this is bbc world news, the headlines: it is christmas in the iraqi city of mosul and christians there are celebrating. it is the first time since 2014 they are free to observe the tradition after islamic state was finally driven from the city earlier this year. the russian opposition politician has says he has gathered enough support to stand against vladimir putin next year. tu rkey‘s against vladimir putin next year. turkey's government sack thousands more public employees linked to last you's failed coup and announces plans to hire more to replace them. and pope francis is conducting the traditional midnight mass at saint peter's basilica. hello and welcome to. it was past

midnight in northern iraq where mosul is celebrating its first christmas at the city was taken by islamic militants in 2014. is persecuted and drove out christians, whilst many who stayed were brutally repressed. more than 10,000 civilians are thought to have been killed in the battle to retake mosul according to a recent investigation by the associated press. they gathered in mosul‘s cathedral, marking a christmas they will never forget, the first christmas after the war. under the rule of the islamic state militants this would have been impossible. there could be no christian worship in public. the community was

persecuted and many fled. this was a coming together, not just of christians, muslims helped prepare the church for this service. and they were here too as the worship unfolded. mosul was the scene of months of ferocious street fighting. iraqi forces and their western allies battled to drive out the militants. thousands of civilians were killed and much damage was done. now the healing must begin and the christmas service is a small part of that vast process. translation: without peace there is no life. 0ur message is that after everything that happened with our glorious victory against islamic state group and others, we must all call for peace. among those in the church, the message was being heard. translation: we are from the muslim

community and today we share this glorious celebration with our christian brothers in the province and the city of mosul. we share theirjoy today and we hope our brothers outside of iraq from the christian community will return to mosul because we are all brothers and we are united. beneath the cross in the cathedral this christmas eve there was some of the best of the spirit of this time of year and nowhere needs it more than mosul. alan johnston, bbc news. now to bethlehem, where security is tight as pilgrims arrive in the city ahead of a midnight mass this evening to see in christmas. celebrations are taking place amid rising tensions in the region after the us decision to recognise jerusalem as israel's capital earlier this month. 0ur correspondent tom bateman told us about the day's events in bethlehem. today has very much been a day of

ritual, a day of festive tradition. we watched as the procession of christians followed the route along star street into manger square here up star street into manger square here up to the church of the nativity, which is the 1500 —year—old basilica, built on the site it is believed christ was born. that happens every year, there is a ritual tradition to all of this. then we expect midnight mass will ta ke then we expect midnight mass will take place both with the most senior roman catholic clergymen of this area where he will talk to the gathered congregation, and also the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas, who always attend this event each year. there is a sort of bubble of festivity in manger square, but outside of that this takes place against a backdrop of growing hostility. we have had two and half weeks of daily clashes

between palestinians and israeli troops ever says donald trump's announcement on jerusalem. you mentioned the announcement that jerusalem is now the capital of israel according to the us. i understand that to us has gone down since the announcement was made. sadly the tourist economy in bethlehem has taken a severe dent ever since the announcement was made. it was notjust the ever since the announcement was made. it was not just the fact the us initially advised many of its citizens not to attend the occupied west ba n k citizens not to attend the occupied west bank and not to go to the old city ofjerusalem, but it was also the fact that many pilgrims and domestic tourists were worried about coming to bethlehem and were worried about those clashes. i was talking toa about those clashes. i was talking to a hotelier yesterday who said for about ten days before christmas eve things were pretty bad. some hotels had zero occupancy, the place

had been emptied in many ways. i spoke to the mayor of bethlehem a bit earlier and he was keen to put a gloss on it. he said there had been bad weather, and otherwise people we re bad weather, and otherwise people were showing up. hundreds of people here came to enjoy the celebrations during the day and they will continue into the night. but there is no doubt that this has dampened the mood. let's show you these live pictures coming out of that in city and saint peter's basilica where thousands of people are gathered we re thousands of people are gathered were pope francis is conducting the traditional christmas eve mass at saint peter's. there are also thousands outside the basilica in saint peter's square. people travel from all around the world to attend this event. they attend to hear the pope delivery the

traditional homily and beside over the service. it is not quite midnight in vatican city, it is just a little bit after ten. but that midnight mass is under way. thousands inside saint peter's basilica and thousands outside as well watching the pope conducting the midnight mass. the russian opposition says he has got the number of seats he needs to be registered in the election in march. he told a meeting in moscow that the support he has got in 20 cities in russia proves he is a viable alternative to vladimir putin. sarah rainsford has more. in this huge tent on a river beach on the outskirts of moscow there are hundreds of people who have been

