Hello to you. Thousands of worshippers have packed st peters basilica in rome for Christmas EveMidnight 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 church changes, history changes, once we stop trying to change others, but try to change ourselves. Among those taking part in the liturgy were children chosen from countries including venezuela, iraq and uganda, a clear gesture from the leader of 1. 3 billion catholics who often focuses on the plight of migrants and victims of war as well as on extending the reach of the church to its periphery. After the spirituality of Midnight Mass, comes the popes Christmas Day urbi et orbi message, where hes expected to touch a little more on political themes, close to the heart of the 83 year old pontiff. Mark lowen, bbc news. Pilgrims from around the world have also been gathering in the town of bethlehem, revered by christians as the birthplace ofjesus, to celebrate christmas in the holy land. Thousands converged on the town, in the Israeli Occupied west bank. Festivities are centred around the church of the nativity. From bethlehem, our correspondent Barbara Plett usher. Bells ringing this is bethlehems time of year when it invites the world to celebrate the story of a humble birth that changed history. The Midnight Mass is held in the grandeur of the church built to mark the place wherejesus christ is said to have been born, now located in the Israeli Occupied west bank. Its been a difficult year for palestinians, but christmas is a time of hope. May the child of bethlehem arouse much tenderness in all of us and make us smile once again. Even if it does not solve all our problems, the child will certainly make us happier. For bethlehems christians, there was a special gift from the vatican a splinter of wood believe to be from jesus manger. Its small, but a big boost for a community decimated by waves of emigration. And bethlehem is enjoying its busiest tourist season in decades. A bright spot despite dark times for the palestinian economy. Earlier, the procession of christian leaders from jerusalem crossed into bethlehem through an israeli army checkpoint, in a concrete barrier that separates the two cities. In the holy land, the christmas cheer is always wrapped in political realities. Its a Merry Christmas here lots of sparkling lights and happy people. But in this town and in this region, the situation is fragile. So perhaps the only permanent thing is faith. The faith of things hoped for, if not yet seen. Barbara plett usher, bbc news, bethlehem. Russian and turkish Officials Say they have been trying to stop an escalation of fighting in the syrian province of idlib. Syrian government forces, backed by russian planes, have been mounting an offensive against militia in the province. One of the latest attacks killed eight people, including five children, who were taking shelter in a school. Gareth barlow reports. This is the moment an air strike hit buildings in idlib province. Members of the White Helmets volunteer rescue force searched through the dust and rubble for victims. Charred remains mark where Syrian Government forces backed by russia have launched their campaign to retake the region from rebel fighters. Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days. Translation we are on our way from rockets, barrels and explosive shells. We are asking for gods mercy and the United Nations to see what happened to us. Because of president bashar and the russian army, they are killing us. Turkey has warned its struggling to cope with tens of thousands of refugees trying to cross the border. Ankara is working with moscow, syrias key ally, to try to halt the fighting. The United Nations, meanwhile, has called for an immediate end to the violence. The secretary general said he was deeply concerned about the military escalation in the north west and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. He reminded all parties of their obligations to protect civilians and ensure freedom of movement. The Syrian Government, which has captured tens of towns, says its committed to recapturing the region and will try to protect civilians. But for communities who already endured eight years of conflict, many of whom have been repeatedly displaced, this latest round of fighting is far too familiar and deadly. Gareth barlow, bbc news. Its Christmas Day in australia, but hundreds of families are spending the day in emergency shelters, unable to celebrate in their homes, as the country battles some of its worst bushfires in years. Figures released by firefighters in New South Wales reveal nearly a thousand houses have been destroyed. Conditions have eased, but another extreme heatwave is due later this week. 