this is bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: vladimir putin's political rival — barred from the election — lashes out as the president's supporters prepare to kick—start his campaign. the pope calls for negotiations to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. investigators in moscow are trying to find out why a bus ploughed into a subway entrance, killing at least four people. the queen pays tribute to victims of terrorism — as the royal family celebrates christmas with its soon—to—be newest member. hello. his main rival has been banned from running for the presidency — and later on tuesday supporters of vladimir putin will meet in moscow to begin the formal process of nominating him as their candidate for president.

the russian leader won't even be attending that event — some will see that as a sign that he's pretty confident. there's now very little standing in the way of his re—election in march. virginia langeberg explains. he has spent almost 18 years in powerand is a manfamiliar with a grand entrance. however on this occasion, vladimir putin is expected to not even turn up to his own nomination event. some have read that decision as a sign of confidence, but the kremlin says the president has a prior engagement. today marks the official launch of vladimir putin's presidential campaign. he runs as an independent and has until the end of january to collect 300,000 signatures to register his bid. there is little doubt he will be re—elected. there are no strong rivals now that anti—corruption campaigner alexei navalny has been formally disqualified. the central electoral commission deemed him ineligible because of the corruption conviction

which he says is politically motivated. translation: it is not about me, it is about the fact that a candidate is needed who will finally come to the election and speak openly about everything that happens in our country now, who will describe our reality honestly. absence of prospects, poverty. i did that and that is why you don't want to let me take part in the election. following the ban, alexei navalny called on his supporters to boycott the election. however polls show president vladimir putin is on course for a comfortable re—election, meaning he will remain in powerfor another six years, until 202a. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. protests have erupted in peru, over the president's decision to grant a medical pardon

to the jailed former president alberto fujimori. hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets for a second day, accusing president kuczynski of making a deal with the opposition, to avoid his own impeachment. fujimori was serving a 25 year sentence for human rights abuses, corruption and sanctioning death squads. authorities in the philippines have ordered a criminal investigation into a shopping mall fire in mindinao. the fire started after a storm hit divao and flooded parts of the city. at least 37 people died. the building's administrators have denied suggestions that emergency exits were inadequate. the nigerian military says it has foiled a christmas day attack on the city of maiduguri by the islamist group boko haram. a senior officer said soldiers fought off a group ofjihadis who descended on a military checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. details on the number of casualties have yet to be released. britain's royal navy has detected an increase in the number of russian ships travelling through or near uk territorial waters over the holiday period. since christmas eve, two vessels have passed close to uk waters and areas of national interest. pope francis has called for an end

to the suffering of children and for peace in the middle east. christmas in bethlehem has been quieter than usual, after the violent unrest sparked by president trump's decision to recognise jerusalem as israel's capital. here in britain the archbishop of canterbury reflected on what he described as "tyrannical leaders" and "populist leaders who deceive". this from our religion editor martin bashir. 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 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. russian investigators are trying to work out what caused a bus to career into a pedestrian subway in moscow, killing at least four people. victims include a woman in her thirties and a teenager. the driver told officials he'd been trying to apply the brakes, but they didn't work. faith 0rr reports. it is a task nobody would envy. these emergency workers are picking

up the pieces after a bus crashed into an underpass. it killed several people and was only stopped by the roof of the tunnel. this was the terrifying moment the vehicle barrelled down the steps, hitting pedestrians. officials say they are working to try to establish what caused the crash. translation: the bus was driving away from the square and due to unknown reasons, drove into a pedestrian underpass. an investigation is under way. four people died and nine were hospitalised, two people refuse to go to hospital. the driver is in shock and investigators are working with him to try to figure out what happened. the driver has been detained by police but there is no suggestion this was terrorism. an inspection of the entire moscow bus fleet has now been ordered. however it happened, it is a tragedy that will leave a scar on the city into the year to come. queen elizabeth has been attending

the traditional christmas day church service along with other members of the royal family — including prince harry and his fiancee meghan markle. in her christmas day broadcast the queen paid tribute to the cities of manchester and london, for the way they dealt with this year's terrorist attacks. 0ur royal correspondent, nicholas witchell has more. it's a day for family, with its own established pattern. for the royal family, that means a visit to church, led by the queen. and there, 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 cue in terms of royal protocol. a neat curtsey, as the queen left by car. and then 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. # god save the queen...#

