26/12/2017 BBC World News

This is BBC World News.

My name's Mike Embley.

Our top stories:

The Pope calls for negotiations

to end the conflict between Israel

and the Palestinians.

Investigators in Moscow are trying

to find out why a bus ploughed

into a subway entrance,

killing at least four people.

At a shooting range in India,

meet the sure-shot granny who's

become a local celebrity

at the age of 80.

Hello and welcome to BBC World News.

In Rome, Pope Francis has called

for an end to the suffering

of children and for peace

in the Middle East.

Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem

have been quieter than usual,

after the violent unrest sparked

by President Trump's decision

to recognise Jerusalem

as Israel's capital.

Here in Britain, the Archbishop

of Canterbury reflected

in his Christmas Day sermon

on what he described as "tyrannical

leaders around the world"

and "populist leaders who deceive".

This from our Religion

Editor Martin Bashir.

Bright sunshine lit up the Basilica

in St Peter's Square.

But Pope Francis chose

to focus his Christmas Day message

on how conflict and oppression

are casting a dark

shadow over the world.

He said that Christmas makes us

focus on the Christ child,

and thereby pay attention

to the sufferings of children,

particularly in the Holy Land.

"We see Jesus in the children

of the Middle East," he said,

"who continue to suffer

because of growing tensions

between Israelis and Palestinians."

"On this festive day, let us ask

the Lord for peace for Jerusalem."

The Anglican archbishop

in Jerusalem, the Most

Reverend Suheil Dawani,

said that Christ himself wept over

the city 2,000 years ago,

and with Donald Trump's decision

to officially recognise Jerusalem

as the capital of Israel,

that grief continues.

When he wept at that time,

he wept for the absence of peace

and love in the life

of people who live here.

I'm afraid that our Lord Jesus

is really still weeping

for this city.

Happy Christmas!

At Canterbury Cathedral,

Archbishop Justin Welby said

that though Christ

was born without any

political leverage,

he provides more freedom

to individuals than the world's

most powerful leaders.

But midway through preaching,

his own powers of speech

began to fail...

Unlike the budget, it's not gin.

LAUGHTER.

In Rome, Canterbury

and here in Jerusalem,

Christian leaders have taken

the opportunity of this day

to challenge the wisdom

of the world that they say puts

power before people and has

failed to protect the most

vulnerable members of

society, our children.

Martin Bashir, BBC

News, in Jerusalem.

Investigators in Moscow

are examining what caused a bus

to career into a pedestrian

subway in Moscow, killing

at least four people.

Victims include a woman

in her thirties and a teenager.

The driver told officials he'd been

trying to apply the brakes,

but they didn't work.

Faith Orr reports.

It is a task nobody would envy.

These emergency workers are picking

up the pieces after a bus crashed

into an underpass.

It killed several people

and was only stopped by the roof

of the tunnel.

This was the terrifying

moment the vehicle

barrelled down the steps,

hitting pedestrians.

Officials say they are working

to try to establish

what caused the crash.

TRANSLATION:

The bus was driving

away from the square

and due to unknown reasons,

drove into a pedestrian underpass.

An investigation is under way.

Four people died and nine

were hospitalised, two people refuse

to go to hospital.

The driver is in shock

and investigators are working

with him to try to figure

out what happened.

The driver has been detained

by police but there is no

suggestion this was terrorism.

An inspection of

the entire Moscow bus

fleet has now been ordered.

However it happened,

it is a tragedy that

will leave a scar on the city

into the year to come.

The leading Russian opposition

politician Alexei Navalny has called

for a boycott of next year's

election, in protest at the election

commission's decision

that he cannot take part.

He has a conviction for embezzlement

which he says is

politically-motivated

but officials have ruled it

bars him from standing.

Olga Ivshina from the BBC

Russian Service told us more.

We can't call it a surprise but this

is an important twist. Just

yesterday Mr Navalny went to the

electoral committee and submitted

all the signatures and documents

needed and today, just a few hours

later on, basically, he was rejected

because the head of the electoral

committee said he has outstanding

criminal convictions. Mr Navalny

argues that human rights

organisations around the world says

those charges were politically

motivated. The Russians quarters

insist that is what happened. He

can't run. In return. First of all,

he said he would appeal the decision

and second of all, if the ban

continues, he would call to boycott

the actions. This adds a small

injury could to those elections --

intrigue. Because people believe Mr

Putin will win but the question is

the percentage and what the turnout

will be.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister,

Vitaly Mutko, is stepping down

temporarily as the country's most

senior football official.

