Friday Blogaround

Fresh attacks on Christians mar Christmas
Fresh attacks against Christians marred the Christmas festival Saturday as church leaders condemned religious persecution and called for peace and Reconciliation. A bomb in a church during Christmas mass in the southern Philippines wounded six people, including the priest, even as Christian leaders highlighted the plight of believers facing the threat of attacks around the world. Military officials would not immediately name any suspects in the blast on Jolo island, but the island is a known bas...

Fresh attacks on Christians mar Christmas
Fresh attacks against Christians marred the Christmas festival Saturday as church leaders condemned religious persecution and called for peace and Reconciliation. As Christian leaders highlighted the plight of believers facing the threat of attacks around the world, a bomb in a church during Christmas mass in the southern Philippines wounded six people, including the priest. Military officials would not immediately name any suspects in the blast on Jolo island, but the island is a known bastion ...

Pope holds Xmas mass amid tight security
Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas Eve with an evening Mass on Friday amid heightened security concerns following the package bombings at two Rome embassies and Christmas Eve security breaches at the Vatican the past two years. Benedict processed down the central aisle of St Peter's Basilica at the start and end of the Mass without incident; with his normal phalanx of Bodyguards on either side, he stopped several times to bless babies held up to him from the pews. During the same service in ...

Christmas eve bus accident kills 41 in Ecuador
Map of Ecuador identifying the site of the fatal bus crash. Families in Ecuador on Saturday were mourning Victims of a Christmas Eve road accident, in which a bus plunged into a steep ravine, killing at least 41, including seven Children. Rescue officials said around 30 passengers had survived, but had been injured, some of them badly. "There's been a very serious accident with approximately 41 people killed," National Transport Council (CNT) director Ricardo Anton told reporters. Earlier re...

Nigeria: At least 11 killed in Xmas Eve blasts
An official says at least 11 people have been killed in multiple Christmas Eve blasts in central Nigeria, a region violently divided between Christians and Muslims. The Plateau state information commissioner told The Associated Press Saturday that he counted 11 dead bodies at two sites rocked by bomb blasts within the central city of Jos Friday evening. Gregory Yenlong said nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks. He said the attack "is unfortunate, especially at this time when we want...

Storm slows holiday travel; flights canceled
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With a rare Christmas Snowfall descending on the Southeast and likely headed for the Mid-Atlantic, Airlines canceled hundreds of flights and urged travelers to rethink their plans, while travel authorities warned of potentially dangerous roads. After blanketing parts of the Midwest and hampering motorists there on Christmas Eve, the storm dipped south late Friday. Winter weather advisories were in effect Friday night from Missouri to West Virginia and from Iowa an...

Shops hope for Boxing Day boost
Retailers are hoping the start of the sales season on Boxing Day across Wales will make up for takings hit by the big freeze. Many high street stores are set to open, even though Sunday trading laws limit shopping to six hours. Despite a last-minute Christmas surge, Retailers report disappointing December takings and some smaller stores say they face a challenging start to 2011. The Met Office says the day will stay cold and icy, but no snow is forecast. Steven Madeley, director of the St David&...

Pope Celebrates Christmas in Rome
Pope Benedict XVI ushered in Christmas Eve with an evening Mass on Friday amid heightened security concerns following the package bombings at two Rome embassies and Christmas Eve security breaches at the Vatican the past two years running....

Florida State Senator Wants To Mandate Merry Christmas As Official Holiday Greeting
I think the annual “war on Christmas” by those who want to erase the holiday, and Christianity, from the public square to be a little silly. We have freedom of religion in this country, not freedom from religion. Trying to suppress a certain sort of holiday celebration is the exact opposite of what America’s freedoms stand for. That being said, mandating “Merry Christmas” is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s a state-endorsement of religion that is entirel...

Balloon takes Santa on wild Utah ride
If only Santa was as good with Hot Air Balloons as with reindeer sleighs. A man in a Santa outfit took a wild ride through Utah skies Christmas Eve when his balloon took off without a pilot. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Santa was tossing candy to kids from the balloon during a Midvalley Elementary School Fundraiser when the craft landed too hard and the pilot tumbled out. That left Santa alone and the lighter balloon shot back into the air. Police Sgt. Torin Chambers says Santa traveled 1....

Snowfall blankets state, moves eastward
Snow-covered rooftops across Iowa on Friday made perfect landing strips for Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve - at least in the minds of many Children. And for grown-ups on clean-up duty, there was at least this cheer: Forecasters expected the storm to pass out of the Hawkeye State early today, leaving Christmas Day mostly shovel-free. "For those people out there that love a White Christmas, this is kind of a picture-perfect Snowfall," said Jim Lee, a forecaster with the National Weather Service...

Skywalk Santas brighten lives with gifts
Last week, Peggy Myer got a home. Friday, she got shirts, a comforter and a pair of size 3½ kids' sneakers. Before moving into Elsie Mason Manor last week, the diminutive 59-year-old had been Homeless, had her things stolen at a shelter and spent a week in the Hospital with Pneumonia. "I can't believe people are so kind, to do this on Christmas Eve," Myer said, clutching some tops and showing off the new shoes she had immediately donned. Myer's Windfall was made possible in part by a woman who...

