| 'Neo-Nazi' Teen Charged With Killing Girlfriend's Parents After They Reported Him Posted: 24 Dec 2017 03:46 PM PST  A 17-year-old Virginia teen was charged with two counts of murder Saturday after he allegedly murdered his girlfriend's parents.
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| The Stranger Who Sent Steve Mnuchin A Box Of Horse Poo Has Come Forward Posted: 25 Dec 2017 02:08 PM PST  On Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Secret Service investigated a mysterious package left outside the Bel Air home of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
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| Six-year-old boy shot dead by mistake as police officers open fire on suspected car thief Posted: 24 Dec 2017 10:02 AM PST  A six-year-old boy was mistakenly shot dead in Texas when police officers opened fire on a suspected car thief, US media reports. As four officers targeted Amanda Lene Jones, 30, who they believed was armed, a stray bullet pierced the wall of the mobile home where the youngster, Kameron Prescott, lived. Maria Morales, who works at Wiederstein Elementary School in Texas, paid tribute to the young victim.
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| Liberal or Conservative? Where you shop reveals how you vote Posted: 23 Dec 2017 09:40 PM PST  Crate & Barrell, L.L.Bean and Sephia: Where you shop during the Christmas holiday season reveals a lot about how you vote.
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| North Korea Calls Latest U.N. Sanctions an 'Act of War' Posted: 24 Dec 2017 06:56 AM PST  North Korea rejected tighter sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear expansion
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| Artist 'released' in China after Liu Xiaobo tribute Posted: 24 Dec 2017 09:34 PM PST  An artist that could not be reached for more than a week after he painted a politically charged mural in southern China wrote on Twitter Monday that he has been "released". "I was released a few days ago and we are in my hometown now," the Twitter account of painter Hu Jiamin read days after Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reported that the couple had been taken away by plainclothes men. Hu noted in another post that he will return to France on December 30.
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| Year in review: The 10 news stories that defined 2017 Posted: 24 Dec 2017 10:02 PM PST  From presidential investigations to natural disasters, here are the top ten national events from 2017.
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| Baby Elephants Fend Off Myanmar Cold Spell With Homemade Blankets Posted: 24 Dec 2017 06:42 PM PST  When a group of baby elephants needed warmth during a cold front in Southeast Asia last week, they bundled up in donated crochet and knitted blankets.
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| Spain's King Calls on Catalonia to Step Back from Secession in His Annual Christmas Eve Address Posted: 24 Dec 2017 08:55 PM PST  King Felipe VI used his traditional Christmas Eve address Sunday night to call on Catalonia's newly elected parliament to renounce further moves toward secession from Spain.
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| 5 People, Including 4 Members Of Same Family, Killed In Christmas Eve Plane Crash In Florida Posted: 25 Dec 2017 02:09 AM PST  Five people, including four members of the same family, were killed on Christmas Eve morning when their twin-engine plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff at Bartow Municipal Airport in Polk County, Florida.
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| People Across the Country Are Celebrating a White Christmas Today Posted: 25 Dec 2017 09:21 AM PST  Check out the festive photos
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| Dark, desperate life without power in Puerto Rico Posted: 25 Dec 2017 09:08 AM PST  MOROVIS, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three days before Christmas, Doris Martinez and daughter Miriam Narvaez joined their neighbors in a line outside city hall in Morovis, a town of 30,000 people still living without electricity in the mountains of central Puerto Rico more than three months after Hurricane Maria battered the U.S. island.
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| Syrian, Iranian backed forces advance in border area near Israel Posted: 25 Dec 2017 12:49 PM PST ![Syrian, Iranian backed forces advance in border area near Israel]( "Syrian, Iranian backed forces advance in border area near Israel") By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran's influence in the war-torn country. The army and the Shi'ite forces helped by Druze militias in the area advanced east and south of the Sunni-rebel held bastion of Beit Jin backed by some of the heaviest aerial bombing and artillery shelling since a major assault began more than two months ago to seize the area, rebels said. The Syrian army said it had encircled the village of Mughr al Meer at the foothills of Mount Hermon as troops moved toward Beit Jin amid fierce clashes.
