25/12/2012 BBC News

Good afternoon. Three children have been killed and two women seriously

injured in an accident on the M6 motorway today. It happened just

before lunchtime, closing part of the route through Staffordshire in

both directions. Judith Moritz reports. These photographs were

taken a few minutes after the crash, which happened just before 11:30am.

Two air ambulances landed and the car involved is surrounded by

ambulances, as emergency workers try to help those inside. The crash

happened on the M6 northbound in Staffordshire. The road was closed

for nearly five hours, causing long tailbacks. Despite the best efforts

of paramedics and a doctor at the roadside, the children - two boys

and a girl - were pronounced dead at the scene. Two women were

injured and taken to hospital nearby. The car was taken away on a

low-loader for further examination. The road has now reopened here, and

the police are appealing for information. They want to hear from

anyone who saw the crash, which has claimed three young lives on

Christmas Day. The Queen has used her Christmas

message to reflect on a year of major events in the UK, saying she

was humbled by the public's response to her Diamond Jubilee. In

her annual broadcast, she's also touched on the Olympics and

Paralympics, paying tribute to the athletes and the volunteers. For

the first time this year, the speech has been broadcast in 3D.

Here's our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell. Morning service

at Sandringham. The royal party, led by the Queen, who missed church

on Sunday because of a cold, and the Duke of Edinburgh who missed

festivities last year when he was in hospital, both looking fit and

well today. Prince Harry is in Afghanistan and the Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge were spending the day privately in Berkshire at

the Middleton family home. In her Christmas message, the Queen spoke

of the year of great celebration, saying the enthusiasm that greeted

her Diamond Jubilee had been memorable. It was humbling that so

many chose to mark the anniversary of the duty pass to me 60 years ago.

She recalled the Thames river pageant, when she was struck by the

Fellowship of those taking part. the barges and the bridges and the

banks of the river, people on daunted by the rain. There was a

tremendous sense of common determination to celebrate,

triumphing over the elements. same determination have been

evident again, the Queen said, when the Olympic flame had reached

Britain. The Olympic flame drew hundreds of thousands of people on

its journey around the British Isles. It was carried by it every

kind of deserving individual. Queen paid tribute to the athletes

who had inspired the nation with their achievements in the Olympics

and the Paralympic Games, and a special tribute to the army of

volunteers. Those public-spirited people came forward in the great

tradition of all those who devote themselves to keeping other people

safe and comforted. A as she reflect on this Christmas night,

there is certainly a lot for the Queen to look back on with pleasure,

and more to look forward to with the birth of a special great

grandchild in prospect in 2013. In his Christmas address, the

leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has attacked

the Government's proposals to introduce gay marriage. The

Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said the process has been

undemocratic and shambolic. Our religious affairs correspondent

Robert Piggott reports. With Christmas carols, candles and Holy

Communion, Roman Catholics at Westminster Cathedral proclaimed

the joy of Christmas. The Archbishop of Westminster used the

occasion to criticise the Government's plans for gay marriage.

Ministers say no church will have to provide same-sex weddings, the

archbishop accused them of behaving in an Orwellian fashion to create a

sham version of marriage. There process is shambolic. There was no

announcement, no green paper, no statement in the Queen's Speech,

and yet here we are on the verge of primary legislation from a

democratic point of view it is a shambles. In Rome, Pope Benedict

exchanged Christmas greetings with the crowd of thousands. He called

for an end to bloodshed in Syria, which he said had not spared the

innocent. In his last sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan

Williams acknowledged that recent census results showed a decline in

the proportion of people who identified themselves as Christians.

He also conceded the Church had lost credibility by voting not to

create women bishops. Rowan Williams have a bearing and

presence of a holy man, widely revered by Anglicans, often

misunderstood by others. His extraordinary intellect was largely

wasted by a church preoccupied by disputes about sexuality. The

Church will now look to Justin Welby for hard-nosed leadership to

overcome its own divisions and win the respect of an increasingly

sceptical society. In his Christmas message, Justin Welby said it was

easy to be despondent about the church, but he insisted its work

for the poor and depressed revealed its true value.

As you heard a moment ago, Prince Harry is not with the royal family

this Christmas - instead he's one of the thousands of soldiers

celebrating in Afghanistan. Our defence correspondent Jonathan

Beale reports now on their Christmas, far from family and

loved ones. In Afghanistan, Santa makes his deliveries by military

helicopter. Loaded with male and presents for loved ones serving on

the front line in remote bases writer cross Helmand. As well as

getting on with their everyday tasks, there has been time to make

camps feel more like home, making decorations is one way of getting

into the Christmas spirit. It is not quite the same. I am a home

bird, I like being at home with my mum and my family. What will you

miss most about Christmas? Probably sitting on the sofa, eating and

opening my present back home. you been good this Christmas?

has parcels have reached the front line thousands of miles away from

home and it is a boost to morale, as is the traditional Christmas

dinner. In Lashkar Gah it was accompanied by a choir. Out here,

comrades have become their immediate family. Outside, there is

the reason why they are still here, to bring some semblance of

stability to Afghanistan and the threat has not gone away. 46

British troops have lost their lives this year. We are always very

aware of the cost along the way, friends we have lost. Behind the

smiles, there is the remembrance and a twinge of sadness that for a

lot of people Christmas will not be good this year. Be it might be

Christmas, but for many people here it is like any other day, with this

patrol going off to train Afghan police. It will beat soon left to

them. There is just one more Christmas away from home for