Stay with us for that Japan has announced plans to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission the body that regulates global whaling and to resume commercial Well hunting from next July the country's cabinet secretary your. Sukkah made the announcement they were going you are. Going to move will be this week I think Japan's basic policy of promoting sustainable use of aquatic living resources based on scientific evidence has not changed and above that policy we have decided to resume commercial whaling thing in the whole normie countries that focus exclusively on the protection of whales did not agree to take any tangible steps towards reaching a common position and at the i.w.c. In September it became obvious that it is not possible to seek the coexistence of states with different views which led to this decision than them well let's speak to Jeff Hanson he is the managing director of the environmental campaign group Sea Shepherd Australia their ships are among those that have taken direct action against Japanese whaling boats over the years welcome to world update let's go back a basin just remind the audience which nation still haunts Wales. Our Reza thanks for having us on the show you know we still have our friend and Norway still hunting whiles But you know in terms of us a shepherd globally that's been a movement since going back to 2002 of sending out messages to the sun I wish him well centuries to defend the wiles from the Japanese whaling fleet so this is this news is actually meaning that your hand will pull out of Wyoming and a friend got to go and that the so she wasn't she was finally Bay what it should be which is a sanctuary for the wilds So you do actually think that this is going to make an impact on the population of Wales. Well we named a century for our oceans and all them right in life you know we still while numbers have still not come back from their prey whiling numbers you know we still have been wild that are endangered and I still think hunted by forest land. You know making wild humpbacks and blue while still haven't recovered their covering very slyly. But it's still you know Japan joins us land in no way and being very much a rogue nation to lay the international commission and very much a part running operation it's in essence really they're calling a spade a spade because we've known for a long time that they're wiling Antartica has pain really a commercial one under the guise of scientific research right so that's what that's what the Japanese have said for so many years but isn't it true that the more whales the killed by fishing boats that you very big net than than by the whaling ships the Iceland and Norway use. Yeah absolutely While numbers in terms of the Started fishing gear and corners bycatch throughout the world's oceans an estimated 330 strange shells and Wiles and dolphins are killed every year which is why I say Shepherd pulled out of the saw to look at targeting illegal fishing and that's what we've been doing in Africa we have partnerships with Gabon Liberia Tanzania and where Way supply the vessels and the crew and those countries provide enforcement and we're making our dozens and dozens of arrests every year and having a massive impact. And in fact places like Liberia the fish are returning for the 1st time in decades and even the illegal boats the ones we lost misses the bay there in terms an area leaving the entire a so thanks to massive impacts there but yes still whiles and dolphins you know the hunting of them is still an acceptable given the numbers still haven't returned and I play a critical role in the health of the Russians that that's benefit all humanity let's talk a little more about conservation then that the announcement that Japan will withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission what will that mean for efforts to continue with conservation. Well there's some good news in terms of the International Wine commission because many years Japan has lobbied other countries that you know through funding and all sorts of other contributions that enable some countries to vote with Japan international wanting commission and that is meant that some motions on the table for instance to try and get out a South Atlantica while century has been blocked so there is an opportunity here for the international wanting commission to really become a more you know going to action for the conservation of wild which ultimately impacts all of humanity and what I realized the incredible importance while supply base that document phones all while true that fertilizes our oceans and you know is that gives you know fodder plankton and part of plankton you know bring in the the carbon from our atmosphere you know while other important for fighting climate but then also just that impacts on the on fisheries threat the oceans that you know we're immobile generations are less carbon our atmosphere and the more fission Irish inside the well while the better for all of us Johnson managing director of the environmental campaign group Sea Shepherd Australia thanks. Now for the past 3 and a half years war has crippled Yemen death desperation 100 now the civilian population is under the specter of famine the city of Tire is in the center of the country is in the on enviable position of having been fractured by the front line throughout most of the conflict this week we're bringing you already a diary sent from 5 women in different towns and cities across the country today we hear from Fatima. A doctor living in ties. To. 2018 has been rough motion relief financially and mentally. Before the conflict I used to work with my dad at his private clinic now the clinic is destroyed my dad last kidnapped by the Who sees I was released 5 days after that when he had to leave the eyes. When I was mad 6 months later no one wanted it at my wedding