this is d.w. news live from berlin pope francis leaves christmas eve mass as christians around the world celebrate the birth of jesus after a year that has seen kept the catholic church rocked by scandals francis used his address as midnight addressed at the vatican to urge christians not to lose faith. airstrikes killed at least 8 in the syrian province of idlib 5 of them children decide regimes latest offensive against the country's last major rebel stronghold has forced tens of thousands to flee the u.n. once children are bearing the brunt of the intensifying violence.

a mommy and he's of good to have you with us across countries and cultures christians around the world have begun celebrating christmas at the vatican pope francis led the midnight mass at st peter's basilica as one of the most important ceremonies on the catholic calendar people from around the globe descend on rome to witness the ritual. pope francis is busting emphasize love and forgiveness after a difficult year for the church and. gone to buy the nomination we want together the heavenly realm fills you with a gift of his peace and. you share us with the chechen happens. to. it's he he she.

now christmas celebrations are also taking place in bethlehem revered by christians as the birthplace of jesus more than 2000 years ago mass was held in the church of the nativities which is one of the world's oldest places of continuous christian worship outside thousands of visitors conversion around the christmas tree and manger square record numbers of tourists are expected to visit bethlehem over the christmas period many have to pass through israel's separation barrier to reach the city which is in the israeli occupied west bank. now earlier journalist sami sokol in jerusalem gave us a snapshot of the christmas celebrations in bethlehem. we've seen a record number of tourists and pinworms visiting both best and jerusalem this year and what is added to the festive atmosphere is the fact that the pope francis has given a relic this size

a fragment of wood that has been in rome for nearly 1400 years and this is believed to have been part of the major part of the career with jesus christ late so it was received you with great. ness and the belief here is that it will draw more tourists to visit the city on the other how israeli authorities have prevented yet again gazans from leaving and visiting the west bank visiting beslan and visiting jerusalem and even though last year they get a commission for 700 palestinian christians to leave the gaza strip and this is this year the number was only 300 so the disappointment in gaza was very high amidst very strong condemnations from the various churches. semi-circle speaking asked to us from jerusalem let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world 2 strong

earthquake struck central colombia on tuesday the tremors recorded magnitudes of 6.2 and 5.7 were very close to each other and only minutes apart the epicenter is were located about 150 kilometers south of the capital of bogota no injuries were reported. 'd as army says 35 civilians and 7 soldiers have been killed in a militant attack near are being done in the south of the country authorities say security forces repelled the assailants killing 80 of them can foster has been battling an islamist insurgency since 2015. a court in turkey has ordered a prominent businessman osama qabala to remain in jail on charges that he attempted to overthrow the government he's accused of backing the gezi park protest against then prime minister read. the european court of human rights has called for his release saying there's no reasonable suspicion that he has committed

a crime. and next to syria where there is no end in sight to the misery inflicted on civilians in the besieged province of idlib the last major stronghold of islam is rebels there russian airstrikes supporting the assad regime have claimed the lives of at least 8 people 5 of them children who were sheltered in a school house the united nations is warning that children are bearing the brunt of syria's increasingly violent conflict. mattered till now min in egypt has become a ghost town people living here have fled the government offensive against rebels. shabab people affiliate out that fled to live on the leaf trees this is a vegetable market there's no one here i haven't seen anyone other than journalists taking pictures of me and. most of those fleeing are heading north to wants to take. the head we run away from the rockets out of the barrel

and explosive shells. we're asking for allows mercy and for the united nations to see what happened to us because of bashar al assad and the russian army. they are killing us. with heavy shelling. and is strikes. syrian troops have been pushing into it live. and identified syrian criminal siege the offensive is to clear the province of terrorism. you do have saw i looked. syrian army cares about civilians lives. the military calls upon them to leave the areas where the terrorists are not words with us should go to the areas under the control of the syrian army come to save

