christmas card on. this is news live from bin laden promises to be all be addressed speak on to office his annual christmas blessing to the city at the world problems rome as he appeals for peace around the globe also to have enough. a wildfire destroys dozens of homes in chile. evacuated thousands from the city off to the lab. that is

sold as the blaze springs to residential areas. and a christmas celebration back making waves hundreds of scientists take to the ocean to show off their surfing skills we take a look at some of the time usual ways people celebrate christmas. oh. hello i'm christine want to welcome to the program. pope francis has been giving the christmas be it all beatrice and he's blessing to the catholic faithful from st peter's square and rome but. it's the who speech you sent. in the movie it's 9 minutes because.

francis spoke about migrants and those feeling what he called unspeakable forms of abuse the pontiff also appealed for peace in the syria and an end to the social unrest in venezuela earlier the pope led a midnight mass at st p. says the seneca at the vatican his blessing emphasized forgiveness not just for sin is but for the church itself after a difficult year in which sexual abuse scandals continue to rock the catholic church francis christians to keep the faith. i. think i am 45 of my he does a ritual that dates back to the 1st centuries of the catholic church was the midnight mass at some pages is a spiritual gathering there the pope is said to confide the would have god to the faith. of. god it was

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 scandalous race the very top of the church in many places. so in his sermon the pope appealed for believers 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 us and receive the gift of grace. have celebrating the belief of the fight for was also one of the themes of the midnight mass in bethlehem. they're pilgrims of bushes gathered at the church of

the nativity. it's a site where jesus is believed to have been born in the 70s was led by the archbishop of jerusalem in the presence of palestinian president mahmoud abbas in his homily the archbishop of people for believe is to overcome hatred. to be something to cater to overcome to understanding of the. encounter in peace. is an appeal for unity and for it had to be the archbishop said he hoped would resign will be on the christian fight for you in a region where fights mix and we believe all too often causes conflict. now let's bring in journalist david wylie who's in rome he's been following the vatican for us good to have you david what you may call for francis this message

this year. well i think pope francis is trying he has a very ambitious program he's working he's celebrated his 82nd birthday recently he is aware of his increasing age and he can't expect many years to come of his people saying he's preparing his for his action and i think that he is trying as desperately as he can change the mindset of the people who run the church his direction it's interesting over the past few days he's been talking harsh a lot on their knowledge during this or be a tory message to the people of the room to the world today but also he gave his christmas greetings to the curia there in curates say the bishop or girls who. helped him run the vatican and i thought it was very thing that he quoted

a former cardinal who's now wrong did cardinal martini of you know that who said just before he died that the church the catholic church was 200 years behind the times when other words pope francis not afraid of of criticizing the people who helped him to run the church were or the minds of the current conservative one interesting on that point david if you'll allow me one of the things that he said in the midnight mass just to the point about the criticism that he's willing to to give the church he talks about the church not being perfect and say to people don't wait for the church to be perfect what does that tell us about the year that the church has had in 21000 how difficult has it been for the catholic church this year . it's been a very bad year in many ways we've had joe pope's former top economic advisor the australian cardinal pale sentence to prison in australia for clerical sex

abuse on clerical 6 of those charges it's become apparent that the problem of pedophile creased switched the baton has tended in recent years to brush off as an american problem it's a worldwide problem we've had reports of kerry call sexual abuse from all over the world including priest had tied a catholic population but even there there have been cases of priests being charged with sexual abuse so it is a very serious problem that the church faces in continuing its credibility i would say these are at least stirring truck trying for rome in trying to govern the universal catholic church and there's certainly been a switch from the power switch from europe and north america to the developing world here we have the 1st pope from south america the 1st latino american. we

have a pope poles were previously worked in search where it i think things are going to change but i'm afraid they're going to change very slowly all right that is agenda state of hawaii in rome for us thank you david germany's president from maya will nurture them and see overcome their differences and respect each other as equals and he's christmas interests will also notes the high points of 2019 most notably the 30th anniversary of the fall of the bin then war now the no points. and anti-semitic attack in october at a synagogue in the city of haifa. looking back on the events of the past year the german president says the anti-semitic attack at a synagogue in holland left a deep imprint the building's locked or prevented even greater tragedy. bears the traces of some 20 bullets you see the splintered wood and the metal remains in the

