Taliban declares 'defeat' of Nato

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have declared the "defeat" of the US and its allies, a day after the coalition officially ended its combat mission.

A Taliban statement said the US-led force had "rolled up its flag" without having achieved "anything substantial".
Nato formally ended its 13-year mission on Sunday, but about 13,000 troops will stay to train the Afghan army.
Meanwhile, officials said four Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Helmand province on Monday.
Three other soldiers were injured during the attack on an army checkpoint in Sangin district. Eight insurgents were said to have been killed.
The US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) marked the end of its mission by lowering its flag at a ceremony in Kabul on Sunday.
Mission commander Gen John Campbell said the Nato force had "lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future".
'Demoralised' But in a statement on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Nato ceremony was "a clear indication of their defeat and disappointment".
He said the Taliban would establish "a pure Islamic system by expelling the remaining invading forces," adding that Western troops were "demoralised".
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, the force will consist of about 13,000 mostly-American troops and will shift to a training and support mission for the Afghan army.
The US will also have an additional force of a few thousand troops whose focus will be counter-terrorism operations.
While the US and its allies say the Afghan security forces have been able to prevent a Taliban offensive, violence has increased in recent months.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces having been killed.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission in 2001, including about 2,200 American troops.

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Obama suggests Putin 'not so smart'

President Barack Obama has said Vladimir Putin made a "strategic mistake" when he annexed Crimea, in a move that was "not so smart".

Those thinking his Russian counterpart was a "genius" had been proven wrong by Russia's economic crisis, he said.
International sanctions had made Russia's economy particularly vulnerable to changes in oil price, Mr Obama said.
He also refused to rule out opening a US embassy in Iran soon.
"I never say never but I think these things have to go in steps" he told NPR's Steve Inskeep in the Oval Office.
'Reliant on oil' Mr Obama was giving a wide-ranging interview with NPR shortly before leaving for Hawaii for his annual holiday.
He criticised his political opponents who claimed he had been outdone by Russia's president.
"You'll recall that three or four months ago, everybody in Washington was convinced that President Putin was a genius and he had outmanoeuvred all of us and he had bullied and strategised his way into expanding Russian power," he said.
"Today, I'd sense that at least outside of Russia, maybe some people are thinking what Putin did wasn't so smart."
Mr Obama argued that sanctions had made the Russian economy vulnerable to "inevitable" disruptions in oil price which, when they came, led to "enormous difficulties".
"The big advantage we have with Russia is we've got a dynamic, vital economy, and they don't," he said. "They rely on oil. We rely on oil and iPads and movies and you name it."
Following a disputed referendum in Crimea, Russia unilaterally annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March. It did so weeks after a revolution ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.
The US, EU and other countries then implemented a series of economic sanctions against Russia.
The Russian currency has since lost half its value against the dollar and the economy has begun to contract.
Mr Obama also said that sending US troops to fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria would be counter-productive.
"If we do for others what they need to do for themselves - if we come in and send the Marines in to fight ISIL [IS], and the Iraqis have no skin in the game, then it's not going to last," he said.

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Nato marks Afghan mission change

Nato has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan - heralding the start of a new phase of support for local Afghan troops.

Commanders lowered the flag during a ceremony in Kabul - raising the flag of the new mission named Resolute Support.
"We have lifted the Afghan people out of the darkness of despair and given them hope for the future," mission commander Gen John Campbell said.
Nato's Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US.
From 1 January the alliance's role will shift to a mainly training and support mission for the Afghan army.
Sunday's ceremony was low-key - held inside a gymnasium at the alliance headquarters away from the public.
A military band played as the flag of the International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) was lowered in the presence of senior military personnel from both sides.
Unfurling the new flag, Gen Campbell said the mission "will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership" between Nato and Afghanistan.
"We honour coalition and Afghan fallen in this mighty struggle, those who paid the price for Afghanistan's freedom," he said, adding: "The road before us remains challenging but we will triumph."
At its peak, the US-led Isaf deployment involved more than 130,000 personnel from 50 countries.
But from 1 January, it will bring together around 12,000 men and women from Nato allies and 14 partner nations.
"The security of Afghanistan will be fully in the hands of the country's 350,000 Afghan soldiers and police. But Nato allies, together with many partner nations, will remain to train, advise and assist them," said Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a statement.
More than a decade after this long and expensive mission began, the Taliban are still active and gaining in strength, launching a number of attacks in recent months, says the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul.
This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces dying in the fight against the Taliban.
It underscores the challenges that lie ahead of the Afghan security forces, our correspondent says.
Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission.