queueing for some hours now to show their support for the anti—corruption their support for the anti—corru ption activist who their support for the anti—corruption activist who wants to be president of russia. he says russians have had enough of vladimir putin and corruption and that russia needs to change and he argues he is the man to do that. these people ee, the man to do that. these people agree, they have come to sign up to nominate him as their official candidate, the beginning of the official process for registration. but the problem is because of a criminal conviction, which he says is politically motivated, he will not be allowed to register. is politically motivated, he will not be allowed to registerlj is politically motivated, he will not be allowed to register. i think he is the only real candidate for president will stop i do not want to live in a corrupted country and i have hope only for this man navalny. everyone is raising their red cards to show that they support navalny.

translation: we are ready to win these elections and we will win. i say this without irony. this year we have seen that putin does not have mass support anywhere. even with all his resources he has no support. there is just melancholy and emptiness. mr navalny has to bring the signatures of his supporters to russia's central electoral commission. if they reject his candidacy, he says he will go on fighting. he has talked about boycotting the elections, protest, a strike. he wants to prove he is a viable alternative to vladimir putin and what happens here over the next few days will be the first real test of that. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: tunisia has banned all airlines from

the united arab emirates from landing in the country. it comes two days after the uae and tunisian women flying through its territory. the un says this was due to security information. the first of the group of 80 venezuelan activists have been released from prison in what is called a gesture of christian goodwill. the government says all those general tab plotted to overthrow the president. freda ramos, a former provincial mayor, insists he has not committed any crime. tens of thousands of people are homeless after a tropical storm in the philippines that's left more than 200 dead and another 150 missing. rescue teams are struggling to reach some of the affected areas. our world affairs correspondent richard galpin reports. at last, some aid now getting to those most in need, after this latest storm to hit the philippines begins to subside. troops helping deliver supplies here in the southern region of mindanao, which

lay right in the path of the storm. reaching these impoverished areas has not been easy. they were hit by a landslide, mudslides, caused by an inordinate amount of rainfall that caused the ground to move and killed people innocently. as well as surging currents from swollen rivers that went over their banks, it swept people out of their homes and killed many others as well. the speed with which the rivers were turned into lethal torrents over the weekend caught people here by surprise. many drowning in their own homes, others buried under mudslides, including children. the call for people to evacuate in good time before the storm didn't have an effect. the storm passed over some of the poorest areas in the whole philippines.

at least 200 people are known to have died. large numbers are still missing, and tens of thousands have been forced to move away, in search of emergency shelter. in rome today, pope francis offered prayers for the people of mindanao in his weekly blessing to the crowd on st peter's square. translation: merciful lord, take in the souls of the dead and comfort those who are suffering as a result of this calamity. let's pray for these people. at least tropical storm tembin has now been moving away from the philippines. it's currently over the south china sea, where it's picking up strength again and has been categorised as a typhoon. it's expected to hit vietnam later this week.

meanwhile, the people of the southern philippines continue the search for loved ones. they will be hoping for much more help to reach them in the coming days. with me is sarah keith—lucas from bbc weather. why is this storm is so powerful and why is this storm is so powerful and why has it done so much damage? it rapidly intensified when it was to the east of the philippines. we had a conducive atmospheric condition so the wins in the atmosphere were not varying very much, so the storm really developed vertically and very quickly. the other thing is the sea is pretty worn across that region, warmer than average. we are coming out of el nino conditions which means we can to see bigger storms across this part of the world because the sea is warmer, adding more fuel to these big typhoons. because the sea is warmer, adding more fuel to these big typhoonsm the southern philippines prone to these storms? do we normally see them in this area? normally they are

further north. sometimes they reach further north. sometimes they reach further south, so it does see typhoons and tropical storms, but it is usually a bit further north in the philippines, so this particular typhoon, is track, it is slightly odd that it is by south. where is it going next? it is heading out into the south china sea and it is intensifying once again. it is producing winds of 185 kilometres an hour. it is heading toward southern parts of vietnam and is likely to make landfall on the southern tip, to the south of ho chi minh city. it could cause devastating flooding across a wide part of southern vietnam. we are expecting about 300 millimetres of rain to fall across southern vietnam with coastal flooding and even inland there could be flooding issues, as well as the damaging winds that will be sweeping across vietnam. it will then head

out into the gulf of thailand, probably a bit weaker, but still bringing damaging winds and rain, before heading towards southern parts of thailand. wye we will keep an eye out on that storm. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... we'll go to japan to meet the priests who see in the new year with a smile in what's known as a laughing ceremony. we saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach and people started to run and it was complete chaos. united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. but it has failed indispensable objective. it captured general noriega and took him to the united states to face drugs charges.

