A mommy and hes a 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 peters 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 blessing emphasize love and forgiveness after a difficult year for the church. The computer using going to do by the combination together the heavenly realm fills you with gift of his peace and. Shares with the church in having. The. Party. He he she. Gets them. 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 worlds oldest places of continuous christian worship outside thousands of visitors converse 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 israels 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. Weve seen a Record Number of tourists and pinworms visiting d both bethlehem and jerusalem this year and what as 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 created where jesus christ lay 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. 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 give it to mission for 700 Palestinian Christians to leave the gaza strip and visit this year the number was only 300 so the disappointment in gaza was very high amidst very strong condemnations from the various churches. Semicircle speaking asked to us from jerusalem lets take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world 2 strong earthquake struck central columbia 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 d fossils army says 35. 00 civilians and 7 soldiers have been killed in a militant attack neared are being done in the south of the country Authorities SaySecurity Forces repelled the assailants killing 80 of them for kenya faso 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 hes accused of backing the gezi park protest against then Prime Minister read up at on the European Court of human rights has called for his release saying theres 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 syrias increasingly violent conflict. Mad till now men in it has become a ghost town People Living here have fled the government offensive against rebels. Shaab people affiliate out that fled to live on the only if trees this is a Vegetable Market theres no one here i havent seen anyone other than journalists taking pictures of me and. Most of those fleeing are hitting north towards the turkish border. We ran away from the rockets out of the barrel and explosive shells. 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 criminal seeds the offensive is to clear the province of terrorism. You do have some island. Syrian army cares about civilians lives what are your 100 yards beyond the military calls upon them to leave the areas where the terrorists are not the word you are should go to the areas under the control of the syrian army come to save them from terrorists and terrorism and i would be much more than 40000. 00 people have been displaced by the findings in recent weeks. The 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 antigovernment 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 shopping malls across the city tonight but the riot police into the Shopping Centers a 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 the other night some protesters even they flew bombs and other objects at Police Vehicles some even found allies. To express the ngo to us Police Crackdown on one of the fundraisers in recent days so how can people definitely have no silence night on Christmas Eve many of the shops are closed at its 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 hes not worried about what it might be north koreas 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 and japan and south korea met for talks but the only just setting the agenda of a summit was not at the table. North Koreas Kim Jong il after the latest tests at the 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 of trump failed to deliver any results. The coming 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 koreas 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 chinas 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 chief means after talks. Now as the year draws to a close were bringing you some of our most memorable stories from the past 12 months in the run v. 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 midst of this completely in his element serving 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 its big and its nice and warm thats why im so grateful to the mrs i got here. Every night when i go to bed i thank. Him for that. He and the others who work here have little chance of finding work elsewhere irans job market is currently in such a bad state that over a 3rd of College Educated young iranians that unemployed for people with special needs its become nearly impossible to find work. For most of those people theres nothing to do once they finish school they just stay at home but were convinced its good for them to show people that they have other abilities not just good for them its also good for their families theyre often sad because they cant do anything but here they can show just what theyre capable of in. 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 more as. Weve never received support from any kind of organization its a completely independent project founded and finance privately were totally self dependant negative. Giving up is not an option because every day she sees just how much this work means to him run and the others just. As. I used to just be with my father. But father look at me. I finally made it. Im famous and go through life with my head raised high see. Me. With a positive attitude imran and his colleagues have created an atmosphere found nowhere else in the Islamic Republic. No other can feel here in iran could get away with this level of frivolity iran and the others are making the best out being a little bit different and have transformed coffee down tizen into a place thats bursting with positivity. Thats the latest for this hour but before we go a Christmas CarolGerman Bundesliga club in berlin got over to 28000. 00 fans to join in with a festive sing along at the stadium a mommy and he said from me and the need of your news team thanks for watching. It was not who was the landslide was who this. Was was was was was. Was was was. Who was was was was. I. 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