for the second year in a row— amid ongoing ceasefire talks between israel and hamas. protests break—out in syria calling for the protection of minorities by islamist leaders, after the burning of a christmas tree near hama. and a nasa spacecraft makes history — flying closer to the sun than ever before hello, i'm naomi choy smith. thank you forjoining us. an israeli negotiation team returns to israel on tuesday night for "internal consultations" after a "significant" week of negotiations in qatar. that's according to prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office. officials say that both sides have shown a greater willingness to reach a deal but that key details must still be worked out. it comes as israel intensifies

its attacks in gaza. the territory's health ministry reports: three hospitals in the north were targeted earlier on tuesday — forcing patients to evaucate. meanwhile: christmas celebrations in bethlehem are muted for the second year since the israel—hamas war began. these are pictures of midnight mass at the nativity church in the holy city — which hasjust finished up. local authorities have scaled down festivities and ceremonies — with church leaders providing spiritual guidance to those in grief. our correspondent, shaimaa khalil, is in bethlehem. midnight mass at the nativity church ushers in yet another sombre christmas here in bethlehem, the big celebrations have been cancelled and the ceremonies have been sombre and muted. the huge christmas tree that normally lights up and glistens in the night here in manger square is nowhere to be seen. instead, children in the procession were carrying banners calling for the end of the war in gaza.

the latin patriarch ofjerusalem, the cardinal, spoke today to the crowd, he spoke about the christmas mass that he held in gaza the day before. he describes the destruction, the poverty, the despair that he has seen, but he also spoke about the resilience of the gazan people, they have not given up, that this is the message he carries from gaza. "do not give up." in the gaza strip itself, the fighting continues. details are still emerging as we hearfrom health officials in the health ministry in gaza about three hospitals being bombed overnight. the director of the hospital was giving a video message and you could hear the explosions as he was saying the bombing lasted through the night. it caused at least 20 injuries there. we heard from the israeli forces, who said that they were targeting hamas fighters in the indonesian hospital, that's why they ordered

an evacuation, and that there were aware that there were strikes near two other hospitals or the vicinity of the other two hospitals. this has christians in gaza mark another christmas in the midst of devastation. for a second year, the war in gaza casts a huge shadow on this biblical city. i've been speaking to people here and one shop owner who has been struggling for two years now says, "no one is able to help us but god. we pray for peace and we hope for a cease—fire." syria's new leaders claim all armed rebel factions have agreed to integrate — under the control of the defence ministry. the afp reports syrian kurdish factions, which control large parts of northeastern syria weren't among them.the country's new de facto leader, ahmed al—sharaa, said the government would take control of all weapons in the country. he said that also applied to the main kurdish—led faction, the sdf. those forces have continued to fight other rebel groups backed by turkey. on tuesday, us secretary of defence, lloyd austin, held talks with his turkish

counterpart, yashar guler, about the situation in syria. in a statement, the us department of defence said the secretary and minister guler also discussed the importance of setting the conditions to enable a more secure and stable syria. on tuesday, officials deployed heavy security around christian churches in damascus, as the capital marks its first christmas under new leadership. bells toll. armed fighters and civil defence teams are surrounding the lady of damascus church, where worshippers are gathering for services. it comes after islamist fighters allegedly set fire to a christmas tree in a christian—majority town. hts, the former rebel group now nominally in charge of syria, lina sinjab reports from damascus. chanting. "we will sacrifice our souls for our cross," these men chant as they demonstrate

through the streets of damascus. they are christians. many fear life in the new syria. despite promises made by the country's latest leaders, these protesters and other minorities are not so sure. and this was the catalyst of the christmas eve protests — masked gunmen setting fire to a christmas tree in the main square of suqaylabiyah, a christian majority town in central syria, the incident captured and shared on social media. a spokesperson from the country's new leaders said foreign fighters were responsible and had been arrested. this transitional phase comes with uncertainties for many

