REUTERS NEWS SCHEDULE AT 10 p.m. GMT/5 p.m. ET

Hong Kong anti-government protesters marched through Christmas-decorated shopping centers on Wednesday, chanting pro-democracy slogans and forcing one mall to close early, as police fired tear gas to disperse crowds gathering on nearby streets.

CHRISTMAS-SEASON-POPE Pope defends migrants, calls for peace in Christmas message

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged the world to let the light of Christmas pierce the “darkness in human hearts” that leads to religious persecution, social injustice, armed conflicts and fear of migrants. U.S.

USA-TRUMP-IMPEACHMENT Republican senator 'disturbed' by McConnell's work with White House on impeachment trial

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said she was “disturbed” by the Senate leader’s approach to working with White House counsel on the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, saying there should be distance between the two. USA-TRUMP-GIULIANI-PARNAS

Giuliani associate Parnas unable to pay both lawyers, agrees to let one withdraw A lawyer for Lev Parnas, an associate of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani who has been charged with campaign finance violations, has requested to be withdrawn as counsel because of Parnas’ inability to pay both his lawyers, according to a filing made on Christmas Eve.

BUSINESS USA-HOLIDAY-SHOPPING-MASTERCARD

Record online sales give short U.S. holiday shopping season a boost: report U.S. shoppers spent more online than in retail stores during the shortest winter shopping season in the past six years, with online sales hitting a record high, a report by Mastercard Inc showed.

USA-TRADE-CHINA Trump says he and Xi will sign China trade deal

PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a signing ceremony to sign the first phase of the U.S.-China trade deal agreed to this month. ENTERTAINMENT

CHRISTMAS-SEASON-KPOP-BTS K-Pop fans brave Seoul's Christmas chill to buy BTS 'merch'

SEOUL (Reuters) - In the early hours of a freezing Christmas Eve, 62-year-old Lee Myeong-sook queues up in Seoul’s ritzy Gangnam area for a chance to buy a t-shirt, or maybe even a toothbrush, branded with the logo of K-Pop boyband BTS. CHRISTMAS-SEASON-BELGIUM-THEATRE

Brussels puppet theater adds Monty Python humor to nativity tale BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Brussels puppet theater as old as Belgium itself is staging its Christmas nativity show this year with a dash of Monty Python humor added to the traditional story of Jesus’s birth.

SPORTS FOOTBALL-NFL-PIT-ROETHLISBERGER

Big Ben: 'More determined than ever' to come back Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger quashed rumors about his possible retirement with a Christmas Day tweet.

FOOTBALL-NFL-COACH-CALLAHAN Callahan 'absolutely' wants to coach Redskins in 2020

However unlikely, Washington Redskins interim head coach Bill Callahan said he hopes his three-month “audition” leads to a full-time position guiding the team in 2020. UPCOMING

POLITICS / INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS TURKEY-WIKIPEDIA/

Turkey's top court announces ruling on Wikipedia block Turkey's Constitutional Court, the country's highest, will announce its ruling on whether the nationwide block on Wikipedia is a violation of freedom of speech. Access to Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey since April 2017.

26 Dec DISASTERS / ACCIDENTS

INDIANOCEAN-TSUNAMI/FILE (PIX) (TV) (GRAPHIC) File footage chronicles aftermath of the deadly tsunami in 2004

File footage chronicles aftermath of the deadly tsunami that hit countries around the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, in 2004, killing over 200,000 people in the region, on the 15th anniversary of the tragedy. 26 Dec

INDIANOCEAN-TSUNAMI/INDIA (PIX) (TV) (GRAPHIC) Tsunami survivors in India mark 15th anniversary of the deadly tragedy

Indian survivors of the deadly tsunami that hit countries around the Indian Ocean in 2004 mark 15 years of the tragedy that killed over 10,000 people in India and devastated hundreds of thousands of homes across the sea shore. 26 Dec

CONFLICTS / WAR / PEACE TURKEY-SECURITY/CAVUSOGLU

Turkish foreign minister speaks after Ankara strikes deals with Tripoli Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks a day after Turkey's president paid a surprise visit to Tunisia to discuss a possible ceasefire in neighbouring Libya, with which Ankara has signed deals on military cooperation and maritime borders, alarming some other states in the Eastern Mediterranean.

26 Dec 01:30 ET / 06:30 GMT CHINA-DEFENCE/

China Defence Ministry holds regular monthly briefing China's Defence Ministry holds regularly monthly briefing, where topics from China-US relations to military modernisation plans may all come up.

26 Dec 02:00 ET / 07:00 GMT