family attend a christmas service in sandringham. pope francis has used his traditional christmas message to call for peace in ukraine and gaza, calling the humanitarian situation there "extremely grave". translation: may there be a | ceasefire, may the hostages be released and may aid be given to people who are experiencing hunger and war. translation: may there be a | ceasefire, may the hostages be many are feared dead in a plane crash in kazakhstan. flames engulfed the front of the aircraft but 32 were pulled alive from the rear of the fuselage. president zelensky condemns russia's mass missile and drone attack against ukraine on christmas day as inhumane. and our bbc russia editor steve rosenberg joins forces with channel 4's ciaranjenkins to perform a special

christmas collaboration. hello. we start in the uk, where the royal family have attended the traditional christmas service at church in sandringham. king charles was accompanied by the prince and princess of wales and their children and other senior royals. prince andrew did not attend after it was confirmed earlier this week that he would not be joining the family at sandringham. our correspondent charlotte gallagher has been at sandringham this morning, and we spoke to her a short time ago. happy christmas. the church service is finished and the royals have gone back to their house to have christmas lunch but there were about a thousand people who came out was a happy christmas to them, giving them cards, flowers, meeting kids and dogs and diane.

it is easier to say who you didn't meet because you met a lot of royals? yes, lots of handshakes from the king, princess catherine. and they loved my boots. prince william pointed them out and said to his children to see them. i am glad i wear them today. you said it meant a lot to you as a cancer survivor speaking to the king and catherine. yes, and being able to wish them good health for the year. i have written to catherine a few times regarding our cancers and got lovely replies. i think we are very lucky we have got a brilliant royal family and it just shows that cancer and health conditions apply to everyone.

is that made you want to come in particular this year? yes, that need it more so definitely because cancer affects everyone and people don't realise. mine was ovarian cancer. people don't realise how it affects the family so i wanted to see the royal family and see them celebrate christmasjust as i am. what was the atmosphere down there like? lots of you were there, people were cheering and clapping. lovely. everybody was chatty before the family came out, before the family waiting, the police was amazing and friendly and helpful. and you are lucky because you have been down here doing your thing with the royals and your daughter is making you christmas dinner. that is definitely a plus! that is for sure! no cooking. do you think you will be back in the future? i hope so because i came here

when i wasn't in a wheelchair hand in that kept him going for the rest of his days, so it is special. thank you so much and have a lovely christmas. you have a lovely christmas, as well! nearly done with work and we are going to have a great christmas. it has been a lovely day here at sandringham, and many people, like diane, have come this year because they know they have had issues with their health and they wanted to show support. and we'll be bringing you king charles' annual christmas message live here on the bbc news channel at 15:00 gmt. that's on bbc news channel in an hour's time. pope francis has delivered his traditional christmas day blessing. speaking from the central balcony of st peter's basilica to thousands of people

in the square below, he delivered his traditional christmas day "urbi et orbi", an address to the city and the world. in his speech, the pope called for talks between ukraine and russia to end the war that followed moscow's full—scale invasion two years ago, and he also renewed his call for a ceasefire in the israel—gaza war. translation: in the middle east and contemplating - the crib of bethlehem, i think of the christian communities in israel and palestine and particularly to the dear community of gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. may there be a ceasefire. may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war. the archbishop of york, stephen cottrell, has focused on the importance of actions over words in his christmas sermon. he will shortly take interim charge of the church

of england, which is facing criticism over its handling of abuse scandals. our religion editor aleem maqbool reports. give hope peace and joy as part of his plan. christmas is when the church is at its most prominent in british life, and its mostjoyous. churches up and down the country are filled with the story of hope defying darkness, but this year there is a troubled backdrop, and local clergy are hearing the frustration. it is just a magical time for the community. but this month has been really hard to be in the church of england, because of all that is going on. it is an institution that is probably in crisis really, so there is a sense that people feel really confused and disappointed with what has gone on and just longing for some leadership to get things sorted out. last month, justin welby resigned as head of the church after a report pointed out his failings in dealing