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. mmm. to target that sort of thing. yeah. yeah, it's... she spoke, too, about what she 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 your homes on christmas day... and there were personal touches. the queen recalled that it's 60 years since she delivered the first live christmas day tv broadcast. and that is how i imagine you now... six decades on, the presenter has evolved somewhat. and it's 70 years since she and the duke of edinburgh were married. he retired from solo duties this year, but... i know his support and unique 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 into it next year. a christmas message which acknowledges the 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, at buckingham palace. a diplomatic row between venezuela and canada has intensified.

canada is banning venezuela's ambassador from returning to ottawa and expelling its charge d'affaires. canada's foreign minister has said it's retaliation for the expulsion of its most senior diplomat from caracas over the weekend. leonardo rocha, americas editor for bbc world service, gave us more analysis earlier. canada and venezuela have been at odds for a few months. canada has been supporting, to some extent, the opposition, which venezuela is protesting against, the lack of democracy and what they say are rights violations. what canada says, a strong statement. they said, "canadians will not stand by as the government robs these people of their fundamental democratic and human rights." also, two days ago, venezuela expelled the brazilian ambassador.

what i believe is happening is venezuela is making a clear stand in giving a strong message to those who criticise the government of president nicolas maduro. we won't listen quietly, we will act. in the meantime, they are releasing 80 political prisoners and political activists. this comes at months before the presidential elections are expected to take place, in the first half of next year. how far do you think this will go diplomatically? in trade and economic terms with canada, they aren't really important for venezuela. what really matters are relations with our allies. mainly russia, cuba, other countries in the region that support venezuela like bolivia. and the united states, selling oil to the united states. the economy is in trouble. inflation is out of control. it is a message from the government of nicolas maduro. venezuela is saying they are taking orders from the trump administration.

they are making a clear stance that they will not take abuse. at the same time, they have a weakened opposition with many leaders injail or having escaped the country with the prospect of president nicolas maduro, probably in april or may next year, running for another six—year term and securing and other term. thank you. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: the world's top wingsuit flyers in a jaw—dropping bid for the world title. we saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach, and people started to run, and suddenly it was complete chaos. the united states troops have been

trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful but it's failed in its principal objective — to capture general noriega and take him to the us to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day breaks slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkroda where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: vladimir putin's election rival is barred from running as the president's supporters prepare to officially launch his campaign. the pope has been giving his christmas blessing. he called for "peace forjerusalem" and "mutual trust" on the korean peninsula. the latest un sanctions against north korea, an attempt to contain its nuclear weapons programme, have been described by the government in pyongyang as an "act of war," tantamount to a complete economic blockade. it says it will increase its missile tests. south korea is launching a special team to focus on its northern neighbour, and respond more effectively to increased threats. i spoke just now with jacob shapiro, director of analysis for the intelligence firm geopolitical futures. if you look at every piece of rhetoric out of north korea, every statement, it is all about nuclear war or impending mass destruction. i think this is all an effort by north korea to make everyone extremely afraid of them and i think they have done a very good job of that.