them from terrorists and terrorism and i didn't want more than 40000 people have been displaced by the finance in recent weeks. demonstrators in hong kong have clashed with police in christmas eve protests riot police fired tear gas as protests went through a major shopping district activist block the streets smashed shop windows the anti-government protests in hong kong are now in their 7th month. because on location and sent us this update a festive lie has descended into question in hong kong a tear gas return to the streets lots of protestors turned out for demonstrations at shopping malls across the city tonight but the riot police tom into the shopping centers are quickly to disperse crowds because they accuse them of attending illegal assemblies the rounds of the rounds of tear gas rubber bullets and other kinds of protests tells the worst shot throughout the night some protesters even they flew past show bombs and other objects at police vehicles some even found

allies. to express their anger to us police cracked down on one of the fundraisers in recent days so how can people definitely have no silent night on christmas eve many of the shops are closed at his peak and the may be more precious a small protests are planned on upcoming holidays. now north korea has warned of an unspecified christmas gift for the united states u.s. president down from says he's not worried about what it might be north korea's neighbors are less cheerful they suspect a new weapons test the leaders of china japan and south korea have been meeting in the chinese city of chengdu in an effort to get the u.s. and north korea talking again. they called it a new era of the 3 kingdoms as police of china japan and south korea met for talks but the one leader setting the agenda at the summit was not at the table. north

korea's kim jong un after the latest tests at the missile launch site earlier this month regional powers are concerned appearing young is about to undo efforts to ease tensions. we agreed that peace on the korean peninsula was in the common interest of the 3 countries we also agreed to make efforts together to help promote north korea u.s. dialogue for denuclearization and peace. the possibility of north korea turning into serious nuclear threat has become more tangible after february summit between kin and u.s. president on a trump fails to deliver any results. to come and threat of a north korean attack has forced to parent and south korea to overcome their own bilateral tensions over their colonial history. i am willing to improve this important relationship between japan and south korea by all means today i would like to have

a frank discussion. china north korea's only ally supports the call for peace on the korean peninsula beijing is interested in easing tensions in the region also for you cannot make reasons china's premier used the opportunity to promote a new free trade zone between the 3 countries. the prospect of more diplomatic and economic unity in east asia is cause for optimism but the dawn of a new era depends on substantial jeev minutes after the talks. now as the year draws to a close we're bringing you some of our most memorable stories from the past 12 months in iran d.w. reporter is atop a visit at a cafe staffed by people with down syndrome and autism and she found iranians breaking new ground. in the. this completely in his element couple chinos to the guests in this cafe to waiting tables this is 1st

ever job and the 40 year old is loving every 2nd of it. you know i like the cafe it's big and it's nice. that's why i'm so grateful to the owner. every night when i go to bed i thank. the others who work here have little chance of finding work elsewhere iran's job market is current law in such a bad state that over a 3rd of college educated young iranians are unemployed for people with special needs it's become nearly impossible to find work. for most of those people there's nothing to do once they finish school they just stay at home but we're convinced it's good for them to show people that they have other abilities not just good for them it's also good for their families they're often sad because they can't do anything but here they can show just what they're

capable of. more than 40 people living with down syndrome autism work here regularity everybody pitches in doing what they can brewing coffee waiting tables or entertaining the guests with music. they all get paid for their work except for the cafe owner he she runs a deficit every month there are very few government programs to support social projects like this one in the islamic republic. we've never received support from any kind of organization it's a completely independent project founded and finance privately were totally self dependant. giving up is not an option because every day she sees just how much this work means to him run and the others.

are used to just be with my father. but father look at me. i finally made it. i'm famous and go through life with my. c. . with their positive attitude imran and his colleagues have created an atmosphere found nowhere else in the islamic republic. no other cafe here in iran could get away with this level of frivolity imran and the others are making the best out being a little bit different and have transformed coffee down tizen into a place that's bursting with positivity. that's the latest for this hour but before we go

a christmas carol german bundesliga club when you know in berlin got over $28000.00 fans to join in with a festive sing along at the stadium a mommy and he said from me in the v.w. news team thanks for watching. i. was god who was i was i. was that i was was my god. god god god. god god i had i. was

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