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| Should White Supremacists Be Allowed To Practice Law? Posted: 24 Dec 2017 04:01 AM PST  A few years ago, before he helped organize the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Augustus Sol Invictus sent a mass email to his friends, colleagues and acquaintances to announce that he was embarking on a spiritual journey to launch "the Second American Civil War." Invictus — who legally changed his name from "Austin Gillespie" to the Latin for "majestic unconquered sun" — hitchhiked out West, where he fasted and prayed in the desert.
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| Fact checking Trump's biggest falsehoods and lies of 2017 Posted: 23 Dec 2017 08:37 PM PST From inauguration crowd size to the mischaracterization of the Russia investigation, take a look back on some of Donald Trump's biggest falsehoods to the American people.
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| London Zoo reopens after fire that killed aardvark, meerkats Posted: 24 Dec 2017 04:06 AM PST ![London Zoo reopens after fire that killed aardvark, meerkats]( "London Zoo reopens after fire that killed aardvark, meerkats") London Zoo reopened on Sunday, a day after a fire that killed an aardvark and likely four meerkats and which left staff suffering from smoke inhalation and shock. The Zoo said an initial post mortem showed the aardvark named Misha most likely died from smoke inhalation whilst sleeping, while the four meerkats unaccounted for were presumed to have died. "We are all naturally devastated by this but are immensely grateful to the fire brigade, who reacted quickly to the situation to bring the fire under control," ZSL London Zoo said in a statement on Sunday.
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| Saudi Arabia Pressured Lebanese Prime Minister To Resign: Report Posted: 25 Dec 2017 08:31 AM PST  Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his short-lived resignation in early November under heavy duress from the Saudi Arabian government, according to a New York Times report based on the accounts of Lebanese, Western and regional officials, as well as other figures close to Hariri.
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| Christmas help from volunteers as UK homelessness becomes 'national crisis' Posted: 24 Dec 2017 07:37 AM PST  Volunteers at a drop-in centre in north London hand out food, healthcare and advice to homeless people as they do every Christmas -- except that this year, the numbers needing help have reached crisis point. The pop-up centre is among 13 set up across Britain by homelessness charity Crisis to provide some festive cheer to an estimated 4,500 people who might otherwise be on the streets. Among those stopping by for a cup of tea before Christmas was Paula, a 48-year-old former care worker who spent three months living in her car after being evicted following problems with her landlord.
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| The biggest sports upsets of 2017 Posted: 24 Dec 2017 10:37 AM PST  It didn't take long for it to become clear that 2017 would give sports fans plenty of memorable matchups.
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| Every Toyota to Get Electrified Option By 2025 Posted: 24 Dec 2017 10:44 AM PST  Plus, the Japanese giant plans on having 10 all-electric models in the early 2020s.
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| 50 Years Ago This Week: 1967 in Review Posted: 25 Dec 2017 06:00 AM PST  Also in this issue: alcohol consumption and the end of an era
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| Javelin: The Tank-Killer Missile Russia Hates Most Posted: 25 Dec 2017 05:52 AM PST  The U.S.-made FGM-148 Javelin is one of the premier portable anti-tank missile systems in the world. When Russia provided military support to separatists in Ukraine, columns of Russian tanks were instrumental in turning back Ukrainian Army offensives and seizing government strongpoints, notably the Donetsk International Airport in January 2015. For hawks like Senator John McCain pushing for the United States to provide direct military aid to Ukraine, Javelin missiles were cited as a key weapon system that might have reversed the Ukrainian Army's fortunes on the battlefield—and one far more practical to put into action than a main battle tank or jet fighter.