ultimately, no, i do not think that north korea is about to launch a nuclear war on the world, and certainly they're not going to let a little thing like further un sanctions drive them to that step. the assumption generally is that the north korean leadership is not suicidal, it does not want to start a war but it is clearly not going to give up its nukes either. how does this end do you think? does the world just get used to a nuclear armed north korea? i think that is exactly the point. the north korean leaders are not only not suicidal, i also think they're very rational and very logical. and the calculation that they have made is that nobody is going to come and take their nuclear weapons from them and that even if somebody comes and tries, they will be able to endure so, yeah, i think that ultimately the world is going to have to get used to a nuclear north korea. i will say htat i'm not sure that a world with a nuclear north korea it that different from a world with a non—nuclear north korea. if north korea used nuclear weapons,

the united states would obliterate it the next day. so ultyimately i think this is all a way for north korea to try and use lverage to get what they ultimately want, which is re—unification of korean peninsula under their terms. it seems almost a bizarre thing to say, given the weapons involved and the millions of people already suffering and the million of people at risk, in a sense though, in this region, north korea is a side show, really, isn't it? i think it is a side show. i think it is used by foreign powers to play against each other. when the korean war broke out in 1950 it was really a conflict between the soviet union and the united states, and china got involved. right now, some of the same dynamics are happening. you see the conflict between china and the united states playing out in north korea, you see russia trying to play around there in order to cause the united states problems and then the united states responding in kind by selling anti—tank weapons to ukraine. and i think ultimately, when you think about the larger importance of this, it is that yhe us, increasingly more self—absorbed,

is pulling back from the region and we're going to see japan and china competing more and more for regional power. and that may play out on the korean peninsula. how do you expect that competition to play out? well, i think that competition is already playing out. if you look at china's one belt one road initiative, you can find japanese investments in all those countries as well. if you look at all of the defence relationships that china is trying to establish, you see japan there as well, you see them also in central asia. i do not see this reaching a military conflict any time soon but i think around the periphery you will see different powers competing and i think ultimately they will try to constrain north korea to keep this problem in north korea. this is the worse for the chinese because if a major war does develop there, they have to worry about millions of north koreans streaming over the border and they don't want that. there's plenty more information

about the north korean missile crisis, including answers to key questions surrounding the issue, on our website, bbc.com/news. you can also download the news app. a tropical storm that was threatening southern vietnam has a man has driven a car into the headquarters of the social democratic party in berlin. police say that the car, loaded with petrol canisters and gas, crashed through the glass doors at the front of the building. it caused a fire which was a king wished by sprinklers. the driver was taken to hospital with superficial injuries. —— extinguished by sprinklers. nobody else was hurt. a tropical storm that was threatening southern vietnam has weakened and is expected to dissipate within the next forty eight hours. almost a million people were told they may need to evacuate their homes with forecasters warning that up to half a metre of rain could fall. russia's deputy prime minister, vitaly mutko, is stepping down temporarily as the country's most senior football official. he says he wants to concentrate on contesting a lifetime ban from the olympic games, over state—sponsored doping. he will remain as chief organiser of next year's world cup in russia.

translation: today, using the opportunity i have, i addressed the russian footbal union executive boards in regard to the temporary impossibility of performing my duties while court proceedings are under way. this is in order to let the russian football union work normally. i ask that my full powers to be temporarily suspended for up to six months. i did not resign. my mandate will be active until 2020. a huge rockslide has cut off a community near innsbruck in austria. this was the main road into the village. just 10 minutes before, local people were using it to get to church for christmas mass. the road is unlikely to be cleared until wednesday. in the state of uttar pradesh in india, each year around 2,000 women are killed over dowry demands. but an 80—year—old grandmother has been waging a unique fight for gender equality. parkashi tomar is india's oldest shooting champion. here's her story. if you've enjoyed a day of festive

excess, eating and drinking a little too much, perhaps the most exercise you want right now is reaching for the remote. so spare a thought for competitors in the wingsuit flying world cup. they spent most of their christmas jumping out of planes or balloons in china atjinngu in yunnan province, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. you know what they say — what goes up must come down. a principle they understand all too well at the wingsuit flying world cup. teams from around the globe competing in this extreme and hair—raising sport. translation: i travelled more than 400 kilometres to see this. we arrived here early in the morning, just to watch the wingsuit flying show. it's spectacular! you can say that again.

