Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Thousands of Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born.
For their Palestinian hosts, this holiday season was an especially joyous one, with the hardships of the Israeli occupation that so often clouded previous Christmas Eve celebrations eased by the United Nations' recent recognition of an independent state of Palestine.
Festivities led up to the Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church, next to the fourth-century Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.
"From this holy place, I invite politicians and men of good will to work with determination for peace and reconciliation that encompasses Palestine and Israel in the midst of all the suffering in the Middle East," said the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal in his annual address. "Please continue to fight for a just cause to achieve peace and security for the people of the Holy Land."
In his pre-Christmas homily, Twal said the road to actual freedom was still long, but this year's festivities were doubly joyful, celebrating "the birth of Christ our Lord and the birth of the state of Palestine."
"The path (to statehood) remains long, and will require a united effort," added Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, at the patriarchate's headquarters in Jerusalem's Old City.
Then he set off in a procession for the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace. There, he was reminded that life on the ground for Palestinians has not changed since the U.N. recognized their state last month in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Twal had to enter the biblical town through a massive metal gate in the barrier of towering concrete slabs Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the last decade. The Israeli military, which controls the crossing, said it significantly eased restrictions for the Christmas season.
Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the statehood bid, saying it was a Palestinian ploy to bypass negotiations. Talks stalled four years ago.
Hundreds of people greeted Twal in Manger Square, outside the Church of Nativity. The mood was festive under sunny skies, with children dressed in holiday finery or in Santa costumes, and marching bands playing in the streets.
After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, resplendent with strings of lights, decorations and a 17-meter (55-foot) Christmas tree, took on a festival atmosphere, as pilgrims mixed with locals.
A choral group from the Baptist Church in Jerusalem performed carols on one side of the square, handing out sheets of lyrics and encouraging others to sing along with songs such as "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."
Vendors sold balloons, cotton candy and corn on the cob, bands played Christmas songs and tourists packed cafes that are quiet most of the rest of the year. Pilgrims from around the world wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.
Devout Christians said it was a moving experience to be so close to the origins of their faith.
"It's a special feeling to be here, it's an encounter with my soul and God," said Joanne Kurczewska, a professor at Warsaw University in Poland, who was visiting Bethlehem for a second time at Christmas.
Pastor Al Mucciarone, 61, from Short Hills, New Jersey, agreed.
"We come here to celebrate Jesus. This is a very important town. Great things come from small events. The son of God was born in this small village. We hope all will follow Jesus," he said.
Audra Kasparian, 45, from Salt Lake City, Utah, called her visit to Bethlehem "a life event to cherish forever. It is one of those events that is great to be a part of."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also visited Bethlehem and said "peace will prevail from the birthplace of Jesus, and we wish everyone peace and happiness," according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a special Christmas greeting too, wishing Christians "a year of security, prosperity and peace."
Christmas is the high point of the year in Bethlehem, which, like the rest of the West Bank, is struggling to recover from the economic hard times that followed the violent Palestinian uprising against Israel that broke out in late 2000.
Tourists and pilgrims who were scared away by the fighting have been returning in larger numbers. Last year's Christmas Eve celebration produced the highest turnout in more than a decade, with some 100,000 visitors, including foreign workers and Arab Christians from Israel.
The Israeli Tourism Ministry predicted a 25 percent drop from that level this year, following last month's clash between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, which put a chill on tourist arrivals. Foreign tourists heading to Bethlehem must pass through Israel or the Israel-controlled border crossing into the West Bank from Jordan.
Outside the town's quaint Manger Square, Bethlehem is a drab, sprawling town with a dwindling Christian base - a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times.
About 22,000 Palestinians live in Bethlehem, according to the town council, but combined with several surrounding communities has a population of some 50,000 people.
Overall, there are only about 50,000 Christians in the West Bank, less than 3 percent of the population, the result of a lower birthrate and increased emigration. Bethlehem's Christians make up only a third of its residents, down from 75 percent a few decades ago.
Elias Joha, a 44-year-old Christian who runs a souvenir store, said even with the U.N. recognition, this year's celebrations were sad for him. He said most of his family has left, and that if he had the opportunity, he would do the same.
"These celebrations are not even for Christians because there are no Christians. It is going from bad to worse from all sides ... we are not enjoying Christmas as before."
Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem has the highest unemployment in the West Bank, but the tourist boom of Christmas offered a brief reprieve. Officials say all 34 hotels in the town are fully booked for the Christmas season, including 13 new ones built this year.
Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion. Many Muslims took part in celebration Monday as well.
Christians across the region marked the holiday.
In Iraq, Christians gathered for services with tight security, including at Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation church, the scene of a brutal October 2010 attack that killed more than 50 worshippers and wounded scores more.
Earlier this month, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is responsible for the Vatican's outreach to the Middle East's Catholic communities, traveled to Iraq and presided over a Mass to rededicate the church following renovations. In his homily, he remembered those who were killed and expressed hope that "the tears shed in this sacred place become the good seed of communion and witness and bear much fruit," according to an account by Vatican Radio.
The exact number of Christians remaining in Iraq is not known, but it has fallen sharply from as many as 1.4 million before the U.S.-led invasion nearly a decade ago to about 400,000 to 600,000, according community leaders cited by the U.S. State Department.
In the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI lit a Christmas peace candle set on the windowsill of his private studio.
Pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered below in St. Peter's Square for the inauguration Monday evening of a Nativity scene and cheered when the flame was lit.
Later, the pope led Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, prayed that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace and freedom, and asked the faithful to pray for strife-torn Syria as well as Lebanon and Iraq.
The ceremony began at 10 p.m. local time Monday with the blare of trumpets, meant to symbolize Christian joy over the news of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. The basilica's main bell tolled outside, and the sweet voices of the Vatican's boys' choir wafted across the packed venue.
Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican traditionally began at midnight, but the start time was moved up years ago so as to give the 85-year-old pontiff more time to rest before his Christmas Day speech. That address is to be delivered at midday Tuesday from the basilica's central balcony.