me and only one of my brothers sisters but my dad was there but I was happy I was married and. They have a little boy and I'm installing it in her Unfortunately my husband and I have to leave that part he lives in the other side of cars he works there there are days he comes every month with 2 months before the conflict and road was 15 minutes from our place to his base. It takes him octo 5 hours to come to my place I can't go live there because I can't leave my dad's home they will steal it. 14 men came to our. At home with their guns no one in the. Cars they took. And they left. They used to call it the city of. The me they just love each other now you can't hurt everyone is killing each other with no reason. Every time my husband leaves he takes some plus of his kids so he can smell them it breaks my heart you know kid simulant play with guns and bombs their imagination is all Klingon fighting I want him to. Be an ordinary human. Really considering leaving him and. Speaking from the Yemeni city of. It was 20 years since the since tragedy hits the Sydney to Hobart yacht race one of the toughest ocean competitions in the world 6 sailors died when a monstrous storm battered the fleet in 1998 many also forced out of the race and dozens of compressed as well winch to safety by helicopter the disaster prompted a wholesale reform of safety in the nearly 1200 kilometer Boxing Day dash from Sydney to Hobart in Tasmania which is now under way from Sydney Phil Meserve reports. Yet you know we have the body shot I doubt it was Australia's biggest peace time search and rescue efforts as the Sydney to Hobart fleet was ambushed by a monstrous storm it was a terrible other story when you get here desperation and panic in the back of a warship where I'm going now or if you're. Going right and you're going to. Pull some yachts past alone others capsized and sailors tossed into the ocean 6 were killed and dozens more were winched to safety in daring sea rescues so people picked up and hurled into parts of the bar badly injuring themselves 1st concern was that everybody was side from board the yacht 2nd concern was to walk out to the yacht as much as possible and their last concern was to worry about Rice and we were just getting rolled into all of the told him it was very unsettling for the credible Our it was dangerous for Cole told by the Bellingham and I never got around to traipse I've done 26 How about this well at its worst we had an incredibly big series we had horizontal wind but highlights it from a often is the memory of seeing a container ship as the bell went down over the wife you could see the propellers coming out the back spinning so that kind of magical way that they were pretty big waves of the weather system that hit the freight 20 years ago off New South Wales is known as an east coast low they are common but would only reach the intensity of $99.00. Yeah every 3 or 4 years according to Jane Golding from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology storm force winds 40 to 50 knots done strong terrain they had a interesting parents as well just to complicate matters does conditions lasted to effectively 24 hours really state highway says well yeah high is buildings generated by a storm force winds it was the people of Eden a form of whaling town south of Sydney who played a major part in the rescue mission Barry Griffiths is a former volunteer coast guards who tried desperately to communicate with the crews that say some we couldn't hear because of the way in the n.h.l. It is talking to them and they're right here when did. You feel so helpless where no are you going to talk to them and hopes of getting through all the horizons and manage to reach sailors on a sinking yawns on board his fishing trawler in a rescue that took 19 hours made. It look like a people is. Confident you should just listen to what we have to do from think and car yes then joined a legion of local residents who cared for those who were brought safely back to the shore we went down to the World Cup 3 times that knowledge we just kept going down with Tris of sandwiches and refilling to Mrs a coffee and we just saw the draggled the will that take. The tragedy resulted in a wholesale reform of safety standards crucially technology now delivers fast and reliable weather updates on the 2nd day of this year's Sydney to Hobart race a minute's silence will be observed by those that say to remember that terrible day in 1998. And that was our correspondent Phil Musser reporting from Sydney You're listening to well the update on the b.b.c. . Coming up later in today's program reporter returns to paradise the California town devastated by wildfires husks of homes are now tagged with brightly colored markings of the search teams many restaurants and businesses lie and ashes right now I'm standing inside be an enormous charred shell of a huge supermarket a mass of twisted metal and splintered timber Paradise Now is the stuff of nightmares. Stay with us for that report our main headlines this hour straight New Zealand and the conservation group Greenpeace have bitterly criticized Japan's decision to resume commercial Well hunting next year a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer who was detained after he took on cases of alleged police torture has gone on trial under Fishelson North and South Korea have taken part in a ceremony to mark a joint projects to reconnect the transport network across the divided peninsula listening to World update from the b.b.c. . Now 2018 has been many things for many people but no one could argue it's been dull certainly not in newsrooms around the world journalists have barely had a chance to catch a breath from day to day but what about those whose craft it is to maul was unfolds on the global stage coach is a Lebanese satirist based here in London and is more commonly known