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| NYFD employee held on $1M bail in minor crash turned deadly Posted: 24 Dec 2017 01:59 PM PST ![NYFD employee held on $1M bail in minor crash turned deadly]( "NYFD employee held on $1M bail in minor crash turned deadly") MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York Fire Department employee was held on $1 million bail Sunday after authorities said he ran over a college honors student on Long Island after a minor accident.
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| Steve Bannon Blasts 'Javanka' As Everything Wrong With The White House Posted: 23 Dec 2017 06:29 PM PST  Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has attacked President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner as the "railhead of all bad decisions" in the White House.
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| U.S. judge who oversaw Argentina debt saga dead at 87 Posted: 25 Dec 2017 04:00 PM PST ![U.S. judge who oversaw Argentina debt saga dead at 87]( "U.S. judge who oversaw Argentina debt saga dead at 87") A senior federal judge in New York who oversaw the historic sovereign debt default cases brought against Argentina by creditors, Thomas Griesa, died on Christmas Eve at the age of 87, Special Master Daniel Pollack said. Griesa, whose rulings in the Argentina case brought him notoriety on Wall Street and infamy on the streets of Buenos Aires, ultimately ruled in favor of deep-pocketed hedge funds against the successive governments of Presidents Nestor Kirchner and then his wife Cristina Fernandez.
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| Flight attendant sings 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' Posted: 25 Dec 2017 09:00 AM PST  Southwest employee Charise Miles sang to passengers flying out of Houston, Texas.
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| Iraq's Mosul celebrates first post-IS Christmas Posted: 24 Dec 2017 06:09 AM PST  Hymns and cries of joy filled a church in Iraq's second city Mosul on Sunday as worshippers celebrated Christmas there for the first time in four years after the end of jihadist rule. "This is a sign that life is returning to Mosul," said wheelchair-bound Hossam Abud, 48, who returned earlier this month from exile in Iraqi Kurdistan. Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church called on the congregation to pray for "peace and stability in Mosul, Iraq and the world".
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| Julian Assange's Twitter account is back, but the mystery remains Posted: 25 Dec 2017 03:50 AM PST  UPDATED Dec. 25, 2017, 11:04 a.m. ET It's back now. With little fanfare and zero explanation, Julian Assange's Twitter account reappeared on Monday morning. It's a Christmas something-or-other. The WikiLeaks founder has tweeted two times since his account came back online, though neither one addresses the reason for the disappearance. One tweet features a cartoon of Santa Claus adding WikiLeaks to his "Nice" list as he stares at the organization's Wikipedia entry. The other is a request for donations. It's still not clear why Assange's account went away to begin with, though — as noted below — the nature of its non-appearance suggested at the time that it was a manual deletion rather than an account suspension. Twitter had no comment on the matter, save for directing us to check out the company's instructions for users that want to deactivate and reactivate their accounts, which notes that "account data (such as Tweets, followers, favorites, etc.) may take a few minutes to fully restore." The big mystery may be that Assange (or whomever else has the keys to his account) accidentally clicked something and didn't realize it until later. Without a whistleblower, we may never know. Original post follows: WikiLeaks founder and notorious Ecuadorian embassy resident Julian Assange has seemingly deleted his Twitter account, throwing his supporters into a frenzy of speculation on Christmas Day. A search on desktop for his account, @JulianAssange, turned this up on Christmas morning: Image: screenshot/twitterThis would suggest that it was deleted on his end, rather than suspended by Twitter. When you search for a suspended Twitter account, it redirects you to a different message. We got this one by searching for twitter.com/JaydaBF, the far-right Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen