this is d.w. news live from berlin and pope francis leaves christmas eve mass as christians around the world celebrate the birth of jesus after a year that's seen the catholic church rocked by scandals francis uses his address at the vatican to urge christians not to lose faith. also coming out. tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes in the syrian province of it will it be when warns of a humanitarian catastrophe as the assad regime steps up its offensive in the country's last rebel stronghold. and

a wildfire destroys dozens of homes in chile already is evacuated thousands from the city of volga to you so as the blaze spreads to residential areas. i'm mary in evanston welcome to the program christians around the world are celebrating christmas marking the birth of jesus more than 2000 years ago at the vatican pope francis led the midnight mass at st peter's basilica his blessing emphasized forgiveness not just for sinners but for the church itself after a difficult year in which sexual abuse scandals continue to rock the catholic church francis urged christians to keep the faith.

anything short of i he does a ritual that dates back to the 1st centuries of the catholic church the midnight mass at some pages is a spiritual gathering there the pope is said to confide the would of god to the faith. of. god of that he may god who by the incarnation brought together the earth and the heavenly realm fill you with the gift of his peace and favor and may you share it with the church in heaven this was. for the pontiff and followers of the catholic faith it has been a trying him scandal has reached the very top of the church in many places. so in his sermon the pope appealed for believe is to maintain the faith. may we not wait for our neighbors to be good before we do good to them let us not

wait for the church to be perfect before we love her let us begin with us so is and receive the gift of grace. celebrating the belief of the fight for was also one of the themes of the midnight mass in bethlehem there pilgrims of worship is gathered at the church of the nativity. it's a site where jesus is believed to have been born seal lisette this was led by the archbishop of jerusalem in the presence of palestinian president mahmoud abbas any family the archbishop appeal for believe is to overcome hatred. true charter would be something to cater to overcome. those who do not share their desire for income to in peace. it is an appeal for unity and for it had to be the archbishop said he hoped to resign will be on the christian faithful in

a region where fights mix and we believe all too often causes conflict. now to syria where there is no end in sight to the misery inflicted on civilians in the besieged province of the last major rebel stronghold russian airstrikes supporting the assad regime killed at least 8 people 5 of them children who were sheltering in a school house the united nations is warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. not at all now i'm in it live has become a ghost town people living here have fled the government offensive against rebels. shaab people are fed up. to live on the only for 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 hitting north

towards the turkish border. and they did not we run away from the rockets out of the barrel and explosive shells. we were 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 a strikes. syrian troops have been pushing into it live. and identified syrian pennell said the offensive is to clear the province of terrorism. i left the syrian army cares about civilians lives what that. the military calls upon them to leave the areas where the terrorists are. that they

should go to the areas under the control of the syrian army has come to save them from terrorists and terrorism and i'd be much more than $40000.00 people have been displaced by the violence in recent weeks. let's bring in riyadh all knowledge of who the us which is a syrian based human rights organization or it is currently in sweden and joins us via skype heh thanks for being on the program now you're in contact with your colleagues who are on the ground in syria what are they telling you. the situation is catastrophic. syrians in england for sure have spent a different kind of christmas eve brutal attacks continue to target civilian infrastructure and homes. since the start of the assault over 40000 turned these have been forcibly displaced from their homes and now they are leaving

under open skies because nowhere is safe now in atlanta even i.d.p.'s counts are being targeted as you mentioned yesterday. account when a school in town were targeted and 8 people were killed 5 out of them are children so it's nowhere is safe and. the number of i did these exceeds the organizations the humanitarian organizations ability to response today for hordes of them. well as so many people are being forced to flee from their homes the united nations is saying what's unfolding here amounts to a humanitarian catastrophe what's your assessment. true and unfortunately the united nations are just like paralyzed n.g.o.s and activists have been asking the un to step in to protect the civilians

and shamefully yesterday they have announced a 6 hours ceasefire so they fasten the tates the the displacement of people instead of protecting them in their home towns. and even though with the cease fire when people started to graduate the city they were targeted on. roads that had been identified as a process for evacuation. so we really asked for were a real intervention here not to pass a facility to a crime of letting people flee there that they are their hometowns to the noir and . and of course like 2 days 3 days ago. russia and china be told the decision to to deliver 8 cross border into syria so now people are have to flee their how their homes and no aid will be