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Cameroon air strikes on Boko Haram

Cameroon has carried out its first air strikes against militant Islamist group Boko Haram after it over-ran a military base and attacked five villages, an army spokesman has said.

The military repelled the attacks and regained control of the base, he added.
The spokesman did not confirm local media reports that the militants had killed at least 30 people.
The Nigeria-based group is increasingly carrying out cross-border raids, threatening Cameroon's security.
'Training camp dismantled' The latest fighting was the most intense, lasting for three days along several fronts, reports the BBC's Jean-David Mihamle from Cameroon's capital Yaounde.
About 1,000 militants attacked five villages, including Amchide, and seized the nearby Achigachia military base.
"After that, the head of state ordered the air force to carry out strikes. With the bombardment, the fighters were forced to decamp from Achigachia," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
Last week, Cameroon said it had dismantled a Boko Haram training camp on its territory, and had seized 84 children who were being trained there.
More than 40 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting with Boko Haram this year, according to Reuters.
Boko Hara

m launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009, saying it wanted to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
It recruits mainly unemployed youth and has seized large swathes of territory in Borno state, raising fears that it could launch an assault on its main city, Maiduguri.
At least 2,000 civilians have been killed by the group in Nigeria this year.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in April from the town of Chibok in Borno state sparked international outrage.

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Some three million people affected
• Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

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Italy ferry fire: Scores awaiting rescue

More than 120 people are still awaiting rescue on the deck of a blazing Italian ferry amid freezing temperatures off the Greek island of Corfu.

Helicopter crews have been winching small groups of people to safety despite gale-force winds.
The Italian coast guard said 356 of the 478 people on board had been evacuated by early Monday after a fire broke out on a car deck on Sunday.
One person is confirmed dead but a passenger has said he saw more bodies.
The Italian navy said that the body of a Greek man and his injured wife had been removed from the ship, Norman Atlantic which had been travelling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.
It is unclear how the man died but the Greek coastguard told AP that both passengers had been found trapped in a lifeboat escape chute.
The first rescue ship carrying 49 people arrived at the Italian port of Bari early on Monday morning.
A Turkish man who was on board told local reporters that he was sure that he had seen more bodies.
"I saw four people dead, with my own eyes," he said.
Hypothermia Helicopters crews fitted with night vision equipment worked through the night to rescue passengers despite difficult conditions. One hundred people were taken off the ferry during the night, the Italian coast guard said.
Italian Air Force helicopter pilot, Maj Antonio Laneve told Italian state TV that "acrid smoke" had filled his helicopter cabin, making the rescue even more challenging.
Most of the rescued passengers have been transferred to nearby ships, although some have been taken directly to hospital.
Three children and a pregnant woman are among those being treated in hospital for hypothermia, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Passengers described panicking as the heat rose, then freezing as they stood on decks awaiting rescue.
The wife of one of the cooks told journalists she had had a call from her husband saying: "I cannot breathe, we are all going to burn like rats - God save us."
Another passenger told Greek TV station Mega: "We are outside, we are very cold, the ship is full of smoke, the boat is still burning, the floors are boiling, underneath the cabins it must be burning since 5 o'clock, the boats that came (to rescue us) are gone, and we are here. They cannot take us."
The BBC's James Reynolds says that emergency workers in the port of Brindisi had waited late into the night for rescued passengers to arrive but strong winds had forced rescue vessels to try to dock elsewhere on the Italian coast.
Coast Guard Adm Giovanni Pettorino said that a member of the Italian military had been injured during the rescue.
Nearby merchant vessels aligned themselves in formation to protect the ship from waves and facilitate the rescue.
"This is a complicated rescue mission. The visibility is poor and the weather conditions are difficult, but we are confident because there are a good number of ships in the area," Greece Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said.
Mr Varvitsiotis later told reporters the fire had been brought partly under control.
Most of those on board were Greek. Greek maritime official Nikos Lagadianos told AP that 234 passengers and 34 crew members were from Greece.
Others came from Italy, Turkey, Albania, Germany and several other countries. Four British nationals have been rescued from the stricken ferry, according to the UK Foreign Office.
It is not yet clear what caused the fire.
The chief executive of the Visentini group that owns the vessel, Carlo Visentini, said the ferry had passed a recent technical inspection despite a "slight malfunction" in one of the fire doors, Italy's Ansa news agency reports.
"The tests confirmed that the boat was in full working order," he said, adding that the fire door had been repaired "to the satisfaction of the inspectors".
Ferries are an important mode of transport between Greece's hundreds of islands as well as neighbouring countries.

