this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.00: prince harry and meghan markle have arrived with the queen and other senior royals at sandringham for a christmas service. the queen will pay tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks in her christmas day broadcast. the pope urges the world not to ignore the plight of migrants forced to leave their countries because of violence. also: christmas away from home for nearly 200,000 british armed forces personnel, including in afghanistan and iraq. the bbc is at one military base in iraq, as troops reflect on christmas away from their loved ones. what do i miss most? a good christmas dinner i think will be the one. you know, mum's cooking. euston station is opening as a shelter today — to serve christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. and the most desirable gadgets and

gizmos from 2017th with the click tea m gizmos from 2017th with the click team in half an hour here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the queen and other members of the royalfamily the queen and other members of the royal family have arrived at church in sandringham forthe royal family have arrived at church in sandringham for the main carol service this morning. with them was prince harry's the unsafe fiance meghan markle. she is there other first—time —— the fiancee of harry. prince philip was not with the queen, but he is at the service. he arrived later with other senior

members of the royal family. joining me now from among the crowds at the sandringham estate in norfolk is our royal correspondent, daniela relph. i thought prince philip had stayed away but he is there with meghan markle and prince harry. away but he is there with meghan markle and prince harryli away but he is there with meghan markle and prince harry. i should have warned you because yesterday he walked up to church, as well. he's in good health and enjoying the bracing walk from sandringham to the church. the duke of edinburgh walked with the younger members of the royalfamily, the with the younger members of the royal family, the queen with the younger members of the royalfamily, the queen being driven to st mary magdalene church. being seen into the church by the duchess of cornwall and we saw other members of cornwall and we saw other members of the royal family led of cornwall and we saw other members of the royalfamily led by of cornwall and we saw other members of the royal family led by the prince of wales and prince andrew, up prince of wales and prince andrew, up from the main house to the church and we did see meghan markle, which is what so many people had wanted to see here, dressed in a creamy brown coat, brown hat, brown boots, linking arms with her fiance prince harry and alongside the duke and duchess of cambridge. we can hear the beginning of the service starting with the national anthem

being played from inside the church. speakers outside play the service to the crowd who have been waiting, some since 5am, hoping they'll get the chance to speak to some owners of the royal family when they leave the service. and extended family there. we saw princesses beatrice and eugenie. prince andrew. what is the format for the day? what goes on after that? when they leave the church, the queen will generally be driven away, she may take flowers from some of the children here. 0ther from some of the children here. other members of the royal family, including the prince of wales, prince andrew, prince edward, will linger and talk to the crowd as they make their way back to the house. we can expect to see some pictures of the royal family engaging with some of the people who have been waiting for a long time and hopefully we will see meghan markle and prince harry. a lot are americans, we spoken to a lot of people from raf lakenheath in spoken to a lot of people from raf la kenheath in suffolk spoken to a lot of people from raf lakenheath in suffolk who are here, hoping to talk to meghan markle. a

lot are americans, they want to talk to this american who will be marrying into the royalfamily to this american who will be marrying into the royal family next year. hopefully we will get a sense and be able to talk to some people and be able to talk to some people and have a chat with —— who have a chat with the royal family. they then go back to the house at sandringham and have a traditional christmas lunch of turkey ahead of watching the queen's christmas message at 3pm. prince philip has obviously stepped back from some public engagements, although he attends some events with the queen. he's done this before, made new members of the family feel welcome. yes, he has very much. he's very much on a personal level the head of the family, if that makes sense. clearly the queen as this official role in terms of the royal family, but on a more personal level, managing the home and the family, it is the duke of edinburgh who often leads on that. he will of course wa nt to leads on that. he will of course want to be making the new member of the family feel welcome. she must be a bit nervous, but confident and she seems to be when we see her. this is

quite a nerve—racking thing to be pa rt quite a nerve—racking thing to be part of the wider royal setup. this is the best time today we have seen meghan markle in public with the wider royalfamily. meghan markle in public with the wider royal family. this meghan markle in public with the wider royalfamily. this group meghan markle in public with the wider royal family. this group of people who will become her own family next may when she marries prince harry. this is quite new today. she's kept her head down a bit, tucked into prince harry as she walked up. maybe a few nerves, but i think all the members of the royal family will want to make her feel welcome to date. i think we can forgive heard the nerves. i gave away a little secret earlier. somebody told me they opened some of their christmas presents on christmas eve. is that right? yes, that's right. that's not back to their german ancestry. it started with queen victoria's husband albert, who set up this tradition of opening the guests on christmas eve. there is a team here at sandringham on christmas eve, baguettes are on the table and the royal family exchange most of their gifts there.

