welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is miek embley. our top stories: indonesia steps up the relief operation for thousands who lost their homes in saturday's tsunami. officials plan a new early warning system for next year. spotlight on the plight of migrants at the us—mexico border as an 8—year—old boy dies in custody on christmas day. chinese human rights lawyer wang quanzhang goes on trial on charges of state subversion. we report from the city of tianjin. and the pope urges people to celebrate their differences, not be suspicious of them, in his annual christmas address from the vatican. hello. officials in indonesia are stepping up the relief operation for the thousands of people

who lost their homes in saturday's deadly tsunami. there's a promise too of a new warning system, to try and avert future disasters. it's now confirmed at least a29 people have died. heavy rains are hampering efforts to get help and supplies to about 16,000 people on the islands of java and sumatra who've had to evacuate to higher ground. there are fears that further eruptions of the anak krakatoa volcano, may trigger more deadly waves. naval vessels deployed around the sunda strait have found some bodies washed out to sea. tsunamis this year have exposed the fact that much of the early warning system hasn't been working, for years, partly because of damage by passing ships, theft, or vandalism. a new system would measure the size of waves, to detect tsunamis caused notjust by earthquakes but by undersea landslides. sameer hashmi reports from the coast of west java. three days after the tsunami struck indonesia, the country is slowly

coming to terms with the scale of the tragedy. the government has now turned its attention on providing relief to thousands of people who have lost their homes. several such centres have been set up to collect food and clothing. leading the relief and rescue operations in banten region is commander rico sirait. he says progress has been difficult. the challenge will be mostly because of the weather right now. it's rainy season, during the end of the year. we try hard to still — searching the shore, we have right now. a few kilometres away, tommy manangka was supposed to have a busy christmas, but it has turned out to be empty. his beach—facing resort was shattered when a strong wave from the sea powered its way through these doors on the night of the tsunami. in this muslim—dominated country, tommy is from the christian minority, and on a day he should be celebrating, he is busy picking up the pieces

of his retirement plan. translation: i was with my guests when i saw a huge wave that went over the yard. i shouted, "this might be a tsunami". i asked the people to move up to the second floor, and then the next wave came in so quickly that guests who were in the lobby were dragged all the way to the road. the special forces are stilljointly conducting rescue operations with the national search agency across the affected regions. we have been following the rescue team for the last hour, and they have been going from one beach to another, trying to sift through the debris to look for more survivors. but there are still many people that are missing. the team is still optimistic and hopeful, even though

they realise that this has been a year of disasters for indonesia. the president has ordered the installation of a new advance tsunami warning system. in a country which has been prone to natural disasters in recent years, this could help avoid a future large—scale loss of life. sameer hashmi, bbc news, banten, indonesia. people in areas affected by the tsunami are looking for some kind of normality in their lives, however fleetingly. some of those hit by the tragedy have been gathering in local churches in small christmas congregations. rahuljoglekar reports. shining a light during the darkest of times, a community comes together to deal with loss at christmas. but, while this brave congregation may seem defiant in the face of tragedy, almost no—one here seems untouched by it. translation: we usually celebrate it with joy and festivities, but with the tsunami, we can only pray humbly, and not celebrate much for this year's christmas. when the tsunami struck, it took the residents

here in banten province by surprise. nobody could have imagined the scale of destruction, that was to take so many lives, and leave this quiet tourist destination changed forever. translation: during the tsunami, we were in the church rehearsing and preparing for today's mass. we heard that the tsunami was coming, but we tried to find accurate information, as there was no tsunami warning from the government agency. once it struck, we tried to help whoever we could. but life must carry on for the survivors of this enormous tragedy. a stoic christmas message from a community looking to deal with their loss, at a time when they were meant to be celebrating. an eight—year—old guatemalan boy has died after being detained by the united states border authority. the cause of death is not yet confirmed. it's the second time this month a migrant child has died after being detained. i've been speaking to justine orlovsky—schnitzler, who's a spokesperson for the humantarian organisation

no more deaths. i asked her about the current number of deaths as migrants try to cross the border. but, in terms of the border crisis more generally, this has certainly been a very deadly year for people attempting to cross into the united states. and yet, as total numbers, the number of people trying to get across the border has gone down year—on—year for years, hasn't it? it's true, but deaths have increased, and we know that to be true partly from the remains that we find as aid workers, and with the medical examiners' offices, but also from understanding that for those who are crossing, the route is increasingly deadly and dangerous, leading to higher deaths. so, as it becomes more difficult to cross at more organised places, people go for the wilder parts, which are much more risky. i suppose it is quite possible, as well, we don't know how many