with a prolific child abuser. this year there was no christmas sermon at canterbury cathedral from the archbishop of canterbury. he was, we are told, spending private time with his family. instead all eyes were on york minster, and the archbishop of york, steven cotterell. he too is now under scrutiny for his handling of a child abuser in his charge, although he said he did everything he could. in his sermon he said people needed to do more than talk of justice, but needed to act. to put the needs of others first. those who are cold, and hungry this christmas. those who are victims of abuse, and exploitation. ijust feel that he's not the right person to give that message at this time. she doesn't want to be identified but one of the abuse

victims of the priest that worked for nine years under steven cotterill despite his knowledge of the serious concerns about him says it is now hard to listen to the archbishop preach. ijust feel he hasn't really thought about how victims would feel in this context, and how he is happy to be the voice of the church moving into christmas, when all i see when i see him, is a man that has let me and many victims down. forvictims, notjust in this case, but others, there is a sense this can't be a christmas where it is business as usual, and where they end up getting forgotten again. maney people are feared dead after a passenger plane with nearly 70 people on board crashed in the southwest

of the country. this dramatic footage shows the plane falling towards the earth, followed by a large explosion as it hits the ground. this footage shows some of the survivors being led away from the wreckage. these are the latest pictures coming out of kazakhstan. one of them was much closer, an eyewitness, much closer to the crash as the plane drops from the sky before it hits the ground. it was operated by azerbaijan airlines. the plane, operated by azerbaijan airlines, went down near the city of aktau. the flight was travelling from the azeri capital baku to grozny in russia but was diverted due to bad weather. these images show the wreckage of the plane at the crash site with the tail of the plane upended but partly intact. konul khalilova, editor at the bbc�*s azeri service, has the latest.

there are some really disturbing images where people moan and scream as they are heavily injured. the reasons of the crash, though, it is not still clear. there are videos of emergency services working in the area on social media. in one video there are holes visible on the surface of the fallen plane and these are being investigated as well, presumably. the azerbaijani president spoke about the crash and said the reasons are not known to him and it is being investigated. the passengers are mainly azerbaijan citizens and ten of them are from the same town and it has been declared a morning day in azerbaijan today. do declared a morning day in azerbaijan today.- declared a morning day in azerbaijan today. azerbai'an today. do we know wh so azerbaijan today. do we know why so many _ azerbaijan today. do we know why so many passengers - azerbaijan today. do we knowl why so many passengers flying to chechnya? what are the reasons behind that? azerbaijan's land borders have remained close since the covid

pandemic and the president has cited national security reasons for this. we have seen and recovered social media where people say the land borders, if they had been open it would have been easier to travel by train. but some blame economic conditions in the country that force people to fly to chechnya and elsewhere in russia. there are more than 2 million azerbaijan people living in russia and lots of people have left the country to look for jobs in russia, including chechnya. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

president zelensky has condemned russia's large—scale missile attacks across ukraine on christmas day as inhmane. he said russia had launched over 70 missiles and 100 drones at ukraine's energy system in what he called a "conscious choice" to launch the attacks at xmas. ukraine's air force says it

downed 59 of the missiles and more than half of the drones. the mayor of kharkiv, in the northeast of the country, said at least three people were injured and that civilian infrastructure had been damaged. in recent months, russia has been intensifying its attacks on ukraine's energy system, and has accelerated its advance across the east of the country. from kyiv, our correspondent will vernon has the latest developments. a pretty upsetting start to christmas, obviously, for many ukrainians. a large—scale attack on ukraine's infrastructure, energy infrastructure this morning, over 70 ballistic and cruise missiles were fired at ukrainian cities, that is according to president zelensky, who called this attack "inhumane", and in his statement he said, he thanked ukrainian soldiers who are on duty on the front line, and those protecting the skies of ukraine. he said, "russian evil will not break ukraine and will not spoil christmas." now, there haven't been any

