Britain's Prince Philip spends Christmas in hospital

Britain's Prince Philip missed the royal family's Christmas Day celebrations for the first time as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II remained in hospital after having heart surgery.

Thousands of wellwishers gathered at the queen's Sandringham estate in eastern England to see the royals attend their traditional church service, with Prince William's new wife Catherine making her debut appearance.

Buckingham Palace said the 90-year-old Philip "remains in good spirits" after spending a second night at Papworth hospital near Cambridge, and family members were set to visit him after lunch on Sunday.

Prince Philip, who is the longest serving royal consort in British history and an outspoken pillar of the House of Windsor, was airlifted on Friday from Sandringham suffering from chest pains.

Tests showed a blocked coronary artery and doctors at Papworth, which boasts Britain's leading cardiac unit, inserted a tube-like device called a stent to restore healthy blood flow.

Palace officials refused to say whether he had had a heart attack but Iqbal Malik, a consultant at Imperial College London, said Philip "probably was having a heart attack" which was successfully aborted.

Around 3,000 people queued at the gates of the St Mary Magdalene Church on the royal estate at Sandringham on Sunday to see the royals walk the few hundred metres (yards) from the main house for the service, police said.

It was the first time that Catherine has attended the service. She wore a brown coat and walked alongside Prince William, whom she married in April, and his younger brother Prince Harry.

The queen and her four children, including heir to the throne Prince Charles and his second wife Camilla, were all present, along with the queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and her husband, England rugby player Mike Tindall.

The 85-year-old monarch was also seen talking to the vicar at the church before the service, which Prince Philip is missing for the first time.

Lunch is served at 1300 GMT at Sandringham House following the church service and the family will reportedly tuck into a huge turkey reared on the estate.

The family will then gather around the television Ñ without the queen Ñ to watch her annual Christmas broadcast, in which this year she is set to stress the importance of family.

It was recorded before Prince Philip was hospitalised.

The prince is also set to miss the traditional Boxing Day shoot which he organises.

In an usual sign of concern from the usually stoic British royals, the queen and her children all visited Philip in hospital on Saturday as he recovered from the operation.

The Greek-born prince Philip married then Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and has become a national institution Ñ almost as much for his often brusque comments as for his support for the queen.

An active outdoorsman and former Royal Navy captain, he has been in largely good health and joined his wife on an 11-day tour of Australia three months ago.

But he pulled out of a trip to Italy in October nursing a cold.

The next year is a big one for the queen as she celebrates her diamond jubilee marking 60 years on the British throne.

In an interview to mark his 90th birthday in June, Prince Philip said he would scale back his workload.

"I reckon I've done my bit. I want to enjoy myself a bit now, with less responsibility, less frantic rushing about, less preparation, less trying to think of something to say," he told the BBC.

Thinking of things to say has sometimes landed him in hot water. On a visit to China in 1986, he warned a group of British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed."

Christmas shooting leaves seven dead in Texas

Police in Texas found the bodies of seven people in a Dallas-area apartment on Sunday, all shot to death and surrounded by newly unwrapped Christmas presents, authorities said.

Police in the town of Grapevine said the dead included four women and three men, one of them the apparent gunman in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide, and that all appeared to be members of the same family.

Two handguns were recovered from the apartment, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, who called it a “gruesome crime scene” and the worst massacre in that town’s history.

The middle income Lincoln Vineyards apartment complex is near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area’s most highly regarded schools.

A community of about 46,000 people some 20 miles northwest of central Dallas, Grapevine is known for its wine-tasting salons and was recently proclaimed by the state Senate as the “Christmas Capital of Texas” for its abundance of annual holiday-season events.

“This is obviously a terrible tragedy,” Mayor William Tate said in a statement to Reuters. “The fact that it happened on Christmas makes it even more tragic. This appears to be a family situation and anyone who has a family will be incredibly saddened by what happened.”

Police responding to a 911 emergency call late Sunday morning found the bodies in the first-floor living room of a two-story unit in the Lincoln Vineyards apartments, police said.

Eberling said he believed police had to kick in the door to enter the apartment.

The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear. However, the victims appeared to have been opening Christmas gifts when the shooting occurred, and there was no visible sign of forced entry or a struggle, police said.

