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Manila fires leave 8 dead, many homeless
17 killed as Yemen army, tribals clash
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27 killed in Kazak military plane crash Moscow, December 25 Kazakhstan’s acting border service chief was among 27 people killed in a military plane crash near a southern city today, authorities said. The An-72 crashed around 20 km from the city of Shymkent, near the border with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan’s Committee for National Security said in a statement.
Christmas trees absorb greenhouse gas methane
Most kids ask Santa for sibling, pet or dad
Malik Riaz may file case against Pak CJ’s son in Britain
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Manila fires leave 8 dead, many homeless
Manila, December 25 Seven charred bodies, all believed to be from one household, were recovered after a blaze razed a row of old apartments in northern Manila at dawn, fire officer Francisco Mabunga said. The cause of the blaze, which broke out as the metropolis of 14 million people held Christmas Eve parties that lasted until dawn today, is under investigation, officials said. "They are all believed to be from a family that owned the apartment row and lived in one of the units where the fire was suspected to have started," Mabunga added. A second blaze broke out at a sprawling shantytown, sparking riots that left one man dead and led to two suspected rioters being arrested, said Manila fire marshal Santiago Laguna. "They (residents) started grabbing hoses from our firefighters, who could not do anything as they feared for their own safety," Laguna said in a radio interview. He said a man was beaten up and later died from his injuries in the melee as the blaze consumed the shantytown in the San Juan district. Arson is believed to be the cause of the blaze. Laguna said residents were apparently angered by the delayed arrival of firefighters. He said the emergency workers could not get their fire trucks through narrow streets jammed with parked vehicles. Volunteer firefighter Willy Tiongson, his bloodied head wrapped in a bandage, told GMA television that his team was met with a shower of rocks and other projectiles as they drove into the slum. The shantytown blaze left some 2,000 families homeless, Laguna said, adding that equated to around 8,000 persons without a roof over their heads at Christmas. A witness on the scene saw hundreds of people left homeless huddled on the floor of two basketball courts nearby.
— AFP Fighting Blaze
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17 killed as Yemen army, tribals clash
Sanaa, December 25 The dead included 10 tribesmen and seven soldiers, said the sources, who added that the army offensive in Marib province's Habab valley, 140 km east of the capital Sanaa, was launched in the early hours of the morning and was backed by air raids. The sources said the army was "randomly shelling" the area where some Al-Qaida militants joined tribesmen ranks in battling Yemeni troops. Marib is a major Al-Qaida stronghold in the country. Tribesmen, of whom 18 were also wounded according to the same sources, fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, one source said. The army did not immediately confirm the deaths of four soldiers. According to official figures, lost production due to attacks on the oil pipeline in the east cost the government more than $1 billion dollars in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 per cent.
— AFP the contention
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27 killed in Kazak military plane crash Moscow, December 25 The fatalities included a crew of seven and 20 border guards, including the acting head of the ex-Soviet nation’s border protection service, Col Turganbek Stambekov. Authorities said an investigation was opened into the crash. Stambekov was appointed acting head of the border service in June, after a mass killing of 14 frontier troops in a remote Kazakh outpost near China the month before. — AP
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Worshippers rejoice in Jesus’ Bethlehem birthplace
Bethlehem, December 25 Overcast skies and a cold wind didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace. Duncan Hardock (24), a writer from MacLean, Va, travelled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands. "I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem. But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party." Bethlehem lies 10 km south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967. Hardock's girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying "it's like being at Times Square at New Year's." The cavernous church was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside. Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee. An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve up 20 per cent from a year earlier.
— AP Spreading Cheeer
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Pope urges end to bloodshed in Syria in Christmas message
Vatican City, December 25 "There is hope in the world ... even at the most difficult times and in the most difficult situations," he said, praying that "peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenceless and reaps innocent victims." Speaking from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica in a message watched by millions around the world, he called "for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced, and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict." A capacity crowd of 40,000 pilgrims filled the vast St Peter's Square to hear the 85-year-old pope, resplendent in red vestments, deliver the message under partly cloudy skies. His wide-ranging "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and the World) message also pointed to hotspots across Africa and urged religious freedom in China, and as usual called for peace in the Middle East. He notably lamented "savage acts of terrorism" that frequently target Christian churches in Nigeria. Also today, South African former president Nelson Mandela shared Christmas greetings with visitors to his hospital bedside, including his wife Graca Machel, other family members and President Jacob Zuma. "We found him in good spirits," Zuma said. "He was happy to have visitors on this special day and is looking much better." The 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon was admitted on December 8 to a Pretoria hospital where has been treated for a recurrent lung infection and underwent surgery to remove gallstones.
— AFP
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Christmas trees absorb greenhouse gas methane
They did forest and laboratory measurements and analysed gases being exchanged by tree branches of pine, spruce and birch trees under a variety of conditions, Discovery News reported. "In contrast to earlier studies of CH4 (methane) exchange by plants, we find a net consumption by all plants studied both in field and in the laboratory," researchers concluded. The discovery could offer a new explanation to an observed levelling off of methane concentrations in Earth's atmosphere, the researchers said. Earlier work they cited suggested that the methane levels were slowing as a result of less fossil fuel burning while another study suggested that maybe there were fewer microbes making methane in the Northern hemisphere. "Our results offer a third explanation: that an increasing amount of CH4 has been taken up by vegetation during the last decades as a consequence of increased greenness," the researchers said. In other words, the observed increases in vegetation (greening) could mean trees are working harder at absorbing methane. The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
— PTI
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Most kids ask Santa for sibling, pet or dad
London, December 25 A study of 2,000 British parents found requesting a pet horse was the third most popular choice among kids, with a "car" making an entry at number four. Despite their material requests, the tenth most popular Christmas wish on the list was a "Dad", The Telegraph reported. The survey, of consumers at Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City, found children aged three to 12 years also wanted a dog, chocolate and a stick of rock. Traditional hopes for a white Christmas were represented by a wish for "snow" in ninth place, with sensible youngsters also requesting a "house". Of the top 50 requests, 17 related to pets and animals, with some children hoping for a donkey, chicken and elephant. Cellphones and tablets also appeared on the list, with some children asking for the Moon, a time machine, a pond cover and beetroot. A request for a "mum" reached number 23 on the list.
— PTI
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Malik Riaz may file case against Pak CJ’s son in Britain
Lahore, December 25 Zahid Bokhari, the lawyer for Hussain, will travel to Britain today to explore the possibility of filing the case. "Had Pakistani courts done justice, there
would be no need to approach foreign courts," Bokhari said. The Supreme Court recently declared that matters between Hussain and Arsalan were a private issue between two individuals and they could resort to legal proceedings against each other. — PTI
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Afghan policewoman who killed US adviser is Iranian Zimbabwe truck crash kills 18 Seven killed in fresh Karachi violence 3 hurt as enraged man hits students Two firefighters killed in ‘trap’
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Washington, December 25