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 emerging as the charred remains of devastated towns are inspected. Since the start ofjuly, the authorities here in New South Wales say almost 1,000 homes have been destroyed by the bushfires. This property was devoured by flames that tore up through a gully at the back. Communities like this terrorised by fires that, in many places, are simply burning out of control. We just want to make sure that you guys have got stuff for your community. The damage would be far worse without the efforts of volunteer firefighters. Here in buxton, locals have been showing their appreciation to those who have been working around the clock to keep the town safe. It is just overwhelming support, like, you know, obviously, with presents and stuff for the kids. I havent even done any Christmas Shopping or anything for my daughter. She will turn one on january the 11th. To boost the emergency efforts the australian prime minister, scott morrison, says that volunteer firefighters who have jobs in the Public Service will be given four weeks paid leave. Some have been battling the fires for months and with no end in sight to the crisis, a long, dangerous summer lies ahead. Phil mercer, bbc news, New South Wales. James morris is a spokesperson for the New South Wales rural fire service, he explains that although there remain uncontained fires across the region, there is cause for some christmas cheer. Thankfully we have seen a bit of respite care across the state. In the last 2a hours we have seen 30 15 millimetres of rain falling across much of northern New South Wales, which will hopefully put an end and certainly for some time to fires across northern parts of New South Wales. But certainly around the sydney area, central parts, and southern parts of New South Wales we still have a long way to go with next to no moisture falling across those areas. Currently we still have around 79 bush and grass fires burning across New South Wales, with around 30 of them still to be contained. Thankfully we do have much cooler conditions today, which is allowing ourfirefighters to get the upper hand, start really working on containment lines, and are doing direct firefighting, which we havent been able to do for some time, due to those deteriorating conditions. James, we are hearing from some firefighters that a little bit of rain can make things worse because it makes back burning to contain fires so much more difficult. Thats exactly right, mike. It certainly does. Unfortunately, obviously, sometimes when need fire to fight fire, and when we have these much cooler and more humid conditions it really is challenging for those back burns to take hold. So we do put things into place such as working on those hard containment lines, doing direct attack firefighting where we can, where we can access those fires, otherwise its just utilising aircraft to do direct attack firefighting and for firefighters on the ground monitoring and patrolling these firegrounds, but we are expecting to see increased fire danger is coming into early next week, monday we are likely again to see some very hot and dry as well as windy conditions, which could put challenging conditions there for firefighters, both throughout the sydney and south coast of New South Wales. James, it really brings us and when we read these figures, just in New South Wales, nearly 1000 houses destroyed. 0n the other hand, looking at figures, more than 15,000 building saved, including nearly 8,000 homes. When you look at the pictures, how are you managing to save homes faced with those kind of conditions . Oh look, it really is a miracle. All our firefighters, and its notjust firefighters, big shout out to the communities and the residents who have been banding together in this time to assist each other, and that Real Community spirit of trying to protect each others homes where unfortunately we could not get a fire truck to. Theyve been doing a greatjob. Weve had around 2,000 firefighters out each day. Weve had interstate and International Counterparts coming in from Fire Services around the world, assisting, the United States and canada, we have people from new zealand, right around australia as well. Certainly big work going into try to obviously contain these fires, but certainly protect homes, as you said, nearly 1000 homes which have been destroyed, further which have been damaged, and thats a terrible loss to see, certainly the most we have ever seen here in New South Wales, but to see close to between 10,000 and 15,000 homes are saved across these areas, that is a real big kudos not only to the firefighters but the community that went through some treacherous weather to save and essentially work to bring these fires under control. James morris with an official firefighters christmas hat. Lets get some of the days other news. In the north of burkina faso, militants on motorbikes have killed 35 civilians, most of them women, at a military outpost in arbinda, in soum province. Authorities say around 87 insurgents and local Security Forces also died. The president has declared two days of national mourning. The west african country has seen increasing unrest since islamist violence spilt over from mali in 2015. The us president ial hopeful Michael Bloomberg has said that his campaign unknowingly used prison workers to call voters on his behalf. He says he has now cut ties with a vendor which operates two call centres in state jails. The billionaire democrat says he only learned about the companys use of prison labour from a call with a reporter. There have been more violent clashes in hong kong between the police and Anti Government protesters, whove been holding Christmas Eve rallies in shopping