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

“By all appearances, they’re all part of the same family,” Eberling said, adding that the victims were believed to have been “celebrating Christmas” when the shooting unfolded.

“It’s a gruesome crime scene to say the least, with that many victims in that area suffering gunshot wounds,” he said.

Two of the dead were believed to be in their 50s or 60s, while the others appeared to be young adults, about 18 to 20, according to police.

Authorities did not immediately identify the victims and did not speculate on a possible motive for the shooting.

Police said there were no survivors at the apartment when they arrived. Eberling said none had been dead for very long.

As of 7:30 p.m., all seven bodies remained in the apartment, and investigators were expected to continue processing the crime scene late into the night, Eberling said.

Several neighbors told Reuters that children frequently played in front of the apartment, and they regularly saw young adults leaving for work. They added that they did not know the residents personally.

Several apartment residents stood outside, visibly shaken, and one of them crying, while investigators gathered evidence from the crime scene.

Vanessa Barerra said the killings were especially disturbing in light of Grapevine’s reputation as a safe place to live.

“I did research and chose to live here because of the safety and the school district,” she said. “I’m glad my kids weren’t here. They’re with their dad.”

European leaders, Vatican condemn Nigeria Christmas attacks

 European leaders and the Vatican on Sunday roundly condemned a wave of Christmas Day bomb attacks in Nigeria that killed at least 35 people amid spiraling violence claimed by Islamists.

"Even on Christmas Day, the world is not spared from cowardice and the fear of terrorism," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

"Tolerance ... and the willingness to resolve conflicts through peaceful means are not just the message of the Christian holiday of Christmas and other religions of the world. They can also be the key to peace, freedom and prosperity of entire regions."

Thirty of the victims died in the bombing of a church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja, an attack claimed by a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram.

In another attack, a suicide bomber sought to ram a military convoy in front of a secret police building in the northeastern city of Damaturu, killing the bomber and three security agents.

The church blast triggered more chaos after the explosion, with angry youths starting fires and threatening to attack a nearby police station.

"These are cowardly attacks on families gathered in peace and prayer to celebrate a day which symbolises harmony and goodwill towards others," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

"I offer my condolences to the bereaved and injured."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also condemned the attacks, saying: "France addresses its condolences to the authorities and people of Nigeria and expresses its solidarity in their fight against terrorism and for the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law throughout Nigeria."

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said the attacks struck at "the universal principles of civility."

"I express my strongest condemnation of these vile attacks," he said.

"Italy, which has always been at the forefront in the defence of freedom of religion and the promotion of dialogue and tolerance between religions, will continue to do the utmost ... so that in Nigeria like elsewhere the principles of co-existence between religions and respect for freedom of religion are actively respected and defended."

The Vatican called the attack on the church an act of "blind hatred" that sought "to arouse and feed even more hatred and confusion."

Last U.S. troops out of Iraq make it home for Christmas

For Specialist Chancy Cotton, who was among the first US troops to invade Iraq in 2003 and the last to leave last weekend, four tours and nine years of fighting were more than enough.

The 31-year-old was among some 200 soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division who were given a raucous standing ovation Saturday at their base in Texas, where they made it home in time for a Christmas Eve to remember.

"I’m glad that it’s over with, that the fact that everyone gets to come home and hopefully everyone did not sacrifice in vain, because a lot of people didn’t get to come home," he said.

Standing in a turret, he threw up his hands in jubilation last weekend as his armored column rolled into Kuwait at first light, ending a conflict that unleashed a vicious insurgency in Iraq and deeply divided Americans.

On Saturday he and his fellow soldiers marched through an icy rain at the parade field here as family and friends cheered and waved American flags.

After a brief ceremony in which the unit’s colors were unfurled after the long flight home, Colonel Phil Battaglia issued a single order: "Charge!"

Moments later, Cotton wrapped his arms around his wife Tia and their eight-year-old son Tyler.

Also attending the ceremony were Virginia Solis and her four children, who welcomed home Specialist Ismael Solis, 32, a three-tour Iraq veteran.

"It’s hard for me," she said. "I had to be a mother and father at the same time."