the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. the day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of the plane nosed down in the soft earth. you can see what happens when a plane eight stories high and a football pitch wide falls from 30,000 feet. business has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 yea rs. communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass when our anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: it is christmas in the iraqi city of mosul and christians are celebrating for the first time since 2014 when they have been free to observe the tradition after islamic state was finally driven out of the city. tradition after islamic state was finally driven out of the city. hundreds have come out

to support russian opposition politician alexei navalny, who says he has enough backing to challenge vladimir putin in elections next year. an international medical ngo is waiting to hear the fate of seven children in urgent need of cancer treatment who are trapped in the besieged area of eastern ghouta close to the syrian capital damascus. the union of medical care and relief 0rganisations wants syrian president bashar al—assad to allow them to evacuate the children. they are among more than 130 children needing urgent medical treatment there. it's been under siege now for four years. a short while ago we spoke to hamish de bretton—gordon an advisor for the union of medical care and relief organisations. i started by asking him to tell me about the process of negotiating with the syrian president. we have done it before. this time last year we approached the syrian government and also president putin, the russian president, to allow a

ceasefire to allow us to get 500 children out of aleppo. in that case it worked. so we decided when we heard about the seven children with curable cancer to go down the same route. yesterday we approached bashar al—assad's office and we spoke to him via intermediaries who told us that he knew exactly the problem is at the moment and he knew about these children and he would consider whether he would allow a ceasefire and we have been told to call him back on tuesday morning to hopefully get that ceasefire in place and then we can go in there and get the children out and get them the medical treatment they so desperately need. it is almost an insight into how president assad is running this war, the fact that he personally is going to have to consider whether you can undergo this evacuation. it yes, i think it

isa this evacuation. it yes, i think it is a horrendous situation. discussions with the un and the world health organisation and they have told me they had been trying to get these children out for the last four months. it seems that the only way to do it is to apply directly to the president who seems to have the gift of life and death for these people who is prepared to do it. this has been an horrific conflict and the city has been besieged for four years. 400,000 people are trapped there with very little food and no medicine. it is a desperate situation and also it is a long way from perfect, it is worth doing. if we can save these seven children may be we may also be able to get out the other 125 children who we understand our desperately in need of sophisticated medical support which they cannot get there. these

children that need treatment, do you know how long they might have before it may be too late? i am not a medical person so i would not go into specifics here. we understand some are more ill than others, but they certainly have a few weeks. i understand these types of cancer, the earlier you start treatment, the prognosis is very much one of survival. i have been speaking to the doctors there recently and they have reaffirmed to me that if these children get the right treatment, they have a very good chance of surviving and a very good chance of a full life. without that treatment the prognosis is very much worse and they will die. that was an adviser for the union of medical care and relief organisations. more public sector employees in turkey have been sacked for alleged links with the us—based cleric fethullah gulen, blamed for last year's

failed coup attempt. 2,700 employees have been sacked through a public decree. they include military personnel. in total, around 150,000 civil servants have now been sacked since july last year. after the sackings, the government announced plans to hire more than 100,000 public sector workers in the coming year. i asked our europe regional editor mike sanders if there was any due process to find the sacked employees guilty before their sacking. well, it is difficult to ascertain exactly how they are selected. it could well be that they are just announced by colleagues for whatever reason. it is very difficult for someone to approve or disapprove the government's allegation that they have been involved in the attempted coup back in july last have been involved in the attempted coup back injuly last year. the main criteria is that they have some kind of association with this cleric who is based in the united states.

