christmas
Vatican City (AFP) - People donned Santa caps on beaches, ski slopes and streets around the globe on Monday to celebrate Christmas, as Pope Francis called for an end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine that this year have cast a shadow over one of the world's favourite holidays. Red and white Santa outfits appeared on surfers from Australia to Florida, on cyclists in the smog-filled streets of New Delhi and intrepid souls braving chilly Channel waters for a holiday dip near Britain's Dover. In his annual Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" mass at the Vatican, Pope Francis called for an end "to every war...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - A joint US-Canadian military monitoring agency continued this year its decades-long Christmas tradition of tracking Santa's whereabouts, helping children around the globe find out when his reindeer-powered, present-filled sleigh would be coming to town. A 3-D, interactive website at www.noradsanta.org showed Santa Claus and his reindeer on their imagined worldwide delivery route, allowing users to click and learn more about the various cities along the way. The Santa tracker presented by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) dates to 1955, when a Colorado news...
AFP
Cocoa Beach (United States) (AFP) - Santas of all stripes descended on Florida's Cocoa Beach this Christmas Eve -- not to deliver presents, but to ride some waves and raise funds for a good cause. Beginning early Sunday, the beach filled up with thousands of adults and children alike dressed as St Nick, elves or reindeer for the annual "Surfing Santas" celebration. Launched in 2009, the event raises funds for Grind for Life, a charity helping cancer patients travel for treatment, as well as the local surf museum. While dozens of wetsuit-clad surfers headed out into the chilly water -- albeit m...
AFP
New York (AFP) - US airlines are gearing up for record traffic this holiday season, having beefed up staffing in the hopes of avoiding a repeat of last Christmas's operational meltdown. Authorities expect more than 267,000 flights between December 20 and 26, with a peak of nearly 49,000 flights on Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Southwest Airlines will be facing particular scrutiny after last year's fiasco that saw it cancel some 16,900 flights, leading to a $140 million federal fine announced earlier this week. Southwest's problems last year stemmed from severe win...
AFP
Vatican City (AFP) - Thousands of people are set to gather Sunday in St Peter's Square to hear Pope Francis deliver his Christmas Day message, where he is expected to offer prayers for war-torn Ukraine. The head of the Catholic Church will address the faithful from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, before delivering the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing ("to the city and the world"). The 86-year-old is expected to focus on the brutal conflict in Ukraine in his speech, which is broadcast on television and radio around the world. Pope Francis has called for peace ever since Russia...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - Every Who down in Who-ville knows you need more than one person to drive in the carpool lane -- but cops in Arizona say an inflatable Grinch simply will not do. A trooper in the western US state noticed something amiss last week as a car sailed past carrying a blow-up Dr Seuss character. The law enforcement officer "spotted a driver in the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane with a Seusspicious-looking 'passenger,'" the state's Department of Public Safety tweeted. "The trooper stopped the driver & determined the grumpy green guy was, in fact, an inflatable Grinch. (No other p...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - US retailers are hustling to sell their stockpiles of Christmas decorations as the festive season approaches, after tangled supply chains caused many shipments to arrive only after the holidays last year. As major economies bounced back from the pandemic, companies had struggled to keep up with soaring demand, with manufacturing hit by factory shutdowns during virus outbreaks. The situation was worsened by a shortage of shipping containers, along with delays at ports from a lack of workers to unload products and transport them to retailers. It was "very difficult with supply...
AFP
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday called for dialogue to counter the isolation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, as billions around the world marked a second Christmas under the shadow of the coronavirus. An explosion in cases driven by the rise of the Omicron variant has meant another Christmas season tainted by the pandemic, with longed-for family reunions overshadowed by the prospect of yet more Covid-19 restrictions. In his traditional Urbi and Orbi Christmas Day blessing, the pope told the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square at the Vatican that "our capacity for social rela...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden on Saturday commended Americans for their strength and resilience in the face of the raging Covid-19 pandemic, urging "hope and renewal" during the holiday season. In his first Christmas address as president, Biden praised "the enormous courage, character, resilience, and resolve in all of you who heal, comfort, teach, and protect and serve in ways big and small." "You show there is much to gain in appreciation and gratitude for the gift of time and goodwill we share as we look out for one another," Biden said in a statement with First Lady Jill Biden....
AFP
Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden was trolled by a caller Friday who said "Let's Go Brandon" -- a coded insult that has become a rallying cry for supporters of Donald Trump -- during a White House Christmas Eve event. The incident, which quickly went viral online, took place after Biden and First Lady Jill Biden spoke by video conference with North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) officials, who track Santa's travel across the globe. After being assured of St Nick's progress, the president fielded calls from several American families. One man identified himself as "Jared," a fat...
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