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Huge funeral for shot New York policeman Rafael Ramos

Tens of thousands of people are attending the funeral in New York of Rafael Ramos, one of the two policemen shot dead a week ago.

Vice-President Joe Biden praised the "finest police department in the world" at the service, attended by police forces from across the US and Canada.
Mr Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot after weeks of anti-police protests.
Police at the funeral again snubbed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had appeared to back some of the protests.
Funeral details for Officer Liu have yet to be announced. Officials say it will be held when relatives arrive from China.
Telling the mourners Officer Ramos had been a "hero", Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced he had promoted both officers posthumously to Detective First Grade.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also paid tribute to the dead officer as well as to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
'It affects everyone'
"I believe that this great police force of this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide," Vice-President Biden told the congregation at the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens.
"You've done it before and you will do it again."
Officer Ramos, 40, had been studying to become a police chaplain and was described as "a man of great faith" by a pastor who knew him.
Commissioner Bratton, his voice choking with emotion, said: "Rafael Ramos was assassinated because he represented all of us."
The two police officers had been killed by a "madman", he continued, who had only been able to see two uniforms, not the people wearing them.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told mourners he had watched recent protests and seen "people hurling insults" directly in the face of the police officers, but the police continued doing their jobs.
When the Ramos family arrived for the service, the eldest son Justin, wearing his father's NYPD jacket, was hugged by a police officer. The policeman is also survived by his younger son Jaden and his wife Maritza.
Officer Dustin Lindaman of the Waterloo Police Department had flown from Iowa to attend the funeral.
"He's one of our brothers and when this happens, it affects everyone in law enforcement - it absolutely affects everyone," he told the Associated Press news agency.
History of violence Inside the church, Mr de Blasio's speech was met by polite applause but outside, police officers could be seen turning their backs when he appeared on a giant video screen.
The mayor had been snubbed in a similar manner by officers at the hospital where the two men were pronounced dead on 20 December.
The two police officers were shot following weeks of protests over several killings of unarmed black men by white police officers.
In New York, a grand jury decided not to press charges against a white police officer over the death of unarmed black man Eric Garner, who was placed in a chokehold while being restrained by New York police officers.
Commissioner Bratton has said he strongly rejects the notion that Mayor de Blasio increased the risk to police officers by appearing to side with protesters following the death of Mr Garner.
Black man Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, shot and killed officers Ramos and Liu as they were sitting in a patrol vehicle in the borough of Brooklyn. He then killed himself nearby.
Brinsley had a history of violence and mental instability and had been arrested at least 19 times in Georgia and Ohio, police said. Before attacking the police officers, he had shot and injured his girlfriend.
On the day of the shooting, he went on social media to say he was planning to kill police officers.