online as Col remarks so how difficult has it been for him to make sense of the multitude of upheaval He's been speaking to my colleague James Menendez I think the big thing we were talking about in 28 was that satire was becoming really hard basically it's because it seems that the politicians are getting better at mocking themselves or being themselves then we can ever during. During our jobs whereas you look at President Trump in the u.s. For example and you think they're all of society or historically has been to be iconoclast stick to challenge the current order and then you look at him and he seems to be you know more iconoclastic than any satirist could ever aspire to be I mean he's smashing all stablished ways of doing things and conventions and then how do you compete with that that's one prevalent view but from my own point of view I think the side the challenges I should to try to find where satire can operate in those times so the flipside would be for me something like when people turn around let's say and say now the resistance to President Trump is the CIA and neo conservatives and everyone has joined and that is to Turkle and so on right to start to portray the CIA as somehow you know the rescuers of Western civilization that's a funny thing in the last 2 years is sort of there's so much polarization that it's starting to produce a lot of absurdities and it's your job as a satirist is to try to kind of pick those and try to to find humor in them and I'll give a short example at. To look at Bragg's it and think I don't necessarily be doing a satire that's taking a side because a lot of people are taking sides and they're mocking each other and they're doing a great job of that how can I as an external observer so to speak satirize that situation and what I did I did a mock sort of colonialist division of Britain I said you know these people can't get along the country is divided half and half so why don't we split it in 2 separate countries one of them is in the e.u. One of that is outside the e.u. And that is called was kind of a satire from my point of view as a Middle Eastern person kind of trying to pay the favor back to colonial powers and I think you sort of this summit similar with the Republicans of the Democrats in the us talking about the need for 2 states. Exactly and I think where I landed in the end was to try to use this prism of we talk about tradition how we talk about Middle Eastern politics and try to project that back onto the West the United States Britain and France most recently you mentioned from and in your apply that to what's been happening with the protests in Paris and the rest of the country and the yellow vest movement there's a liaison tell us a bit more power that kind of put myself in position of a journalist or an anthropologist covering the protest in France that there analogy for me was people were saying this is a leaderless movement it's organic it doesn't have a specific ideology which was quite tremendous and what people were saying about the 2011 are about prize things what was known at that time the Arab Spring so I thought this is a French spring is yeah it's a French ring precisely I'm so proud that the us sometimes but that was set up and it's what you do with it and then I started picking up on these absurd symbolism much as what some Western pundits obviously not all of them were doing in 2011 in sort of you know when you start to look at it and it's very I call it the anthropological prism and people are angry because we were all in the middle of economic recession that started. In 200720088 spread to the rest of the world of course people are going to protest of course they want more democracy and then people start to kind of fixate on very tangential issues do it is just something and their culture and kind of what I thought was a bizarre kind of representation so in the case of the French spring I picked on the symbolism of. A yellow vest and what does the yellow color represented started late in France a made up this completely fabricated symbolism and the fact that they don't have arms therefore they represent a form of helplessness and kind of try to imbue it with the kind of serious academic terminology that represents a kind of an understanding of what was happening on the ground and you can really absurd when I said this Lebanese anthropologist had studied French culture and concluded that when people burn cars they must be angry about something. And of course at the root of the French protest is surprise surprise it's all about I don't know exactly. What you. Think your people in the West in Europe and North America throwing up their hands and saying you know everything's going to pot off sort of liberal democratic systems are in crisis and the rest of it I mean do you see it like that that's really a great question because through the satire a lot of people aren't able to understand what. My position is realistically by I think where I am I think we're looking at established democracy is the have a very long tradition particularly look at Britain is definitely the oldest democracy in the world the way that I see it is there's too much hype about the end of democracy and there's lack of confidence in the system and the lack of confidence and the resilience of the system and that's what I tend to mock not the situation themselves but their responses by politicians political elites pundits where you know these things happen and they didn't happen because of a revolution they happened because of voting Ok I mean that's the big. Sin are you can ever have and you society that signs of change or disruption or even negative change are coming through peaceful means and through democratic means the question is how do you then express their robustness and their resilience and your more importantly your belief in democracy and that's