people, including minorities, and such incidents will increase the worries and fears among them. there are people who have vested interests in spreading those fears, and it will take time for the new government to maintain stability and for people here in syria to adjust to the new reality. hayat tahrir al—sham is the group that brought down bashar al—assad. they began as a jihadist organisation, wanting to establish a state governed by islamic law. since taking over, its leaders have vowed to protect the rights of the country's diverse religious and ethnic groups. translation: to be honest, we're not protected. - we're scared. they need to publicly catch those who are creating problems and, if they're foreigners, they should leave. across the country, people have been celebrating the collapse of the 50—year assad regime, but it could be some time before everyone in syria is convinced. lina sinjab, bbc news, damascus. i spoke about the latest in syria with barbara starr, a longtime us national security

reporter. let's start with serie a, kurdish forces have been took pushing back and this is all in an area where as many as 2000 us troops are believed to be stationed. what kind of involvement can the us have theyin involvement can the us have they in serie a?— they in serie a? well, good evening- — they in serie a? well, good evening- i _ they in serie a? well, good evening. ithink_ they in serie a? well, good evening. i think we - they in serie a? well, good evening. i think we are - they in serie a? well, good evening. i think we are on | they in serie a? well, good i evening. i think we are on the cusp of trying to figure that out. all of us, because, of course we are just days away from donald from becoming president of the united states. in the past, he has wanted to withdraw forces from serie a and his first administration. he was talked out of that because the case was made that the forces needed to be there to stay to fight remnants of isis and in fact in the last several weeks, we have been seeing us forces engage isis in serie a, what they say or isis elements in serie a several times now. so presumably, that's going to be what the

ongoing mission is if the newly installed president wants them to stay there, and that is the big if right now because it is very uncertain in serie a the way ahead. there is a good deal of concern that isis is going to try and reconstitute itself and make some progress in assembling its troops and perhaps carrying out additional tasks from their operations inside serie a. $5 tasks from their operations inside serie a.— inside serie a. as you mentioned _ inside serie a. as you mentioned there, - mentioned there, president—elect trump is weeks away from taking office. do we know anything more about how he may approach serie a, for example —— syria, which is essentially running things in syria now. essentially running things in syria "ow-— syria now. and off a lot of --eole syria now. and off a lot of peeple think _ syria now. and off a lot of people think that - syria now. and off a lot of| people think that president biden may step in and do that before he leaves office. the question would be whether president trump would allow that a lifting of that designation to continue. but right now, that is really the only only, the game, to use a

trite word, in town, about trying to organise some type of governmental entity inside syria. right now, it appears to be working, but it is very fragile and we saw some on rest break out earlier today in syria and there is no indication that it's approaching a question of stability. there is still a good deal of concern that this is on a hair trigger and it could go badly at any point. 0k, could go badly at any point. ok, that is interesting. moving on to the israel— gaza war. negotiations obviously ongoing for a hostage deal, the mood music around that seems to have soured somewhat in the past couple of days. how is the us approaching this in the final weeks of the biden administration? mil weeks of the biden administration? all the indications _ administration? all the indications are - administration? all the indications are that - administration? all the i indications are that senior administration? all the - indications are that senior us officials are making a continuing all i several senior

officials have travelled to the region, they've engaged in discussions with entities that can approach hamas. there was no sense a few days ago that some progress was being made, but once again, we see this all run into roadblocks. the issues continue to be will hamas give the us and israel a list of names of the hostages it still holds, where they are, how to get them out, and what will be the number of palestinian prisoners that israel will agree and what are their names and their alleged offences that israel will agree to release them back into godzilla? these are the issues that keep hanging this up, as well as where the israelis will continue to position themselves physically. their troops. in and around the borders of gaza, all of these questions still remain and it does seem every