He says he wants to concentrate

on contesting a lifetime ban

from the Olympic Games,

over state-sponsored doping.

He will remain as chief organiser

of next year's World Cup in Russia.

TRANSLATION:

Today,

using the opportunity I had,

I addressed the executive order

in regard to the temporary

impossibility of performing

my duties while court

proceedings are under way.

This is to allow

the Russian football

Union work normally.

I ask for my full powers

to be temporarily

suspended for six months.

I didn't resign

and my mandate will be

active until 2020.

Let's take a look at some

of the other stories

making the news.

Protests have erupted in Peru,

over the president's decision

to grant a medical pardon

to the jailed former president

Alberto Fujimori.

Hundreds of demonstrators took

to the streets for a second day,

accusing President Kuczynski of

making a deal with the opposition,

to avoid his own impeachment.

Fujimori was serving a 25 year

sentence for human rights abuses,

corruption and sanctioning

death squads.

A man has rammed his car

into the headquarters

of Germany's Social

Democratic Party in Berlin.

Police say he was intending to kill

himself - he had gas cartridges

in the car and cans of petrol.

He'd also left a bag containing

gas canisters in front

of the headquarters

of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party.

The man was injured

and taken to hospital.

Authorities in the Philippines have

ordered a criminal investigation

into a shopping mall

fire in Mindinao.

The fire started after a storm hit

Divao and flooded parts of the city.

At least 37 people died.

The building's administrators have

denied suggestions that emergency

exits were inadequate.

The deadly tropical storm that cut

through the southern Philippines

on Saturday, killing 240 people,

is now hitting southern Vietnam.

Up to a million people

are being evacuated from low lying

areas - authorities are warning

of up to 200 millimetres of rain.

The tropical storm has weakened

and should dissipate

within the next 48 hours.

Nick Miller from the BBC

Weather Centre gave us more details.

Thankfully, in terms of wind

strength, the storm has weakened to

a tropical on. You can see on that

satellite picture, it moved into

southern Vietnam's with the cloud

breaking up a bit which is an

indication of the weakening of the

system. It is still a big rainmaker

and into southern Vietnam on the

heavy rain. It moves into the Gulf

of Thailand into what southern

Thailand in the coming days and may

bring rain to Bangkok. The land area

is in the path, still up to 200

millimetres of rain. The landslide

threat still current.

A diplomatic row between Venezuela

and Canada has intensified.

Canada is banning Venezuela's

ambassador from returning to Ottawa

and expelling its charge d'affaires.

Canada's Foreign Minister has said

it's retaliation for the expulsion

of its most senior diplomat

from Caracas over the weekend.

With me here is Leonardo Rocha,

Americas Editor for BBC World

Service.

Canada and Venezuela have been at

odds for a few months. In -- Canada

has been supporting the opposition

which Venezuela is protesting

against, the lack of democracy and

what they says rights violations.

What Canada says, strong statement.

Canadians will not stand by as the

government of rob these people of

their democratic and human rights.

Also, two days ago, and a swathe

expelled the Brazilian Ambassador --

Venezuela. Venezuela is making a

clear stand in giving a strong

message to those who criticise the

government of President Nicolas

Jura. We won't listen quietly, we

will act. -- Nikolas Maduro. They

are expelling activists in

Venezuela. This comes at months

before the presidential elections

are expected to take place, in the

first half of next year.

How far do

you think this will go

diplomatically?

In trade and

economic terms with Canada, they

aren't really important for them as

well. What really matters our

relations with our allies. Mainly

Russia, Cuba, other countries in the

region that support Venezuela like

Olivia. And the Unite dates, selling

oil to the United States. -- Olivia.

Inflation is out of control. --

Bolivia. Venezuela is a thing they

are taking orders from the Trump

administration. -- is saying. They

are making a clear stance that they

will not take abuse. At the same

time, they have a weekend in

opposition with many leaders in jail

or having escaped the country with

prospect of President Nikolas

Maduro, probably in April or May

next year, running for another

six-year term and securing and other

term.

Thank you.

In the state of Uttar Pradesh

in India, each year around 2,000

women are killed over dowry demands.

But an eighty year old grandmother

has been waging a unique fight

for gender equality.

