w. . this is the news live from berlin the trial of a prominent chinese human rights lawyer has ended as his supporters scuffled with undercover police along sean john is charged with subverting state power and could face fifteen years in prison and 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 prophets how volcano in indonesia there are fears of another tsunami after the one on saturday that killed at least four hundred

thirty people. and japan plans to presume to resume commercial whaling tokyo says most whale species are no longer endangered but anti-whaling activists are outraged by the way. i'm calling assman thanks for joining us in china the trial of a prominent human rights lawyer has ended without an announced verdict john is charged with subverting state power is one of around two hundred fifty human rights lawyers or activist 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 juice and if you last messages to supporters and how would i want yesterday there were five cars from the state security department in front of our house 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 one shin 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 blocked her path in india my husband disappeared three and a half years ago i am his wife i want to see his trial how do you leave when she is prevented from even leaving her apartment complex or they tell her to go back.

that far you have not enjoyed here then the journalists are pushed back as well. as all. 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 is 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 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 the ones you have to wait even longer to find out her husband's fate. that report by the

bowling of indonesian authorities are issuing extreme weather warnings in areas where saturday's tsunami killed at least four hundred thirty people the wave was thoughts have been triggered by the crocodile volcano which is still are up to 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 jailed and are falling ill as clean water and medical supplies run out. our correspondent on a sun toast is in on in western java one of the worst affected areas and she sent us this report. a tsunami brought by the eruption of the volcano cutout does nothing this cause the village called lend dad out in the wind 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 niece and her body could be somewhere and this debris fairy cooney our one fisherman is her father he lived with his wife hanna and their three children near the water's edge they have banned the hunt couldn't withstand the force of the giant wave that. 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 a whole family this is where i got hit by the big wife but we kept running over there came the second wife we fell again and that's when i was torn from my wife's arms we're still looking for. the most out of us. in this movie ledge of about fifty residents three people were unaccounted for two

bodies have been found. but fairy and honey his baby 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 my baby was just wearing the new clothes i had bought for her. she had some new toys too and she was just starting to smile and giggle. we wanted to go to a family gathering but when the waves came i couldn't hold onto her tight enough for a man on the up and if i lost her. meaning. the baby girl. this tsunami left hand fairies 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.

an earthquake triggered by the eruption of mt etna jolted eastern sicily on wednesday the quake measuring four point eight on the richter scale struck the north of the tanya the largest city on the eastern side of the italian island a number of people were injured by falling debris and churches and homes were damaged the worst hit place was at neah. the town of several ronna lies at the foot of mount etna at three nineteen in the morning of christmas eve the d'amico family was shaken out of bed by the earthquake their home in ruins the couple is desperate to know what will happen next. just so i've never experienced anything this horrible so it's a miracle that my family survived in the end that's all that matters. cicely has been rattled by earthquakes for two days but none has been as strong as the one that hit early wednesday twenty eight people were injured. the quakes were

triggered by the amount it's never ok no raising the alarm level for the region local authorities haven't given the all clear yet. at the moment mount etna is still active you know it's rumbling directly at the edge of the crater. we can't predict whether this volcanic movement will shift further into the interior that's why it's hard to say how the local population will be affected. many people are afraid to stay in their homes even though they've become used to small love eruptions over the years mount etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes the last major eruption was in one nine hundred eighty four. japan has announced it will resume commercial whaling starting next july government officials say japan will only hunt whales and 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. that focus exclusively on the protection of whales would not take concrete steps towards reaching a common position with. the international whaling commission meeting in september it became clear that it was not possible for states with different views to co-exist and that led to this decision. and those who work in the industry have welcomed the announcement. on the new season japan is a country that relies heavily on its fisheries imes uses whales as

a way to research limited marine resources so i think the government had no choice but to resume whaling they. couldn't 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. who contend that. 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 and they make them use and they present their position that's not proven by conservationists already interest group this is a meeting of countries. japan has been doing the 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 talk to go 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 two there hasn't been whaling in these very very important waters that we want to keep those pristine and crew from interference as possible but that does leave us with a real problem about what they're going to do in the middle pacific what makes that area the antarctic 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 down there 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 pan 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 ninety two and which japan has fought hard against ever since has allowed some whale population to recover so that's great and that's good news not all of them are not back necessarily to two pristine levels so we have to what we have to be really careful about those simplifications. and there are lots of good and bad things in 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 this 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

has been part of their culture it's part of the culture for many maritime 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 traditional toll 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. 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 beautiful conditions the twenty thousand 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 which is on the island of as mania on thursday.

you're watching news live from berlin we'll have more for you at the top of the hour and don't forget for updated news and information around the clock head to our web site that's d.w. dot com thanks for watching. first to school. or first including listen to the doors granholm is arrives. to join the regular known her journey back to freedom. you know we're interactive documentary. returns home on the d. w. don't come to tanks.