time they get to progress, it's another step back. i think there is one big difference here. president trump wants this solved and he wants it solved before he comes into office because he doesn't want to have to deal with it. he would like to get it all done before he enters the white house. he has made statements that if hamas does not agree, there would be significant consequences for hamas and we know that president trump is not anxious to engage in new military operations. find not anxious to engage in new military operations.— military operations. and i do want to just _ military operations. and i do want to just ask _ military operations. and i do want to just ask you, - military operations. and i do i want to just ask you, barbara, about ukraine because obviously donald trump has been saying he wants to meet with putin as soon as possible after taking office. what do you suspect his strategy to look like for potential negotiations going forward? ~ ~ forward? well, i think president _ forward? well, i think president trump, - forward? well, i think| president trump, once forward? well, i think- president trump, once he takes office, he's going to try very hard to get both parties to the so—called negotiating table. you know, in the real world, we all know that war �*s end at a

negotiating table. the question will be what position will ukraine be in? they are in a somewhat weakened position right now. the russians continue to make progress, the russians continued to bomb. the biden administration is trying to ship as much in terms of weaponry over to ukraine before they leave the white house and get them in the best shape they possibly can but one of the key things is ukrainian forces are running short of manpower. they have for many years now and age of 25 years old before you can join the ukraine military and the us wants that lowered and has wanted that lowered for some years now. may be around 18 years old. they are simply running short of man manpower. and in the meantime, of course, the russians have brought in those north korean troops, they are not great fighters, but thatis are not great fighters, but that is more manpower against the ukrainians. a russian air strike has hit

ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky�*s hometown, krivyi rih while his christmas message was being broadcast. rescuers are digging through the rubble, searching for survivors, as at least one person has been killed and dozens more injured in the attack — as ukraine marks its third christmas since the russian invasion. else where putin's forces are continuing to advance in eastern ukraine, and are now within just a few miles of the city of pokrovsk, which is a key hub for ukraine's war effort. but it is also the birthplace of a well—known christmas carol. the bbc�*s defence correspondent jonathan beale reports from a city under threat. music: carol of the bells sung in ukrainian. the discord of christmas in a shattered city. but this is where the composer of this well—known carol once lived. pokrovsk, the next russian target. explosion. most of its population has already fled.

explosion. no sound or sign of christmas here. just shelling. those left behind only break cover to find essentials. many are cut off from gas, water and electricity. ihor says you never know where or when the next hit will be. he likens it to living on a powder keg. oksana hopes ukraine can hold on, but she thinks it's unlikely. pokrovsk, she says, will probably fall. russian forces are still advancing towards the city of pokrovsk. they are nowjust a few miles from where i'm standing. and it's notjust the physical destruction of the city that you can see all around me. explosion in background. ukraine also accuses russia of trying to erase its cultural identity too. music: carol of the bells.

this familiar tune, known as the carol of the bells, or shchedryk in ukraine, was composed by mykola leontovych. this is where he worked as a music teacher in pokrovsk. a plaque now the only reminder. the hasych family fled pokrovsk this summer. they are now shocked at the scale of devastation. mum yulia says it makes her want to cry. but she isn't letting her daughters forget home or the signature song of their city. piano plays carol of the bells. translation: when i played it at home, it seemed happy. - it reminded me of winter and christmas. now it's more of a sad song to me because it reminds me of home and i really

want to go back. but for one ukrainian military band, it's also become a song to inspire resistance. they are even taking it to the trenches, with weapons as improvised instruments. translation: we'll visit any brigade on the front line - and perform ukrainian songs on any weapon. it lifts the spirits, those beats and rhythms cheer up the guys and inspire them to fight. shchedryk shows that ukraine is a civilised nation, now at war, fighting for its identity. for ukraine there is a special significance to this tune this christmas. russia may be able to destroy its towns and cities, but it can't erase ukraine's separate identity or its past. jonathan beale,