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Hamas prevents Gaza orphans visiting Israel

Thirty-seven children whose parents were killed in the recent Israel-Gaza conflict have been prevented by Hamas from visiting Israel on a trip organised by peace activists.

Hamas said they would have had to visit "settlements and occupied towns".
The children, aged between 12 and 15 and accompanied by five adults, were turned back at the Erez crossing.
More than 2,100 people, mostly Palestinians, died in the 50-day July-August conflict, the UN said.
Israel said 67 of its troops and six civilians died.
The visit, organised by kibbutz leaders, the charity Candle for Peace and Arab-Israeli officials, would have taken the children to Arab towns in Israel, southern areas targeted by militants' rockets in the conflict, a mixed-race school and the beach in Tel Aviv.
A visit to Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also planned, according to Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement.
The week-long trip had been approved by the Israeli security service.
But Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, said the cancellation was justified to protect children from "the politics of normalisation" with Israel.
Spokesman Eyad Bozum said Hamas would ensure such a trip "will never happen again".
Three weeks ago, Hamas too had given approval for the visit, Mr Marshak, said, expressing surprise that it was blocked.
Charity for Peace director Malek Freij told Reuters news agency: "They thought that Israel wants to exploit these children, and that's a mistake."
Hamas refuses to recognise Israel, which it sees as occupying Palestinian land, and under its charter is committed to Israel's destruction.
Several nations, including Israel and the United States, count Hamas as a terrorist organisation due to its long record of attacks and its refusal to renounce violence.
The most recent Gaza conflict flared after tensions rose between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets and mortars towards Israel during the 50-day conflict this summer. Israel carried out an aerial bombing campaign and a ground invasion.

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Al-Shabab militant Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi 'surrenders'

A top al-Shabab militant, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi, has given himself up, Somali officials say.

Mr Hersi, a leading figure in the militant group's intelligence wing, surrendered to police in the Gedo region, they add.
In June 2012, the US state department offered $3m (£1.9m, 2.5m euros) for information leading to his capture.
It comes three months after al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US air strike.
A Somali intelligence officer, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, suggested Mr Hersi may have surrendered because of a dispute with al-Shabab members loyal to the former leader.
Mr Hersi fell out with Godane last year and has been on the run ever since but he is still a powerful figure, says BBC Africa editor Mary Harper.
'No fight' Police stormed a house Mr Hersi had been hiding in for six days, close to the border with Kenya, after receiving a tip off, the district commissioner of the town of El Wag told the BBC.
He said that although Mr Hersi had a pistol, he did not put up a fight.
"Al-Shabab leader Zakariya Ismail surrendered to government forces in El Wag, Gedo region. He is expected to be flown to Mogadishu tomorrow," an unnamed official told Reuters news agency.
There has been no immediate comment from al-Shabab.
Ahmad Umar was named the new leader of al-Shabab, days after Godane's killing last September.
The US has supported the African Union (AU) force that has driven al-Shabab out of the capital Mogadishu and other towns since 2011.
The al-Qaeda-linked fighters want to overthrow the UN-backed Somali government and frequently attack government targets as well as neighbouring countries that provide troops to the AU force.
Three members of the AU force and a civilian contractor were killed in an al-Shabab attack on its headquarters in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday.

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AirAsia flight to Singapore missing

An AirAsia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has lost contact with air traffic control.

Flight QZ8501, an Airbus plane, went missing at 07:24 (23:24 GMT), Malaysia-based AirAsia tweeted.
Indonesian military planes are searching an area of the Java Sea.
AirAsia, a budget airline, has never lost a plane, but Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two this year - flights MH370 and MH17.
The AirAsia plane disappeared about two hours into a three-hour flight.
It left the Indonesian city of Surabaya in

eastern Java at 05:20 local time (21:20 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).
The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path due to bad weather, the company said.
Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000 ft (11,000m) to avoid thick cloud. No distress call is reported to have been issued by the crew.