nothing extravagant. the tradition is often forjokey presence or something more personal and home made. it's not big extravagant expense of presence, but there is a swa p expense of presence, but there is a swap of gifts on christmas eve. expense of presence, but there is a swap of gifts on christmas evelj like that tradition, two days of christmas presents, i think my children would like that. and mine! will come back to you later when the carol service is over. let's take you straight to rome and the vatican because pope francis is delivering his christmas address. he is currently standing on the central balcony of the saint peters basilica and if i know rome well, as a former correspondent, there will be hundreds of people in the square listening to this address. another tradition in the catholic world, speaking to1.5 tradition in the catholic world, speaking to 1.5 billion catholics around the world. it is a papal address and an apostolic blessing

and he will read it initially, i would think, in italian and then there will be other languages, as well. if you are wanting to watch this address, you can pick it up on...i this address, you can pick it up on... i understand you can watch it on... i understand you can watch it on youtube on vatican tv. it is broadcast on vatican television and also on european broadcasting, they ta ke also on european broadcasting, they take it lives. there you see the impressive sight, the central balcony, as pope francis delivers his speech. last night, he gave the late mass inside the basilica. he spoke about the plight of migrants around the world. at times he's come in opposition against world politicians. he's spoken out on behalf of migrants. last night he was likening the plight of migrants around the world to the story of mary and joseph and trying to find a home as mary was about to give birth

to jesus. there home as mary was about to give birth tojesus. there he is, the pope, on the central balcony at the basilica. let's listen into a bit of that. translation: who suffer from hunger and the spread of diseases. we see jesus and the children —— in the children of africa, especially those suffering in south sudan, democratic republic of congo, central african republic of congo, central african republic and nigeria. we seejesus in the children worldwide, wherever peace and security are threatened by the danger of tensions and new conflicts. let us prey... studio: the pope making reference to migrants around the world as he has done throughout the christmas message this year and you saw some of the people down there in the

square, lots of people turning up in rome today to listen to that. meanwhile services have taken place across the uk and further afield. 0ur religion editor martin bashir reports. at westminster cathedral, cardinal vincent nicholls, leader the roman catholic church in england and wales, framed his christmas message as a statement of concern for the way we tend to communicate with each other. he said we often prefer conflict to dialogue, hostility instead of a willingness to listen. it's a manifestation of a kind of radical individualism, and while the individual is hugely important, we have to know that we are also built to belong to each other. we are built to have relationships, and to work and find our best through relationships. he went on to say that as we gaze into a nativity scene at christmas, we find one who can free us from the choking effects of disagreement and strife.

christ himself. and at the very beginning of the christmas narrative here in bethlehem, in a land defined by walls of separation, a renewed call for reconciliation. here in manger square, a midnight service has been held at the church of the nativity, where the archbishop ofjerusalem said that whilejesus was born in a town under roman occupation, he was identified as the prince of peace. martin bashir, bbc news, in bethlehem. plenty of people are working today. it's vested in our newsroom, the quality street are out. almost 200,000 people are currently serving as part of the uk armed forces. for many on foreign deployments, it means christmas away from loved ones. yesterday, bbc news visited one military base in iraq as troops prepare to spend today farfrom home.

