices and they would need to have the christian spirit to stretch into the christian spirit to stretch into the new year. russian president, vladimir putin, says his country will deploy nuclear missiles , capable of flying at ten times the speed of sound , next year. it comes after he observed the final tests of a new missile known as avangard. moscow said the rocket was launched in the ural mountains and hit a target 6000 kilometres away in the russian far east. mr putin announced series of new weapons in march, including avangard.

he told a government meeting that the new missile can evade missile defence systems. translation: the new avangard missile system is invincible for today's and future air defence systems and missile defence systems. this is a big success, and a big victory. several people have been injured after an earthquake measuring four point eight magnitude 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. 0ne official concludes, our country is unfortunately very fragile. three more migrants have been rescued from a small boat as they tried to cross the english channel in the early

hours of this morning. it follows the rescue yesterday of a0 migrants, including two children, mainly from iraq, iran and afghanistan. the home office has blamed organised crime. there has been a sharp rise in the number of migrants attempting to cross the channel from france since october. earlier i spoke to our correspondent in dover, emily unia. i began by asking her whether we know much more about what happened overnight. we know little bit the french authorities picked these men up and they were iranian and they have now been passed over to the uk authorities, they were in british waters when they were picked up despite being picked up by the french, they are being processed getting interviewed by officials after a medical assessment, so that is all in train now and of course they are in addition to the a0 people who arrived yesterday. when we spoke about yesterday, the significant number of getting in the previous night as well we are talking about the impact of serbia's decision to grant that these of our

time has come to an end on the numbers, asi time has come to an end on the numbers, as i thought to be a big push factorfor this numbers, as i thought to be a big push factor for this particular number coming through in the last month or so? yes, that seems to be a reason, serbia lifted the visa restrictions for iranians last year and boost tourism banded up with 10,000 iranians staying overstaying, and they haven't made their way across europe into other countries as well the uk. but bear in mind in the past couple of days we had the christmas holiday, you are dairy crossings and big ships crossing the channel, also vary good weather conditions of people are probably seizing the opportunity. emily in dover. seven people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was attacked in leeds. the 30—year—old was found with serious injuries and later died later in hospital. from leeds, alasdair gill reports. christmas day was barely over when police were called hereto this area of leeds around 3:1aam this morning what they found was a 30—year—old man lying in the streets with

serious injuries and was taken to hospital where he later died and a murder investigation has now been launched. something the people who live on the street say is really out of character. i've lived up where it happened, and i and my past, i've lived there a long while and it's the first time we've ever had a thing like this. obviously, i heard women screaming and died, and i think i came and found out. the street remains cordoned off by police this afternoon and the scenes of crime and forensic officers are coming the local area looking for evidence and meanwhile seven people have been arrested on suspicion of murder, for men and three women in the police is asking anyone with any information to come forward. a man has died after being hit by a police car in liverpool last night. the victim was knocked down near the wallasey tunnel, just before seven o'clock yesterday

evening. it's being reported that the police car was responding to an emergency call when it collided with the victim as he was crossing the road. the incident is now being investigated by the independent office for police conduct. 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. president putin witnesses the final test of a hyper—sonic missile which he says can penetrate any missile defence system. 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 earlier. 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. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. this is 21st—century pathology. on a 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 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. two former presidents of egypt, hosni mubarak and mohamed morsi, have come face—to—face in court for the first time today. mr mubarak is testifying in the re—trial of mr morsi and other leaders of the muslim brotherhood who are accused of having orchestrated a prison break during the arab spring uprising of 2011. mr morsi was previously sentenced to death but an appeal court annulled the sentence in 2016. sister wendy beckett — the nun whose passion for art made her an unexpected television star — has died at the age of 88. her broadcasting career began in the early 1990s and she went to appear in several bbc series. each time filming was over, sister wendy returned to her life as a hermit at the carmelite monastery in norfolk — where she died this afternoon.

david sillito looks back at her life. the sculpture tells us that the angel gabriel was sent by god to a virgin in the town of nazareth. sister wendy beckett — a nun talking about paintings. who would have guessed that this would have been such a hit? god became man and it happened like this. there was never a rehearsal or written script. she simply stood and spoke. and millions in britain, america and around the world sat and listened. and here we have the great mythological scene, but i really can't afford to spend time looking at it because i want to get on to this huge... she was 16 when she first joined the nuns. as a child she had been almost too clever. well, i never expected to be able to talk to anybody. but i took that for granted, that was how people were. they never found anybody they could talk to. at 0xford, her tutor

was jrr tolkien. she received a congratulatory first. not so much a degree, more a round of applause. she began writing art books, but the pressure of work and coping with epilepsy led her to seek almost total solitude. but then, during a rare excursion to a gallery, she was overheard talking about art. it was that that led to her tv career. but she found the idea of fame and celebrity mortifying. herjoy was silence and solitude. even at mass, she sat alone in the belfry. well, that's where i'm going to be for eternity, i hope. tucked away in the belfry of the graveyard, thanking god for allowing me a life of such unimaginable happiness.

lucky me. sister windy beckett died this afternoon at the age of 88. 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.a million viewers tuned in.

michael mcintyre's christmas special, on bbc one, was the day's next most watched with six point one million viewers. 0ur 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, 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 years ago, 1a.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 face it, what seven—year—old

wouldn't be? 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. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. we have ended christmas with some very mild weather, i know that this time of the year it does not always feel like it, but temperatures are above average for the time of the year across the uk and it will stay mild for the rest of the week and quite possibly into the new year as well. there is a lot of cloud out there. you can see the clouds streaming to the southwest here, so the mildest of the weather has been across western part of the uk and through the nightjust a few spots of rain across parts of scotland, but for most of us,

it's a dry night and turning clear in some areas so perhaps a touch of frost first thing in the morning on thursday, but bigger towns and cities should be mostly above freezing. tomorrow, sunshine and the forecast for the south and northeast england, scotland getting sun as well and a few sunny spells on the cards for belfast as well. temperatures around the 10 degrees mark and friday is looking fairly similar as well, that's it for me, goodbye. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm holly hamilton. your boxing day headlines: the headlines this hour. japan confirms it'll restart commercial whale hunting in july, confirms it'll restart commercial whale hunting injuly, defying an international band. this bike use the boxing day sales the number of people visiting the high street today fell for the third year in a row. resident who has witnessed the final test of a hypersonic missile which he says can penetrate any missile defence system. —— president

putin. investigation under way in leeds tonight after a 30—year—old man was killed yesterday. the nun who became famous around the world as an bbc broadcaster has died at the age of 88. now it's boxing day so the age of 88. now it's boxing day so there's plenty of sporting action. here is the team with sports today. hello and welcome to sports day. i am today. hello and welcome to sports day. iam holly today. hello and welcome to sports day. i am holly hamilton with your boxing day headlines. liverpool go six points clear at the top of the premier league with a rampant display over newcastle. while manchester city's unhappy christmas continues as another defeat sees them slip to third.