what I tend to satirize to people's lack of confidence and belief in democracy you know when you talk about applying the anthropological language to situations in Western countries have you noticed also that Westerners journalists analysts and so on are also using that language to try and grapple with these questions of from phenomenon bricks or whatever it is to try and understand what's happening Yeah it's kind of a not just that for the 1st time in the lead up to the election of President where I think of his of b.b.c. Journalist one of your colleagues in somewhat an Alabama I think or somewhere he was talking to a man who was a trump supporter and he was asking him this question as you know about how I was going to vote why is he going to vote and then all of a sunny hits me that he was talking to him with the kind of what he called the same federalizing tone that we usually used to get from Western reporters in the Middle East and I realized there's something fundamentally changing over here and then as as kind of brags it happened then all of that happened I started to see it and the response of particularly the punditry class and journalism of that it's almost like we always talk about Orientalism when it comes to the relationship of Western commentary to the Middle East or the East in general and there's almost an internal Orientalism So you look at a London journalist looking at a place like Sunderland and thinking what is that place who are these people what's their culture like it's almost that sort of disconnect was created and that feeds back into the same argument that I've been talking about there's almost disconnect there's almost like an element of surprise of what happened since 2060 and it's not been tried to be explained through among. Simplicity of economic and political and social factors there's almost an element of exoticism about it and a flip senses almost like a moment of solidarity between though as the Middle Eastern people where all of a sudden we were covered in the in the same way. It was the Lebanese satirist. Speaking to James on the Twitter he goes under the handle of calm remarks his new book which comes out next year is called And Then God created the Middle East and said that there be breaking news you're listening to. News update here on the b.b.c. World Service by no means. Damon but I'm sitting in on Boxing Day And thanks very much for being with us. The b.b.c. World Service is very possible by American Public Media as the largest station based Public Radio organization in the u.s. A.p.m. Offers award winning content to audiences everywhere the b.b.c. World service connects audiences to the world from international news to arts and culture programming listeners hear global stories and perspectives not heard anywhere else. Really looking for additional tax reduction before the end of the year you can donate an unwanted vehicle to North State Public Radio weeks at most vehicles cars are used to motorcycles and trucks and turn the gift into support for the news music that you count on every day. Point No more beautiful donation program on line and my n.s.p. Our daughter. This is a press in a bar Coming up a new way to study can survive examining a virtual reality 3 d. Model of a chimera a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer has gone on trial we'll hear a personal perspective of life in Venezuela this year and we'll go back to the Californian town of Paradise which was destroyed by. The fast the news. B.b.c. News with I mean we cue this trail ia a New Zealand have strongly criticized Japan's decision to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whale hunting the Israelian foreign minister described the move as regrettable the trial of a Chinese human rights lawyer when Chen Jang on charges of state subversion has opened behind closed doors amid tight security in Sheehan gin Mr Wang to call in cases involving the banned fellow religious movement and complaints against police torture the South Korean delegation has taken part in a groundbreaking ceremony in North Korea marking the symbolic launch of a joint project to reconnect the transport network across the divided peninsula the ceremony included the laying of railway sleepers on the track reports from Italy say 10 people have been injured when an earthquake hit the area around in Sicily several buildings were damaged by the 4.8 magnitude quake. The British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has commissioned a report into what can be done to help more than 200000000 persecuted Christians around the world the Foreign Office said there's been a dramatic rise in violence against Christians with $250.00 killed every month because of their faith martial law declared in parts of Ukraine 30 days ago is due to enter day it was imposed in 10 regions after Russian special forces opened fire on 3 Ukrainian naval vessels passing through the care straight to reach Ukrainian ports in the sea of hours of the senior Iranian security official says that his country has had talks with the Afghan Taliban movement a leash on Honey said the Afghan government had been told about the negotiations and that they would continue and scientists in Britain have built a virtual reality 3 d. Model of a cancer providing a new way to look at the disease the tumors sample can be studied in detail and from all angles b.b.c. News. You're listening to old update from the b.b.c. In London I'm wrestling. Scientists in Cambridge have created a 3 d. Digital model of a cancer which can be studied using virtual reality although the human tissue sample was about the size of a pinhead within the virtual of oratory it could be magnified to appear several meters across researchers hope it will help them learn how cancers spread Professor Gregg Hanna on from cancer research u.k. Lead the project no one has