it, but then you do get the odd little bargain, so you think, 0h, it s worth doing, rather than just buying online. probably still be here on christmas eve next year but, again, i ll probably do quite a lot of it online. perhaps not exactly the three wise men, but their last minute present dash is no longer the daft idea it once was. colletta smith, bbc news, in manchester. now it s time for a look at the weather with nick miller. the weather looking much quieter for christmas day tomorrow. the showers we have had today fading away as we get into the night. still some coming along the breeze across western scotland and north west england. by the end of the night just western scotland this showers still with us. when the easing about, clearing skies, dropping temperature close to freezing. ground frost in some places going into the morning, one or two icy patches. a few early showers north and western scotland, even these will fade, sunshine around on a dry christmas day. pa
this is bbc news. the latest headlines. the duke of edinburgh has left hospital in time to spend christmas with the queen at sandringham. the queen will use her christmas day message to say that the past year has been quite bumpy adding that small steps can heal divisions. thousands of volunteer firefighters will spend christmas day battling wildfires that are still ravaging australia. and a warning to parents to keep button batteries away from children. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here s olly foster. the england all rounder ben stokes is a doubt for the first test against south africa. his father ged, who is 64, was taken ill yesterday and is in a critical condition in a johannesburg hospital. the four test series starts on boxing day. i just want to throw all our support behind him and his family and just stress the importance of respecting their privacy at this time. but it is really sad news. we are all there for him. you have no idea if
u.s. is restoring diplomatic ties with the caribbean country. investors around the world taking a close look at japanese firms and they like what they see. they are buying up stocks in some of the big movers and pushing the nikkei to levels not seen in years. ron madison has more from the business desk. you are right, buyers lifted the nikkei past the 19,000 mark for the first time in nearly 15 years. we did not stay over that. it did hit at the day at one point. the index soaring by 1.5%. at the close, here you see what happened. the index was up 1.4%. nikkei finished below the 19,000 level. many traders seeing positive signs in the japan economy. they are counting on firms to increase wages and that will give people the money to spend. and they are putting more money in domestic spots and the bond buying program in the eurozone will direct more cash into stocks. earlier, we spoke with the chief economist at the securities firm. he gave us the latest prices on stocks.