who President Donald Trump retweeted. Image: screenshot/twitter Mashable has reached out to Twitter for comment. In the meantime, speculation and conspiracy theories were trending in the UK on Christmas morning. CENSORSHIP? Julian Assange Vanishes Off Twitter A source who works closely with WikiLeaks told the Gateway Pundit that they were not aware of any plans for Assange to deactivate his account on his own.https://t.co/U5fhIWRBYL — Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) December 25, 2017 Now why would @Twitter ban Julian Assange when he was prepping to drop something big? Who is @Twitter trying to protect by this drop of information? — James Brower ���� (@jbro_1776) December 25, 2017 Julian Assange was kicked of twitter today cuz he dared to expose the Dem party and the Clinton crime family. Let's make this very clear. I have never tweeted about Seth Rich. But I believe we can now say, without a shadow of a doubt, the DNC/Clinton's had him murdered. — Lawrence Polyakov (@Larrypolya22) December 25, 2017 According to the Wayback Machine internet archive, Assange's most recent tweet is from Friday. Image: screenshot/wayback machineWe will update this story as soon as we get more information. Assange can almost certainly avail himself of several other social media accounts: @WikiLeaks, and those of the cat who keeps him company in his embassy exile, @EmbassyCat and on Instagram. Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012. He faces rape allegations in Sweden, which he denies, and is seeking asylum as he believes that if he leaves the embassy he will be extradited to the U.S. over WikiLeaks' publications. UPDATED Dec. 25, 2017, 4:11 p.m. ET with Twitter's response to our comment request. WATCH: You can now control your Christmas tree lights with your phone
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| Venezuela frees first of 80 opponents in rare good will move Posted: 23 Dec 2017 10:29 PM PST  Venezuelan authorities late Saturday began releasing some of those detained during demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, a rare goodwill gesture to the opposition at the end of a politically torrid year. Delcy Rodriguez, the president of the assembly and head of its Truth Commission investigating the protests, said that Christmas was "a moment of reconciliation" as she announced the decision to release around 80 people. Among the first freed was Alfredo Ramos, mayor of the northwestern municipality of Iribarren, who was arrested late July and handed a 15 month sentence, and a dozen police officers from Chacao municipality, an opposition stronghold of Caracas.
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| Supporters Cast Ballots to Nominate Alexei Navalny In Russia's 2018 Elections Posted: 24 Dec 2017 11:04 AM PST  Hundreds of supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny nominated him for president Sunday, allowing Navalny to ready the endorsement papers required for candidacy and putting pressure on the Kremlin to allow him to run.
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| Prosecutor: 'No doubt' gunman was targeting police officers Posted: 23 Dec 2017 06:04 PM PST ![Prosecutor: 'No doubt' gunman was targeting police officers]( "Prosecutor: 'No doubt' gunman was targeting police officers") HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — There's "no doubt" a gunman who fired at police in several locations in the state capital, wounding one of them before they shot and killed him, was targeting police officers, a prosecutor said.
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| Chinese report says South China Sea islands expanded 'reasonably' Posted: 24 Dec 2017 06:12 PM PST ![Chinese report says South China Sea islands expanded 'reasonably']( "Chinese report says South China Sea islands expanded 'reasonably'") China has "reasonably" expanded its islands in the disputed South China Sea and this year construction projects there including radar facilities covered about 290,000 square meters (72 acres), according to a new government report. China has conducted extensive land reclamation work on some of the islands and reefs it controls in the South China Sea, including building airports, alarming its neighbors and Washington. Beijing says the work is help provide international services such as search-and-rescue but admits there is a military purpose too.