reports yet of anyone killed in these attacks, but several people have been injured, including in kharkiv, ukraine's second largest city in the east, where there were a large number of explosions heard this morning, and the ukrainian state energy provider said it would be introducing hourly power outages in several regions across the country. russia has been systemically, really, destroying ukraine's energy and infrastructure over the course of several months now, and in september president zelensky said 80% of it had been destroyed in russian attacks. it is bitterly cold in ukraine at the moment, and of course, it is christmas day, right. russia does not celebrate christmas today, but ukraine does. they changed switched to the western—style calendar last year, so a really disturbing upsetting christmas so far for ukrainians. usually, at christmas there would be no rooms available in bethlehem

which christians believe to be the birthplace ofjesus christ. but for the second year running, the streets are nearly empty as tourists are mostly staying away and public festivities have been cancelled because of the gaza war. here's our middle east correspondent, yolande knell. the little town of bethlehem. this is the nativity church, built on the spot where it's believed jesus was born, and christmas began. but this christmas, for local palestinian christians, festivities are muted. public celebrations have been cancelled because of the gaza war. usually, the saint nicholas feast would bring a big parade. this is the second year, unfortunately, we don't have this. just to pray in the church, that's it. and it's... it's a little bit sad. here at the christmas

church, prayers are said for people in gaza. the nativity scene shows a baby in the rubble. some palestinian christians, like yousef khouri, have families in gaza, and they've been living in the churches there. they are subjected, like the entire gaza strip, of starvation. um... of course, almost no sleep because of bombardment, because of all the drones hovering above their heads. and the lack of medical attention and services. here in the occupied west bank, there's also fear and uncertainty amid heightened tensions with israel. and the economy is in dire straits. bethlehem is built on tourism, but now local guides stand idle, with very few visitors coming. normally, the streets around here would be

bustling at christmas time and, just like in the nativity story, all the rooms would be taken in bethlehem. not this year. most hotels are closed. but this local community group is trying to make a difference... ..packing up food parcels for those in need. donors have sent money for handouts, too. here, there's no governmental assistance. christmas is the spirit of giving and love and joy, and we hope with this parcel we can give some hope and joy to the families in our area. and as each volunteer makes their delivery, they spread some cheer in the city that sees itself as the capital of christmas. yolande knell, bbc news, bethlehem. here, a 31—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after pedestrians were hit by a car in

london's west end in the early hours of christmas day. four pedestrians were taken to hospital — one of them is still in a life—threatening condition. police say they believe the suspect was "involved in an altercation at a nightclub prior to getting in his car and mounting the pavement". they say it is not terror—related. today might be christmas day, but it is also the first day of the jewish festival of hanukkah. commonly known as christmukkah , it celebrates two festivals of great miracles in both religions, meaning a day of epic celebrations for mixed jewish—christian families. tamzin kraftman reports. christmukkah, once a joke made byjews in largely christian countries, has become a reality for many across the world. as for the first time in almost 20 years, christmas and hanukkah are falling on the same day. it's a chance for this multi—faith family, who grew up observing separate religions, to come together and share their cultural traditions. growing up in a country

like england, not celebrating christmas, it's actually been quite fun to do some of the things that everyone else was doing growing up that you were sometimes missing out on. so it's been really fun to be able to lean into some of those things. so what does it mean to actually be able to celebrate the holidays together? it's quite...it's quite exciting for us. we've tried to incorporate kind of hanukkah decorations into our kind of christmas decorations. it's been nice, kind of trying to bring elements of hanukkah into christmas for us. you have a young daughter. what does it mean to be able to celebrate the holidays all together? we want to give her the chance to kind of access any aspect of her identity. so if she... that's completely her choice. i visited saint cyprian�*s church in central london, where i met with the co—directors of the council of christians and jews, an organisation that works to support interfaith relations. it's been increasingly challenging in

interfaith spheres over the past year or so, and it's more and more important that we continue to come together, to celebrate together, to grieve together, to share what we have in common, but also to explore our difference. what's most important, really, is creating spaces where we can better understand one another, where we can build stronger relationships and friendships and learn more about and with one another. it's been a tough year for interfaith relations in general. it's been a year we've seen a real surge in anti—semitism and in other forms of racial and religious prejudice. it's been a really hard year in lots of ways. and it's good to have something to celebrate and good to have something to just get our minds off some of the more difficult news stories that are out there. i've come to north london to meet onejewish baker who's commemorated this unique union of the two festivals in the best

