tv BBC News BBC News December 25, 2017 12:00pm-12:31pm GMT
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this is bbc news. the headlines at midday: prince harry and meghan marklejoin the queen and other senior royals in sandringham for a christmas service. later 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. euston station is opening as a shelter today — to serve christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. and in half an hour, i'll be looking back on a momentous year in politics that saw the brexit negotiations getting under way — oh, yeah, and that snap general election. that's review 2017: the year in politics with me, ellie price. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news.
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prince harry's fiancee meghan markle has joined the royal family for the christmas day service at the queen's norfolk estate. the couple arrived at a carol service at st mary magdalene church in sandringham along with the duke and duchess of cambridge. large crowds gathered to watch. joining me now from among the crowds at the sandringham estate in norfolk, is our royal correspondent, daniela relph. lots of people there and all i is particularly on meghan markle, of course, this year. yes, that's why those crowds, many have been gathered since 5am, i nowjust leaving and making their way of the sandringham estate now the church service is over. so many of those eyes we re on service is over. so many of those eyes were on meghan markle. a big contingent of americans here wanting
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to see the american in the midst of the british royal family to see the american in the midst of the british royalfamily now, but meghan markle walked into church arm in arm with her fiance prince meghan markle walked into church arm in arm with herfiance prince harry alongside the duke and duchess of cambridge. all looking pretty relaxed, walked up from the main house. it is a break with protocol, having meghan markle here, because generally royal partners don't get invited to spend christmas here with the queen unless they are already married. an exception was made for meghan markle this year, i think largely because her family are meghan markle this year, i think largely because herfamily are in the united states. she's moved here to the uk, so she was invited to spend christmas with her fiance and his family. it was also the first time today we saw meghan markle as pa rt time today we saw meghan markle as part of the wider royal family that she will marry into in may next year. once the service was over, members of the royal family did chat to some of the members of the public outside. we had prince harry telling somebody that the children of the royalfamily, the somebody that the children of the royal family, the younger members of the royalfamily, royal family, the younger members of the royal family, it's royal family, the younger members of the royalfamily, it's been hard to keep them under control this morning, there was so excited about
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christmas. the duchess of kent was asked people whether they were feeling the cold this morning —— duchess of cambridge. there was due to chat going on and they walk back to chat going on and they walk back to the main house where they will now have christmas lunch. so often the spotlight is on the duchess of cambridge at these events and now in a sense it's switched on for a while. yes, it has. there's no question about that, that meghan markle is the new addition to the family and the one that is getting a lot of the attention and scrutiny. she walked in alongside the duchess of cambridge today. i could see them chatting to one another as they walked down the path into church. clearly, the duchess of cambridge will be a significant figure in meghan markle's life in terms of helping her adjust to becoming a member of the royal family, helping her adjust to becoming a member of the royalfamily, what it's like marrying into this family, and the various added pressures that come with it. i am sure that there will be a strong relationship between the duchess of cambridge and meghan markle because the duchess
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has so much advise that you can offer meghan markle as she takes on this new role next year. we are seeing pictures of meghan markle there chatting to some of the well—wishers you are talking about. she seems to have fitted in already to the royal role so smoothly. she seems so to the royal role so smoothly. she seems so relaxed. yes, she's incredibly confident and composed and she has, i suppose, a sort of american air about her, if you know what i mean. that sort of confidence and ability to speak very articulately and confidently. there isa articulately and confidently. there is a sort of ease about her in terms of how she's coping with the attentions and cameras and questions and scrutiny. she is the course an actress and has been for a number of yea rs, actress and has been for a number of years, so actress and has been for a number of years, so with that comes a degree of coping with publicity and attention. this is clearly under different scale to what she was used to as an actress based in the us. this is quite different. she doesn't seem this is quite different. she doesn't seem to have an ability to take it in her stride, to speak very well,
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eloquently, confidently, and look as though finding it very easy. many thanks indeed. pope francis has addressed crowds at the vatican — giving his christmas blessing. he highlighted growing tensions around the world — calling for "peace forjerusalem" and "mutual trust" on the korean peninsula. it comes after president donald trump stoked regional tensions with his recognition ofjerusalem as israel's capital. 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
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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.
