Christmas: News Stories From Around the World - Page 11

...happy holidays?

Nov 21, 2012 2:15 PM CST

Fed-Up Lady Calls Cops on Bell Ringer

Sarah Hamilton-Parker says Salvation Army ringers violate noise ordinance

(Newser) - Sarah Hamilton-Parker is sick of the Salvation Army bell ringers that set up shop outside the New Hampshire store where she works—so this year, she called the cops on the very first day of bell ringing. “I listen to this for 200 hours a year,” she tells...

Guy Arrested
After Telling
Kids Santa
Doesn't Exist

Nov 21, 2012 10:45 AM CST

Guy Arrested After Telling Kids Santa Doesn't Exist

Busted on public intoxication charge

(Newser) - An Ontario man who thought it would be fun to walk along a Christmas parade route telling kids there is no Santa Claus got his comeuppance: He was busted for public intoxication. Cops on Saturday received complaints about the 24-year-old man, who was easy to find because he had "...

Pope: There Were No
Animals at Birth of Jesus

Nov 21, 2012 2:53 AM CST

Pope: There Were No Animals at Birth of Jesus

The animals are a myth though virgin birth was real, he writes in new book

(Newser) - Nativity scenes—even the one at the Vatican—are getting it wrong when they depict donkeys, camels, and other animals present at the birth of Jesus, according to Pope Benedict XVI. Though Jesus may have been born in a stable, there is no mention of the animals in the Gospels...

This Year's Nativity Flap:
the 'Atheists Won'

Nov 20, 2012 6:01 AM CST

This Year's Nativity Flap: the 'Atheists Won'

Judge's ruling will likely end 60-year Santa Monica tradition

(Newser) - After almost 60 years of displaying Nativity scenes in a public park, Santa Monica Christians may be out of luck: A judge yesterday tentatively ruled to bar such scenes, and all other seasonal displays, from public spaces. The fight between the Christian groups and atheists began a few years back,...

Beard Traps Abseiling Santa

Nov 20, 2012 1:27 AM CST

Beard Traps Abseiling Santa

He was left dangling over British shopping mall

(Newser) - The holiday season didn't get off to a great start for one luckless Santa Claus in England, the BBC reports. As he abseiled inside a shopping mall as part of its Christmas lights switching-on ceremony, his beard got caught in the rope and he was left dangling for 30...

Teen Recalls
'Big Light'
in Videos
Before Death

Dec 29, 2011 1:40 AM CST

Teen Recalls 'Big Light' in Videos Before Death

'It was the BEST feeling,' Ben Breedlove says of near-death experience

(Newser) - A Texas teen reveals his near-death experiences with a beneficent "big, bright light" in a crushingly poignant double video he made just days before his death on Christmas Day. Ben Breedlove, 18, recounts years of battling his progressively worsening hypertrophic cardiomyopathy heart illness and his three near-death experiences in...

Wife Left Suspected
'Santa Claus' Killer This Year

PLUS, MORE DISTURBING DETAILS

Dec 28, 2011 9:02 AM CST

Wife Left Suspected 'Santa Claus' Killer This Year

Texas shooter believed to have made 911 call, say police

(Newser) - Police are piecing together a troubling timeline of the Texas murder-suicide that left seven people dead on Christmas day in a Dallas suburb. The shooter is believed to be Aziz "Bob" Yazdanpanah, whose wife, Fatemeh Rahmati, left him and moved to Grapevine with their two children earlier this year,...

7 Dead in
Christmas
Shooting

Dec 25, 2011 5:11 PM CST

7 Dead in Christmas Shooting

Apparent shooter was among the victims

(Newser) - Police found seven people dead today in a grisly Dallas-area Christmas shooting, the Dallas Morning News reports. Authorities have not yet identified the bodies of four men and three women in the apartment, but say the shooter is likely among them. Two guns were also found on the scene. "...

Conn. House Fire Kills 5

Dec 25, 2011 12:11 PM CST

Conn. House Fire Kills 5

'My whole life was in that house,' survivor says

(Newser) - A pre-dawn blaze tore through a million-dollar house in Stamford, Conn., this Christmas morning, killing three children and two adults in what the town's mayor called "a terrible, terrible day for the city of Stamford. There probably has not been a worse Christmas day in the city of...

Christians Usher in Christmas

Dec 25, 2011 6:53 AM CST

Christians Usher in Christmas

Pope calls for peace in Syria, pilgrims gather in Bethlehem, and NORAD's phone rings off the hook

(Newser) - Pope Benedict called for an end to the violence in Syria and urged Christians to "see through the superficial glitter" as he led the celebration of Christmas in his annual Urbi et Orbi address. "May the Lord bring an end to the violence in Syria, where much blood...