Parkashi Tomar is India's

oldest shooting champion.

Here's her story.

Stay with us on BBC

World News, still to come:

How a workshop in Austria

is making furniture

from old household appliances.

We hear all about what

they call "up-cycling."

We saw this enormous tidal wave

approaching the beach,

and people started to run,

and suddenly it was complete chaos.

The United States troops have been

trying to overthrow the dictatorship

of General Manuel Noriega.

The Pentagon said the operation

had been 90% successful

but it's failed in its

principal objective -

to capture General Noriega

and take him to the US

to face drugs charges.

The hammer and sickle

was hastily taken away.

The Russian flag was hoisted over

what is now no longer

the Soviet Union,

but the Commonwealth

of Independent States.

Day breaks slowly over Lockerbie,

over the cockpit of

Pan Am's Maid of the Seas,

nosedown 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 Shkroda

where there were anti-Communist

riots ten days ago.

This is BBC World News.

The latest headlines: The Pope has

been giving his Christmas blessing.

He called for "peace

for Jerusalem" and "mutual trust"

on the Korean peninsula.

Russian investigators are examining

why a bus ploughed into a subway

entrance in Moscow, killing

at least four people.

A huge rockslide has taken place

near Innsbruck in Austria.

Rocks, soil and even trees fell

on the main service road,

which is now blocked.

People used the road to visit church

for Christmas Mass just 10 minutes

before the rocks came down.

Luckily nobody was injured.

Up to 150 people are still cut off

from the outside world and will be

until at least Wednesday.

You've heard of recycling,

but these days the new buzzword

is upcycling, transforming rubbish

into objects of desire.

A non-profit workshop in Austria -

supported by the city government -

is working with the long-term

unemployed to make furniture,

ornaments and jewellery out

of old household appliances.

Bethany Bell reports

from the Dismantling

and Recycling Centre in Vienna.

It's beautiful, but it is actually

all made from rubbish.

The process starts

here at this workshop.

Workers remove hazardous substances

from old computers and appliances.

The leftovers are sent

either for recycling,

or upstairs, to the

trash design team.

What we do is that we collect

specific kinds of garbage -

that means electric

and electronic equipment.

We make, design objects

and jewellery, and we offer

the old garbage an opportunity

to get reused, or to get upcycled.

They turn vinyl records into clocks,

and dead keyboards into rings.

The glass from washing machine doors

becomes sandblasted bowls,

complete with patterns.

And it's not just about

transforming trash.

Lives are changed here, too.

Many of the people who work

here are the long-term unemployed.

Susann says she has been

given a new chance.

TRANSLATION: It is cool.

I find it really super.

You make something new out

of old stuff, but it hurts me

when I have to cut up

these old records.

I recently had an old Abba album

and I thought "No!",

and then it became a notebook.

But that's the way it goes.

And some of Vienna's famous

Christmas markets are also

getting in on the act.

Trash design is on offer alongside

the gingerbread and mulled wine.

The workshop has its own stalls,

where products are on sale,

often for pretty prices.

These items have come a long way

from the city's rubbish dumps

to the magnificent surroundings

of one of Austria's old royal

palaces, and when it comes

to Christmas presents this year,

the designers are hoping that it

will be upcycling all the way.

Christmas is meant to be

a time of giving for all,

but one family from the UK has

gone further than most

with their seasonal goodwill.

The Clarkes have collected clothes,

sleeping bags and food,

and drove to Calais.

They've been giving them to some

of the thousands of refugees

who are still in the area,

despite the closure of the so-called

jungle camp.

Here's their story

in their own words.

I'm Katie Clarke from

Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Good morning!

We have had people

leaving donations.

Thanks very much, that's great,

and they are clearly marked.

So we've filled our van up

with mats, sleeping bags,

blankets, hats, socks, gloves.

Bye, everyone!

My name's Andy Clarke.

There are some people who say

that they should stay

where they are and try to manage it

within their countries.

I mean, my own personal view

is that you don't move

away from your family of origin,

your friends of origin,

your culture, your religion,

your home, everything,

and put yourself into the most

precarious positions,

if there is not an extremely good,

valid reason for doing that.

Nice to meet you.

A lot of the individuals

that we speak to are

professional people.

Unfortunately, they have felt

that their lives are in danger,

and that's why they've had to move.

I'm Nikki.