malls and other areas popular with tourists. The city is reeling from its seventh straight month of protests, originally sparked by a now scrapped extradition bill. The bbcsjon donnison reports. Not much evidence of festive cheer in hong kong this year. Security forces firing tear gas, once again squared up to Anti Government protesters, doing their best to protect themselves with umbrellas. Caught up in the chaos, tourists and families out and about to take in the christmas lights. Demonstrators also occupied a number of shopping malls in kowloon. But it soon turned ugly as baton wielding plain clothes Undercover Police moved in. Several protesters were arrested and dragged away. Others were injured, as officers struggled to restore calm. And all of this on Christmas Eve. Translation even though today is meant to be a joyful holiday, some of us are in jail. Some have been arrested, and they can enjoy today. I think we should remind others that our fight has not ended yet and we should continue our fight. Translation this year, Christmas Eve seems to be the time to fight notjust Christmas Eve, but also new years eve. And we will use more festivals in the future to voice our demands, until the government response. The government has been forced to make some concessions but these pro democracy protests have now been going on for seven months. And as the year comes to a close, there is no end in sight. Jon donnison, bbc news. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come we look back at one of the most extraordinary operations of the korean war to save hundreds of thousands trapped in a north korean port. The world of musics been paying tribute to George Michael whos died from suspected Heart Failure at the age of 53. He sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades. The United States troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. The pentagon says its failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the United States to face drugs charges. The hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. In its place, the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. Day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan ams maid of the seas, nose down in the soft earth. You could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. Christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. Thousands went to Midnight Mass in the town of shkodra where there were anti communist riots 10 days ago. This is bbc news. The latest headlines pope francis celebrates Midnight Mass at the vatican, calling on the faithful not to abandon gods love at christmas because of the churchs failings. Russian and turkish Officials Say theyre trying to stop the escalation of fighting in the syrian province of idlib but the number of dead keeps on rising. A british man and his two children have drowned in a Swimming Pool at a resort on the costa del sol, in the south of spain. Its believed a nine Year Old Girl got into difficulties in the water and her brother and father drowned as they tried to rescue her. We spoke to fernando torres, a reporterfor the spanish newspaper diario sur, who was at the resort for much of the day. We were told that it indeed was the girl with the troubles, perhaps with the pumps. So when the father and the boy, the brother tried to help her, they had troubles too. There wasnt nobody at the resort at the pool but the resort manager told me by law, they dont need to, because the pool is too little to need a lifeguard there. So police are investigating the incident at the moment. Divers were trying to find any malfunction in the pool, any clues but they didnt at the first look. The investigation is still open so they dont really know what happened so far. President trump has kept his promise to reduce the numbers of people being given asylum in the us. But his opponents, including the mexican government, say his new measures may be putting Asylum Seekers at risk. Those who apply often face a wait in mexico for months and even then, their chances are slim. For an increasing number fleeing persecution in their own countries and unable to return, the crackdown has led them to desperate measures. Ana Gabriela Rojas reports from matamoros, on the mexico texas border. As winter approaches, this corner of the world becomes even more hostile to those seeking safety and security. Fernanda is too scared to go home to honduras, where shes wanted for political activism. Desperate to reunite with family in the us, she has spent four months in the squalid conditions on the border. Now, she has taken a step that fills any parent with horror she sent her 7 year old son across the border alone. So, fernanda took her boy to this border bridge and said goodbye. This man, too, had to make the difficult decision. He says he wanted to give his 8 year old son a chance at the future. So, with a piece of paper with a relatives phone number on it, he sent him across the border alone. President trumps crackdown on migration means fewer and fewer adults seeking refuge now get asylum. But if children arrive alone, the us must take them in. A lawyer who volunteers here says people are becoming increasingly desperate. Now, almost on a da