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 suheil dawani, said that christ himself wept over the city 2,000 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. happy christmas! at canterbury cathedral, archbishop justin welby said that though christ was born without any political leverage, he provides more freedom to individuals than the world's most powerful leaders. but midway through preaching, his own powers of speech began to fail... unlike the budget, it's not gin. laughter. in rome, canterbury and here in jerusalem, christian leaders have taken the opportunity of this day to challenge the wisdom of the world that they say puts power before people and has failed to protect the most vulnerable members of society, our children. martin bashir, bbc news, injerusalem. the russian opposition

leader alexei navalny, who's an outspoken critic of vladamir putin, has been formally barred from competing in next year's presidential election. the central electoral commission says he's ineligible, because of a disputed corruption conviction, which he says is politically motivated. translation: it would exclude millions from the political system itself, because it won't allow them to take part in the election in any way, and this is what your decision is about. ten people have died in a suicide bomb attack, in the afghan capital, kabul. officials say a man blew himself up near the national intelligence agency building. so—called islamic state have claimed responsibility. a criminal investigation is under way in the philippines, after the bodies of more than 30 people were found, following a fire at a shopping mall, in the southern city of davao. london's euston station has been turned into a temporary shelter for the homeless, as rail workers and charity staff served around 200 rough sleepers a full

christmas lunch today. volunteers worked through the night to get everything ready, after the last train left on christmas eve, as caroline davies reports. festive preparation under the departures board as network rail volunteers prepare for their homeless guests. they're part of our community, they're here every day, and i think some places would maybe just shun them away, but for us, they are an important part of the community, they're here, we have to engage, we have to look after them and make sure that they're safe. local charities invited 200 guests to enjoy some festive music and a four—course meal — a meal which was only possible thanks to the donations from 45 different businesses and groups. jed has been squatting since he was 18. it's unique, like, they've got this space on christmas day. it's quite interesting to see somewhere like this on christmas day and see it put to some good use.

jesse now squats, too, but spent many years living in a tent, moving around the uk. you know, it's a nice, relaxing environment, it takes us out of the usual chaos of our lives, you know. as well as leaving well fed, guests were also given sleeping bags and thermal clothes to help them endure the winter cold. for these guests, for now, some christmas cheer on the concourse. caroline davies, bbc news. 0ne family from west yorkshire has gone a little further than most this year, in spreading christmas cheer. the clarke family from halifax, have collected clothes, sleeping bags and food, and taken them to calais, to help 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! 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, 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. unfortunately, they have felt that their lives are in danger,

and that's 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'sjust 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. that's it. but before we go, here's a quick tribute to some of the braver souls among us, who chose to kick off christmas day

with a traditional outdoor swim. have a very good night. time now for through the lens. first, let's meet david hearn. as a young man he was at the heart of london in the 1960s. he captured the glamour and the grit of britain in an era of liberation and at the height of beatlemania. for the first time in the history of communication, everybody loves one medium. suddenly everybody loves photography. my approach has always

been, you know, i don't like to set up been, you know, i don't like to set up pictures. i see myself as an observer of life's eccentricities. the exotic of the mundane. i spent most of my time trying to get some kind of relationship between the extraordinary following of fans they had and the band themselves. i think this is charming. it is obvious that she is talking to somebody saying, "look who this is!" she has suddenly seen this megastar and my guess is that it's a major thing in her life. i'm sure with great tenderness she would talk about this moment to her friends for ages and ages. when she met paul, probably, you know? i like memory, i like emotion,

i like love, you know, i like passion. this picture was taken in the isle of wight pop festival. bob dylan was there and joni mitchell was there and the doors and the band. people at those sorts of events seemed to lose their inhibitions, in a way. out of nowhere, somebody seemed to be able to get this sort of foam thing, you know, and you just need somebody spraying foam around for everybody else to take their clothes off and all sort of hug each other amongst the foam. i love seeing people that like each other. i don't care if they only like each otherfor ten minutes. the sort of things i love photographing are the things that quite a lot of other people do that i wouldn't under normal circumstances ever dream of doing.

queen charlotte's balljust absolutely fascinated me. i mean, there were all these young girls, almost like a cattle market, being shoved around for all blokes to look at. it was obviously all to do with, you know, meeting the right blokes, et cetera. here we have four people, two pairs. all they are doing, as far as i can see, is talking to each other, but they all have what i would think was an exaggerated gesture. it's the gesture that comes from holding a cigarette and i think this is a nice picture. it has authorship, i think. i'm basically, bizarrely, a rather shy person, but the lovely thing about the camera is that you hide behind it, so that if anybody... normally, if you are shy,

and somebody talks to you... but if you have a camera, you have an excuse to be there. god, it's been a fun life. it's been a fun life. and, uh, i've loved every minute of it, you know? david hurn, who observed the eccentricities of britain in the ‘60s. america in the 1960s was dominated by the issue of race. bruce davidson chronicled the civil rights movement and accompanied black protesters on the 50 mile walk between selma and montgomery, in alabama. in orderfor me to make meaningful photographs, i had to be close, and that's what i did. i was doing high fashion pictures for vogue magazine. i come to feel that i can no longer do fashion. that was not where the world was for me at that time. it was important for someone

