this is d.w. news coming to you live from berlin the trial of a prominent chinese human rights lawyer has ended this is the borders of scuffles with undercover police long sean john is charged with subverting state power and could face fifteen years in prison it's all part of china's crackdown on human rights activists. extreme weather and high waves that's the latest warning for people living near the erupting i'm not crocodile volcano in indonesia there are fears of another tsunami after the one saturday that killed at least four hundred

thirty people. and japan plans to resume commercial whaling tokyo says most whale species are no longer endangered but and time whaling activists are outraged. many warning. i'm calm assman thanks for joining us in china the trial of a prominent human rights lawyer has ended in the northern city of challenge in john is charged with subverting state power he's one of around two hundred and fifty human rights lawyers or activists targeted by chinese authorities since they launched a crackdown three years ago we have this exclusive report three hours before the trial starts lee when jews since you last messages supporters in colorado and yesterday there were five cars from the state security department in front of our house so i don't know what will happen when i step out of the door. together with

a friend she plans to go to the trial of her husband human rights lawyer john huang defended political prisoners which resulted in him being arrested three years ago the charge undermining state power with a maximum sentence of fifteen years since then his wife hasn't heard from him she protested repeatedly demanding answers. i've seen situations like this often but each time it's a little different today the verdict might be announced i'm very worried and about his health as well. she has been told the trial is not open to the public because state secrets will be discussed in court her state security lock her path my husband disappeared three and a half years ago i am his wife i want to see his trial. the un's who is prevented from even leaving her apartment complex they tell her to go back to. the dog you have not enjoyed here then the journalists are pushed back as well. none of

them thought. the war. without lee went to we travel to the courthouse which is being closed off journalists and foreign diplomats are banned and a forced to wait on the other side of the street. here as well there are undercover police there is a sudden flurry of activity a pro-democracy activist protest against the trial and demands wang's release for the what are you so scared of that you won't even allow people to protest he shouts of the officials but his protest is short lived. the secret service take him quickly away. over here you know. what all the. information from inside the courthouse is scarce no verdict was announced and when jew have to wait even longer to find out her husband's fate. that report by the.

indonesia has been paying tribute to victims of two disasters today saturday's tsunami and the massive wave in two thousand and four that's of the lives of more than two hundred thousand people across the indian ocean region fourteen years ago today most of those victims or indonesians in the city of banda which was hardest hit survivors and victims' families gathered at the site of a mass grave remember their loved ones it's near the site of the original earthquake that unleashed the deadly waves the so-called boxing day tsunami is ranked as one of the worst natural disasters in history. now indonesian authorities are issuing extreme weather warnings in areas where saturday's tsunami killed at least four hundred thirty people the wave was thought to have been triggered by the krakatau volcano which is still rotting nearly one hundred sixty people are missing rescue teams are warning people to avoid coastal areas aid has reached some of those affected but supplies are running short for thousands of

displaced people living in makeshift camps doctors say children are falling ill as clean water and medical surprise run out. corresponded on a sun towse is in love with han in western java one of the worst affected areas and she sent us this report. a tsunami brought by the eruption of the volcano the town has not disclosed the willage called when dad out nine news in rubbles it is in this rubble that a young father hopes that he will find his three month old baby who has been missing since saturday. the baby girl's name is a nice and have body could be somewhere and they step bring sherry cooney out one fisherman s have found that he lived with his wife hanna and their three children near the water's edge now than the hunt couldn't withstand the force of the giant wave that would. now bust through and this is all that's left of our house

my mother asked about the strange sounds outside and when i looked around i saw three big waves one after the other i panicked and woke up my wife we ran out with the whole family this is where i got hit by the big wave but we kept running over there came the second wave we fell again and that's when i was torn from my wife's arms we start looking for. the most out of mines. in this small village of about fifty residents three people were unaccounted for two bodies have been found. but fairy and honey his baby girl is still missing. in this home behind me is where hannah and fairy reunited with two of their children instead of three. i don't know yet and we are my baby was just wearing the new clothes i had bought for her that. she had some new toys to and she was

just starting to smile and. we wanted to go to a family gathering but when the waves came i couldn't hold on to her tight enough for a man on the airplane and i'd lost her. meaning. the brave girl for. this tsunami left town and ferries family with only the clothes on their backs and for now all they have is this picture of a nice on the hope that she will be found now to some of the other stories making news around the world an earthquake triggered by the eruption of mt etna jolted eastern sicily before dawn at least ten people were injured and churches and homes were damaged the quake registered five point one on the richter scale it struck north of tanya the largest city in the east of the italian island opposition supporters in the democratic republic of congo are angered by new