Chimes end 25 years of silence at church
Chimes high above University Avenue at First Christian Church broke 25 years of mostly silent nights on Friday. Snowflakes fell gently at mid-morning as Pastor Tim Diebel stood outside the church and pressed a remote control. Steel hammers clunked against the metal chimes. The Christmas carol, "O Come, All Ye Faithful," rang out at 25th Street and University Avenue, across from Drake University, the school the church founded in 1881. "This is kind of a coming-out party," Diebel said, dressed i...

10 years later, daring Christmas Day bank thieves are still a mystery
While most of Michigan was enjoying a long winter's nap, they pulled off a holiday heist worthy of Hollywood. It was after 1 a.m. on Christmas Day 2000, when they broke into the Comerica Bank branch on Woodward Avenue at Square Lake Road in Bloomfield Township. They slipped away with $123,000 in cash, leaving few clues behind, save for some old tools and a few tracks in the snow. A decade later, police still have no suspects. The Christmas caper of 200...

5.4-magnitude quake shakes Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A 5.4-magnitude Earthquake struck the U.S. Caribbean territory on Christmas Eve, rattling windows and doors across the island but causing no major damage, officials said. The quake occurred at a depth of 63 miles south-southwest of the capital of San Juan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Blanca Saez, Ports Authority spokeswoman, told the Associated Press that the International Airport is operating as usual. She said six ceiling panels fell at the American...

Obama's agenda calls for quiet Christmas (AP)
Honolulu – President Barack Obama's Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation's terror readiness and consumed the rest of Obama's Vacation. This year's presidential holiday is off to a far more low-key start, and the White Hous...

Obama's agenda calls for quiet Christmas
President Barack Obama travels in a Motorcade through the neighborhood where he is spending his holiday Vacation in Kailua, Hawaii, Friday, Dec. 24, 2010. President Barack Obama's Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation's terror rea...

Video shows Pakistan secret services leave Baloch boy, 17, paralyzed by torture
Pakistan is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture but is still brutally torturing Baloch minors, a new YouTube video released on Christmas Eve with English subtitles has bared. In the video the boy Jamal Baloch, 17,  was so badly tortured that his left arm has been crippled. According to the boy's narrative, he was also injected with "truth serum" to make him talk about the resistance fighters or Baloch sarmachars. The young boy has made an impassioned appeal to guardians of interna...

Late shoppers seal best holiday season in three years
Hordes of last-minute shoppers swarmed Retailers across the city Friday, capping the best Holiday Season for stores in three years. From Union Square to downtown Brooklyn, New Yorkers came out in droves to snag the jaw-dropping eleventh-hour deals. "You won't believe the sales!" crowed Noga Mosley, 27, of Astoria, Queens, after walking out of DSW shoe emporium on E. 14th St. "The prices are so low I can't buy everything I want because I can't carry it all home." At the Fulton Street Mall in B...

Obamas agenda calls for quiet Christmas
HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama’s Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation’s terror readiness and consumed the rest of Obama’s Vacation. This year’s presidential holiday is off to a far more low-ke...

Margaret Carlson Mocks Tea Party as 'Blowing Off Steam,' Praises Obama as Like Richard Holbrooke
On Friday’s Political Capital show, Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson lavished praise on President Obama has having "negotiating skills" like the recently deceased diplomat Richard Holbrooke - known for facilitating a Ceasefire in Bosnia in the mid-1990s - as host Al Hunt asked Carlson and the National Review’s Kate O’Beirne to describe what Christmas gifts they would figuratively give to various public figures. Carlson: "I’m going to give him an inscribed...

Keeping Score
Our Brian Beutler looks at the top five winners and top five losers of the Lame Duck session of the 111th Congress. ...

Putin pwns Obama yet again [Fritzworth]
So, explain to me again why it was so critical for US Diplomacy and Obama's standing to rush the START Treaty through the Lame Duck session? Russian lawmakers gave preliminary approval Friday to an arms agreement with the United States, but signaled they would slow progress on the so-called New START Treaty to a crawl after it was rushed through Congress earlier this week with some 11th-hour arm-twisting by President Obama.  The treaty cleared an initial hurdle through Moscow's lower house of p...

C&L;'s Late Nite Music Club With Buck Owens
I listened to both the Christmas Cd's yesterday. Their pretty good but don't hold up quite as well as some of the other records IMO. The truth will set you free but you can't handle the truth! Comments are restricted to Registered Users only. Righties are mad that so much got done during the lame-duck session. Cue the whining Alan Grayson's Got Your Back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get his on November 2nd? UPDATED Raul Grijalva has your back on foreclosure fraud. Will you have his ...

How Would You Rate the Lame-Duck Congress?
President Obama lauded the "most productive" lame-duck Congress "in generations." On a scale of 0-10, with 10 being excellent, how would you rate the work of the lame-duck Congress? Share your thoughts, answer our question then click "Leave a Comment." This is not a scientific poll. Follow Fox News Opinion on Facebook and Twitter!...