to document what was happening in the south and step into that world. whenever i heard there was a march happening in birmingham i wouldjump on a plane and be down there. i wasn't sponsored by anybody. i didn't have a motor scooter or anything. when i lifted my camera to take a picture, i lost maybe 15 or 20 feet, maybe more, and i have to run to catch up, but i was in good shape in those days. this is an important picture. it shows two hefty cops from birmingham arresting a young woman. you can see that they're twisting her arm. in the background, there's surprise, eexcitement. but i didn't focus on that. that was just happenstance. that young man, who i haven't been

able to find, it was his idea to put ‘vote' on his head and it was a very powerful image. it was also a very dangerous image for him, because the national guard was alongside, waiting in the woods for anything to happen, and they couldn't be trusted. the police couldn't be trusted. so he was showing off what the hallmark was really about and he survived and the image survived. i was privileged to photograph john lewis when he stepped into the bus to ride to jackson, mississippi, from montgomery, alabama. a famous civil rights leader and a congressman now. this is an important picture in a way because it was the beginning of 1961 freedom bus rides. the previous bus was burned and people were arrested and beaten and they set the bus on fire.

i photographed people who voted for the first time in their life and they were in their 70s and that was very moving. towards the end of the selma march, people could vote and they'd vote, get a good education. if you get a good education you can get a good job and a good life, so that was the beginning of opening the door to the new world. i'm an outsider on the inside, but you're never completely on the inside, but you can make an attempt to see and be part of another life. many of the issues bruce davidson documented are still making headlines today. as are those captured in the photos of elliott erwitt. he's the child of russian parents who emigrated to the us. in the 1950s and ‘60s, he travelled to the soviet union and to cuba.

the pictures he took there revealed the personalities and the tensions of the cold war. the picture was taken in 1959. i was in moscow. nixon, who was vice president at the time, was on a state visit to the soviet union and so i took the opportunity ofjoining the press corps that followed him around. they were grandstanding, nixon and khrushchev. they were just sort of playing for their audience. nixon was saying that "we americans eat meat while you russians eat cabbage". it was just a way of nixon saying that we are well off and rich and you are miserable and poor. the russians have two parades a year where they display their might. may day, the worker's day,

and the revolution. i happened to be there for the latter one. i was well positioned by virtue of going through three rings of security, together with a soviet tv group. somehow i blended in. i must have been badly dressed or something. sportswomen was one of the pictures taken there. at the beginning of the parade they have the... they display their military might and then they have the spontaneous worker's parade. the spontaneous parade, it generally lasted five hours. nothing spontaneous about it, of course. in 1964, i went to cuba for about a week or ten days and i spent it in havana. i spent it with fidel castro and che guevara.

it was fascinating. fidel castro, he liked to be photographed, like any celebrity. i could sort of compare them to cowboys. they were affable, pleasant, interesting and very photogenic, as you will see. especially che. i would say he was the marilyn monroe of the period. he seemed to be in a good mood, as i remember. he even gave me a box of cigars, which i did not bring into the united states because it was prohibited. i regret the box of cigars. well, he was a charming man, i mean, apart from what he did or didn't do. there are many people who have doubtful backgrounds and doubtful histories.

face—to—face they can be quite charming and accessible and interesting. i didn't speak so much. i listened more. i mean, photographers shouldn't get in the way of things. i hope that i was an observer rather than a participant. elliott erwitt remembering the cold war. don't forget, you can catch up on the whole series at the bbc website. can you imagine taking pictures of one of the most charismatic figures of the 20th century? well, thomas hoepker did just that when he was assigned to photographed muhammad ali in 1966. you have days where nothing happens and days that are full of surprises. i was working at the magazine in germany.

one day the editor in chief came. he asked us, would you like to meet a very interesting person in the usa? his name is muhammad ali and he is a fantastic boxer. we had no idea about boxing. it was almost impossible to do interviews with him. sometimes we went in the morning but he did not show up. you could not anticipate anything. he was a surprise every day. we flew over to louisville and he was in the gym and we went to the gym, it was dark and suddenly he saw us standing there. "oh, you're there". and he did this to my camera and the gong comes on for the second round and he went back and punched the ball. so i only click and click and i had

two pictures and these were the best pictures i ever took of him. you have to be very ready for surprises with him. he could be a different person from one moment to the other. one day he said, ok, i'll show you the city. and then we came to the chicago river and there was a little bridge and i said, could you go up there, and without telling him he just took off his shirt and then i said to him, jump. and hejumped from the bridge down, and click, another click, only one. then, ok, let's go somewhere else and have something to eat. we drove around again in chicago and suddenly he said, let's stop here, i want to go to the bakery, they have wonderful cookies.