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Jack Klugman Dies at Age 90

Jack Klugman, one of television's most-loved actors, died today at the age of 90. He died peacefully at his home in Northridge, Calif., with his wife, Peggy, by his side, according to an announcement by his attorney.
In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Klugman epitomized the "everyman," and was best known for two popular television series of the 1970s and early 1980s: "The Odd Couple" and "Quincy, M.E."
In "The Odd Couple," about two divorced men living together -- a neat freak and a slob -- Klugman played Oscar Madison, the slob sportswriter to Tony Randall's overly fussy Felix Unger.
"The Odd Couple," which was based on Neil Simon's play of the same name, brought Klugman two Emmys, not bad for a man whose first drama teacher told him he was better suited to be a truck driver. The show ran for five years, and has lived on for decades in syndication.
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In "Quincy, M.E.," a precursor to "CSI," Klugman became just as iconic playing the relentless Los Angeles medical examiner with a talent for forensics. "We had some wonderful writers," Klugman said in a 1987 Associated Press interview. "Quincy was a muckraker, like Upton Sinclair, who wrote about injustices."
A heavy smoker, Klugman fought throat cancer, and subsequent surgery left him with a raspy voice, which was worked into later movie and TV roles, including "The Odd Couple: Together Again" in 1993 and "Dear God" in 1996.
A year after his "Odd Couple" co-star, Tony Randall, died in 2004, Klugman published "Tony and Me," and told CNN: "A world without Tony Randall is a world that I cannot recognize."
Klugman began his career in 1954 on the soap opera "The Greatest Gift." In the same year he made several appearances on the NBC legal drama "Justice," whose episodes drew from actual cases of the Legal Aid Society of New York.
His major movies included "12 Angry Men" (1957), playing juror No. 5; "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), starring opposite Jack Lemmon; and "Goodbye Columbus" (1969), based on the novella by Philip Roth, starring Ali MacGraw and Richard Benjamin.
Born Jacob Joachim Klugman on April 22, 1922, in Philadelphia to Russian Jewish immigrants, Klugman studied acting at Carnegie Insitute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and moved on to summer stock and off-Broadway, rooming with actor Charles Bronson, according to The Associated Press. He made his Broadway debut in 1952 in a revival of "Golden Boy." An early TV high point was appearing with Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda in a production of "The Petrified Forest." He also had roles in several "Twilight Zone" episodes.
He was married to actress-comedian Brett Somers, who played his ex-wife Blanche in "The Odd Couple," from 1953 until her death in 2007. His survivors include their two sons, Adam Klugman and David Klugman, and two grandchildren.
He married Peggy Crosby, the ex-wife of Bing Crosby's son, Phillip Crosby, in 2008.
A memorial service has not yet been scheduled.