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burglars have broken into a home in oxford and stolen food and christmas presents worth about £2000. thames valley police said children's 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. ten people have been killed in a suicide attack in kabul. the bomber was apparently on foot and targeted people as they ride into work. the so—called islamic state group said carried out the attack will stop. 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
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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. 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
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provinces like kandahar and provinces bordering to pakistan. ina in a moment, we'll have a full bulletin of national news and will be joining bulletin of national news and will bejoining viewers on bbc one. good afternoon. the queen will pay tribute to the cities of manchester and london in her christmas day broadcast later today, for the way in which they dealt with this year's terrorist attacks. this morning, she's been attending the traditional christmas day service at sandringham in norfolk, along with other members of the royal family, including prince harry and his fiancee, meghan markle. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. the christmas morning stroll to church. and already the newcomer seems very much at home. meghan markle, arm in arm with prince harry, accepting the good wishes of the crowd with a wave. normally, fiancees don't get
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an invitation to join the royal family at christmas. but with meghan‘s family in the united states, the queen made an exception, and there she was, accepted into the family already. in her christmas broadcast, recorded at buckingham palace a few days ago, the queen will pay tribute to the cities of london and manchester for the way in which they dealt with this year's terrorist attacks. the queen visited some of the victims of the bombing at manchester arena in which 22 people died. in her broadcast, she will talk about the powerful identities of manchester and london, which, she says, shone through in the face of appalling attacks. after the christmas morning service at sandringham, the queen led the royalfamily back at sandringham, the queen led the royal family back to the main house for christmas lunch. and there once again, the family's soon to be newest member appeared to be handling it all with confidence. nicholas witchell, bbc news. daniela relph is in
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sandringham for us now. lots of excitement among the crowd. yeah, there were hundreds of people here this morning to see the royal family go to church on the sandringham estate at the mary magdalene church will stop some people started queueing to get a good position from 5am this morning. many people in the crowds today were american. much more than in previous yea rs, american. much more than in previous years, i think. american. much more than in previous years, ithink. they american. much more than in previous years, i think. they had come from local raf bases and come to see this american woman who will be marrying into the midst of the british royal family in may next year. lots of excitement on that front, wanting to see meghan markle today. it was also the first time we saw meghan markle as part of the wider royal family. she seems to handle it very well. her and prince harry chatted to people outside the church as they left, about the weather, christmas and family. she seemed incredibly at ease. it's a slight break in royal
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protocol to have her here because she is not yet married into the family, but that exception was made because her immediate family are in california. she seemed to handle events today under quite a lot of scrutiny with confidence. christmas celebrations in bethlehem have been quieter than usual, after the violence which followed president trump's decision to move the us embassy tojerusalem. in rome, pope francis called for an end to the suffering of children, and for peace in the middle east. martin bashir has more. bright sunshine lit up the basilica in st peter's square. but pope francis chose to focus his christmas day message on how conflict and oppression are casting a dark shadow over the world. he said that christmas makes us focus on the christ child, and thereby pay attention to the sufferings of children, particularly in the holy land. "we seejesus in the children of the middle east", he said,
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"who continue to suffer because of growing tensions between israelis and palestinians. on this festive day, let us ask the lord for peace forjerusalem". the anglican archbishop in jerusalem, the most reverend suhail dawani, said that christ himself wept over the city 2000 years ago and with donald trump's decision to officially recognisejerusalem as the capital of israel, that grief continues. when he wept at that time, he wept for the absence of peace and love and the life of people who live here. i'm afraid that our lord jesus is really still weeping for this city. at the nativity scene in bethlehem, a substantial drop in tourists is testimony to how conflict continues to blight this holy place. martin bashir, bbc news, bethlehem.
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ten people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the afghan capital, kabul. officials say the bomber, who was on foot, blew himself up near the country's national intelligence agency. the so—called islamic state group said it carried out the attack. the bodies of 36 people have been found after a fire at a shopping mall in the philippines. a criminal investigation has been ordered after the fire at the nccc mall in the city of davao on saturday. christmas is meant to be a time of giving for all, but one family from west yorkshire has gone further than most with their seasonal goodwill. the clarkes from halifax collected clothes, sleeping bags and food, and drove to calais. they've been giving them to some of the thousands of refugees and migrants still in the area, despite the closure of the so—called "jungle" camp. here's their story in their own words. i'm katie clarke from halifax, west yorkshire. good morning!
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we have had people leaving donations. thanks very much, that's great, and they are clearly marked. so we've filled our van up with mats, sleeping bags, blankets, hats, socks, gloves. bye, everyone. my name's andy clarke. there are some people who say that they should stay where they are and try to manage it within their countries. i mean, my own personal view is that you don't move away from your family of origin, your friends of origin, your culture, your religion, from your home, everything, and put yourself into the most precarious positions, if there is not an extremely good, valid reason for doing that. nice to meet you. a lot of the individuals that we speak to are professional people.
