in world conflicts, unity after the summer riots, and reflects on his cancer treatment. i offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family. pope francis uses his traditional christmas message to call for peace in ukraine and gaza, and describes the humanitarian situations there "extremely grave". officials in kazakhstan say 38 passengers died in the crash landing of an azerbaijan airlines flight. president zelensky condemns russia's mass missile and drone attack against ukraine on christmas day as inhumane. hello, i'm sarah campbell.

king charles has given his annual christmas day speech, where he paid tribute to the doctors and nurses for the care they've provided to him and the princess of wales during their cancer treatment this year. he called for unity after the summer riots in the uk and made a plea for peace in the middle east, central europe and africa. this year's christmas broadcast was delivered in the fitzrovia chapel in london, the first time a venue outside a royal residence had been used for over a decade. let's first hear what he said about his treatment. i offer special heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and the anxieties of illness and have helped provide the strength, care, and comfort we have needed.

i am deeply grateful, too, to all of those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement. as conflicts rage throughout europe, africa and the middle east, the king acknowledged the work of humanitarian organisations helping those most in need around the world. on this christmas day we cannot help but think of those for whom the devastating effects of conflict in the middle east, in central europe, in africa and elsewhere, pose a daily threat to so many people's lives and livelihoods. we also think of the humanitarian organisations working tirelessly to bring vital relief. and here in the uk, the king praised the efforts of those who had sought to build bridges between communities after the summer riots, following the southport stabbings that killed three girls. i felt a deep sense of pride here in the united kingdom when, in response to anger and lawlessness in several towns this summer, communities

came together. not to repeat these behaviours but to repair, to repair notjust buildings but relationships. and, most importantly, to repair trust by listening and, through understanding, deciding how to act for the good of all. well, earlier, the royalfamily attended the traditional christmas service 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. royal commentator kelly swaby talked me through the speech. as you say, you know, i think we all expected him to address his cancer diagnosis, but he spent a lot less time talking about himself than i think many of us expected. i think a lot of us expected

the entire speech, or at least a large part of the speech, to be about his diagnosis. and it wasn't. it was about community spirit. it was also about public service. obviously, you know, our incredible health professionals, you know, got a shout out this year as they have in many of the previous christmas broadcasts. but it was one of community spirit, of coming together. ithink, you know, that very much ties in with the christmas spirit as a whole. so it was as to be expected. but there were also some surprises in there. yeah, and some really direct comments, weren't there? you sometimes have to read between the lines to get the messages from royal christmas messages. but this was very clear. you know, it was about community. it was about the southport riots. it was talking about conflicts going on around the world, you know, potentially quite difficult issues. absolutely. with the late queen's christmas messages, you did have to read between the lines, whereas king charles is a lot more direct. we've always known him to be, you know, quite to the point.

he's always got involved in things, sometimes things that he shouldn't have done. but he's always been outspoken. and this christmas message very much ties in with him, you know, as a person. so, he did mention conflict in the middle east. obviously, that's a direct reference to gaza and conflict in general. it tied in with him going to the d—day commemorations earlier this year in normandy. so, that was a very much a direct reference to something that is relatively controversial, that can divide people's opinions, as well as the southport riots. again, it would have been not a very wise choice for him not to have mentioned it. it was, you know, one of the most important things that's happened this year. and he was very much involved in the aftermath of the 2011 riots in tottenham. he went to community centres and that sort of thing. so he's experienced this before, and he's also seen the value of the community spirit after something like that has happened. so, it was very direct. but i think it's very charles. and what about the location? interesting, the first time that it's been filmed outside one of the main royal residences since 2006,

so it was the chapel of the former middlesex hospital. i absolutely love the location choice. i really like the fact that the three christmas broadcasts that he has done have all been in different locations. so, the first was at st george's chapel at windsor, which is where the late queen was buried. last year's was at buckingham palace and this year's was at a chapel in a hospital, obviously, again, a direct reference to his and the princess of wales�*s health issues that they've been through this year. but i really like the idea of taking the christmas message out of a royal residence. it adds a lot more meaning to the words that are being said, and i like the idea of, i guess, a road show of christmas broadcasts, of going to different locations locations throughout the uk, of really making it a lot more intimate than it has been in previous years where it's just been at buckingham palace. so, in terms of the location, i absolutely love it. and the symbolism, as well, because that chapel also has links to george v. so, his great grandfather, so it has a lot of royal

links and i think it was a very wise choice. 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 over two years ago, and he also renewed his call for a ceasefire in the israel—gaza war and the release of the remaining israeli hostages held by hamas. 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. in the middle east, hamas and israel have blamed each other for delays in the latest attempt at a ceasefire deal. hamas accused the israeli government on wednesday of imposing new conditions that it said were delaying the agreement, while israel s prime minister said that the group is going back on understandings that have already been reached. despite rounds of indirect talks, israel and hamas have agreed just once on a truce. it lasted for one week at the end of last year. shaimaa khalil has the more now from jerusalem. the ceasefire agreement between hamas and israel looked like it was gaining momentum a few days ago. it is a very different picture now. both sides are exchanging accusations. hamas says that israel has set new conditions when it comes to the ceasefire, when it comes to the prisoner exchange, when it comes to the return of those displaced in gaza. these are very difficult and thorny but also technical issues that negotiators