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3 held without bond in fatal Ind. house explosion

 Residents whose Indianapolis homes were battered by a gas explosion and relatives of a couple who were killed packed a court hearing Monday for the three suspects charged with rigging the blast.
The crowd watched in grim silence as a Marion County judge entered not guilty pleas for Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and his brother, Bob Leonard. They are charged with murder, arson and other counts in the Nov. 10 blast.
The three, who appeared in court in orange jail jumpsuits and handcuffs, were ordered held without bond. Prosecutors say Shirley and the Leonard brothers deliberately blew up her home so they could collect the insurance payout.
The fiery blast destroyed five homes, including Shirley's, and damaged dozens of others in the Richmond Hill subdivision in the far south side of the city. The explosion killed Shirley's next-door neighbors, John Dion Longworth, a 34-year-old electronics expert, and his 36-year-old wife, second-grade teacher Jennifer Longworth. Shirley and Mark Leonard told investigators they were at a southern Indiana casino at the time of the blast.
John Dion Longworth's aunt, Pam Mosser, a psychiatric nurse who attended the hearing on the back of a 16-hour shift, said it is important for people to know how her family suffered while the suspects apparently gave no thought for their neighbors' lives.
"Dion and Jennifer died suffering and screaming. It is unbelievable to me that someone could be gambling and drinking while their house blows up and people are dying," Mosser told reporters after the hearing.
"I cannot forgive that," she said.
Shirley, 47, was facing mounting financial woes, including $63,000 in credit card debt and bankruptcy proceedings, court documents say. And a friend of Mark Leonard's told investigators that Leonard said he had lost about $10,000 at a casino some three weeks before the explosion. The home's original loan was for $116,000 and a second mortgage was taken out on the home for $65,000, the affidavit says.
Mark Leonard told the judge he couldn't pay for an attorney because all his cash was inside Shirley's house when it blew up, leaving him with about $500 in a checking account.
"All my money, all of it, it's gone," he said. "I had money in the house and it's not there anymore."
The judge appointed public defenders for the Leonards. Those attorneys did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Randall Cable, Shirley's attorney, declined comment when reached by phone after the hearing.
Shirley and the Leonard brothers face two counts of murder as well as 33 counts of arson — one count for each of the homes damaged so badly that officials have ordered their demolition.
Shirley and Mark Leonard, 43, also face two counts of conspiracy to commit arson, while Bob Leonard, 54, faces a single count. The conspiracy charges stem from a failed explosion that prosecutors claim the trio had attempted the weekend before the successful timed blast.
Prosecutor Terry Curry has said he will consider seeking the death penalty. A trial for all three suspects was scheduled for March 4.
"I think they should die a horrible death," Mosser said. "And it's terrible to have these feelings."
Investigators believe the suspects removed a gas fireplace valve and a gas line regulator in Shirley's house that subsequently filled up with gas. They have said a microwave, apparently set to start on a timer, sparked the explosion.
Reporters were positioned in the jury box so that the small courtroom could accommodate the 30 or so members of the public who squeezed in to observe the initial hearing.
Richmond Hills resident Barry Chipman said neighbors remained fearful of loud noises more than a month after the blast. He said he was driving with his teenage daughter recently when he popped the gum he was chewing and it "made her jump." A few minutes later, he said, she did the same, startling him.