people are dying. some of the bodies will be, frankly, eaten by wild animals. absolutely, we have to estimate that there's a higher body count than even the official count. what we do know is, since the 1990s, nearly 9,000 remains have been found. so you can only imagine what a higher number would look like, from already an astounding figure. how much are you able to help people try to get across? it's difficult for us to gauge numbers specifically, especially in leaving aid, we don't interact with people directly. we leave supplies around heavily trafficked migrant corridors. so it's difficult to say exactly numbers. but we, you know, we hope that we're reaching as many people as possible. and how are your relations with the border force? that can be tricky, can't it? it can be.

nothing we do is unknown to border patrol. we are known to them as an aid organisation, and none of our work is illegal. that being said, several of our volunteers are facing rather major legal challenges. one of our volunteers, scott warren, was arrested last january and charged with harbouring, and he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. so legal challenges have absolutely increased, especially in the last couple of years. the trial of a chinese human rights lawyer, wang quangzhang, on charges of state subversion is getting underway in the city of tianjin, south east of the capital beijing. mr wang was detained three years ago in a wide—reaching clampdown on chinese activists and the lawyers defending them. he was charged last february, but was not heard from

again untiljuly. i spoke to stephen mcdonell, who is outside the courthouse in tianjin. ok, i am standing across the road from the tianjin intermediate people's court, where there is a trial on for this human rights lawyer. wang quanzhang has been held for three and a half years without trial and he is finally having his day in court. people who have been following the story will know his wife and other women, quite dramatically, shaved their heads last week, calling for a trial, and finally we are getting one. there is quite a media contingent here. we will swing around so you can see it. lots of reporters, also some diplomats here from different countries. and also, you'll notice there's a lot of other people who are sort of state security, that type of thing, standing here watching what we're doing. diplomats from the swiss, german, united states and british embassies tried to get into hear the trial, but they were told it is not a public hearing. so they were not able to go in. and stephen, unfortunately in these trials, the verdict is often not in doubt, is it? i mean, we're trying to work out why all of a sudden there would be a trial. you know, in china they often heavily rely on people admitting their guilt. so after three and a half years

he's having his trial. he is accused of attempting to subvert state power, which can be a pretty broad thing in china. basically, anything that would threaten the communist party can be seen and interpreted in this way. so it could be quite a tough thing for him to be defending himself against. of course, if he is found guilty of this, it could mean many years in prison. and stephen, this is part of a much wider crackdown on human rights activists, isn't it, and the people defending them? yeah, he was picked up three years ago at the same time that hundreds of human rights lawyers and activists were all taken away in a sort of broad sweep. now, of that group, though, he is the last one still being held. and there is some suspicion the reason for that is because he will not admit his guilt.

his wife and supporters have not been able to speak to him, so they don't really know what is going on with him. they don't even know for sure where he is being held. pope francis has stressed the need for love between people of all races, nations and religions in his traditional christmas message. addressing thousands gathered in st peter's square, he appealed to worshippers to embrace other cultures, and celebrate diversity. he also spoke about the world's humanitarian disasters. james reynolds reports from rome. cheers and applause. on christmas day, a pope can often enjoy the luxury of the world stage largely to himself. at midday, in blinding sun, vatican bands heralded francis's entrance onto the balcony of st peter's basilica. the pope addressed the pilgrims

and tourists in the square below. he called for a resolution of conflicts in the middle east, africa, latin america and asia. he also sent a message to minority christian communities. translation: a particular thought goes to our brothers and sisters who celebrate the birth of the lord in difficult if not hostile situations, especially where the christian community is a minority, often vulnerable, or not taken into account. the high ceremony of the traditional christmas address is a short breather from some of the problems facing this pope. this year, francis has been criticised for his failure to understand the scope of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. the pontiff has asked bishops from around the world to come

to this city early next year to work out how to respond. james reynolds, bbc news, rome. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come, a controversial call from president trump as he asks a 7—year—old if she believes in santa. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael, who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades. the united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said that it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. in its place, the russian flag

was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nose down 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 shkodra, where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: indonesia has confirmed it will buy a new tsunami warning system, after the number of people known to have died in the latest disaster rose to nearly 430 people let's stay with that story now. rudy pinem is christian aid's emergency programme manager. he's been telling me the latest about aid efforts in lampung, which was one of the hardest hit areas. right now, we're