The celebration was tempered by the knowledge that while the United States is finally out of Iraq it is still at war in Afghanistan. The wives of some of the returning troops said they were already preparing for another tour.

"They said they’re going to redeploy in 2013, so it’s just another step we’ll have to take when we get there," said Tricia Joseph, who is 19 and four months pregnant.

"Either way, I’ll be standing by his side through everything."

The jubilation is also overshadowed by the knowledge that many soldiers never returned. The United States lost 4,484 troops in Iraq, while 32,000 others were injured, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

The 1st Cavalry Division, which rotated through Iraq three times and has sent smaller units at other times, lost 283 soldiers there, a spokesman said.

"It’s scary not knowing if our loved ones are coming home, especially when he’s the father of your kids," said Amanda Tougas, mother of two.

Some soldiers expressed concern over whether Iraq will be able to defend itself in their absence. Cotton fears that a series of deadly bombings in Baghdad earlier this week could be a sign of things to come.

"I was expecting something to happen, but hopefully it gets stable over there for all the sacrifice that we’ve done, and hopefully it will work itself out," he said.

US President Barack Obama has been criticized by some Republicans for failing to convince Iraq to extend a 2008 Status of Forces Agreement in order to keep some US troops in the country.

But many veterans said they thought the United States had done as much as it could there.

The 2003 invasion toppled the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, who was tried and executed in 2006, and a "surge" of 20,000 additional US troops in 2007 helped to contain a rash of sectarian bloodletting verging on civil war.

US Army Captain Travis Pendleton, 30, of Yorba Linda, California, downplayed the withdrawal’s potential effects on Iraqi security.

"On my second tour in 2009 as an advisor to the Iraqi 6th Infantry Division, we felt by the end that they were so far along we would have a rather modest return on investment," he said.

"The war was over," said former Marine Corporal Wilson, 26, a Florida policeman and veteran of Iraq’s restive Anbar province, site of some of the heaviest fighting between US troops and the country’s Sunni insurgency.

"Iraq will flourish or fail, and that was going to be the same case if we stayed for another eight years," he said.

"Our war was about providing the opportunity to bring the horse to the water. The drinking part is up to the Iraqis."

Nigeria probes Christmas carnage

 Nigeria on Monday probed a wave of Christmas Day bomb attacks that killed at least 40 and was blamed on Islamists, including one blast that ripped through a crowd of worshippers exiting mass.

The government blamed Islamist sect Boko Haram for three attacks on Sunday, including bomb explosions at two churches — the deadliest as Christmas mass ended near the capital Abuja — and a suicide attack in the northeast.

A third church was targeted in the northeast on Christmas Eve, but no one was reported killed. Residents reported another explosion near a church in the northeastern city of Maiduguri late Sunday, but an army spokesman denied it.

The attack at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla outside Abuja killed at least 35 and left a gruesome scene, with rescuers picking up body parts and putting them in plastic bags while emergency workers pleaded for ambulances.

Some of the wounded, including one man whose entrails protruded from his body, ran toward a priest for final blessings.

The attacks drew widespread condemnation, including from UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the United States and Britain.

Authorities and officials pledged to bring the attackers to justice, but the government in Africa's most populous nation has so far been unable to stop the Islamists, whose attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated and deadly.

President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the violence and his national security adviser called it "unnecessary bloodletting by a group whose objectives are not in consonance with any genuine religious tenants."

While the government blamed Boko Haram and a purported spokesman for the sect claimed responsibility for the violence, conflicting accounts emerged of both the investigation and the attack in Madalla.

A spokesman for police in Niger state, where Madalla is located, said on Monday that authorities had not yet determined who was behind the attack.

"We are looking beyond Boko Haram because other people bent on destabilizing the government might be doing these things in the name of Boko Haram," said Richard Oguche.

Describing the attack, National Security Adviser Owoye Azazi said attackers threw improvised explosive devices from a moving vehicle in Madalla, adding that "two of the criminals had been apprehended, caught in action."

Oguche said no one was arrested and the blast occurred after a minibus pulled up near the church. He added that three police officers were among those killed.

"It was just about the time people were leaving the church and there was a (minibus)," said Oguche.

"There were three police officers at the gate and they were trying to prevent those people from coming in. There was an argument and in the process the thing exploded."

