this is bbc news. i'm julian worricker. the headlines at apm: the queen has used her christmas message to pay tribute to the manchester terrorist attack survivors. she described meeting some of them during a hospital visit. i describe that hospital visit as a privilege, because the patients i met were an example to us all, showing extraordinary bravery and resilience. meghan markle has made her first public appearance with the royal family in sandringham for a christmas service. in his christmas blessing, pope francis calls for a negotiated solution to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. translation: on this festive day, let us ask the lord for peace injuries long, and all those in the holy land. —— for peace injuries. euston station is open as a shelter today to serve christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. also: christmas away from home for

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. and in half an hour, join me, sarah campbell, as i take a look back to that photocall held here at kensington palace which introduced prince harry's bride—to—be, meghan markle, to the world's media. that's the royal review 2017. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. the queen is paying tribute to the cities of manchester and london in her christmas day broadcast for the way in which they dealt with this year's terrorist attacks. this morning, she attended 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. it's a day for family, with it's a day forfamily, with its it's a day for family, with its own established pattern. for the royal family, that being a visit to church, led by the queen. very much at home already, the royal family's soon—to—be newest member, meghan markle. alert to everything that was going on and waiting for her cute in terms of royal protocol. in neat cu rtsy of terms of royal protocol. in neat curtsy of the queen left by car. walking across to speak to members of the crowd who had been hoping to meet her, before lunch, and then the queen's christmas broadcast. the central message of this year's broadcast was one of solidarity with

two british cities. this christmas, i think of london and manchester, whose powerful identities shone through over the past 12 months. in the face of appalling attacks. the queen said it had been a privilege to witness the extraordinary bravery of young people injured in the manchester attack. very wicked. to target that sort of thing. yes. she spoke about what you called the sheer awfulness of the grenfell tower fire. our thoughts and prayers are with all those who died, and those who lost so much. and we are indebted to members of the emergency services, who risked their own lives this past year saving others. television has made it possible for many of you to see me in the homes oi'i many of you to see me in the homes on christmas day. and there were personal touches. the queen recalled that it personal touches. the queen recalled thatitis personal touches. the queen recalled that it is 60 years since she

delivered the first live christmas day broadcast. and that is howl imagine you now. six decades on, the presenter has evolved somewhat. and its 70 years since she and the duke of edinburgh were married. he retired from solar duties this year. but... i know his support and unique sense of humour will remain as strong as ever sense of humour will remain as strong as ever as we sense of humour will remain as strong as ever as we enjoy spending time this christmas with our family, and look forward to welcoming new members it next year. a christmas message which acknowledges the passage of time, but which reminds us passage of time, but which reminds us that more than six decades now after she came to the throne, the queen remains strongly committed to her role as head of state. nicholas witchell, bbc news, buckingham palace. 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. 0ur religion editor, 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, "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 in 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. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, has used his christmas sermon in canterbury cathedral to affirm the hope offered byjesus in a world of conflict, suffering and pain. he reminded the congregation that, after the miracles surrounding the birth ofjesus, the holy family fled as refugees, like the 60 million refugees in the world today. he called their plight the greatest toll of misery in the world today.

the archbishop said jesus was with them, and christianity offered an invitation to live lives of freedom through god's love. there is no power in the universe stronger than god's love. and it is directed towards the liberation of human beings. and that liberation begins with the risky, counterintuitive birth of god in the form of a baby, of a teenage single mother in a poorfamily, in a war—torn country, ruled by an infant—slaughtering family—murdering psychopath. 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 can see, it's a good atmosphere. so, yeah, 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 etc. what do i miss most? a good christmas dinner i think will be the one. you know, 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. one of london's busiest railway stations has been been turned into a shelter for the homeless. rail workers and charity staff have served a full christmas lunch to rough sleepers are euston station. volunteers worked overnight after the last train left on christmas eve, transforming the station concourse with decorations and tables. our news correspondent, caroline davis, has been at euston station for us. welcome to euston station, where christmas celebrations are infull swing. of course, this isn't your normal monday. if it was, the departures board that's looking pretty blank in the background would be quite depressing. but this is the first time that euston has been transformed in this way to help the homeless at christmas. all the homeless down there are getting a four—course and some goodie bags. it is being done with the help of network rail's idea, and streets kitchen,