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Holiday music stops at Irving Berlin's NY door

A caroling group that for 35 years has performed the Irving Berlin classic "White Christmas" on Christmas Eve outside the New York City home where he lived has cancelled the tradition.
A group spokesman says the plans were abruptly cancelled last week for lack of space at the Manhattan home, which now serves as the Luxembourg consulate.
The tradition started in the late 1970s with one cabaret singer outside the home. In 1983, Berlin invited the singers inside for cocoa and cookies.
Berlin died in 1989 at age 99.
Luxembourg Consul-General Jean-Claude Knebeler tells the New York Post the ballroom where the group performed is filled with office equipment because the consulate expanded. He says he hopes the tradition resumes in another year in the consulate's library.

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Ore. rescuers find lost snowshoers near Mount Hood

 Rescue teams have found 3 snowshoers who got lost on a weekend camping trip near Mount Hood.
The trio was reported in good health, having made it through two nights under the leadership of a mountaineer.
The three set out Saturday on snowshoes and called 911 on Sunday to report they were lost. Although the cellphone connection was sketchy, they said they had food and sleeping bags, said Detective Matt English of the Hood River County sheriff's office.
There was no contact after that until searchers found them Monday.
The Oregonian (http://bit.ly/UY5kzr) identified them as Mark Kelsey, 62, a veteran mountain guide and outdoor survival instructor, Margarita Estrada, 49, and Debra Shindler, 58.
Estrada's son, Andy Ozeroff, 18, told the paper, he started contacting families of the other hikers when they didn't return Sunday afternoon as planned. The trio was celebrating Estrada's birthday.
When family members reported the party overdue, they learned the hikers had already called for help.
"We definitely would have been more concerned if the women weren't in the hands of my dad," said Alex Kelsey, 18.
Kelsey is a veteran mountaineer, associates said.
"He continues to guide and teach survival techniques," said Rocky Henderson, team leader with Portland Mountain Rescue. "He is of the utmost competence.

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Investors shed shares of Blackberry maker

Shares of Blackberry maker Research in Motion slumped more than 16 percent Friday with future revenue coming into question and a declining number of subscribers.
RIM's stock jumped initially Thursday when the Canadian company released better-than-expected third-quarter results and a stronger cash position.
Shares reversed course during a conference call later, when executives said that the company won't generate as much revenue from telecommunications carriers once it releases the new BlackBerry 10.
RIM's stock had been on a three-month rally in which the stock more than doubled from levels not previously seen since 2003.
"Despite a solid quarter, the stock is trading down due to the introduction of a lower enterprise service tier and fears that RIM will not receive monthly services revenues for consumer BB10 subscribers," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. He thinks RIM has offered carriers a lower-priced option in exchange for a bigger purchase commitment for the new device. He kept his "Hold" rating.
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu kept maintained a "Neutral" rating on the stock, but lowered his earnings estimates, saying he continued to be concerned about RIM's ability to compete with Apple and Google.

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RIM’s biggest problem: It’s still scrambling to catch yesterday’s hottest mobile app

The moment I first realized that RIM (RIMM) was truly in enormous trouble was back in 2010 when I heard then co-CEO Jim Balsillie downplay the importance of apps. Yes, you read that correctly. Balsillie actually told attendees at a Web 2.0 summit in 2010 that the Internet itself was the most important “app” for mobile devices and contended that the “Web needs a platform that allows you to use your existing Web content, not apps.” My feelings on this matter were only solidified when I attended the BlackBerry World conference in May 2011 and watched RIM executives proudly announce that the Playbook tablet would soon get its own version of Angry Birds sometime in the near future. In reality, Angry Birds didn’t release for BlackBerry until late December of that year, or two full years after it was originally released for iOS.
[More from BGR: WhatsApp goes free for iPhone for a limited time]
All of which brings me back to RIM’s current state: Despite the great looking hardware and user interface pictures we’ve seen from new BlackBerry 10 smartphones so far, the company still has an app problem. I was reminded of this when I read a post over at CrackBerry titled, “There’s still a chance for WhatsApp on BlackBerry 10.” The issue here isn’t whether RIM eventually does or doesn’t get WhatsApp on its platform — the issue is that RIM always seems to be one step behind when it comes to getting the hottest apps of the day on its devices.
[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]
The most absurd example of this, of course, is Instagram. Yes, it’s very likely that BlackBerry 10 will support the popular photo-sharing app right out of the gate given the company’s partnership with Instagram owner Facebook (FB). But we still have no official confirmation that Instagram will be a BlackBerry 10 app just over a month before the new platform launches, and this is symbolic of the fact that RIM is always stuck at the back of line when it comes to app developers’ priorities.
Simply put, RIM can’t possibly hope to compete with Android, iOS or even Windows Phone 8 if its users will always wonder if they’ll be able to do all the cool things with their phones that their friends can do. In the unpredictable Wild West of today’s app market, where new apps seemingly go viral overnight to become global powerhouses, platform developers need to make sure they have quick and simple ways for app developers to port over their software. And until RIM figures out a way to get this done, it still has no shot in the long term.