bullet holes the store guards the entrance to the synagogue and. it's a miracle that it held and that no more people fell victim to this brutal anti semitic attack in which 2 of our fellow citizens were murdered by the. president steinmeyer visited the location of the anti semitic attack as soon as he could. this christmas he asked germans to fight hatred and defend democracy for. democracy needs self assured citizens who have confidence and dry common sense and decency and who show solidarity with others funk hopes the germans can continue to find courage and optimism in the coming year so they can find the strength to create a better future. and you can watch president christmas address in full later

today on d w. now let's take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world in hong kong demonstrators are continuing a standoff with police following christmas eve protests riot police fired tear gas in a major shopping district activists blocked streets and smashed shop windows anti-government protests in hong kong and now in this 7th month. thousands of people in bangalore in southern india have held a candlelight vigil so precious a controversial citizenship nor 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. as a wildfire in the chilean city of violence has damaged or destroyed more than a 100 homes several districts in the western part of the city had to be evacuated

it's not known what triggered the blaze but hot temperatures and strong winds help spread all help the flames to spread. fleeing the flames with pets. and household possessions. the fire started in the woody hilly area involved power use so as outskirts and quickly spread. it consumed dozens of homes in its path. under huge poles of thick black smoke rose above the city. as the flames crept closer residents tried in vain to stop them advancing. there i feel powerless because all the houses are burning and now the fire is coming here. extra firefighting 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. now christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world and depending on where you are people mock this season in all sorts of different ways state of reporter erin chilton is here in the studio for a look at some of the more colorful christmas traditions so what do you got there ok well you know there really isn't any wrong way to celebrate christmas and we've been looking for the wires this season is called the ways people are doing it right now and we start in cocoa beach florida where hundreds of santa claus have taken to the waves for an annual surfing competition now it's all part of a charity event in this year it helped raise some $40000.00 for nonprofits throughout the united states and around $600.00 santas took to the waves and hung

10 for charity. 3 equal now here's another question. for you what do radishes have to do with christmas. if i just guess they arrange their regular the red white and green says live in a festive for me they're not exactly the 1st thing i think when it comes to the christmas season but then again i'm not from what mexico where they're celebrating their annual christmas rather sculpture festival and i believe we have a clip let's take a look at it right here exactly as part of this festival which dates back a 122 years artists and farmers make sculptures out of radishes to help kind of get their customers into the christmas spirit now as i said it all started 122 years ago and it has a little bit more of a secular background basically it was a way to drum up a little bit more publicity for the farmers and help them sell more radishes but still you know it's helping people in mexico get to the christmas feeling i am i defending a lot of radishes but hey that is one christmas feature that we must talk about.

themselves yes exactly and actually when it comes to tracking mr santa claus you know the u.s. and canadian military are getting involved in well and this is actually have to meet one of my favorite traditions now in the united states since the 1950 s. norad the nuclear air nuclear defense group has actually helped kids track the progress of santa claus as he travels around the world with presents to girls and boys and this is something i actually grew up with and i actually really love you know they have a 3 d. app these m. information is put online distribute by the radio and television as well and it actually has kind of a sweet back story like the imagine in the cold war in 1955 you're in the middle of the u.s. is super secret nuclear command bunker and what happens a telephone rings the answer it's not the president it's not the joint chiefs of staff it's a little girl actually trying to get in contact with santa claus and instead of crushing her hopes and seems she got a wrong number they played along in since then the members of norad have actually

kind of a stablished this tradition and you know if you ask me it's really kind about what the christmas spirit is all about you know kind of saving that magic for the children around. a world that's just sort of a are into listen thank you for bash thank you. and you're watching news from berlin we'll have more news at the top of the hour last night as a documentary about german children and their christmas wishes don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock that's on all that site e.w. dot com seeming to. follow the interest of the famous naturalist and explore. her son the bridge clicks on the from the boats to her 50th birthday we're going on now for huge discovery. expedition voyage on t.w. .