looked at the geography of the tumour in this level of detail really the goal of our project is to try to understand how all of these cells within the patient influence each other what signals the lists and how do they influence each other's behavior. Professor Karen vows done is also from cancer research u.k. She's the chief scientist then and runs. The Francis Crick Institute in London which examines cancer metabolism and tumor biology she told me more about this new 3 d. Cancer model it's really our understanding that cancer Oh not just the cancer cell itself but a really big population of lots of different types of sounds rather cell for interacting with each other in a community where the cancer cells affect the normal body cells come into that area and it almost sounds kind of fact the cancer so what this project is doing is trying to build a sort of 3 dimensional map of that home environment including the cancer cells the normal cells and how the cells are interacting with each other and that will do well when you compare it to the 2 d. Version the has been used to date that will allow doctors to do Walt Well it will allow me of course research as to understand Mark how the cells talking to each other and interacting with each other maybe a good example more recently how harnessing the insects can help in the treatment of cancers and of course that will depend on the mean cells entering into the can say environment being at the cancer cells so what we actually see much more closely how cells are talking to each other how they interact with where they are it relates to each other and. The project will have a 3 dimensional model using virtual reality or through so actually through the cancer and see how the cells are interacting with each other so it's being talked about a virtual reality model of can you explain to our listeners what the point of the Avatar days because the researches use them so. Selves Didn't Well that's right so the point really is that you can store so much more information in this model so using the factual reality we can walk through the can so we can touch each cell and understand what that cell is we can get information on the genetics of that cell how it's looking. Even more information on how each cell is behaving in relationship to where it is compared to other cells so incredibly rich data source for us to understand how this whole ecosystem of the cancer is actually working how the whole cancer is working not just the cancer cells themselves and will it be used in the treatment of cancers all sorts of different cancers a raise or is it focused on a particular cancer where this particular model is focused on breast cancer it could be applied to any type of cancer to say that at the moment the amount of work involved in generating this model is a no recourse was also exciting here it's not only you think biologists and doctors but also computer scientists all the people who make these virtual reality games and now turning their attention and their intellect to problems of cancer research so the moment it's quite late brings handsets to develop one of these models and so initially of course we'll be using it for research to understand how cancers work but the pace at which all of this technology is moving forwards is so fast at the moment you know one day we may actually be at her pliant in the clinic in diagnostics all trying to determine the best therapy and this research is being conducted by scientists in in Cambridge but this is very much an international project isn't it that's right I mean this is a project that's being funded by cancer research case grand challenge project where we are giving people quite a lot of money. To really explore the absolute boundaries of what's possible and that's exactly what this project is doing so it's really very forward looking very exciting very cutting edge and it involves researches from around the world we firmly believe the best cancer research needs the best brains wherever they may be in the world I was Professor Karen the chief scientist at a cancer research ek. It has the largest oil reserves of any major oil exporting country but Venezuela has false become one of the poorest countries in South America its economy is in a tailspin with hyperinflation and mass unemployment critics accuse the government of mismanagement while President Nicolas Maduro points the finger at the United States in particular for undermining his government tens of thousands of Venezuelans have left to seek out a better future in Brazil and Colombia but for many of those who can't leave life is a desperate struggle the B.B.C.'s Vladimir and Manders has made regular trips back to the country of his birth this year here are his reflections on some of the extreme situations he's witnessed every time I start planning a new trip to Venezuela I feel like I'm taking this huge intake of air in my lungs in preparation to see suffering on an unimaginable scale fatherly things are much worse than I expected every time. When it is a hungry place in this last year I've been back several times to the country where I grew up and thin babies incredibly malnourished from times literally with almost only skin and bones I've seen their mothers with almost no tears left after who knows how many nights crying in the bare for being unable to feed their children I've seen tough and hardened children living off scraps in the street I've seen crowds of people chasing the bin lorry trying to get something to eat moving outside of big cities means almost certainly a road block in some gold for fake in town were locals with protruding cheekbones are demanding to anyone who may listen for some help. Venezuela is a desperate place supermarkets are regularly left with empty shelves at the shortages and hyperinflation are pushing them closer and closer to a complete shutdown