so he went inside and it took him quite a while. and an hour later, close to the bakery, he said, let me get a couple more. so he went inside and this time i said, something is strange here. so i went into the bakery and i saw him in there and then i understood because there was the baker's daughter. he was flirting very heavily, so it was not the cookies, it was the young, very pretty lady. the funny thing is that i visited ali four years later, so i came to this house and we sat down and i took some pictures of him and suddenly the door opened and his wife came in. and who was the wife? she was the baker's daughter, which i had photographed a couple of years before.

thomas hoepker on the unforgettable world heavyweight boxing champion muhammad ali. in the same year, costa manos stumbled upon the funeral of a young american soldier killed in vietnam. one of the photographs he took went on to become a poster, and an emblem of the anti—war movement. i think to be a good photographer you have to know what you are looking for. the year was 1966, i was travelling around the south on an assignment for a japanese magazine to photograph southern landscapes, that was my assignment. i am out in the countryside and in the south there are these flat fields that are cotton fields, and i look and there is this church, a wooden church, unpainted wood. what was different was that there was a brown army bus parked in front of it. i drive up to the church, park behind the bus and go around to the back of the church,

and they were going to have a funeral there. and all the people were there and they were waiting for the body of this soldier who was killed in vietnam to be brought to the church for the funeral. i talked to the boy's grandmother, and i said, is it ok to take pictures? she said sure, sure, sure. this was a moment when the bus carrying the honour guard, which was the soldiers who are carrying the coffin and the coffin and the ambulance, the hearse, they brought the coffin from the hearse to the burial site. that is a symbolic picture, showing the soldiers, who were the honour guard, and they've brought the boy's body to the church cemetery. the picture of the lady crying became iconic. it became an anti—war poster in europe, and it was a big poster that was all over europe. that was a time when people were protesting against the war

and it just became a real protest picture. it's a historical picture because it is a specific moment in that war that shows how it touched ordinary people. i don't know who the little boy is, to be honest with you, and he was never identified in the article. i assume that he is either a cousin or a close friend who knew this boy, who was killed, and that's the way it affected him. that's what i saw and i photographed what i saw, and the pictures speak for themselves, i think. it was all over in about a half an hour, they came with the casket, they had a service. this is a moment that happened once and never happened before, will never happen again, and that's that kind of picture i think.

and a very touching story, to appear at that time when people were tired of the vietnam war, and all these boys being killed. costa manos on his heartbreaking images of grief. chris steele—perkins is probably best known for his documentary pictures of life in britain. in the 1980s he produced a range of photographs which captured the nation under the conservative prime minister margaret thatcher, pointing his camera at every section of society. photography is about history, demarcating a period and a time. the wolverhampton set of pictures was actually done for the sunday times magazine, and the whole idea was to go back to wolverhampton, ten years after enoch powell had given his famous, as it was yet to be known, "rivers of blood" speech, and go and look at the asian and afro—caribbean community up in wolverhampton and see

whether they were actually drinking each other‘s blood or not. there was a church club which seemed seemed to cater quite well for local kids, they could go down there and play their own music, hang out, there was a kind of rhythm to the whole thing, and you kind of tuned into that, and that's what you're after. the exact sort of compositional elements are more important in the overall composition, rather than the small details. the idea was about trying to photograph the english trying to have fun. trying to sort of show the world that they kind of... had a good life. finding the oddities in people,

it's almost like an act of homage rather than a kick in the midriff. i went to a lot of nightclubs, and people hanging out, and bored couples who don't speak to each other for hours, and i was photographing this way, and people were all going, there, there! i thought maybe this was a new dance, and i turn around and this fight was going on right behind me. they are all rather well dressed up for this sort of night out, of being cool, and they end up on the floor sort of being punched in the mouth. once again, perhaps that is a metaphor for the way we live. there was the sort of tail end of national front and people like this, still sort of active in street demonstrations in britain. it felt like it needed to be covered, and for me that was about the posture and,

sort of, the posturing and expression, and projection that people wanted to give off. it is hard to know what people really think any more. i mean, you know, mythologies kind of creep up and cover things in the new realities. that shot of thatcher is, i found, quite ambiguous. yes, she kind of looks startled, and kind of looks confused almost. but at the same time she is quite glamorous. and then obviously you have the parody of the people in the background who are all openmouthed and overcome by being in her presence. ifeel like i got one picture that has kind of stood the test of time, and is still ambiguous, which i like about photography, that it can be ambiguous, you know, you can read it different ways. and they're all right. chris steele—perkins on the ambiguity of photography

as a historical record. and that is all from through the lens here at the southbank centre. see the rest of the series at bbc.com/throughthelens. this is bbc world news. our top stories: the pope in his christmas blessing has called for negotiations to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. russian investigators are examining why a bus ploughed into a subway entrance in moscow, killing at least four people. venezuela's president under pressure as canada expels his ambassador and says maduro is robbing people of their democratic rights. and we visit a shooting range in india to meet the sure shot grandmother who has become a local celebrity at the age of 80. hello and welcome to bbc world news.

in rome, pope francis has called for an end to the suffering