a couple of skydivers perform a 360—degree rotating nosedive. while others piggybacked from their teammates. not everybody was happy with how things turned out. translation: i think our performance this time didn't reflect our real strength. we will get to our best through regular competition. i hope we perform better next time. the chinese team finished third overall, behind the winners, france, and the united states, who came second. it is a non—profit event, and the local school received a cheque worth more than $30,000. so some charitable spirit, combined with a little heart—stopping terror. how can you get more festive than that? some of you may have been enjoying a white christmas this year — there's also been some unexpected snow in parts of the us. this was the scene in maine, where they got quite a coating.

and in seattle city workers were called in from their holidays to help grit the streets. in portland, oregon, icy road conditions caused some traffic problems, with a rare inch of snow recorded. just briefly, that may news again. supporters of vladimir putin will meet in moscow later to begin the formal process of nominating him as their candidate for president in his next yea r‘s their candidate for president in his next year's election. he is seeking a fourth term in office. this comes one day after the electoral commission barred the leading opposition figure, alexei navalny, from standing. hello. not quite in sync with the big day itself but our wether for boxing day the weather will feel more christmassy and, in the next few days, some of us will see some snow. the reason why, colder air is moving back in across the uk. 13 degrees celsius the top temperature for christmas day. most of us in single figures fora few days to come.

an indication ofjust how cold it's getting will be the threat of ice on untreated surfaces as boxing day begins. more especially in scotland, parts of the pennines too. and we're getting some sleet and snow to begin the day in the southern uplands, northern pennines, to the relatively low levels in places, for a wintry start to boxing day, so be aware of that. there will be more wintry showers ciming into northern scotland. a few showers for northern ireland. a massive mixture of rain, sleet and snow for some across the pennines, northern england. and a few showers to come into the north—west, to add to that as we go on through the day, that could have a wintry flavour to these as well, more especially on hill. south of all of that, though, i think you'll be struck by sunshine for a change, after several grey, murky days. but it will feel colder. as we go on through the day, if you are planning a boxing day walk, to it early. south wales, south—west england, you see what's coming — heavier rain coming back into the afternoon, with a strengthening wind once again. so let's take a look at that — 3 o'clock in the afternoon and it will be pretty wet here.

the rain beginning to extend further east across southern england as well. to the north of that, take advantage of the drier and sunnier weather. still a few showers dotted about in northern england, mostly rain at this stage, into northern ireland too. but quite a bit of fine weather, a sunnier afternoon for southern scotland, for the central belt, compared with the morning but there weill be quite a few sleet and snow showers peppering northern scotland at this stage. and behind those things, it could well turn icy again going through the night. going through boxing day evening, into wednesday, we need to watch this weather system for snow developing into parts of wales and the midlands. sill some uncertainty about the details here. but some sleet and wet snow possible too. the back edge of this, as it begins to pull away eastwards going into wednesday. if you are travelling, through the night and into wednesday, do pay close attention to updates on this forecast. further intry showers in northern scotland on wednesday. but actually as this weather system pulls a way, there will be a lot of fine sunny but chilly weather on wednesday and quite a frost going into thursday morning, which again, the gap between weather systems will offer a lot of fine weather before this system

slowly comes in on friday. so quite a nice day on thursday for sunshine but quite cold. friday into the weekend, more cloud, the weather system from the atlantic turning milder, but also wetter and windier once again. this is bbc news. the headlines: vladimir putin's political rival, alexei navalny, has described the decision to bar him from running in russia's presidential election due to a corruption conviction as "politically motivated". meanwhile, mr putin's supporters are preparing to officially launch his bid for re—election. pope francis has called for a negotiated solution to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. in his christmas address at the vatican, he said he hoped for dialogue towards the peaceful coexistence of two states. he also addressed the plight of children scarred by conflict. an investigation is under way into why a bus ploughed into a pedestrian underpass in the russian capital moscow. four people were killed and several others injured. the driver, who has been arrested,

says the brakes failed to work. london's euston station has been turned into a shelter for the homeless, as rail workers and charity staff served around 200 rough sleepers a full christmas lunch. volunteers worked overnight, after the last train left