dan johnson reports. i'm not going to pretend that it's not difficult to be in iraq over christmas. of all the families apart this christmas, these are amongst the furthest away, for the longest amount of time. this is my first christmas away from home in the army, and to be honest, i'm here with the lads, i'm here with my guys, here with my friends. so, yeah, it's not with the family but it's quite good. as you see, it's a good atmosphere. it's good fun. after 21 years' service, you get used to being away from home. it gets harder when you've got a wife and child at home. obviously you won't get to see your daughter open her presents on christmas day. some improvisation helps give a feel of christmas in the desert. but, of course, not everything can be replicated. they've done quite well, doing it with old tyres. what will i miss most... a good christmas dinner i think would be the one, mum's cooking. it's a reminder that british troops are still serving in iraq,

rebuilding the country, and others around the world. work that doesn't stop for christmas. dan johnson, bbc news. burglars have broken into a home in oxford and stolen food and christmas presents worth about £2000. thames valley police said toys and clothes were among the items stolen from an address in walton street yesterday. the culprits opened some of the parcels in the street and dropped the paper. a british woman being held in an egyptian prison for drug smuggling offences will appear in court later today. laura plummer was arrested in october when she was found with 290 tramadol tablets in her suitcase. the painkiller is legal in the uk, but not in egypt. her family has maintained she wasn't aware the drug was illegal. if found guilty she faces up to 25 years in prison. surrey police are trying to identify a man who was found unconscious

in a ditch yesterday afternoon. they've released pictures of the man's clothing in an attempt to track down his family. the man, who is thought to be in his 20s, is in a serious condition in hospital. they say the man was wearing a red and white checked shirt and red canvas shoes. ten people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack close to afg hanistan‘s national intelligence agency in the capital, kabul. the bomber was apparently on foot, and targeted people as they arrived into work. the so—called islamic state group said it carried out the attack. 0ur correspondent, khalil noori, is following developments in kabul where he sent this update a short time ago. a suicide attackjust happened right in the morning rush—hour time. hospital and security sources say that at least six people, including four civilians and two military or security personnel are killed, and five others are wounded. police say the suicide bomber was a young boy on foot,

trying to reach one of the national security intelligence agency facilities. before he reached the target, he was recognised by police. and one of the security personnel held him tight. and he was able to blow himself up. this is the second attack that has been claimed by so—called islamic state in as many weeks. does that suggest they are getting a foothold in afghanistan? as you mentioned, it is the second attack by is in the capital in a couple of weeks. today's attack has happened inside the green zone under tight security measures, which is the international forces‘ headquarters, a number of embassies, and the more important security intelligence departments are based on the same road.

afghan security sources say that is is defeated in afghanistan. despite all of this, our sources say that is fighters are operating in the north of afghanistan and in the eastern provinces like kandahar and provinces bordering to pakistan. the headlines on bbc news: prince harry and meghan markle have arrived with the queen and other senior royals at sandringham for a christmas service. the queen will pay tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks in her christmas day broadcast. the pope urges the world not to ignore the plight of migrants forced

to leave their countries because of violence. it might be deepest winter at home, but england's cricketers will step out into the summer sunshine in australia later today for the first session of the next ashes test. they have already lost the series but organisers expect a sell out at the melbourne cricket ground as they try to rescue some pride. patrick gearey reports. the ashes gone, and still they come. there is a reason england's fans are called the barmy army. when they are not watching cricket, they are playing it, and they have called up mr root to their team. not the england captain, but his brother billy, a professional himself, who has had to watchjoe lose the urn with everyone else. i think he will always enjoy the challenge of it. i think there will be times where he is frustrated. but i think it is the sort of thing he will enjoy taking on, a tough challenge like this. challenge is an understatement. comment and criticism comes with cricket in australia. in the past week, root has had to watch the ashes go, and had to listen to his captaincy be described as soft and childlike

by former australian skipper ricky ponting. he doesn't spend any time in our dressing room. he doesn't spend much time around the squad, so i don't think i would go about things as a little boy, for sure. i have my own way of doing things. i think it is important that you don't try and be something that you're not. now he takes his team into a test like no other. boxing day in melbourne is a national occasion, notjust a sporting one. australian values of history, tradition and competition mean there will be no going easy on england. this is the notorious bay 13 of the mcg. home to the most raucous supporters in cricket. they will be reminding which ever poor england fielder who has the misfortune of being posted near to them exactly what the score is in this series and how bad it could yet get for them. words can't hurt england but runs do. steve smith provides them and the aussie captain will play, despite injuring his hand in training. ashes series can numb as well as inflict pain. it's been a good summer so far. 0bviously won back the urn which was the objective

