Ottawa police play Santa after family's gifts stolen

Thieves nearly dashed Christmas morning for an Ottawa family when they stole the gifts right from under their tree, but Ottawa police stepped in to play Santa Claus.

A Grinch broke in to an east Ottawa home Thursday night and made off with presents for the family’s three children and 10 grandchildren. The family’s car, TV and assorted electronic appliances also were looted.

The family had planned a large holiday get-together and dinner, and relatives had brought over their gifts before the theft.

In the spirit of Christmas, the police’s communications and patrol divisions spent Christmas Eve collecting donations and wrapping gifts. “We wanted to make sure that they didn’t miss Christmas,” said Ottawa police spokesperson Helen Harper.

She said “the family was in tears and very grateful” when officers dropped off about 20 wrapped gifts and about $600 Saturday afternoon.

Police are looking for one or more suspects.

Pope prays for peace after Nigeria bomb blast

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of famine, floods and conflict around the world in his traditional Christmas message on Sunday, following a deadly explosion near a church in Nigeria.

"Let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation. He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace," he told thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican.

The pope urged the international community to aid those suffering from hunger in the Horn of Africa, called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and said he hoped this year's Arab revolts would aid the "common good."

He also prayed for the victims of recent flooding in Thailand and the Philippines which he said were enduring "grave hardships" and said he hoped for increased dialogue in Myanmar "in the pursuit of shared solutions."

The pope's strongest words were against wars and in favour of reconciliation, particularly between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land but also in the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the new nation of South Sudan.

"May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts which even today stain the earth with blood . . . May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed,"he said.

"May he grant renewed vigour to all elements of society in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East as they strive to advance the common good," he added, following the revolts in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

Concluding his message, the pope voiced Christmas greetings in 65 languages including Aramaic, Icelandic and Samoan to cheers from the crowd.

"God is the Saviour: we are those who are in peril. He is the physician: we are the infirm," he told them.

"To realize this is the first step towards salvation, towards emerging from the maze in which we have been locked by our pride."

At Christmas Eve mass in Saint Peter's Basilica, the pope had lamented the consumerism surrounding a holiday "whose bright lights hide the mystery of God's humility, which in turns calls us to humility and simplicity."

"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 84-year-old pope said.

He also rebuked "oppressors" and warmongers around the world.

"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," he said.

Peace was also a central theme in Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal's Christmas Eve homily delivered in Bethlehem, where hotels and guesthouses were packed to capacity with pilgrims.

"We ask for peace, stability and security for the entire Middle East," said Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic in the region.

In a midnight mass, he urged "the return of calm and reconciliation in Syria, in Egypt, in Iraq and in North Africa".

"O Child of Bethlehem, in this New Year, we place in your hands this troubled Middle East and, above all, our youth full of legitimate aspirations, who are frustrated by the economic and political situation, and in search of a better future," Twal said.

Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus saw some of its largest crowds of tourists in years for the Christmas festival, bringing cheer to the troubled West Bank, while celebrations also passed without incident in Iraq.

However a bomb went off near a Catholic church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja, killing at least 15 people, in the latest attack to rock the religiously divided country, also hit by deadly Christmas attacks in 2010.

Another explosion was heard later in the day in the central city of Jos near a church, but details were not immediately available, residents said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Nigeria has been rocked by bomb blasts and shootings attributed to Islamist group Boko Haram.

The group claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 24 people. The string of bomb blasts in Jos on Christmas Eve 2010 were also claimed by Boko Haram.

In recent days in three cities in the northeast, where most of the violence attributed to Boko Haram has occurred, attacks blamed on the sect followed by a heavy military crackdown have killed up to 100 people.

Yemenis rally for Saleh trial after shootings

 Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen's capital Sunday calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to face trial, a day after his forces and loyalists killed 13 people at a similar demonstration.

"The people want to bring the slaughterer to trial," shouted the protesters who marched from Change Square, epicentre of the uprising that began nearly a year ago, towards Sittin Avenue in the northern district of Sanaa.

"We won't rest until the slaughterer is executed," they chanted. "We don't want Abdrabuh, Ali Saleh controls him," they chanted, referring to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

Saleh is still honorary president but handed authority over to Hadi last month when he signed a Gulf-brokered deal in which he won immunity from prosecution in exchange for ending his 33-year rule when polls are held in February.

Angry youths have staged defiant protests against the plan, which is backed by the United Nations, despite a bloody backlash by Saleh's forces and loyalists that has seen hundreds of them killed.

But Saleh's General People's Congress party insisted on Sunday that the parliament would confirm the immunity deal.

"Measures will be taken to issue the immunity law as per the Gulf plan" after a parliamentary vote of confidence on the newly formed unity government expected this week, Sultan al-Barakani, who represents the GPC's bloc in parliament, told AFP.

The veteran leader said Saturday that he would soon visit the United States ahead of transferring power following a February 21 presidential election.

A diplomat from one of the countries that has sponsored the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Saleh has presented "a list of 412 people" he wants the immunity deal to include.

The list includes his relatives, aides, and officials who had worked with him during his rule, the source said, adding that Saleh was given a U.S. visa "two weeks ago."

But Sunday's protesters reject any such agreements.

"No guarantee, no immunity to Saleh and to those close to him," they shouted.

The protesters, backed by tens of thousands who were met by gunfire from Saleh's forces and loyalists after they arrived on foot Saturday from the second-largest city Taez, called on Hadi to hand over those responsible for the violence to justice.

"Take up your responsibility and hand the killers of the youths over to justice, or resign," said one of the organizers on a loudspeaker as the demonstrators gathered outside Hadi's residence on Sittin Avenue.

Thirteen people were killed on Saturday when security forces and gunmen loyal to Saleh attacked their march in which they were calling for him to be put on trial.

"Thirteen people were killed and 50 others were wounded by live rounds," a medical official said Sunday, updating an earlier toll of nine dead.

The medic from a field hospital in the capital said that 150 other people suffered from breathing difficulties due to tear gas inhalation.

Another medic who confirmed the toll said three of the wounded had succumbed to their injuries while a fourth was shot dead in another protest later on Saturday.

The objective of the five-day-long "March for Life" that turned deadly on Saturday was to press for Saleh and his top allies to face criminal charges for their roles in the violence committed against anti-regime protesters.

Despite being met by live rounds, water cannon and tear gas upon their arrival in Sanaa's south, the crowds who set off from Taez on Tuesday for the 270-kilometre march to Sanaa poured into the capital where they spent the night in Change Square.

Teen arrested after Langley school lockdown

A 17-year-old male is in custody and a replica handgun has been recovered after a lockdown at Langley Secondary School, east of Vancouver.

Police say four men and one woman entered the school with a gun on Tuesday morning.

21405 56th Avenue, Langley, B.C.

The school was locked down after police received two separate calls, the first at about 11:30 a.m. PT, reporting someone had entered the school with what was believed to be a gun.

The building, at 21405 56th Avenue, was surrounded by police while officers conducted a thorough search, looking inside every room in the building and searching lockers for firearms.

Parents were asked to stay away from the school and instead head to a staging area at the Twin Rinks arena on the Langley by-pass. Police said workers from Langley Victim and Client Support Services would be on hand to offer assistance.

Ben McLeod, a Grade 12 student at Langley Secondary, told CBC News he saw the Emergency Response Team enter the school.

"The ERT team is here. I see about 30 police cars undercover, three SUV's. The ERT team has entered the school, I'm not sure what they are doing," said McLeod.