Emergency contact
There were 155 passengers on board, the company said in a statement:

• 138 adults, 16 children and one infant
• Two pilots and five cabin crew were also on board
• Most on board were Indonesian
• Six were from other countries: three South Koreans and one French, Malaysian and Singaporean.

AirAsia has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801.
An official with the transport ministry, Hadi Mustofa, told local media the plane lost contact over the Java Sea, between the islands of Kalimantan and Java.
The company's chief executive, Tony Fernandes, tweeted: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong."
AirAsia Indonesia is an affiliate of the Malaysian company AirAsia, operating domestic flights round the Indonesian archipelago as well as international services to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand.
AirAsia Indonesia was banned from flying to the European Union in 2007 due to safety concerns but this was lifted in July 2010.
The latest incident caps a tragic year for Malaysian aviation with the disappearance of one Malaysia Airlines plane and the apparent shooting down of another.
Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located.
MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

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Hitler's secret Indian army

In the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were driving Hitler's now demoralized  forces from France, three senior German officers defected.

Legionnaires were recruited from German POW camps

 
The information they gave British intelligence was considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released until the year 2021.
Now, 17 years early, the BBC's Document programme has been given special access to this secret file.
It reveals how thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined Britain in the fight against fascism swapped their oaths to the British king for others to Adolf Hitler - an astonishing tale of loyalty, despair and betrayal that threatened to rock British rule in India, known as the Raj.
The story the German officers told their interrogators began in Berlin on 3 April 1941. This was the date that the left-wing Indian revolutionary leader, Subhas Chandra Bose, arrived in the German capital.
Bose, who had been arrested 11 times by the British in India, had fled the Raj with one mission in mind. That was to seek Hitler's help in pushing the British out of India.

He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered Lieutenant Barwant Singh

Six months later, with the help of the German foreign ministry, he had set up what he called "The Free India Centre", from where he published leaflets, wrote speeches and organised broadcasts in support of his cause. By the end of 1941, Hitler's regime officially recognised his provisional "Free India Government" in exile, and even agreed to help Chandra Bose raise an army to fight for his cause. It was to be called "The Free India Legion".
Bose hoped to raise a force of about 100,000 men which, when armed and kitted out by the Germans, could be used to invade British India.
He decided to raise them by going on recruiting visits to Prisoner-of-War camps in Germany which, at that time, were home to tens of thousands of Indian soldiers captured by Rommel in North Africa.
Volunteers
Finally, by August 1942, Bose's recruitment drive got fully into swing. Mass ceremonies were held in which dozens of Indian POWs joined in mass oaths of allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

Chandra Bose did not live to see Indian independence

These are the words that were used by men that had formally sworn an oath to the British king: "I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose." I managed to track down one of Bose's former recruits, Lieutenant Barwant Singh, who can still remember the Indian revolutionary arriving at his prisoner of war camp.
"He was introduced to us as a leader from our country who wanted to talk to us," he said.
"He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in Germany and then parachuted into India. Everyone raised their hands. Thousands of us volunteered."
Demoralised
In all 3,000 Indian prisoners of war signed up for the Free India Legion.
But instead of being delighted, Bose was worried. A left-wing admirer of Russia, he was devastated when Hitler's tanks rolled across the Soviet border.
Matters were made even worse by the fact that after Stalingrad it became clear that the now-retreating German army would be in no position to offer Bose help in driving the British from faraway India.
When the Indian revolutionary met Hitler in May 1942 his suspicions were confirmed, and he came to believe that the Nazi leader was more interested in using his men to win propaganda victories than military ones.
So, in February 1943, Bose turned his back on his legionnaires and slipped secretly away aboard a submarine bound for Japan.

