we care for the earth for the sake of our children's children. during my lifetime, i've been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the earth and our natural world, as the one home which we all share. ifind great inspiration now from the way so many people recognise this, as does the christmas story, which tells us that angels brought the message of hope, first, to shepherds. these were people who lived simply amongst others of god's creatures. those close to nature were privileged that night. and at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the world, i pray that we can also do all in our power to protect each other.

the words ofjesus seem more—than—ever relevant, "do to others as you would have them do to you." such values are universal, drawing together our abrahamic family of religions, and other belief systems, across the commonwealth and wider world. they remind us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of our neighbours and to seek their good as we would our own. so, on this christmas day, my heart and my thanks go to all who are serving one another, all who are caring for our common home and all who see and seek the good of others, not least the friend we do not yet know. in this way, we bring out the best in ourselves. i wish you a christmas of peace

on earth and goodwill to all, today and always. # while shepherds watched their flocks by night # all seated on the ground # the angel of the lord came down # and glory shone around all: # "fear not," said he # for mighty dread # had seized their troubled mind # "glad tidings of greatjoy i bring # "to you and all mankind

# "to you in david's town this day # "is born of david's line # "a saviour who is christ the lord # "and this shall be the sign younger children: # "the heavenly babe # "you there shall find # "to human view displayed # "all meanly wrapped in swathing bands # "and in a manger laid" unison with descant: # "all glory be to god on high # "and on the earth be peace # "goodwill henceforth from heaven to men # "begin and never cease!"#

happy christmas, hope you are having a lovely day. whether you are celebrating or taking it easy. is the forecast for the rest of christmas day and boxing day, so today cloudy with rain for some of us are blustery to. very mild and boxing day looking a lot more promising with more sunshine in the forecast. it's been so mild because of the south—west is riding along this conveyor belt of cloud, whether from bringing rain today, so essentially so speaking, mostly clear skies. essentially speaking, mostly clear skies. the temperatures despite the clear skies won't be all that low, around three degrees and the five for birmingham and about seven in plymouth and cold in the highlands. we start the day on a bright if not

sunny note, beautiful weather, beautiful weather for a walk in the park but the skies will turn cloudy in the south—west of the country are very quickly from morning onwards, hazy skies for wales in the midlands and then rain expected early in the afternoon across the south—west. and it should reach the south of wales by the latter part of the afternoon, and certainly by the evening hours, moving further northwards. but to the north it should stay clear. now the forecast then, tuesday night into wednesday, shows the weather fronts sweeping across the uk. it's a large area of low pressure, with a broad band of rain, a broad band of gale force winds around southern coasts, west and east and northern coasts too. temporarily some transient snow there, perhaps across the pennines, but most certainly across the highlands. in fact, above 200 metres, we could see ten to 15 centimetres of snow. so a really rough day for some of us on wednesday, and quite a temperature contrast, around freezing also with that wintry weather in the highlands, at least for a time. to the south of that, temperatures are in double figures on wednesday.

now the low pressure bringing this unsettled weather will continue into thursday. in fact, it's a very large area of low pressure, stretching from the north atlantic across the uk, all the way towards the baltic, and more weather fronts running along there, with strong winds. so here's the outlook then that takes us into 202a. it's an unsettled picture. briefly, a lull in the weather, with something a little bit colder on saturday, but then more wind and rain.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu visits troops in gaza and says the fighting will deepen in the coming days. gaza's health ministry says over 250 people were killed in the last 2a hours, including 70 in a blast targeting the maghazi refugee camp. protestors in serbia launch road blocks in the capital, belgrade, calling for a re—run of recent elections, following claims of ballot rigging. king charles in his annual christmas broadcast has praised the "selfless army" of volunteers serving communities across the uk, describing them as the "essential backbone of our society".

now on bbc news. nobel minds 2023: episode one. hello and welcome to nobel minds with me, zainab badawi, from the royal palace in stockholm. we'll be hearing from this year's nobel laureates. in the audience, we're joined by some of their family and friends, as well as students from here in sweden. joining us are their royal highnesses, the crown princess victoria of sweden, and prince daniel. your royal highness, you want to say a few words of welcome and to tell us a little bit about where exactly we are in your palace?

well, thank you. so nobel laureates, ladies and gentlemen, viewers, i'd like to wish you a warm welcome to the royal palace here in stockholm and to the bernadotte library. this library holds over 100,000 books that used to belong to the kings and queens of the house of bernadotte. this is a very special library in that sense. but we're not here to read. we're here to listen. and we're here to listen to the nobel laureates, to their knowledge and wisdom and their contributions to science and economics. so thank you all forjoining today. thank you for hosting us. thank you, your royal highness. thank you. welcome to nobel minds and the first of our two programmes. laureates, this is the first time that you've been brought together in discussion on television. renewed congratulations to you all. but do you know what? just looking around the table, i'm very struck by the fact that, for once, i'm joined by three women,

a very rare occurrence. and it's got me wondering, why do you think that there