The attack sparked further chaos in the area, with angry youths setting fires and threatening to rush a police station. Police fired into the air to disperse them and cleared a road for rescue workers.

Other explosions occurred in the central city of Jos, where a church was targeted and policeman was killed in a resulting shootout, and in the northeastern city of Damaturu, where authorities have clashed with Islamists in recent days.

A suicide blast occurred in Damaturu when the bomber sought to ram into a military convoy in front of a secret police office, killing himself and three security agents. Sporadic gunfire broke out in the city on Sunday afternoon.

In Damaturu on Monday, hundreds of residents were seeking to flee, lining up at taxi and bus stands, seeking to take advantage of the momentary calm in the tense and violence-torn city.

Boko Haram had also claimed responsibility for a deadly wave of attacks in the Jos region on Christmas Eve last year.

Violence blamed on Boko Haram has steadily worsened in recent months, with bomb blasts becoming more frequent and increasingly sophisticated and death tolls climbing.

There has been intense speculation over whether Boko Haram has links with outside extremist groups, including al-Qaida's north African branch. It is believed to have a number of factions with varying aims.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and most populous nation with 160 million people, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Pope ushers in Christmas, decries commercialization

 Pope Benedict ushered in Christmas for the world's 1.3 billion Roman Catholics on Saturday, urging humanity to see through the superficial glitter and commercialism of the season and rediscover the real significance of the humble birth of Jesus.

The 84-year-old pope, celebrating the seventh Christmas season of his pontificate, also urged that those marking the holiday in poverty, suffering or far from home not be forgotten.

At the start of a Christmas Eve service, he was wheeled up the central aisle of St Peter’s Basilica standing on a mobile platform which he has been using since October.

The Vatican says it is to conserve his strength, allow more people to see him and guard against attacks such as one on Christmas Eve, 2009, when a woman lunged at him and knocked him to the ground. He is believed to suffer from arthritis in the legs.

But he seemed to be in good shape during the solemn service in Christendom’s largest church as choirs sang, cantors chanted and organ music filled the centuries-old basilica.

Benedict, wearing resplendent gold and white vestments, urged his listeners to find peace in the symbol of the powerless Christ child in a world continually threatened by violence.

“Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity,” he said in his homily to about 10,000 people in the basilica and millions more watching on television throughout the world.

“Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.”

The Christmas story of how Jesus, who Christians believe is the son of God, was born powerless “in the poverty of the stable” should remind everyone of the need for humility.

“... let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped. Let us allow ourselves to be made simple by the God who reveals himself to the simple of heart,” he said.

PEACEMAKERS

The pope, who earlier placed a “candle of peace” on the windowsill of his apartments as the life-size nativity scene in St Peter’s Square was inaugurated, called for an end to violence, for oppressors to put down their “rods” and for all to become peacemakers.

“God has appeared - as a child. It is in this guise that he pits himself against all violence and brings a message that is peace,” he said.

“At this hour, when the world is continually threatened by violence in so many places and in so many different ways, when over and over again there are oppressors’ rods and bloodstained cloaks, we cry out to the Lord...” he said.

“...we suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours.”

Those celebrating Christmas in comfortable circumstances should remember those less fortunate.

“And let us also pray especially at this hour for all who have to celebrate Christmas in poverty, in suffering, as migrants, that a ray of God’s kindness may shine upon them, that they - and we - may be touched by the kindness that God chose to bring into the world through the birth of his Son in a stable,” he said.

On Christmas Day, the pope will deliver his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing from the central loge of St Peter’s Basilica.

He continues his Christmas and New Year’s celebrations on Dec 31 with a year-end Mass of thanksgiving known by its Latin name Te Deum.

On January 1 he marks the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, on January 6 he marks the Epiphany and on January 8 will baptise several newborns in the Sistine Chapel.

He is due to visit Mexico and Cuba in March.

Puppies and presents saved from Christmas Eve house fire

A Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., family of four was left homeless on Christmas Eve after fire destroyed their two-storey home Saturday evening.

Leasa Stanley was upstairs and wrapping presents in her home when she and her husband smelled “something” that was off.

Stanley’s husband ran down the stairs and found their Christmas tree on fire. He tried to dig up a fire extinguisher to douse the flames.