delivered so instead of only. a system and all the situation which all of us know the u.n. are required to do to step in and act for real not to stand up late by realized and just watch this situation going on. put us a syrian basing rights organization we thank you very much indeed for your insights . let's get a check now of some of the other stories making news around the world in hong kong demonstrators have clashed with police in christmas eve protests riot police fired tear gas says protest swept through a major shopping district activists blocked streets and smashed shop windows anti-government protests and hong kong are now in their 7th month. thousands of people in bangalore in southern india have held a candlelight vigil to protest

a controversial citizenship law the legislation speeds up indian citizenship for people from several asian countries but not if they are muslim india's government rejects accusations that the law is discriminatory. in the libyan capital tripoli for people are reported dead after a projectile exploded at a vegetable market forces loyal to libya's internationally recognized government have blamed rival groups answering to warlord khalifa haftar of attacking a civilian area. forces have been trying to seize tripoli since april. a wildfire in the chilean city of all put you so has damaged or destroyed more than $100.00 homes several districts in the western part of the city had to be evacuated it's not known want triggered the blaze bonte to hot temperatures and strong winds help the flames to spread. fleeing the flames with pets.

and household possessions. the fire started in the woody hilly area on felled power uses outskirts and quickly spread. it consumed dozens of homes in its path. under huge boulder thick black smoke rose above the city. as the flames crept closer residents tried in vain to stop them advancing. i feel powerless because all the houses are burning and now the fire is coming here. extra fire fighting reinforcements had to be called in to help local residents joined in the effort to douse the flames as well as move any timber and wooden walling that might turn out of the way. wildfires are not unusual in chile this year's very warm weather helped the flames to spread but this was far came as about power

you so celebrated christmas eve and also as chile is steeped in political crisis after months of anti-government protests. christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world and depending where you are people mark this season and all sorts of different ways a reporter and seldon is here in the studio with me for a look at some of the more colorful christmas traditions hello to you erin so what have you got well you know it tis the season to get a little bit silly and there's no wrong way to celebrate christmas so the 1st video we have is from cocoa beach in florida where hundreds of surfboard riding santas have taken to the waves now it's a charity event that's held on every christmas eve and this year it featured some $600.00 surfing santa as who hang 10 and raise some $40000.00 for nonprofits this year all right so surfing santa that looks the very. christmas under palm trees

where do we go next and when next we're going to mexico and where they're asking the question what does a radish have to do with christmas if you asked me not a lot i mean it's red and white but of course i'm not from mexico where they're celebrating their annual radish christmas festival now the festival features hundreds of art is sculpting a christmas directions from radishes you know it's a 122 year old tradition that started as a way for farmers to raise a little bit of the festive spirit and also sell more radishes so some festive vegetable sculptures but it is red and why is that but what about the most famous red and white figure of christmas santa claus i mean he does seem to be popular in many places of the world sure he is but we're in a state in north america right now where the u.s. and canadian militaries are actually getting men on the festive spirit now they're tracking santa as progress or around the world as he delivers presents to good little boys and girls i know my kids are very interested in that oh i'm sure they

would be actually if this is one of my favorite traditions growing up and basically what we're talking about is norad which is the american in north american nuclear commandos in each year they track the progress of santa as he's traveling around the world now. the information is then published online and also on t.v. and radio and i believe we have some video of there there as we're seeing right now they have hundreds of people actually on hand to answer phone calls from children in north america as to where santa is actually around the world now this actually has one of the best traditions or one of the best modern stories for why it developed started back in 1900 $55.00 and you have to imagine we're in the height of the cold war in america's secret nuclear bunker and the phone rings on the other end it's not actually the president's not the joint chiefs of staff it's a little girl actually looking for santa claus and you know the nuclear commandos they decided to play along they pretended they were send his elves and let her know where santa was currently in since then it's become a massive tradition you know i grew up with this and i actually have to say it's

one i think it's one of the best traditions when it comes to christmas and really expresses that christmas spirit and you get to find out how far away santa is from your home and indeed i had to tell time thank you so very much indeed thank you. you're up to date now on feet of the new i'll be back again at the top of the hour for me and the entire team in berlin and thanks for watching. it's. absolutely adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to simulate racial politics on the phone it's 250th birthday for him barging on a voyage of discovery. expedition voyage on the t.w. . plane.