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| NORAD Santa tracker 2017: Follow where Santa Claus travels on his Christmas Eve journey around the world Posted: 24 Dec 2017 12:53 PM PST  He's made his list, he's checked it twice, he already knows who's been naughty and nice. That's right: Santa Claus is coming to town – and you can follow him as he makes his way around the world. Every year, the boffins at Norad (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) kindly dedicate December 24th to tracking Father Christmas as he darts from chimney to chimney, country to country, and continent to continent, delivering gifts while voraciously consuming sweetmeats. When will Santa arrive in the UK? Their service began by happenstance in 1955, when a Sears ad in a local paper offering the chance to speak to Santa mistakenly printed the top secret phone number of Conad – Norad's predecessor. US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup took the first call from a young boy wanting to talk to Santa in good humour, and so a Christmas tradition was born. Now, every year, thousands of volunteers staff telephones and computers to answer calls and e-mails from children (and adults) around the world. As of 2007, search engine Google has also provided an online tracker, in partnership with Norad. Join us below to follow Santa's snow-flecked footsteps around the world. And keep your fingers crossed that when he arrives at your house, he'll find your name on the good side of that list ... 8:25PM The Acropolis Santa has just done a fly-by of another of the new wonders of the world - the Acropolis in Athens: 7:56PM Santa is on schedule #NORAD confirms #Santa has arrived over Chisinau, Moldova. #Santa reported the weather is clear and his is on schedule— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2017 7:43PM Santa is in Europe! The Big Man was last spotted in Vilnius, Lithuania. #NORAD confirms #Santa has arrived over Vilnius, Lithuania— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2017 7:33PM The 'Nanny State' Christmas lunch: Everything you should be eating, according to official advice With a measly portion of turkey, pallid boiled potatoes and just a quarter of a glass of champagne, this is what Christmas dinner might look like if public health guidelines were followed to the letter, Sophie Jamieson writes. Dubbed the "nanny state approved Christmas lunch", the menu to keep you below Public Health England (PHE) recommended calorie intake allows for only a quarter of a pig in blanket, a tenth of a serving of Christmas pudding and a twentieth of a mince pie. Taxpayers Alliance handout showing a visual representation of a Christmas lunch as approved by the National Health Service's nutritional guidelines PHE guidelines say the average man should keep below 2,500 calories per day. The figure is 2,000 calories for women. The bleak festive spread was created by the pressure group the TaxPayers' Alliance, who say PHE spend £40 million a year telling people how to live healthy lives. Read the full story. 6:57PM The best Christmas TV When you're taking a break from following Santa's journey around the world, here are the best TV offerings this year, including All Star Musicals and Mary, Mel and Sue's Big Chistmas Thank You. Dr Who Credit: BBC 6:25PM How does the Santa tracker work? People always ask how #NORAD tracks #Santa on Dec 24th! We use infrared sensors from Rudolph's nose to determine Santa's exact location throughout the night! To talk to a NORAD Santa Tracker, call 1-877-HI-NORAD. https://t.co/gSvRD6ezKo#NORADTracksSanta (Desktop browsers only)— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2017 5:44PM Children in Russia - it's time to go to bed! #NORAD Just spotted #Santa over Russia! Children in Russia, it's time to go to bed. #NORADTracksSanta— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2017 5:43PM How to host a family Christmas... without having a breakdown Do you remember waking up on Christmas day, filled with excitement and joy? Did you jump out of bed and rush downstairs to see if Father Christmas had successfully navigated the chimney/central heating system and delivered that all-important toy on your wish list? Good times. The chances are your first waking moments of Christmas Day are sprinkled with slightly different thoughts these days. Has the turkey finished defrosting? Will the kids like their presents? Is there still time to barricade the house to prevent the in-laws gaining access? Well, worry no longer. Read our guide that answers all you anxiety-ridden prayers. How to have the perfect Christmas 5:16PM Taj Mahal Santa has just visited India - cameras picked him up flying over one of the modern wonders of the world: 4:53PM The Christmas crystal ball Christmas Day is a bit like Groundhog. You wake up, stick the turkey in the oven, placate yourself with an odd concoction of coffee and Bucks Fizz, watch the kids tear open their presents, slave away in the kitchen some more, and finally pass out on the sofa. Tick, there goes another year. Here are the 24 things bound to happen at your big family Christmas tomorrow. 