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Apple has achieved its highest ever smartphone share in U.S.

According to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple’s (AAPL) smartphone market share in the United States recently reached an all time high. In the past 12 weeks, the company is said to have captured a 53.3% share of the United States smartphone market. Apple’s increased market share comes in the wake of the iPhone 5 launch, although things aren’t quite as good for the company overseas. Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system is seeing unprecedented success in Europe and recently garnered a 61% share of the market, an increase from 51.8% a year ago.
[More from BGR: RIM’s biggest problem: It’s still scrambling to catch yesterday’s hottest mobile app]
Samsung’s (005930) success has continued over the last 12 weeks and the company captured a 44.3% share of the European smartphone market. Apple took second place with a 25.3% share while HTC (2498), Sony (SNE) and Nokia (NOK) are stuck in a battle for third place.
[More from BGR: WhatsApp goes free for iPhone for a limited time]
“Although Windows sales in the U.S. remain subdued, Nokia is managing to claw back some of its share in Great Britain through keenly priced Lumia 800 and 610 prepay deals,” Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said. “The next period will prove crucial in revealing initial consumer reactions to the Nokia 920 and HTC Windows 8X devices.”
The number of consumers who own a smartphone in Great Britain also hit a high of 60% in the latest quarter, while smartphones accounted for 83% of all mobile phone sales in the past 12 weeks.

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Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact

 Nokia Corp. and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday.
The agreement includes a "one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia," Nokia said, but did not disclose "confidential" terms.
Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry maker for breach of contract in Britain, the United States and Canada over cellular patents they agreed in 2003. RIM claimed the license — which covered patents on "standards-essential" technologies for mobile devices— should also have covered patents for non-essential parts, but the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled against RIM's claims.
Major manufacturers of phones and wireless equipment are increasingly turning to patent litigation as they jockey for an edge to expand their share of the rapidly growing smartphone market.
Nokia is among leading patent holders in the wireless industry. It has already received a $565 million royalty payment from Apple Inc. to settle long-standing patent disputes and filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC Corp. and Viewsonic Corp. infringe a number of its patents.
The company says it has invested €45 billion ($60 billion) during the last 20 years in research and development and has one of the wireless industry's largest IPR portfolios claiming some 10,000 patent families.

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Fan-made tweak gives Apple a blueprint for better multitasking in iOS 7 [video]

In recent years, Android has continued to get better and better with new and useful features. At the same time, iOS has become rather stagnant and in many ways has fallen behind. iOS 6 did bring new features, but its subsequent updates also introduced a slew of issues. What’s most disappointing about iOS is that it still doesn’t allow users to quickly adjust basic things such as brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. without having to dive into layers of menus. However, a forum member at The Verge recently mocked up a concept for a redesigned app switcher and managed to get a few developers to help out on a project to enhance iOS multitasking. The result is a jailbreak tweak that improves upon iOS’s current multitasking system in such an intelligent (and elegant) way that Apple (AAPL) should just hire the developers and incorporate it into iOS 7. See for yourself in the video below.

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