any sight of luxury when I mean luxury it can be a simple steak The thing with this Dane by the majority of those who are unable to pay for it I clearly remember the anger in the eyes of a woman I met in western Venezuela when she was trying to remember when was the last time she had eaten chicken The answer was more than 2 years. It's all in the market. I remember also the time I went to a meat market with inverted commas rather than a meat market it was a place to buy fat and bones and some were even sent in rotten meat at a cut down price which incredibly also had custom of food is only $1.00 side of the meltdown of Venezuela many cities are struggling with the regular power cuts the u.n. Says millions of people have left the country and math in the last 2 years the economy has shrunk at least in half leaving many businesses shut down and not many airlines fly there anymore and Venezuela has an even darker side the country has some of the highest murder rates in the world something I was reminded of earlier this year when I was told that a half brother had gone out fission desperate to get something to eat for his family but our last leg pirates appeared out of nowhere and shot him and his companion dead threw them into the water they were both found half eaten by fish from days later cover in Venezuela as a journalist is extremely difficult but this can become harder beyond imagination when your own family end up become in real life examples of how bad things are. It's a story for which the word challenging doesn't seem strong enough which is why it is only when I live in a thriller that I feel I finally breathe out with some feeling of guilt fear relief that's what stays behind feel shock and beyond imagination for a country not stricken by war but by a simple economic collapse how it was the mayor and his It's 18 minutes to the hour with World update from b.b.c. . The British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has commissioned a review to examine how Britain can help persecuted Christians in parts of Africa Asia and the Middle East the Foreign Office estimates that 215000000 Christians face discrimination or violence last year this one says the u.k. Can and must do more we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can just as we do enormous amounts for for example the Muslim minority in Burma we want to make sure that we are also recognizing the very real plight of Christians in Nigeria for example all the top Christians in Egypt. The intervention by the foreign secretary comes after an outcry over the treatment of r.c.m. Be a Christian woman who faced death threats after being acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan say a baby spent 8 years on death row until her conviction was reversed by his own Supreme Court earlier this year I've been speaking to the British Pakistani writer. So what's her reaction to the announcement of this British review presumably championing any kind of freedom is a good thing I mean in the case of a country box under I don't know how that it's particularly helpful to look specifically at the plight of Christians because that's part of a much wider picture which is the plight of minorities in particular those of religious minorities who do find themselves dogshit for all kinds of reasons whether they're Christians whether the end of the whether they're Shia but in the context of wanting to implement a review looking at the way in which Christians are treated it is interesting to see that the case of us here Bibi is germane because her family was asking for asylum in this country and there's been no movement on that at all in fact she is still in Pakistan she is in there's He's a very little clarity from the British government about what the situation is and when you hear you know a rumor one day that she's not been given asylum because people are worried about the consular staff in Islamabad then you hear she's not being given asylum because people are worried about riots breaking out among Britain's Muslim population and then you hear well you know don't believe the things you hear what you make of the way in which that case played out because there was obviously a real sense of anger on the part of liberal Pakistan which appears to be shrinking in the context of the direction that Pakistan is moving well even liberal Pakistan is very often a liberal box and I mean it's you know it's a phrase that I don't know what it means because sometimes liberal Pakistan has been known to support a military dictator as long as you know he's known to like a glass of whiskey So it's a you know it's not necessarily the most helpful phrase but the us. Bibi case of course has you know had a lot of attention for some years and starting with the assassination of the former governor of Punjab Samantha Sera who in response to her case had called for reform of the country's blasphemy laws and was gunned down by his own bodyguard so it's been very much in the news and I have to say I really did think that she would live out her years in prison and it was quite extraordinarily brave of the justices in Pakistan to take on the review the case and find that there was no reason for her to continue to be held so when you talk about the bravery and the courage of the justices to do what they did the fallout has been water in your view because it does feel as though they almost certainly will be another case like it because of the nature of the blasphemy laws but also about the current climate in Pakistan you know right after the judgment was made you had rights improve his break not by the extremist far right groups in Iran Hunt came forward as prime minister made a statement to say the law is the law and anyone who is protesting who is still impugning the honor of the judiciary and the military we hold them to account we want to accept this and