bbc news, pokrovsk. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the government's launched a consultation on its plans to phase out new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. in its election manifesto, labour committed to reversing a decision by the previous government to extend the deadline to 2035. the transport secretary heidi alexander is now seeking views from the industry about how to deliver the ban. the scottish govenment says the ambulance service has declared the highest level of emergency due to pressures including lengthy hospital handover times and an increase in respiratory viruses. the status means healthcare leave could be cancelled and all available staff might be called into work. the government says the service is still able to treat patients in a critical condition. some morrisons customers encountered further delays with their christmas orders

more than 2a hours after after the supermarket experienced what it called "systems issues" on monday — which saw deliveries cancelled and discounts not applied. morrisons has apologised and says deliveries are back to normal you're live with bbc news. armed men in haiti have opened fire at medical staff, police officers and journalists during a media conference to announce the reopening of the country's biggest public hospital. at least two journalists and a police officer were killed and many others injured. journalists were waiting for the arrival of the health minister at the general hospital in the capital, port— au— prince, when the shooting began. the site had been recaptured by haiti's government injuly, after being occupied and destroyed by violent gangs that control much of the city. us president—elect donald trump is promising to pursue more federal death penalty cases when he returns to office, directly challenging presidentjoe biden�*s decision

to spare the lives of 37 death row inmates. in a statement posted to social media, the president—elect said... mr biden�*s commutations meanjust three federal prisoners now face execution, includingthe perpetrators of the boston marathon bombing,the pittsburgh synagogue attack, and the charleston church shooting. biden�*s commutations cannot be reversed. throughout the campaign, mr trump called for expanding use of capital punishment to include drug traffickers and migrants who kill us citizens. mr biden�*s commutations do not affect more than 2,000 inmates facing execution in state prisons across the us.

donald trump today condemning biden�*s decision to commute those to throw sentences and vowing to pursue the death penalty in his coming term. this is a divisive issue politically, what has the reaction been like on capitol hill? well, namely when president biden decided to do this, it's important to note that right now, lawmakers are actually gone from washington and back in their home district, so we are not seeing the reaction that we would see had this been a busy week, but we are seeing a lot of democrats support presidentjoe biden�*s decision to do this. the death penalty is not a very popular measure within the democratic party, but we are seeing republicans very staunchly approach to this decision from presidential very staunchly oppose to this decision from presidential biden because they argued that they were, a lot of these being violent offenders and that is why they are dismissive of the fact that the president did this

and we expect a lot more criticism once lawmakers are back in washington after the holidays. you're looking at live pictures in hawaii where one of the world's most active volcanoes has thrown columns of lava into the air. these are the live pictures from kilauea, on hawaii's big island. officials say there is no immediate danger to residents but warned that volcanic smog could reach inhabited areas downwind. this is the second time the volcano has erupted this year. nasa's ground—breaking parker solar probe is set to make history as it attempts its closest everjourney to the sun. racing towards the star — at speed of over 430,000 miles per hour — the spacecraft is braving extreme radiation — and blistering temperatures of 1,400 celsius — as it enters the sun's outer atmosphere. if it survives — the data it

sends back to earth — could unlock some of the sun's biggest mysteries. our science editor, rebecca morelle, has more. our sun in all its fiery splendour. we've been studying it for centuries, but there's still so much we don't know about it. now the closest ever encounter is set to finally shed light on our star. nasa's parker solar probe blasted off in 2018. it's been orbiting our star, getting ever nearer. but this latest flyby is taking us to a new frontier — to touch the sun. even though we've had missions that have gone very close to the sun, that wasn't close enough to get into this sort of magic region where all of this physics and all of this... ..all of these processes are happening, and the only way to be able to understand those processes is to fly through them, right where all the action is happening. this mission is breaking records. parker solar probe

hurtles past the sun at 430,000 miles an hour. no human—made object has ever gone so fast. it's the equivalent of flying from london to new york in less than 30 seconds. at its closest, its 3.8 million miles — 6.2 million kilometres — from our star's surface. that's closer than any other spacecraft. it will have to endure scorching temperatures of 1,400 celsius as it passes through the sun's outer atmosphere, known as its corona, and this could solve a long—standing mystery. the corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why. so the surface of the sun is about 6,000 degrees or so, but the corona, this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses, that reaches millions of degrees, and that is further away from the sun. so how is that atmosphere getting hotter? the mission is also