Rudolf Hartog remembers parting with his Indian friends

There, with Japanese help, he was to raise a force of 60,000 men to march on India. Back in Germany the men he had recruited were left leaderless and demoralised. After much dissent and even a mutiny, the German High Command despatched them first to Holland and then south-west France, where they were told to help fortify the coast for an expected allied landing.
After D-Day, the Free India Legion, which had now been drafted into Himmler's Waffen SS, were in headlong retreat through France, along with regular German units.
It was during this time that they gained a wild and loathsome reputation amongst the civilian population.
The former French Resistance fighter, Henri Gendreaux, remembers the Legion passing through his home town of Ruffec: "I do remember several cases of rape. A lady and her two daughters were raped and in another case they even shot dead a little two-year-old girl."
Finally, instead of driving the British from India, the Free India Legion were themselves driven from France and then Germany.
Their German military translator at the time was Private Rudolf Hartog, who is now 80.
"The last day we were together an armoured tank appeared. I thought, my goodness, what can I do? I'm finished," he said.
"But he only wanted to collect the Indians. We embraced each other and cried. You see that was the end."
Mutinies
A year later the Indian legionnaires were sent back to India, where all were released after short jail sentences.
But when the British put three of their senior officers on trial near Delhi there were mutinies in the army and protests on the streets.
With the British now aware that the Indian army could no longer be relied upon by the Raj to do its bidding, independence followed soon after.
Not that Subhas Chandra Bose was to see the day he had fought so hard for. He died in 1945.
Since then little has been heard of Lieutenant Barwant Singh and his fellow legionnaires.
At the end of the war the BBC was forbidden from broadcasting their story and this remarkable saga was locked away in the archives, until now. Not that Lieutenant Singh has ever forgotten those dramatic days.
"In front of my eyes I can see how we all looked, how we would all sing and how we all talked about what eventually would happen to us all," he said.

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Pope Francis makes Christmas call to Iraqi refugees

Pope Francis has spoken by telephone to Iraqi refugees in a camp near Irbil before celebrating Christmas Eve Mass.

The Pope urged the refugees - forced to flee their homes by the militant group Islamic State - to "persevere", and said he was close to them in his heart.
At a Christmas Eve midnight Mass at St Peter's Basilica, the Pope called on believers to show more empathy towards family and friends.
On Christmas Day, the Pope will deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" Christmas address.
The call to refugees at a camp in Ankawa was made by satellite phone and broadcast live on Italian TV.
"Dear brothers, I am close to you, very close to you in my heart," he told them, saying he was thinking particularly of children and the elderly.
"Innocent children, children who have died, exploited children... I am thinking, too, about grandparents, about the older people who have lived their lives, and who must now bear this cross."
He told them they were like Jesus, forced to flee because there was no room for them. "I embrace you all and wish for you a holy Christmas," he said.
Advances in Iraq by Islamic State have forced tens of thousands of Christians and people from other religious minorities to flee to Kurdish controlled areas.
Later in his homily during Christmas Eve Mass, the Pope said the world needed more tenderness and warmth.
"The question put to us simply by the infant's presence is: 'Do I allow God to love me?'" he said.
"Do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us?"

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Father urges IS to show mercy for captured Jordan pilot