who prepared the food, and the support of st mungo's, the homeless charity. i'm joined by rebecca from st mungo's. what did you think when network rail approached you with this idea? i'm not sure what we thought. we know that people want to help at christmas, so it wasn't surprising. but we thought it was a large space, how will that work? but we were really happy to work with them, to talk about how we might get some of the residents living in hostels here. and how we can make sure that everybody has a really amazing christmas. what has been the reaction from people you approached saying, you can have christmas lunch at euston station? i think people are quite excited, a lot of people here this afternoon said that normally they wouldn't be doing very much to christmas, they are living in our hostels, they've lost touch with family, or they've become homeless because of a relationship breakdown. it can be a lonely time for them. the idea of them coming and having this really amazing event

all about them was something that people were surprised about, but really positive and excited about. somebody told me on the way in here this morning that it brought a lump to her throat. we take for granted how we have lots of people in our lives to say merry christmas to, but some of our clients don't. and what do you hope will happen off the back of it? do you hope that other stations might open their doors in the future? i think that's one for network rail to decide. but i think what we hope is that everybody who has heard about this has felt moved to support, to get involved, and they will carry on thinking about how they can help homeless people over the course of the rest of the year. obviously it's important that people have a great christmas, but that's not the end of the story. we'll be working hard to make sure that people end homelessness. thank you, rebecca. christmas is only one day, and some people who are homeless will have that for much longer. another message is to donate if you possibly can. from euston, i'll leave people enjoying the christmas spirit and christmas music.

caroline davis reporting from euston station. a bus has ploughed into an underpass near a moscow train station today, killing at least four people and injuring a number of others. the bus swerved off one of the russian capital's busiest roads, close to the slavyansky bulvar metro station this morning. the driver has been arrested by police. 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. at least nine people have been killed by a suicide bomb attack close to afghanistan's national intelligence agency in the capital, kabul. the bomber targeted people as they arrived into work. the so—called islamic state group said it carried out the attack. anbarasan ethirajan reports. the mangled remains of the car hit

by the suicide bombing. most of the passengers of the car died in the impact of the explosion. the bomber was on foot, and detonated before the security guards could stop him. two guards were among the dead. several people were injured. translation: i heard a big boom, and realised it was an explosion. i was so realised it was an explosion. i was so scared. and then the security forces arrived. translation: this song was so loud, it was dusty, and people were fleeing from every corner. security forces came quite soon. and fearing the possibility of a second explosion, they stopped people getting close to the area. the islamic state group said it carried out the attack. it comes a week after militants stormed a building near the same intelligence agency. in may, a truck bomb killed at least

150 people in the heavily protected diplomatic district. the repeated attacks raised questions over the ability of the security forces to prevent such incidents. as a bitter power struggle continues between the afg ha n power struggle continues between the afghan presidency and local leaders, some are worried that the political crisis is distracting the government's efforts in tackling the growing islamist insurgency. the headlines on bbc news: the queen has paid tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks, in her christmas day broadcast. meghan markle has made her first public appearance with the royal family, as she attended the traditional christmas day service at the church on the queen's sandringham estate in norfolk. in his christmas blessing, pope francis calls for a negotiated solution to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. the queen has paid tribute to the people of london

and manchester in her christmas speech, after terror attacks in both cities this year. she also spoke of the awfulness of the grenfell tower fire, which claimed the lives of at least 71 people. her speech was broadcast on bbc one just over an hour ago. and for those of you who missed it, here it is again in full. # god save our gracious queen # long live our noble queen # god save the queen # send her victorious # happy and glorious