“Before he even had time to think, the ceiling started to catch on fire,” Stanley said.

The couple and their two sons, aged 10 and 12, made it out of the house safely before the fire spread. When they got outside, Stanley’s sons started yelling for the family dog.

The family’s Havanese dog had a litter of puppies about a week ago and Stanley went back into the house to save the family pets that were gathered in the master bedroom.

“When I got into the room I couldn’t see the puppies, it was so black,” Stanley said. She grabbed the box of pups and their mother, and ran back downstairs to safety.

Firefighters were called to the house fire shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday. The house was engulfed in flames when crews arrived, said Bill Heesing, Fort Saskatchewan deputy fire chief. No one was hurt.

The front of the house was blackened with soot, and all of the windows were blown out. Water from the fire hoses turned to ice and covered the front lawn. It appeared that most of the roof was destroyed in the fire, and smoke continued to billow out from the house by the late evening. The area around the home smelled strongly of smoke.

The family had just moved into the house in June.

“We just finished getting it painted, the pictures were just up,” Stanley said.

Neighbours offered Stanley and her family help. One neighbour even offered to start working on rebuilding the house.

“People are bringing us clothes and offering a place to stay . . . it’s just overwhelming,” Stanley said.

While most of the home was destroyed, firefighters were able to save a special stash of presents from Santa for the two boys that were hidden in the basement. The boys were to open them on Christmas morning.

“Santa is coming,” said Stanley with a smile.

Queen Elizabeth praises strong family ties on Christmas Day

Queen Elizabeth lauded the importance of a strong family at times of crisis, in a poignant Christmas message broadcast on Sunday as her 90-year-old husband recovered in hospital from heart surgery.

Elizabeth, who recorded the annual address before Prince Philip was taken ill on Friday, will mark 60 years on the throne in 2012 with a full tour of Britain, although Philip’s condition may mean scaling back his share of the duties.

The spotlight has fallen on the royals this weekend after Philip was rushed to hospital following chest pains. He underwent a successful operation to ease a blocked heart artery late on Friday and was since said to be in good spirits.

“We’ve seen that it’s in hardship that we often find strength from our families; it’s in adversity that new friendships are sometimes formed; and it’s in a crisis that communities break down barriers and bind together to help one another,” the Queen, 85, said.

“Families, friends and communities often find a source of courage rising up from within.”

Philip is likely to miss most of, if not all, the royal family’s Christmas get-together at their rural Sandringham estate in eastern England as doctors monitor his recovery.

“The importance of family has, of course, come home to Prince Philip and me personally this year with the marriages of two of our grandchildren, each in their own way a celebration of the God-given love that binds a family together,” the Queen said.

Prince William’s marriage to Catherine Middleton and the wedding of Zara Phillips and England rugby player Mike Tindall marked high points in a busy year for the Queen that included a trip to Australia and a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama.

With fears growing over the global economy and rising unemployment and social tensions in Britain, the Queen’s address, watched by millions, was suffused with modest sobriety.

“As we all know, the world is going through difficult times. All this will affect our celebration of this great Christian festival,” she said.

“The bereaved and the lonely will find it especially hard.”

Tensions in economically hard-hit Britain have been evident this year. Riots and looting broke out in English towns and cities, while public anger against reckless behaviour in the highly-paid banking sector spilt over into protests.

The Queen touched on this friction, urging Britons to pull together and to be more thoughtful in their actions towards each other during tough times.

“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves, from our recklessness or our greed,” she said.

Out There: Peak of Christmas

Step out of the rainy drear and into a winter wonderland at Grouse Mountain’s Peak of Christmas, where you can ice skate on an 8,000 square-foot outdoor rink, meet real reindeer, take in festive music by carolers and choirs, and wander through the SOS Children’s Village Parade of Trees before taking a mountaintop sleigh ride through in the snowy woods.

On three Saturdays, you can fine-tune your salchows and lutzes with world champion figure skater Karen Magnussen and other icy luminaries, then watch them show how it’s done at a special Ice Show.

Wishing for something extra special under the tree this year? Head for Santa’s village, where you and the little ones can bring St. Nick up to speed – then head indoors to warm up with hot chocolate and favourite family Christmas movies