studying the solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles bursting out from the sun's corona. the probes even recorded the sounds of the sun — dispersive chirping waves, langmuir waves and doctor who—like whistler mode waves. during this close approach, the spacecraft is out of communication for several days, so the nasa team face a nervous wait over christmas before they can finally discover the secrets of our star. rebecca morelle, bbc news. it's officially christmas day in london, where the �*nativity of the lord' midnight mass is underway at westminster cathedral in central london. tonight's service will be followed by masses on christmas day itself at the cathedral — which is the seat of the archbishop of westminster and notre dame cathedral in paris is hosting its first

midnight mass since reopening five and a half years after a catastrophic fire nearly destroyed the historic landmark, decimating its spire and roof. 840 million euros were donated from all over the world for the five—year long restoration work, according to french president emmanuel macron�*s office.the archbishop of paris is presiding over the service this evening as the world celebrates christmas — santa is busy delivering gifts. the us north american aerospace command has repositioned its radars and satellites to track santa claus travelling around the world. norad, a joint operation between the us and canadian militaries, is responsible for guarding the skies over north america. right now santa is over the south america and has already given out about five billion gifts — we'll keep you updated with his progress throughout the night! stay with us here on bbc news. hello.

well, it's so mild, i don't think we're going to even see a flake of snow falling on the highest peaks of the highlands. it's just such a warm atmosphere over us right now, streaming in from the southern climes. christmas day will be rather cloudy for most of us. a few glimmers of sunshine here and there, and it looks as though it's going to stay mild for the remainder of the year. now, on the satellite picture, you can see this conveyor belt of cloud streaming in from the central north atlantic. ahead of it, a push of mild air coming all the way from the azores. and it's spreading notjust over the uk and many parts of western europe, but also well into scandinavia, where temperatures are above freezing. so it's a very mild end to what will be a record—breaking year globally as far as the temperature goes. now, let's have a look at the

forecast for the morning, then. so we start off very mild. breezy conditions in scotland, if not very windy around some coastal areas. a little bit of rain there flirting with north—western scotland. elsewhere, some sunny spells developing — for example, eastern scotland to the east of the pennines to the lee of any high ground — with this south—westerly breeze. and double figures right across the board. i2, 13 celsius is certainly on the cards, for example, in northern ireland. so a very mild christmas day and a mild boxing day on the way. the winds are going to ease, though, across scotland. you can see the pressure lines there, the isobars to the north. here, it's going to be a little bit lighter, that wind. but the weather front will make some progress and will bring some dribs and drabs of rain to scotland and perhaps northern ireland. again, sunny spells are possible to the lee of high ground. double figures mostly across the board, but northern scotland finds itselfjust the other side of that weather front in this slightly colder air. when i say "colder", it's actually closer to what we'd expect, at least on average, across this part of the world. so friday, once again, mild air spread across the uk and, indeed, many other parts of europe. so anotherfairly cloudy and mild picture.

those temperatures perhaps not quite so high, but still on the mild side. a reminder — the average for this time of the year is typically between around 6—8 celsius. and as we head towards the new year, it's going to stay mild, but the indication is it will turn very windy, perhaps even stormy and really quite wet. that's it from me. merry christmas.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. last year, during a brief visit to belfast, presidentjoe biden hailed the transformative impact of peace in northern ireland. it had unleashed, he said, a churn of creativity and that surely struck a chord with my guest today, the actor ciaran hinds, who was nominated for an oscar in kenneth branagh's autobiographical movie about belfast, which is home city to both of those men. one generation on from the so—called troubles, northern ireland is seen as creative and cool, but have the wounds of the past really healed?