The father of a Jordanian pilot seized by Islamic State militants in Syria

has renewed a plea for his release.
Describing his son as "a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State", Youssef al-Kasaesbeh urged his "hosts" to "treat him well".
Lt Moaz al-Kasaesbeh was captured after his jet crashed in north-eastern Syria on Wednesday during a bombing mission.
Jordan is one of four Arab states in a US-led coalition that has launched air strikes on IS in Syria.
So far, the militants have not commented on the fate of the 26-year-old pilot.
'Hospitality' It is still unclear what caused his plane to crash near the IS stronghold of Raqqa.
IS said it shot it down with a heat-seeking missile. However, the US says "evidence clearly indicates" that this is not true.
On Thursday Moaz al-Kasaesbeh's father said: "I direct a message to our generous brothers of the Islamic State in Syria to host my son... with generous hospitality."
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Jordanian military said it held IS and its supporters "responsible for the safety of the pilot and his life".
The air forces of Jordan, the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have carried out hundreds of air strikes on IS in Syria in the past three months.
Many of the targets have been in and around Raqqa, which is the de facto capital of the "caliphate" whose creation IS proclaimed in June.
Correspondents say that IS is assumed to have a limited air defence capability.
However, IS fighters have downed Iraqi and Syrian government planes in the past, and the group's full capabilities are not known.

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Turkey teenager accused of insulting president released

A court freed the 16-year-old, listed only by the initials MEA, but he still faces trial and a possible four-year sentence if found guilty.
He was arrested after criticising the ruling Islamic-rooted AK Party during a speech in the central city of Konya.
The opposition condemned the arrest but PM Ahmet Davutoglu defended it, saying that respect had to be shown.
"Everyone must respect the office of president whoever he is," Mr Davutoglu said.
Turkey's penal code makes it a crime to insult the president.
As he left the courthouse in Konya, the boy said: "There is no question of taking a step back from our path, we will continue along this road."
There has been growing concern amid rights groups in Turkey at what they see as a clampdown on freedom of speech.
'Thieving owner' The boy was arrested at school on Wednesday and taken for questioning.
His speech, given to commemorate the killing of a Turkish soldier by Islamists in the 1920s, was recorded on video and broadcast by Dogan News Agency.
In it, he defended secularism and the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic.
He reportedly called Mr Erdogan the "thieving owner of the illegal palace", referring to a controversial 1,150-room palace inaugurated by the president in October.
Speaking to prosecutors, the boy said: "I've made the statement in question. I have no intent to insult."
He denied being linked to any political movement.
His release came after dozens of lawyers had signed a petition on his behalf. He was met by his parents at the courthouse.
The arrest sparked fierce criticism of Mr Erdogan, with Attila Kart, a member of opposition party CHP, saying the president was creating "an environment of fear, oppression and threat".
Mr Erdogan, who was elected president in August after serving as prime minister for 11 years, has faced several corruption allegations in recent years.
He insists they are baseless and part of a "dark plot" to oust him from power by influential cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in the US.
Earlier this month, police arrested more than 20 journalists working for media outlets thought to be sympathetic to the Gulen movement.

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Ukraine crisis: Key peace talks in Minsk called off

A key round of peace talks between Ukraine's government and pro-Russian rebels, due to take place in Minsk on Friday, has been called off, Belarusian officials say.

No immediate reason was given by the Belarusian foreign ministry.
The talks had begun on Wednesday to try to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine which has left 4,700 dead.
A ceasefire and framework peace deal were announced in Minsk in September but neither has been properly observed.
Talks agenda The latest talks also included Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Friday's round had been expected to tackle issues including the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, the exchange of prisoners and ending Ukraine's economic blockade of rebel-held areas.

Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Dmitry Mironchik told Agence France-Presse: "There will be no contact group meeting today," but he added that "Belarus is always ready to offer [Minsk] as a negotiations venue."
Wednesday's talks focused on troop withdrawals and aid, although no details of any progress emerged.
A day earlier, Ukraine's parliament had voted to work towards membership of Nato, a move heavily criticised by Russia.
Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov accused Nato members of "trying to turn Ukraine into a front line of confrontation with Russia".
Since the conflict began in eastern Ukraine in April, 4,707 people have lost their lives, according to the UN. Of that number 1,357 have died since the 5 September ceasefire was agreed.
Pro-Russian separatists took over the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March, in a move not recognised by Ukraine and its allies.
Ukrainian forces and volunteers then mounted a military operation to recover the areas.
The latest attempt at a ceasefire began on 9 December but sporadic violence has continued in both regions.

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