at the start of the series, and we've got an opportunity to keep winning. that's been my message to the boys. don't worry about 5—0 at this stage, you have to win this one first. even on christmas morning, even with the series decided, they come to watch practise in melbourne. more than 90,000 will be here on boxing day to pick over the ashes left overs. patrick gearey, bbc news in melbourne. if you're disappointed that your dreams of a white christmas didn't come true, spare a thought for a gi’oup come true, spare a thought for a group of five british women who have got more than their fair share of snow. they are on a historical journey of a lifetime, using ski power alone to cross the antarctic unaided. natalie taylor is a british army

major with the four other women. i think she's on the phone. can you hear us? hello, i can hear you clearly. happy christmas. merry christmas to you. you are out there on one of the harshest environments on one of the harshest environments on earth. tell us what it's like and how the expedition has gone so far. oh, well, we have 2a hours... in antarctica. there are six women from the british army. we've done eight hours of skiing today. it was —20 when we started and it's about —25 with wind chill. we've been blessed with wind chill. we've been blessed with beautiful sunshine if not a little cold and draughty when we're skiing. we're having our christmas dinner which is mashed potato which has been dehydrated and rehydrated. oh, that sounds very appetising! tell us what's gone right and wrong so faron tell us what's gone right and wrong so far on the expedition. oh, well,

day two of the expedition, we were going upa day two of the expedition, we were going up a across to the south pole, crossing the antarctic landmass. there were 60 knot winds. we had to quickly put the tents up and all six of us put one turned up. normally it is two, but we had to work together. 0ne is two, but we had to work together. one of our team—mates got ill and we had to work as a team to get her through nine days of not feeling great. what's gone well is the team have worked really well together and got to the south pole and we've been really blessed with amazing weather at the south pole. a bit cold, but amazing visibility so we can navigate easily. we should make the point that women are underrepresented on expeditions like this. you're making a point but also hoping to provide some scientific data. explain that to us. yes, that's one of the exciting part of the expedition. we're going to

hopefully do the largest collection of evidence women and men across the antarctic. last year, the men collected some data. we'll see how oui’ collected some data. we'll see how our body uses energy and how it metabolises in a different way after we've spent such a long time crossing antarctica. we are looking at our hormones and see if there is at our hormones and see if there is a change. just to see how that affects women in general. we also wearing a sports bar with —— sports bra with a device in so we'll have a whole load of data when we come back to see what happens when women push themselves. you've already mentioned how you're working as a team. how do you plan out your date? it's one of the harshest environments you're working in. how do you decide what you will do on the route for a

particular day and how do you wrest enough? yes, it's quite a simple life we have. the sun is behind us 110w life we have. the sun is behind us now so we can navigate by shadow as well as by compass. we get up at 6:30am and whoever is on cooking duty gets up and cooks what they wa nt duty gets up and cooks what they want and it takes effort because it's so cold you have to wear gloves. we pack our sledges up and we ski in a set direction for the next few kilometres and then when we get to a certain latitude and longitude, we can head eventually. we ski for nine hours and when we finish skiing, about 6pm, it takes about 2.5 hours for our evening routine. if we're lucky, we can be in bed four9:30pm routine. if we're lucky, we can be in bed four 9:30pm so we can get

nine hours of sleep before we start again the next day. how long to go now? where over half timewise. distance wise, where all the halfway but now —— we are almost halfway but we should be at the finish lying around the 26th of january. we'll see how we get on, we might make it sooner. we are wishing you all the best. merry christmas from us all here and we hope that you have fine weather on your travels to the south pole. thanks very much for being with us. an all—female expedition to the south pole. 0ne one of london's busiest railway stations has been turned into a shelter for the homeless. staff stations has been turned into a shelterfor the homeless. staff are to serve our whole christmas lunch to serve our whole christmas lunch to rough sleepers at euston station. caroline davies has been there for us caroline davies has been there for us through the morning. this is probably familiar to a lot