the government accuses him of being behind the coup. but as his organisation has no official membership list, how can someone prove that they are or not involved with it? they are hiring thousands to replace the people they have sacked because the public service has effectively been decimated. absolutely, the schools especially. there has been a shortage of teachers in the class and among this latest hiring round there will be 20,000 new teachers. it is very difficult for the people who have been sacked to get theirjobs back. 0nce been sacked to get theirjobs back. once they have been sacked they will not get another job once they have been sacked they will not get anotherjob in the public sector, so they are in dire straits because their welfare benefits will because their welfare benefits will be stopped as well because of the manner of the sacking. and there is a stigma attached to being

associated to the true no matter how unfounded that might be. there is another decree that has been announced, effectively nudity for civilians. can you explain that? in november last year the government announced an immunity for service personnel who were involved in stopping the plot, so if they had been deemed to use excessive force they would not get prosecuted for that and they would not lose out financially or in terms of their promotion. this has now been extended to civilians who were also involved in stopping the coup plotters. but there is a great worry because there is a vague wording. it says people involved in suppressing the coup on july says people involved in suppressing the coup onjuly the says people involved in suppressing the coup on july the 15th says people involved in suppressing the coup onjuly the 15th last says people involved in suppressing the coup on july the 15th last year, 01’ the coup on july the 15th last year, or the continuation thereof, or other terror acts. 0pposition politicians have been quick to go on twitter to say it is so open ended it could encourage bridger landis to ta ke it could encourage bridger landis to take action against people suspected of, for whatever reason, of being

coup plotters even now. champagne and fireworks may be part of your new year's ritual, but at one shrine injapan, they have an entirely different way of saying ‘out with the old, in with the new‘. rylee carlson explains. it's a new year's ritual in osaka, japan. filing into this shrine looking for a fresh start. here they follow the chief priest. and then, on his cue... priest: ha, ha, ha! crowd: ha, ha, ha! this is a laughing ceremony to forget the bad they have experienced throughout the year. translation: i laughed all the bad things away. i hope next year will be filled with laughter. the ritual is based on a japanese myth that says laughter opens the cave of the sun goddess. the priests keep them going for about 20 minutes. it spreads throughout the temple.

laughter is contagious, as they say. and here injapan, so is the hope of a happy new year. rylee carlson, bbc news. that is one way of doing it. before we go let's show you the pictures of the last two known dancing bears from an animal charity. they were rescued. they suffered a lifetime of cruelty after being sold to their owner for the illegal centuries—old practice of bad dancing. police and animal charities spent more than a year tracking down the two sloth bears and they were eventually traced near the border with india. they are now being cared for. good evening. the festive forecast

is not looking particularly cold or a wintry. it has been a mild state again today and this was the scene from one of our weather watchers in cambridgeshire. quite a lot of rain around and this continues through to christmas day as well. it is mild and breezy and for some of us damp. for the rest of this evening and overnight we have got rain in the western pa rt of overnight we have got rain in the western part of the country. further south and east it is breezy and cloudy and mostly dry. for most of us cloudy and mostly dry. for most of us it is looking frost free. some cold air pushing into the far north. 0n cold air pushing into the far north. on christmas day many central and southern parts of england and wales will have a breeze coming in from the south—west. later on the rain will work its way in on the west. the rain arrives across the west of

wales and into cornwall. much of england and wales is mild, the odd bright spell breaking through. rain in northern england and northern ireland and the potential for some snow on the highest ground. northern scotla nd snow on the highest ground. northern scotland will see that colder air working in, so we could see the odd flick of a show in the north of scotland. christmas day evening ‘s rain turns quite heavily as it moves eastwards and there is the potential for a bit of winter in the central lowlands. we are keeping a close eye on that. things are turning colder for boxing day and there could be the odd bit of ice around first thing in the morning. more sunshine than we have seen recently, perhaps the odd wintry shower in the north of scotland. later in the days of wet and windy weather arriving in the far south—west. temperatures cooler than they have been. through

boxing day evening that rain gets going in the south and pushes its wa ke going in the south and pushes its wake eastwards and there is quite heavy rain and squally winds moving eastwards. as we head into boxing day night and into wednesday that low pressure day night and into wednesday that low pressure moves day night and into wednesday that low pressure moves towards the east and we are left with an northerly flow of air. heavy rain initially on wednesday and then return to a few scattered showers. things feeling colder than we are used to. it is bbc news, the headlines. it is christmas in mosul and christians

there are celebrating. it is the first time since 2014 they have been allowed to observe the tradition. russian opposition politician says he has the signatures he needs to be registered as a candidate for the presidential election in march. he said he will call a boycott if remains disqualify. tu rkey‘s remains disqualify. turkey's government has sacked other officials since last year's failed coup. tunisia has banned all airlines from the united arab emirates from landing in the country. becomes two days after the uae banned tunisian women flying to or transiting through its territory. those are the headlines.