Midnight mass at notre dame and paris for the 1st time in over 2 centuries Christmas Services will not be held at the landmark of the drill because of renovation work to repair the damage from this years devastating fire. Im all in is of good to have you with us across continents and cultures christians around the world have begun celebrating christmas at the Vatican Pope Francis led the Midnight Mass at st peters basilica. Thats one of the most important ceremonies on the Roman Catholic count 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. Thank you barry you think i may call it like the combination together the heavenly realm fills you with your gift of his peace and things that you share with the church in heaven. And then the. Party. He has to be and this. 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 nativity which is one of the worlds oldest places of continuous christian worship. Outside thousands of visitors converged around the Christmas Tree in 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 that is in the Israeli Occupied west bank. Earlier generalists a semicircle in jerusalem gave us a snapshot of the christmas celebrations and. Weve seen a Record Number of tourists and pilgrims visiting both bethlehem and jerusalem this year and what has 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 creed with jesus christ lay so it was received you with great. Ness and the belief here is that it will draw more tourists to this of the city on the. Israeli authorities have prevented yet again gazans some 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 visit this year the number was only 300 so the disappointment in gaza was very high amidst very strong condemnations from the various churches. Speaking to us from jerusalem now lets take a look at some of the other breaking news stories making news around the world. Brazil has killed 7 people in the northeastern city of receive a local firefighters said they pulled the victims from the wreckage of 2 houses according to brazilian media outlet g one a young couple and their baby as well as a 9 Year Old Girl and her grandmother were among the dead. 2 strong earthquake struck central colombia on tuesday the tremors recorded magnitudes of 6. 2 and 5. 7 and were very close to each other and only minutes apart the epicenter is were located about 150 kilometers south of the capital bogota no injuries were reported. President says 35 civilians have been killed in a militant attack near ive been to in the north of the country 7 soldiers also died Authorities SaySecurity Forces repelled the assailants killing 80 of them. Has been battling an Islamist Insurgency since 2015. A court in turkey has ruled that a prominent businessman osama kahala must remain in jail on charges that he attempted to overthrow the government is accused of backing the 2013 gezi park protest against then Prime Minister regift at a won the European Court of human rights has called for his release saying theres no reasonable suspicion that he committed a crime. Next to syria where theres no end in sight to the misery inflicted on civilians in the besieged province of idlib the last major stronghold of is the most rebels russian airstrikes supporting the assad regime have claimed the lives of at least 8 people 5 of them children who were sheltering in a school house United Nations is warning that children are bearing the brunt of syrias increasingly violent conflict. Not until now men in it has become a ghost town People Living here have fled the government offensive against rebels. Shabab people are fed up they 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 heading north towards the turkish border. We run 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 is strikes. Syrian troops have been pushing into it live. And identified syrian pinole said the offensive is to clear the province of terrorism. To do have saw the syrian. He cares about civilians lives what that. The military calls upon them to leave the areas where the terrorists. That they should go to the areas under the control of the syrian army come to save them from terrorists and terrorism arriving with more than 40000 people have been displaced by the findings in recent times. Demonstrators in hong kong have clashed with police and Christmas Eve protests riot police fired tear gas as protests swept through a major shopping district activist blocks streets and smashed shop windows n. T. Government protests and hong kong are now in their 7th month. Phoebe kong is on location and she sent us this update a festive lie has descended into question in hong kong a tear gas return to the streets lots of protesters turned out for demonstrations at shopping malls across the city tonight but the riot police time into the Shopping Centers a quickly to disperse crowds because they accused them of attending illegal assemblies the rounds of the rounds of tear gas rubber bullets and other kinds of protest house of worship throughout the night and some protesters even they flew up paschal bombs and other objects the Police Vehicles some even found Allies Branch in order to express their anger 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 c. S. M. And the may be more precious a small protests are planned on upcoming holidays. As this year draws to a close were bringing you some of our most memorable stories from the past 12 months in iran d. W. Reported to heres a top of visited a cafe staffed by people with down syndrome and autism and she found a rainy and breaking new ground. In the. Completely in his element serving couple chinos to the guests in this cafe 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. That every night when i go to bed i thank. 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 are 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. 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. Weve never received support from any kind of organization its a completely independent project founded and financed privately were totally self dependent on negative way. Giving up is not an option because every day he sees just how much this work means to him ron and the others. So. I used to just be with my father i left with. But now hes dead. But father look at me now. I finally made it im famous and go through life with my head raised high see. Here. With a positive attitude imran and his colleagues have created an atmosphere found nowhere else in the islamic republic. No other can feel he a neuron 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 2000 into a place thats bursting with positivity. Now paris is iconic Notre Dame Cathedral will not be holding a Christmas Mass this year for the 1st time since the french revolution the french government pledged to rebuild it after a fire earlier this year devastated its structure that work will take years to complete and the building is too unstable to hold religious services to the landmark cathedral of paris still the skeleton of its former self. The work underway now focuses on stabilizing notre dame and preventing its collapse. The fire that ravaged the churchs roof and spire broke out on april 15th. Tonnes of poisonous lead melted during the blaze that spells Health Hazards and good reason to delay Holding Christmas festivities inside i think its incredibly sad that they will be able to celebrate mass especially because its such a revered monument for catholics probably many many families have that tradition of going every year for Christmas Services it is quite a break in tradition and quite honestly as long as the renovation work is carried out quickly and well it is not the right moment to open at one time i think people are aware of that and can go to other churches to. Notre dame has held a Christmas Mass every year since 803. 00 even during the horror of world war 2. The last interruptions to the mass came amid the anti catholic fervor of the french revolution. This year worshippers are being sent to nearby sites for Services Including the church of sun so peace. To think that i was ill last christmas and i missed christmas and talked to them thinking that they would go again this year with the prophet and im going im missing that already. In years past thousands of worshippers and tourists gathered inside notre dame daily its still unclear when theyll be able to congregate inside again. Youre watching news from berlin well have more news at the top of the hour up next a documentary about the Science Behind love dont forget you can give all the latest news and information around the clock thats on our website v. W. Dot com thanks for joining us. Or. Can the they work not hard and in the end its a me youre not allowed to stay here anymore we will send you back. Are you familiar with this. With the smugglers what alliances are being whats your story. d and what numbers of women especially are victims of violence in arms and take part