I think they are probably just

trying to keep themselves busy,

aren't they, playing football.

We met some guys who really

kindly took us to show

where they had been living.

So we followed them down this little

path that started to get

muddier and muddier.

It looks like chaos, doesn't it?

It's just really, really shocking,

and it's really sad that anybody

has to live like that.

We can't go back.

In my country, there

is a very dangerous guy.

That is why we live here.

Here is safe.

I know it is not a good

life, but we are safe.

Seeing the living conditions

and the desperation,

yeah, things were shocking,

but it was also really quite,

quite nice to have that

opportunity to talk to them.

Queen Elizabeth has been attending

the traditional Christmas Day

service along with other members

of the royal family,

including Prince Harry

and his fiancee Meghan Markle.

In her Christmas Day broadcast

the Queen paid tribute to the cities

of Manchester and London,

for the way in which they dealt

with this year's terrorist attacks.

Our royal correspondent

Nicholas Witchell has more.

It's a day for family,

with its own established pattern.

For the Royal Family,

that means a visit to church,

led by the Queen.

And there, very much at home

already, the Royal Family's

soon-to-be newest

member, Meghan Markle.

Alert to everything

that was going on,

and waiting for her cue

in terms of royal protocol.

A neat curtsey, as

the Queen left by car.

And then walking across to speak

to members of the crowd who had

been hoping to meet her,

before lunch, and then

the Queen's Christmas broadcast.

# God save the Queen...#

The central

message of this year's

broadcast was one of solidarity

with two British cities.

This Christmas, I think

of London and Manchester,

whose powerful identities shone

through over the past 12 months

in the face of appalling attacks.

The Queen said it had been

a privilege to witness

the extraordinary bravery

of young people injured

in the Manchester attack.

Very wicked.

Mmm.

To target that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's...

She spoke, too, about

what she called the "sheer

awfulness" of the

Grenfell Tower fire.

Our thoughts and prayers

are with all those who died,

and those who lost so much.

And we are indebted to members

of the emergency services,

who risked their own lives this

past year saving others.

Television has made it possible

for many of you to see me

in your homes on Christmas Day...

And there were personal touches.

The Queen recalled that it's 60

years since she delivered the first

live Christmas Day TV broadcast.

And that is how I imagine you now...

Six decades on, the presenter

has evolved somewhat.

And it's 70 years since she and

the Duke of Edinburgh were married.

He retired from solo

duties this year, but...

I know his support and unique sense

of humour will remain as strong

as ever, as we enjoy spending time

this Christmas with our family,

and look forward to welcoming

new members into it next year.

A Christmas message

which acknowledges the passage

of time, but which

reminds us that more

than six decades now

after she came to the throne,

the Queen remains strongly committed

to her role as head of state.

Nicholas Witchell, BBC News,

at Buckingham Palace.

If you've enjoyed a day

of festive excess -

eating and drinking

a little too much -

perhaps the most you want to do

to exert yourself is to try

and reach for the remote control.

So spare a thought

for the competitors

of the Wingsuit Flying World Cup.

They spent most of their Christmas

jumping out of planes or balloons.

The event took place

in Jinngu in Yunnan province,

as the BBC's Tim Allman explains.

You know what they say. What goes up

must come down. A principal they

understand all too well that the

Wingsuit Flying World Cup. --

principle. Teams from around the

globe competing in this extreme and

hair raising sport. TRANSLATION:

I

travelled more than 400 kilometres

to see this. We arrived here early

in the morning, just to watch the

wing suit flying show. It is

spectacular!

You can say that again.

A couple of skydivers perform a 360

degrees rotating nosedive. While

others piggybacked from their

teammates. Not everybody was happy

with how things turned out.

TRANSLATION:

I think our performance

this time didn't reflect our real

strength. We will get to our best

through regular competition. I have

we perform better next time.

The

Chinese team finished third overall,

behind the winds France and the

United States, who came second. It

is a non-profit event, and the local

school received a cheque worth more

than $30,000. So some charitable

spirit, combined with a little heart

stopping terror. How can you get

more festive than that?

A more sedate sport, cricket, and

the Boxing Day test between

Australia and England is under way

in England. England are just paying

-- playing for pride, having already

lost the Ashes. Australia have

elected to bat on what is proving a

flat wicket. Approaching lunch they

are and 92. -- they are on.

Don't forget you can get in touch

with me and some of the team