10 Christmas Movies You Absolutely Shouldn't Watch

Dec 24, 2011 3:55 PM CST

10 Christmas Movies You Absolutely Shouldn't Watch

'60s B-movie 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians' ranks worst: poll

(Newser) - What are the top 10 most cringe-inducing, holiday-ruining, Santa-offending Christmas movies of all time? Online ticket seller Fandango set out to find out, and polled its customers. Among the films that you probably shouldn't watch tonight:

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians : a 1964 ultra-low budget fantasy flick; good luck

...

Wrapping Paper Sales on a Tear

Dec 24, 2011 11:14 AM CST

Wrapping Paper Sales on a Tear

Strong figures early indication of shopping rebound

(Newser) - Just how lucrative will this holiday season turn out to be for retailers? If wrapping paper sales are any indication, pretty darn good. Both shop owners and the public are awaiting holiday shopping statistics as a clue to American confidence and an economic rebound. An early sign is wrapping paper...

O Little Town
of Bethlehem,
Packed With
Tourists

Dec 24, 2011 9:33 AM CST

O Little Town of Bethlehem, Packed With Tourists

Faithful flock to Church of the Nativity

(Newser) - There wasn't any room at the inns today as thousands of faithful thronged the streets of Bethlehem to worship at Christ's biblical birthplace. Visitors snapped photos at the 50-foot-tall Christmas tree at Manger Square and received blessings from Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the head of the Catholic Church...

'Postman Santa' Wins Standoff With US Mail

Dec 23, 2011 1:39 AM CST

'Postman Santa' Wins Standoff With US Mail

Letter carrier who threatened to 'go rogue' allowed to don red suit

(Newser) - After getting some bad publicity, the US Postal Service has decided not to prevent a kindly, bearded man from wearing a red hat and jacket as he makes his mail deliveries. For the last decade, letter carrier Bob McLean had worn a Santa hat and jacket during the holiday season,...

Best Buy: We Can't Fill All These Online Orders

Dec 22, 2011 3:16 PM CST

Best Buy: We Can't Fill All These Online Orders

Company says some customers are out of luck

(Newser) - If you're waiting on Best Buy to ship a last-minute Christmas gift, better check your email. The retailer is informing customers that it can't fill all online orders, reports the Chicago Tribune . It's not clear yet how many will be affected. One analyst chalks it up to...

Hostility Grows Over
Dutch Blackface Xmas

analysis

Dec 17, 2011 3:15 PM CST

Hostility Grows Over Dutch Blackface Xmas

Activists oppose 'Black Pete' Christmas character

(Newser) - One newcomer to the Netherlands says her worst faux pas is to question "Black Pete"—the little African slave who helps out Santa Claus. The Dutch react "in anger and frustration," and even defend their tradition of dressing up publicly in blackface, writes Jessica Olien on...

Secret Santas
Wipe Away
Strangers'
Layaway Debts

Dec 17, 2011 12:13 PM CST

Secret Santas Wipe Away Strangers' Layaway Debts

Anonymous donors clearing accounts at Kmarts, Walmarts

(Newser) - A nice fad this holiday season: Secret Santas are going around to Kmarts and Walmarts and paying off the layaway accounts of random strangers. It's happening all over, including stores in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, South Carolina, and Montana. The AP , NPR and Time round up examples of the...

Church Ad
Shows Mary
Taking
Pregnancy Test

Dec 16, 2011 4:35 AM CST

Church Ad Shows Mary Taking Pregnancy Test

Billboard there to spark conversation, church says

(Newser) - A church in Auckland, New Zealand, has irked traditionalists with a billboard showing a shocked Virgin Mary looking at a pregnancy test. St. Matthew-in-the-City Church says the portrait was intended to “spark thought and conversation in the community." Christmas is "about a real pregnancy, a real mother...

Jimmy Kimmel
Gets Parents
to Prank Kids
for Christmas

Dec 13, 2011 6:58 PM CST

Jimmy Kimmel Gets Parents to Prank Kids for Christmas

They record reactions to lousy gifts

(Newser) - Jimmy Kimmel is establishing a holiday tradition of sorts. On Halloween, he asked parents to tell their kids they ate up all the candy and to record the reaction. For Christmas, he asked parents to give their kids an early but terrible present and again record it for YouTube posterity,...

California Atheists Snap Up Nativity Spaces

Dec 13, 2011 5:00 AM CST