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unfortunately, they have felt that their lives are in danger and that is why they've had to move. i'm nikki. i think they are probablyjust trying to keep themselves busy, aren't they, playing football. we met some guys who really kindly took us to show where they had been living. so we followed them down this little path that started to get muddier and muddier. it looks like chaos, doesn't it? it's just really, really shocking, and it's really sad that anybody has to live like that. we can't go back. in my country, there is a very dangerous guy. that is why we live here. here is safe. i know it is not a good life but we are safe. seeing the living conditions and the desperation, yeah, things were shocking but it was also really quite, quite nice to have that opportunity to talk to them. and in london, euston station is opening as a shelter today
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to serve christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. caroline davies is there. is this the first time this has happened? this is the first time that euston station has been transformed in this way, yes. if ucb hanged me, it's all looking festive thanks to a team of volu nteers looking festive thanks to a team of volunteers that have been here since the last train left on christmas eve last night. the guests here, 200 of them, all invited, they would all have no permanent home to spend christmas day in. network rail has received hundreds of donations of christmas crackers, and also sleeping bags, that will be given out to many guests here. i spoke to a couple of them earlier about what it was like to spend your christmas day in euston station and some of them said it was surprising. they didn't imagine when they woke up a few weeks ago that this is where they would be. but they said it was wonderful to have a warm christmas meal and spread some christmas
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cheer. that's it for now, the next news on bbc one will be at 5:15pm. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. disappointed that your dreams of a white christmas didn't come true? well, a group of five british women have got more than their fair share of snow. they're on a historical journey of a lifetime, using ski power alone to cross the antartic unaided. earlier today my colleague christian fraser spoke to expedition leader nicola taylor who told us more about their journey. 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 beautiful sunshine if not a little cold and draughty when we're skiing. we're in the tent, having our christmas dinner which for me is mashed potato and chicken which has been dehydrated
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and rehydrated. oh, that sounds very appetising! tell us what's gone right and what's gone wrong so far on the expedition. oh, well, day two of the expedition, we were going up a glacier 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 were needed to put one tent up. normally it is two, but we had to work together. one of our team—mates got ill and we had to work as a team to distribute the weight and 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. good visibility if not a bit cold, so we can navigate easily. we should make the point that women
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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 body of evidence collected of women and men across the antarctic. last year, the men 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 a change in our fertility and things. just to see how that affects women in general. we're also wearing a sports bra with a device in to measure our heart rate and breathing rate, so we'll have a whole load of data when we come back to see what happens when women push
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themselves to these kind of extreme limits. you've already mentioned how you're working as a team. how do you plan out your day? 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 rest enough? yes, it's quite a simple 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 for everyone and it takes effort because it's so cold you have to wear gloves. we start skiing at 8am. we pack our sledges up and we ski on a set bearing for the next few hundred kilometres and then when we get to a certain latitude and longitude, we change our bearing. we ski for nine hours and when we finish skiing, about 6pm, it takes about 2.5 hours
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for our evening routine. if we're lucky, we can be in bed for 9:30pm so we can get nine hours of sleep before we start again the next day. how long to go now? we're over half way timewise. distance wise, we are almost halfway but we should be at the finish line around the 26th of january. we'll see how we get on, we might make it sooner. you've heard of recycyling — but these days the new buzzword is upcycling — transforming rubbish into objects of desire. a non—profit workshop in austria — supported by the city government — is working with the long—term unemployed to make furniture,
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ornaments and jewellery out of old household appliances. bethany bell reports from vienna. it's beautiful, but it is actually all made from rubbish. the process starts here at this workshop. workers remove hazardous substances from old computers and appliances. the leftovers are sent either for recycling, or upstairs, to the trash design team. what we do is that we collect specific kinds of garbage, that means electric and electronic equipment. we make design objects and jewellery, and we offer the old garbage an opportunity to get reused, or to get upcycled. they turn vinyl records into clocks, and dead keyboards into rings. the glass from washing machine doors become sandblasted bowls, complete with patterns. and it's notjust about transforming trash.
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lives are changed here, too. many of the people who work here are the long—term unemployed. suzanne says she has been given a new chance. translation: it is cool. i find it really super. you make something new out of old stuff, but it hurts me when i have to cut up these old records, i had an old abba album and i thought "no!", and then it became a notebook. but that's the way it goes. some of the christmas markets are getting in on the act. trash design is on offer, alongside the ginger bread and mulled wine. the workshop has its own stalls, where products are on sale, often for pretty prices. these items have come a long way from the city's rubbish dumps to the magnificent surroundings of one of austria's old royal palaces, and when it comes to christmas presents this year, the designers are hoping that it will be upcycling all the way.
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bethany bell, bbc news, vienna. time for a look at the weather. hello once again, and a very merry christmas to you. it's one of those, i'm afraid, for northern and western parts of the british isles. if you're anywhere near that weather front, it's a combination of really wet and windy weather for a good part of christmas day. that front moving very, very slowly ever further towards the east. ahead of it, still as mild and cloudy as it has been. to the north of it, the first signs of some really cold air, which once this weather front has moved out towards the north sea, generating the odd gust — around 60mph along the south coast before it quits the scene, then the cold air floods down and across the british isles to greet us as we get up and into boxing day itself. look at those temperatures. wee bit of ice perhaps first up, across the northern half of britain. not a widespread problem, just bear it in mind. the day is one of sunshine — at last, at last —
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but there will be showers. they will be wintry across the northern half of scotland, and then late in the day you will lose your sunshine as a new weather system brings more cloud and wind and rain into the south west. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: meghan markle has made herfirst appearance with the royal family as she attended the traditional christmas day service at the church on the queen's sandringham estate in norfolk. 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. euston station is opening as a shelter today and to serve a christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. volunteers from homelessness charities, st mungo's and streets kitchen and network rail will serve the festive meal. now on bbc news, it's been
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a turbulent year in politics, from theresa may's snap election that backfired so spectacularly, to continuing tussles with the eu over brexit. ellie price reviews the year in british politics. the headlines this morning — theresa may's decision to call a general election appears to have backfired. it was with reluctance that i decided the country needs... the prime minister spells out her strategic goals. conversatives are the largest party. history has been made. article 50 has been triggered. brexit negotiations in a shambles! hear, hear! sighs.
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