reaching 360 households. so we have a medical team there right now. and what are your teams finding when they get there? the people there, because in lampung, it is not like in bandung, close to jakarta. so our team is going to where there is not a lot of assistance. so right now, they are still giving medical assistance with doctors and nurses there, and also assessing about what is needed in the next coming days. the government says it is stepping up the operations, are you finding that you are getting everything you need to get to the people? yes, it is quite manageable

right now and also, it is still accessible, it is a practical location. so far, i think we are quite safe right now, but let's see after two weeks of the operation, we will see if there are other needs. i know because of the fears of another big wave or plenty more big waves possibly, a lot of people have evacuated to higher ground, presumably that makes it a lot harder to reach them, to get help to them? yeah, because right now, the government, they do not have any tsunami warning system, caused by the volcanic under the sea, because it is not not clear right now if it was an eruption or a landslide under the sea

but we do not have a system to avoid devastation. the government already released the warning to people to avoid the beach until the end of the year, so i think it is better right now to stay away from the beach because anak krakatau is still on level 2 warning right now. syria says its air defences have intercepted missiles fired by israeli aircraft close to the capital, damascus. a military official said a weapons dump was hit and three soldiers were injured. witness reported seeing an object moving over the city and then hearing a loud explosion. israel confirmed the attack. in the past it has targetted iranian and hezbollah sites in syria that it regards as threats to its own security. earlier i spoke to

benjamin weinthal — a research fellow at the foundation for defense of democracies and a journalist with the jerusalem post. the israeli government and media have reported that israel's air force has struck military installations attributed to iran, an ammunition installation, and as a result, israel has triggered its air defence installation in the north. probably the aerodefence mechanism, but that has not been confirmed. you expect it to escalate? it is part of a pattern. israel does reserve the right to do this, doesn't it? it does. as well as initiating over hundreds of strikes within syrian territory to target the eu and us—classified terrorist organisation hezbollah which israel considers an enemy as well as iranian forces. the israeli prime minister has also

confirmed that it is israel's right and they will continue to target threats to israeli security. as you may have read or listeners have seen over the last week, hezbollah has entered israeli territory through a number of tunnels that have now been blown up. looking at the bigger picture, how does the announcement from president trump about the withdrawal of us troops from syria impact on this? from the perspective of the israeli defence, it is a terrible mistake. because it will create a vacuum that will allow vladimir putin, hezbollah, iran and assad, the syrian dictator to intensify their presence and it actually means that the us government has subcontracted its policy

to the president of turkey, erdogan, who has not been a stabilising force in the region. he is set to move into north—eastern syria to probably conduct a massacre against kurdish fighters who have been the most courageous and disciplined fighters in stopping the islamic state. so from any perspective, donald trump's new policy to withdraw troops will create more volatility in the middle east region. you expect this to be an announcement that is carried through? in the past, the president has already lost two senior advisers over the decision and in the past he has declared some things that the military has quietly not carried out. he has been feverishly tweeting that american troops will be withdrawn and this was a campaign promise. i thought that general mattis, who resigned, i thought he would be able to sway him and appeared to do

so for a while but now donald trump is welded to a disastrous middle east policy. neta nyahu appealed and he was fobbed off. the french are keeping a small number of troops there. but the region needs a larger contingent and i applaud the french president macron for keeping troops there it would be helpful if the germans and the british, who also have a large troop presence there to blunt the withdrawal of donald trump. let's get some of the day's other news. a south korean delegation has set off for north korea to attend a groundbreaking ceremony,

marking the symbolic launch of a joint project to reconnect the transport network across the divided peninsula. the event will be held in the north korean city of kaesong. japan in the north korean city of kaesong. confirmed it is commercial japan confirmed it is to resume commercial whale hunting next year. a government spokesperson told a spokesman —— the media that whaling will be restricted to japanese waters. electric scooters have become a multibillion—dollar business, and a familiar sight in cities like paris and los angeles. but they're also increasingly visible on streets in the uk — that's despite being banned for use on public roads. now there are calls for the law to be changed, as joe miller reports. they've been taking off across europe and in the us. equipped with an electric motor, these traffic—beating scooters can zip along at 20 mph.