of people but not quite as empty as it looks today. imagine how depressing it would be if on a normal monday morning that was what you saw if you came into this station. it's not a normal monday morning, it is christmas day and looking pretty festive in euston station. these are the tables already and set for the homeless people that will be coming to have their christmas meal here at i am joined byjohn from street kitchen who's been putting this together. when did you first hear about this idea from network rail? a few months ago. stephen thought it would be a goodidea ago. stephen thought it would be a good idea to do christmas in the station. i jumped at good idea to do christmas in the station. ijumped at the chance because we always try to highlight empty bills that we could use for events. for feeding empty bills that we could use for events. forfeeding people, sleeping, shelters. 0ne events. forfeeding people, sleeping, shelters. one thing we're not short of is empty buildings. can you tell me about the people invited

to come along today? it's not open to come along today? it's not open to everybody, just people who have been invited. it's a ticketed event. someone goes to invite their residents, people staying at their hostels and people who stay at our service. a lot of guests are coming who are friends of my macro —— friends of us over the years. camden, a load of cars coming. it's people we've known over the years and just by health and safety, make sure it's a good day and the catering purposes, we needed to know the numbers we have. 200 is a good figure. can you tell me why it's important to have something like this as a christmas day meal? what sort of reaction you tend to get from people living homeless. the first time i told someone they didn't believe me. they didn't know how i'd get the building. but it is important everybody has a christmas meal and it's important that everybody everyday has a meal. christmas is highlighted because

we're thinking of families, loved ones, people who aren't at the table. a lot of people will be with us table. a lot of people will be with us today, homeless people. we're coming together as a community, as we do every day of the week, we come together and share food. this is why it's important we get involved with christmas events, so people do realise the extent of homelessness which is increasing. it'sjust as bad in january, which is increasing. it'sjust as bad injanuary, february, march. we're going to have more people coming and we need more and more support and more and more buildings, these empty buildings, just put them back into use. it's a very simple solution to homelessness. thank you. the volunteers here at network rail will be welcoming people from about 11am and wishing them a very merry christmas. caroline and the volu nteers christmas. caroline and the volunteers at network rail who has set some of that up today. not a white christmas, it is raining around the country. hello, and a very merry christmas to you.

not a bad start to the day for some parts of the british isles, notably out towards the eastern side here. a little bit of sunshine coming up with the dawn, and even a little bit further west towards sale, there was a bit of blueness about that sky. they are the exceptions to a fairly wet and windy rule. certainly across the southern half of scotland, down through northern ireland, the western fringes of england and wales, you have that combination of wet and windy fare, so not particularly seasonal in the sense of snow and reindeers. this is the other face of december. it is on the mild side though, a lot of wind, but it is coming in from the south and south—west, so the temperatures pretty much where we have been of late across the greater part of england and wales, 10, 11, 12 degrees or so, but as soon as you get anywhere near that weather front, here a really dramatic change. very wet, very windy, and then get to the north of the weather front, it's a mixture of the odd brightness there and an odd shower as well, and notice the temperatures — three, four orfive. that is really quite crucial because as this whole weather front works its way with its combination of wet and windy fare ever

further towards the east, it will eventually allow some of that cold air to tumble down and across the british isles during the course of the night. one to four degrees as you see. a little bit of ice around first thing, and i wouldn't be surprised if there was a fresh covering of some snow across the highest ground in northern britain. as we get on through boxing day, a much brighter day in prospect. yes, the showers will gang together, wintry again notjust to the high ground in the north of scotland, and you will lose your sunshine eventually down across this south—west quarter. new weather system coming in here, and look at that. no more the 10, 11 or 12 degrees it's somewhere in single figures for all parts of the british isles. through boxing day evening and into the first part of wednesday, we are going to push this weather system across the southern half of the british isles. cold air trying to come down from the north, and where the two meet on the northern flank of that area of low pressure, that is where we have got the possibility of a conversion of some of the rain into snow. again, i think a high ground feature.

i think the thing you will notice across this south—east quarter is that it is going to be a wet old day on wednesday, up to a couple of inches of rain falling. elsewhere, a pretty chilly day, despite the presence of a little bit of sunshine. take care, see you soon. bye— bye. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: prince harry and meghan markle have arrived with the queen and other senior royals at sandringham for a christmas service. the queen will pay tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks in her christmas day broadcast. the pope urges the world not to ignore the plight of migrants forced to leave their countries because of violence. nearly 200,000 british military personnel are spending christmas away from home on foreign deployments, including in iraq and afghanistan.