way she knows how. so what i do is i take the best elements from both kind of traditional foods and i blend them. so what we have over here is our stollen challah. so stollen is traditionally a german christmas bread, but we make a lighter version. so we use our challah, we are famous for our challah. also we have over here mince pie doughnuts, which people like, theyjust love so much. so that's what we do. we're really good at blending traditions. happy christmukkah! it'll be 16 years until the next one. tamzin kraftman, bbc news. our bbc russia editor steve rosenberg has played many stunning musical tributes for us over the years and today is no exception. this year, he's joined forces with channel 4's ciaranjenkins on cello to perform a special christmas collaboration. here's steve to tell us more.

i'm not reporting today. i'm playing the piano, as you can see, a special musical christmas collaboration. me in moscow and, back in the uk, kieranjenkins from channel 4 news on the cello. here is our version of in the bleak midwinter. merry christmas. music: in the bleak midwinter.

absolutely beautiful there from steve rosenberg and ciaran jenkins of channel 4. a world

away from snow and ice, let's show you the middle of the night in hawaii. it is one of the most active volcanoes and has been very active since 1983 and it erupts relatively regularly and it is going again. 18 metres heightjets of lava on hawaii's big island, springing into life again a couple of days ago. and a reminder that in half hour, we will be broadcasting king charles' annual christmas message live here on the bbc news channel at 15:00 gmt. the king will be delivering his traditional christmas day speech from a former hospital chapel, in a year in which the king has been undergoing cancer treatment. it's the first time in more than a decade that the christmas speech has been recorded from a place that isn't in a royal palace or estate. hello there, and a very

merry christmas to you. and indeed it's a mild christmas, pretty much across the board, all thanks to high pressure. it's the position of the high which has brought this mild air, bringing these south—westerly winds. you'll notice more isobars on the charts, these weather fronts affecting scotland, northern ireland. here it will remain quite windy, with outbreaks of rain. but you can see the orange and yellow colours pretty much right across the board indicate that mild theme. so we hold on to wet and fairly windy weather for the north west of scotland, into the northern isles for the rest of christmas day. elsewhere, it's one of lighter winds further south, variable cloud and some sunny spells. probably the best of it eastern england, eastern scotland, and temperatures in the low teens for most of us, so above where we should be for the time of year. now, through this evening and overnight, it stays breezy, with further outbreaks of rain across north west scotland, the rain edging a little bit further southwards into northern ireland, central southern scotland, but the rest of the country remains largely dry. variable cloud, a bit of mist and fog here and there, and a few clear spells, and temperatures holding up

between five and ten degrees. for boxing day, little change, certainly for england and wales it stays dry, with light winds, but we have this weather front still bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain across scotland and northern ireland. most of the rain will be affecting western scotland, a little bit getting towards the east but further south it's one of drier conditions, quite a lot of cloud around, once again with limited sunny spells, but pretty much wherever you are it's going to be mild. double figure values away from northern scotland, which will be poking into some colder air there. now, as we move beyond thursday into friday, this area of high pressure brings very similar conditions most of the country. we still have this weather front bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain across scotland, northern ireland a little bit more of a breeze here too. but elsewhere it's mostly dry. limited brightness, probably the best of it across eastern parts of scotland and england, and in temperatures probably a few degrees lower, nine to 12 celsius. and then as we push into the weekend and into the start of next week, it does look

like some colder air tries to get into the north of the uk. how far south it gets remains to be seen, but it does look like it'll generally stay milder towards the south this weekend and into next week, but there are hints of it turning colder across northern scotland, with an increasing chance of more unsettled weather as well. take care.

now on bbc news, iceland: a women's paradise? iceland, a country of wild beauty and dramatic contrasts. less known is its increasingly equal society. i think it's in her blood. yeah. she laughs it's the only country in the world to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap — from education, to child care, to equal pay. women and girls enjoy a progressive lifestyle... iceland's most important role is to be a lighthouse for the rest of the world. which we are not. we want to hear from women

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