would have been working on for months and months. but hamas now says that because of that, the deal is delayed. we have also heard from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, who accused hamas of lying, of hampering negotiations, of reneging on issues that they've agreed upon. this is very different to what we have heard a few days ago. only yesterday we heard from the prime minister's office saying that their negotiators have come back from qatar after significant negotiations. the hamas side has told the bbc a few days ago that the talks were 90% complete bar a few issues. one sticking point is the israeli presence in the philadelphi corridor. this is a crucial strip of land between the gaza boundary area and egypt. the israeli presence there is a thorny issue. today the israeli defence minister, israel katz, said that the security in gaza is going to be up to

the israeli forces, there will be no hamas administration or presence. the pope had prayed for the people of israel and palestine, for the people of gaza to get the aid that they need and for the end of the war there, for the families, for the hostages to come back to their families, and those prayers feel so poignant at a time when these families, when the people of gaza, feel that this deal that they need so much is not happening as soon as they hope. angry demonstrations have spread across several cities in syria after a video showed an attack on an alawite shrine in aleppo. the new administration of ahmed al—sharaa said the footage dated back to the time when the second city fell to his islamist rebels earlier this month, blaming the attack on unknown groups. our middle east correspondent lina sinjab, who's in damascus, sent this update on the protests. this is the first time we see unrest in alawite cities and towns since the toppling

of the assad regime. first in the city of tartus, in the town of tartus, there were clashes between hts and former operatives of the assad regime, according to hts. we learned that, also, they've been ambushed by former regime operatives as they were trying to raid one apartment to arrest former regime operatives. but then there were protests in many cities and towns, especially in homs, in response to a video released of vandalising an alawite shrine in the city of aleppo. that incident happened nearly ten days ago, but it was released again and although there have been reconciliation with the leaders of the alawite religious leaders, however it was released today provoking tension and protest in many cities and towns, even here in damascus in the district

which is predominantly alawite supporters of assad's power. there were reports of some shooting in homs. we can't confirm who are the ones who opened fire at protesters. we've seen videos of hts fighters trying to calm down the situation and just now there was a statement coming out from hts confirming that those who opened fire are also regime operatives. there are many questions about the situation here. many people are calling for calm, for avoiding revenge, forjustice and prosecution for those who have blood on their hands. but the alawite communities are fearful. especially because many of them took part in torturing and killing during the days of the uprising, and many syrians here blame them for the bloodshed. it will be a big challenge for this new leadership to maintain stability and provide justice for everyone while these kind of incidents will happen

and possibly may happen again. lina sinjab reporting from damascus. officials in kazakhstan say 38 people have been killed after a crash landing of an azerbaijan airlines flight. the plane went down outside the city of aktau as it was was flying from the capital, baku, to grozny in chechnya. jonathan josephs reports. this dramatic amateur footage captures the moments just before the crash. the azerbaijan airlines plane seems to be descending with some speed, and at a steep angle. experts suggest the pilots were struggling for control as they approached aktau. they had been diverted because of bad weather at the original destination of grozny, in southern russia. the kazakh authorities say 150 emergency personnel were sent to the scene. the front half, including the wings and fuel tanks, were engulfed in fire. the force of the impact split

the aircraft in two. the rear, despite coming to rest upside down, is mostly intact. some passengers remarkably walked away from what must have been a horrifying experience. translation: at 11:30. information was received about a plane crash three kilometres from the airport. additional emergency resources were sent, and at 12:05 the fire had been extinguished. there were 67 people, including five crew, onboard. many have not survived what should have been been a routine flight of less than 90 minutes. most of them were azeri citizens, with others from russia, kazakhstan and kyrgyzstan. the plane was an 11—year—old embraer e190. the brazilian company has a strong safety record, and says it is preparing to send teams to help with the investigation. it has expressed its sympathies for all those involved, and their loved ones. now the focus will be on trying to recover the flight data recorders, which should give investigators more information as they try

to work out what caused this plane to come down. they will also be keen to speak to the survivors, who are coming to terms with their miraculous escape. jonathan josephs, bbc news. 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 christmas. 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. 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 most joyous. 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. last month, justin welby

resigned as head of the church after a report pointed out his failings in dealing with a prolific child abuser. with no christmas sermon from the archbishop of canterbury, all eyes were on york minster and the archbishop of york, stephen cottrell, but he, too, is now under scrutiny for the handling of a child abuser in his charge, though he says he did everything he could. in his sermon he said people needed to do more than just talk and needed to act. to put the needs of others first. those that 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 cottrell, despite his knowledge of the serious concerns about him, says it is now hard to listen to the archbishop preach. ijust feel that 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. some bishops chose to directly address the church crisis in their messages but not the archbishop of york. after his service he greeted members of his congregation. given that the criticism of church leaders, there will be some who heard the archbishop preach in his words about the inadequacies of those who talk a good game but whose words aren't embodied in actions and will do so with some sense of irony this christmas. aleem maqbool, bbc news, acta york minster.