the next day he got in a plane to go to a trip to China and before we knew it his government was negotiating with these protesters so it's a very murky and unpleasant picture really and what we've seen in fact one of the years is that the far right has seen how much can be gained by street power and process they don't win in large numbers at the ballot boxes but they have learned how to take street bar and make mobilised against the government in ways that are terrifying when you talk about how the blasphemy laws are used against any minority What is the momentum behind that what propels that to be possible will ensure be said not only against minorities all that it's use Morgan's minorities what makes it possible is that it's such a nebulous law that if you want to accuse someone of something for what ever reason you have against men very often prop. He disputes the underlying reason if you accuse someone of the blasphemy law under the blasphemy law very often the mob will descend on them you know before the judiciary takes its course as laws go I mean you know one the but sickly odd things in blasphemy laws is you cannot repeat what the alleged offender has said because by your saying so it'll be an act of blasphemy to so I mean that just gives you a sense of the kind of trouble the slaw runs into and it has I think been very often used just as a form of persecution or to get someone of the way to get your back at someone but what about the context of Pakistan as an Islamic republic I mean it clearly it is being used by religious parties extremist religious parties in that context the subject of the blasphemy law has become one that you really don't want to touch too closely if you're in any way opposed to. The shape of it all the way in which it's been used but buxom is a country where you've been seeing just increasing levels of intolerance not only around religion but religion is is one things and this this desire to assert that you are the right kind of Muslim and other Muslims are not let alone non Muslims is one that has only been gaining strength over the decades. Was the Pakistani British Pakistani writer can learn Shamsi now is 2018 draws to a close right across the b.b.c. World Service we are looking back at a busy year in news yesterday here in the program you may have heard some of the best of Dan Damon's reporting from across the globe throughout the year but if you'd like even more you can now also download the 2018 end of year quiz from News Hour James Karzai puts James Menendez Rebecca b. Paul Henley and me to the test another name for it could just be annual ritual humiliation I will tweet a link to that quiz if you should like to follow follow it at is my Twitter handle also included at b.b.c. News. This is the b.b.c. In London here are the latest news headlines Australia New Zealand and the conservation group Greenpeace have bitterly criticized Japan's decision to resume commercial whale hunting next year and a prominent human rights lawyer who was detained after he took on cases of alleged police torture has gone on trial more on that story in just a moment officials from North and South Korea have taken part in a ceremony to mark a joint project to reconnect the transport network network across the divided peninsula and medical researchers in the English city of Cambridge have created a virtual reality 3 d. Model of a cancer tumor providing a new look tool new tool to tackle the disease. A high profile huge Chinese human rights lawyer detained more than 3 years ago has gone on trial today he is the latest prominent detainee sent to court by the ruling Communist Party Wang chin Jang who was taken into custody in July 2015 is the is the lawyer in question Let's speak now to our China correspondent Stephen McDonell in Beijing What was it that he was in appearing in court for what's he charged with Stephen. Well he's said to have been subverting state power it's a kind of pretty general accusation which can be interpreted many different ways it's a sense it's very sort of threatening the Communist Party with your own I guess what I would seize political organization or something like that. But the pen the punishments for this very serious like lengthy jail time is what he faces with this when you talk about lengthy jail time what are we talking about. Well so in terms of the the details. You know it's hard to get to the bottom of it because well 1st of all the whole trials in secret so we went down to the change in 2nd Intermediate People's Court and were not allowed in there were diplomats from the United States Britain Germany and Switzerland all also trying to go in they were told that this was not I've been to the public his wife in Beijing was allowed to leave her home that was sort of God's placed outside to stop her from going down to 10 gin and across the road we didn't have this kind of bizarre. Situation where the authorities were using these kind of fake news crews to take footage of the journalists there and also stand in front of our cameras to prevent sort of easy access to filming the court building even so a kind of strange and tense situation down there and all very secret the only thing we have heard from the court today is that there will be no verdict announced today and he is this lawyer Langton Jang is a practitioner of the prescribed Falun Gong spiritual movement he got in trouble for defending Fungo members that's that's what it was for. You know that the funny thing is another part of the world you might think what can be wrong with defending anybody in court you're a lawyer that's what you do you know sort of judge you know somebody one way or the other just giving them the best defense available to them but these lawyers were having some success the human rights lawyers partly by drawing attention to the trials and the Chinese sort of officialdom So all