election delays authorities announced that sunday's presidential vote would be postponed until march and three congolese cities known to be opposition strongholds election is intended to pave the way to a democratic transfer of power from president joseph kabila. and thousands of pilgrims gathered at st peter's square in rome to hear the pope deliver the angelus prayer on what is celebrated as st stephen's day francis called on the faithful to practice forgiveness. japan has announced it will resume commercial whaling starting next july government officials say japan will only hunt whales in its own territorial waters despite a drop in demand for whale meat japan is also pulling out of the international whaling commission the decision has been strongly condemned by anti-whaling activists. it's a centuries old tradition one that japan is intent on keeping alive. after

failing to get the commission's approval to resume commercial whaling japan has announced it is cutting ties with the international conservation body before we will go through countries that focus exclusively on the protection of whales would not take concrete steps towards reaching a common position. the international whaling commission meeting in september when it became clear that it was not possible for states with different views to co-exist and that led to this decision. by. those who work in the industry have welcomed the an ounce meant. the service on the new season political japan is a country that relies heavily on its fisheries and uses whales as a way to research limited marine resources so i think the government had no choice but to resume whaling those that are in a joke that we look at that it is important to share the research data that shows

that the number of whales is not decreasing in order to gain understanding from other countries. they contend the world. despite complying with the ban for decades japan continued to kill whales in the name of scientific research a program critics say has been used as a cover for commercial hunting. thirty years after signing a moratorium on the practice tokyo says endangered whales have had time to increase their numbers. japan will limit whaling to its own territorial waters and economic zone but that's unlikely to stop activists from trying to end the practice altogether mark simmons is a senior marine scientist for the humane society international and he joins us now from the u.k. japan says here that the international whaling commission is dominated by conservationists so the commission can fulfill its other goals in terms of managing

the whaling industry do you think japan has a point there. now i don't think they have much of a point the international whaling commission is a meeting of nations it has eighty seven no eighty nine member nations it will have eighty eight when japan leaves countries come together in that they make their views and they present their position that's not driven by conservationists already interest group this is a meeting of countries. japan has been doing so-called scientific whaling that's what it calls it it says it will no longer now do that sort of whaling in the antarctic will instead be focusing on commercial whaling in its own waters how much of a step in the right direction is that in terms of not whaling in the antarctic. you know i think we can be pleased that the antarctica will be free from waggling the moment the japanese fleet is there but in the coming season the next season they won't be there enough to be the first time pretty much since. the end of the second

world war there hasn't been whaling in these very very important waters that we want to keep us pristine and korea for interference as possible but that does leave us with a real problem about what they're going to do in the middle to separate what makes that area the end arctic so important. well of course the antarctic waters are pristine they are being studied we need to understand the nutrient flows between hopefully you know recovering populations of whales and other biota this is an area which is highly highly protected a very good reason. japan also says look we whale stocks are recovering so can there be such a thing as a sustainable whaling practice. insurgent panel grossly oversimplifies a lot of what it says about a lot of things and it's true that the moratorium on commercial whaling which it was agreed in in one thousand eighty two and which japan has fought hard against have a sense has allowed some whale population to recover so that's great and that's good

news not all of them are not back necessarily due to pristine levels so we have to it we have to be really careful about those simplifications. and there are lots of good and bad things if you know what they're saying but breaking outside of the international whaling commission rule is a problem for us and it's a particular problem with other countries were to follow suit and that could be the case what about this argument that hunting and eating whales in japan is part of the culture and that the i.w.c. had kind of failed to see that how do you view that argument as cultural argument. i think we can understand that there are some places it in japan where eating products from the seeing through doing whales and even including dolphins as being part of their culture is part of the culture for many marathon countries including the u.k. for example and we don't do it anymore you can move on from this kind of thing but more importantly the big industrial whaling factories that they take out to sea are

not part of any sort of tradition at all this is industrial whaling that we're talking about big overseas fleets with mother ships huge amounts of money behind them this is not a traditional pastime mark simmons from the humane society international thank you so much for joining us here. the annual sydney to hobart yacht race has begun in australia it's the seventy fourth year of the competition which covers more than eleven hundred kilometers a total of eighty five boats began their journey from sydney harbor in ideal conditions looks beautiful the twenty eighteen race also features its first all professional female crew led by skipper stacey jackson the sailors will race throughout the night and are expected to reach hobart on the island of tasmania on thursday. you're watching news from berlin we'll have more at the top of the hour and for updated information around the clock head to our web site

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