commuter lloyd bennett is a convert, despite warnings about their safety. it's not something that concerns me. just — i'm not going fast, you know. if you're going along somewhere that's really busy, you can turn the power down, so you go a lot slower, and just take your time. it's just really easy, really simple to get round. it's no different to a bike. there is one key difference. e—scooters are still illegal in the uk, and are only allowed on private land. yet at this dealership in london, business is booming, and customers don't seem to be put off by the prospect of breaking the law. they've just come from san francisco, they've just come from paris, they've just come from israel, and they see everybody on them, it's a very green solution, it's easy, and they don't understand why the government doesn't take it to the other step. he wants e—scooters to be treated the same way as electric bikes. so far, the company's appeals to authorities have fallen on deaf ears. the government has committed hundreds of millions of pounds to developing energy—efficient transport, but e—scooters like this aren't part of the mix,

despite an increase in popularity, and there's no sign of the law being changed in a hurry. enthusiasts say e—scooters are one of the few convenient alternatives to overcrowded trains and buses. but motoring organisations say rules on how they should be driven are desperately needed. fairly rapidly, we're going to need some legislation to clarify where they can travel, how they can travel, and also some guidance in terms of the highway code. the global boom in e—scooters has been fuelled by sharing schemes, and the fear of an avalanche of vehicles might be behind britain's reluctance to embrace them. but inokim's boss says better regulation could keep numbers down, and he's convinced, if the uk gets on board with e—scooters, it won't look back. joe miller, bbc news. president trump is in hot water

with a lot of parents — and quite possibly, santa claus himself. despite the partial us government shutdown, one agency that hasn't ground to a halt is norad. on christmas eve it has a santa tracker — this is what it looks like — young and old can follow the movements of father christmas as he delivers presents around the world. american kids can also call in to talk to employees, and some of those calls get patched through to the president and first lady. that's what happened to one girl named collman. have a listen to part of her conversation with mr trump. do you still believe in santa? because at seven it's marginal, right? you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello.

christmas day started at —8 in north—east scotland but as the day went on in north—west scotland, the temperature hit plus 14 celsius. most of us had a mild, dry christmas day and that is how it will stay for boxing day. high pressure in control. spanning from the continent across the british isles. most of us will be dry in the day ahead, but not all of us. this weather front will change things for north—west scotland. if you are close to that, you will see rain at times. and this is how the day is starting. but very mild with it. north—east scotland still close to freezing. so this is where boxing day starts with a frost. elsewhere, a good few degrees above freezing, plenty of cloud, drizzly in places, misty for many of us as well. as the day goes on, more rain in north—west scotland. elsewhere, we will see some sunshine towards north—east scotland. parts of north—east england, north—east wales, should see sunshine developing more widely across southern counties of england during the afternoon and into

the channel islands as well. almost across—the—boa rd temperatures are into double figures for that mild unseasonal feel to things. from wednesday into thursday morning, rain in north—west scotland easing, a good deal of cloud around, a few breaks here and there but more especially across southern england, maybe into south wales, and this is where we will see the lowest temperatures as thursday begins. this is where we are most likely to see frost in places and it could be fog patches perhaps slow to clear. where they do clear, we will see some sunshine and again on thursday, north—east scotland will see blue sky in places, many other places will be cloudy but still essentially dry. the temperatures are still on the mild side but many parts of england and wales mayjust shave a couple of degrees off that compared for boxing day. high pressure is still close by, still generally in charge going into friday but we will see a weather front coming in from the atlantic. ahead of it, southern areas

of the country could start friday again with dense fog in places. a weakening spell of rain moving across scotland and northern england and nothing left of that rain as it moves further south during the day. behind that, you get to see some sunshine coming through and temperatures are still on the mild side. another spell of rain affecting parts of scotland as saturday begins, but for most over the weekend with high pressure close by, it is dry, often cloudy, but mild. that's your forecast. the latest headlines: officials in indonesia are stepping up relief operations for thousands of people who lost their homes in saturday's deadly tsunami. there's a promise too of a new warning system to try and avert future disasters. the number of people known to have died has risen to 429. a second child has died after being taken into custody while trying to cross into america from mexico with his family. the 8—year—old boy from guatemala had been complaining of a fever. thousands of central american migrants are spending christmas

on the streets of the violent border city of tijuana. the trial of a chinese human rights lawyer on charges of state subversion has started in the eastern city of tianjin. wang quanzhang was detained three years ago in a clampdown on chinese activists and the lawyers who defend them. he was charged last february, but then not heard from again untiljuly.