Locals in bethlehem to celebrate christmas in the holy land. Hello and welcome to bbc news. Its Christmas Morning in australia but hundreds of families are spending the day in emergency shelters, unable to celebrate in their homes, as the country battles one of its worst bushfire disasters in years. Figures released by firefighters in New South Wales reveal nearly 1,000 houses have been destroyed. Conditions have eased, but another extreme heatwave is due later this week. Prime minister Scott Morrison was criticised for going on holiday during the bushfires. Hes since returned and apologised for being away. He says volunteer firefighters who work in the federal Public Sector will be given an extra four weeks paid leave. Phil mercer reports from New South Wales. Koalas and other Australian Animals are the unseen victims of the fires. Much of their habitat has been destroyed and the survivors need all the help they can get. The true extent of australias bushfire crisis is gradually emerg
Police in hong kong clash with pro democracy protesters, demonstrating in Shopping Centres to catch the attention of christmas tourists. Thousands of worshippers have packed st peters basilica in rome for Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. Pope francis told the faithful that god loves everyone, even the worst of us, and urged them to give thanks. The pope, generally seen as a reformist leader of the catholic church, also spoke of change. This from our rome correspondent mark lowen. In the gilded splendour of st peters basilica, this was a solemn Christmas Eve mass. Amen. The seventh that pope francis has led. His homily talked of gods love. You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the lord continues to love you. That will be seen by some as a reference to church scandals, including sex abuse. Francis papacy is in many ways reformist shaking up the traditional governance of the church. Perhaps then, there was a pointed message in his words, we change, the
Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. With me are the former fleet street editor, eve pollard, and the comment editor at city am, rachel cunliffe. Many of tomorrows front pages are already in. The guardian has an exclusive interview from the former labour deputy leader, tom watson, who says he was driven out of the party because of the brutality and hostility he was subjected to by party members. The daily mirror reports on the sad news that George Michaels sister passed away on christmas day, exactly 3 years to the day that he died. The sun has the same story and quotes a source, which says Melanie Panayiotou had been suffering from an illness which took a turn for the worse. The times reports on the new years honours list, and the anger over the damehood award to former director of public prosecutions, alison saunders, who had faced criticism over her handling of sexual offence cases. The daily mail quotes nhs england figures, which
Join locals in bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations. Hello, and welcome to world news today. Its Christmas Morning in australia, but hundreds of families are spending the day in emergency shelters, unable to celebrate in their homes, as the country battles one of its worst bushfire disasters in years. Figures released by firefighters in New South Wales reveal nearly 1,000 houses have been destroyed. Conditions have eased, but another extreme heatwave is due later this week. Prime minister Scott Morrison was criticised for going on holiday during the bushfires. Hes since returned and apologised for being away. He says volunteer firefighters who work in the federal Public Sector will be given an extra four weeks paid leave. Phil mercer reports from New South Wales. Koalas and other Australian Animals are the unseen victims of the fires. Much of their habitat has been destroyed and the survivors need all the help they can get. The true extent of australias bushfire crisis is gradually
And on the markets those comments from fed chair Jerome Powell boosting stock markets in the us and asia. A warm welcome to the Programme Briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. It will be a very busy day ahead. And you can be part of the conversation as a perk, a Marketing Agency here in the uk allows its employees to take hangover days. If theyve been out the previous evening theyre allowed to work the next day from the comfort of their own sofa or even bed. Good idea, orflexible working gone mad . Tell us what you think just use the hashtag bbcthebriefing. Polls open here in the uk in a couple of hours as Voters Decide who will form their next government. Candidates in the general election are contesting 650 seats in the house of commons the lower legislative chamber. Polling stations close at 10pm gmt and an exit poll will be released then, by the bbc and other uk broadcasters. Our Election Results special broadcast will begin just ahead of that. Jo