of this is I guess a political action but you know the encouraging protesters for example to turn up outside the court and kind of embarrassing the the court into giving them decent decisions and so this is what Saying him Well now one changing accused of threatening Communist Party power Stephen McDonell correspondent joining us live from Beijing thanks. U.s. President Donald Trump has ordered a vast expansion of commercial logging on federal lands to try to reduce the risk of wildfires the decision which has been criticized by some environmentalists comes at the end of a year when California recorded its deadliest and most destructive ever wildfire a blaze which ravaged the town of Paradise leaving 86 people dead and 3 missing in focusing on logging as the solution the trumpet ministration made no mention of climate change which his own scientists say is making fires worse our correspondent James Cook who reported from paradise while the fire was raging has returned to the town. When I 1st came to the Paradise fire was still raging around the time it was lunchtime but it was barely any light in the sky which was glowing a deep terrifying rain returning here a few weeks later and it is still shocking. Of homes are now tagged with brightly colored markings of the search teams many restaurants and businesses lie and ashes right now I'm standing inside the enormous charred shell of a huge supermarket a mass of twisted metal and splintered timber part of Di snow is the stuff of nightmares and then the this is what goes up and down in the field. Try to speaking through the dirty ashen remains of her workshop these are my embroidery machines whatever's left the home she shared with her husband has gone to if you manage to get any precious things from your home or from here or clothes on our back everything is gone so it's not just the personal loss of your home but it's rebuilding a business as well as a big financial burden. This is not just a tragedy for part of dice it's a disaster for California in just 2 decades the state has seen 16 of its 20 largest wildfires on record and 15 of the 20 most destructive in terms of property destroyed so what's going on we're giving billions and billions of dollars for forest fires in California there's no reason for those far far is to feel like they are there leaving them dirty. There it's just graceful thing old trees are sitting there rotting and dry and instead of playing it up they don't touch it they leave them there we end up with these massive fires and we're paying hundreds of billions of dollars for President Trump claims California for failing to manage its forests his administration. Suggests logging is the answer but I'm not walking into a very noisy sawmill that have a couple of forklift trucks running around here there is a maze of conveyor belts and blades slicing up the timber and what's striking is how complex this is it's full of computers assessing the greatest the wood as it were true this isn't just a crowd of guys with chainsaws. So Millis run by c.n.n. Pacific industries and Vice President. Agrees with Mr Trump he says environmental laws and a century of suppressing wildfires have left a dangerous landscape which must be thinned I think the president has a point. In some of the instances of the horsemen from California didn't accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish there's a lot of reasons for that and there are a lot of perceptions that have changed just over the past few years that used to be this idea of the forest primeval don't touch it don't do anything it'll take care of itself but some environmentalist disagree Dr Chan Thompson is from the John Muir project and he insists logging is not the answer you know with the Trump administration is just flat out wrong on the science on this you know really what logging does is it just creates a lot of combustible slash debris branches and limbs on the forest floor it spreads very combustible in various of grasses like to dress and it basically just reduces the canopy cover of the forest and so instead of the cooling shade of the forest canopy you get these very hot dry windy conditions and that just makes fires spread fast you clearly have some very grateful children for new it's very heartwarming we get. Pretty early this year with the devastating fires paradise and the others will get schools for all you know the entire classroom all as a writing projects and those cards the office of California. As Fire Chief Ken Pimlott is splashed with colorful cards the walls are covered with hundreds of them saying funk you there from children growing up under smoky skies the recognition for pretty from. The children these school groups it means a lot means more than what I think people really understand the chief is adamant wildfires here are getting bigger and more dangerous and one reason he says is obvious it is climate change what literally firefighters are on the front lines of climate change and California and really in other parts of the west we're seeing at these things changes in temperature these changes in weather patterns all of that is having a direct impact on fire conditions there the conditions of the vegetation the weather are surrounding these fires all those things that drive the fire for generations California has been known as the Golden State for some it remains heaven on earth but others what they that the future looks like this padded ice charred and ruined by an unstoppable force was James Cook reporting from the Californian town of Paradise That's it for me on to join me in 3 hours time. You are tuned to enter as p.r. North State Public Radio k c h o Chico and k.f. P.r. Reading listener supported public radio connecting the communities of Northern California a broadcast service the California State University Chico on the web and my n.s.p. Are dot org.