while for many, christmas is a time for gathering together and celebrating, it can also be a time for helping those most in need. nicky ford reports from a project that helps the homeless in london. welcome to the crisis hotel at christmas, where things are done a little differently. the staff are volunteers, and the guests are rough sleepers. it will help 600 people, with a volunteer team working day and night. the first guests to check in headed straight to bed for the chance of a peaceful night's sleep somewhere quiet, clean and comfortable. and after a good night's sleep, people have come down to enjoy what we all look forward to in a hotel — a good hot cooked breakfast. this year, it will be served by some celebrity volunteers. the guests have already had a night to sleep, and now they're coming down for breakfast and that's what me and joe are going to be starting with — making them teas, giving them some breakfast. it'sjust, it's a real... you know, they properly put

a lot of work into this and, um, just really proud to be part of it. one lovely guy, i think he recognised my voice from the pe with joe workouts. he said, "are you... are you joe wicks?" i said, "yeah, it's me, nice to meet you." and he said he'sjust checked in, he's going to be here for two weeks — he's going from on the streets to being in a nice, warm, safe hotel for two weeks. he's got a job lined up with tfl and, you know, just seeing the optimism in his eyes — that he's genuinely really excited about that. as well as three meals a day, people will have access to a medical team, computers to help them reconnect with lost family and friends, and the chance to have a little fun with a board game or two. i was lucky, you know, we were on benefits and i had parents with addiction, but we had a home. i never... i never had to live on the streets. we had a nice, cosy bed and we had, like, you know, somewhere to be. so to think that the number of homeless people is increasing and the actual places for them to live and accommodate is decreasing — that's an issue that we need to talk about, like...

christmas is an important time to help the homeless, but this is also a reminder that this is all year round that we need this help for. it's open for two weeks — time, it's hoped, to give the guests the best start to 2025 as possible. nicky ford, bbc news. today might be christmas day, but it is also the first day of the jewish festival of hanukkah. commonly known as christmukkah, it celebrates the 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, i think. 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, you know, that's completely her choice. i visited st 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, you know, 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 tojust 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 which 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. let's go to hawaii. we have been showing pictures of one of the world's most active volcanoes. it is at it again for christmas. it started erupting on monday and it is continuing to do so. pretty spectacular pictures. stay with us on bbc news. hello there.

christmas day for most of us was a quiet one weather—wise. a lot of cloud around. limited brightness and on the mild side for the time of year. but it hasn't been dry everywhere. around this big area of high pressure which has brought the dry weather, we've had this weather front bringing outbreaks of rain, mainly to northern scotland. and cold air never too far away here, but you can see on the airmass chart the extent of this milder air across the country. now, as we head through this evening and tonight, it stays blustery across the far north of scotland, with showers here and remaining chilly, this weather front bringing further rain, thicker clouds in parts of scotland and northern ireland. but the rest of the country will stay largely dry with light winds, a lot of cloud around, a few clear spells, which could give rise to a bit of low cloud, mist and fog. temperatures no lower than 5 to 10 degrees. so into boxing day, we hold on to this weather front, bringing further outbreaks of rain to the north of the uk. most of the rain — western scotland, perhaps just to the north of northern ireland. blustery, with a few showers, maybe some brightness for the northern isles. but the vast majority of england and wales will be largely dry. light winds.

again, a lot of grey weather around, much like today with limited brightness, could see the odd spot of drizzle across western hills. temperatures remaining in double figures for most, on the mild side. again, something chillier for northern scotland. so as you move through boxing day night, it stays dry for the majority of the country. again, a lot of cloud around blankets in the temperatures. blanketing the temperatures. a little bit of rain across scotland and northern ireland. chilly in the far north of scotland, but temperatures 5 to 9 degrees further south. there's little change as we head into friday. this area of high pressure still dominating the scene, so mostly dry with light winds. again, this weather front across scotland could bring thicker cloud with outbreaks of rain, mainly to argyll and the highlands. perhaps a little bit of rain across northern parts of northern ireland, but for the vast majority friday looks dry, rather grey, gloomy once again with limited brightness. those temperatures maybe coming down a degree or so. we're looking at 9 to 11 or 12 degrees. so as we head into the weekend, we start to see the temperatures coming down

somewhat, especially across the north of the country. as we head into next week, there's a chance colder air might move south right across the country and turn colder, with an increasing chance of wintry showers on the hills in the north and the west. and you can see that hint of colder air beginning to move down from the north as we head into next week. and generally it starts to turn more unsettled too. take care.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the king in his christmas speech calls for peace in world conflicts, unity after the summer riots, and reflects on his cancer treatment. pope francis has used his traditional christmas message to call for peace in ukraine and gaza, calling the humanitarian situation there extremely grave. officials in kazakhstan say 38 passengers were killed in the crash landing of an azerbaijan airlines flight. president zelensky condemns russia's mass missile and drone attack against ukraine on christmas day as inhumane. now on bbc news, a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year.