4:42PM Conquering Everest Santa is going to have to tug hard on those reins and get the reindeer flying high. He's coming into Nepal, home to eight of the 10 world's highest peaks, including the tallest Mount Everest. Nepal guess who is coming soon...that's right����.Time for good boys and girls to get to �� and catch some ��.�� pic.twitter.com/7EQUPdofev— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) 24 December 2017 4:36PM Getting through Russia Santa is back working his way through Russia. It's a long, hard slog - Russia takes up an eighth of the Earth's land area - but Santa misses no one out on Christmas Eve. 4:12PM Christmas code-words Are you expecting to welcome friends and relatives tomorrow? Christmas day can be a bit of a war-zone, but everyone just tries to dust their resentment under the carpet because hey it's Christmas, and in the spirit of said holiday, thou shalt lie and deceive rather that tell the truth. If you do actually want to find out what everyone round the dinner table is actually thinking than read this: What people say at Christmas... and what they really mean 4:00PM No holiday on Christmas day in Thailand Santa is now dropping off presents in Thailand. 85 percent of the population in Thailand is Buddhist, and 14 percent practice Islam. As such, Christmas day is not taken as a holiday in Thailand but many lights and decorations still adorn the streets of Thailand's capital Bangkok during the month to celebrate the King's birthday on 5 December. Since the previous king passed away last year though, the celebrated holiday has moved to 28 July. 3:28PM From Saint Nick to Saint Graham Credit: Christopher Baines/BBC From one jolly bearded fellow to another - read Graham Norton's Christmas special agony uncle column here while you wait for the other one to hurry up with your presents already. 3:19PM The Las Vegas of Asia Santa is about to go over Macau, an autonomous region on the South coast of China dubbed the 'Las Vegas of Asia' because of it's bounty of casinos, and the bustling nightlife. You might want to turn down the light on Rudolph's nose Santa - you're not going to need it to light the way over here. The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel Credit: Kin Cheung/AP 2:52PM What to do after unwrapping the presents? After the presents, there is the turkey, but then how about a winter walk or maybe a film (and none of those slushy romantic ones please)? You could even book yourself into a mindfulness retreat if it's all become too much. We've wracked our brains for a range of activities to try out once Santa has done his job and all the presents have been ripped open. How to keep the family entertained over Christmas 2:37PM Great wall of China Santa has just crossed over the Great Wall of China, which was built by the Qin dynasty to keep northern invaders out of their territories. No such problems for Santa - nothing can get in the way of him and his reindeer tonight, they've got presents to deliver. Santa has a great view of the Great Wall #NORADTracksSanta thanks to @verizon for boosting our signal! pic.twitter.com/rEpRMxwkZW— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) 24 December 2017 2:20PM 1 billion presents delivered! A congratulations are in order for a certain Mr Claus, who has just dropped off one billion presents this evening. However with 6.6 billion more people still waiting for their pressies, Santa still has a long night ahead of him. 2:16PM Valentine's Day on Christmas Eve Santa is in Japan. Christmas Eve is a big deal for young Japanese couples, who treat the evening as we would do Valentines Day. No one is quite sure why the evening became an event for couples, but pop-star Tatsuro Yamashita's 1988 song, "Christmas Eve" about the sadness of spending Christmas alone, popularised the romantic ideals of being close to that special someone on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile over here we're just thinking about all the pressies Santa is about to drop off. 2:02PM There's the Sydney Opera House It's flashback time. Here is Santa doing some sightseeing as he flys over some of Sydney's most famous landmarks. #NORAD spotted #Santa flying through Sydney, Australia! See the video! https://t.co/VwHzaTAGKO— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) 24 December 2017 1:54PM Have yourself a very smug Christmas Are you watching Santa scoot around the world safe in the knowledge that all your Christmas day plans are sorted? I bet you're feeling pleased with yourself, and so you should be. However, if you're still flying around frantically trying to tie up all the loose Christmas ends then have a read of our guide to having a smug Christmas, and catch a glimpse of how the other (more organised) half live? How to have a smug Christmas, in ten supremely self-satisfied steps 1:35PM White Christmas? Not in Australia Santa has touched down in Australia. No dreaming of a white Christmas here as it's the height of summer in Australia, with average temperatures of 30C However in 2010 the ssemingly impossible happened as 11 inches of snow fell in New South Wales just a few days before Christmas day. No such luck this year mind. 1:27PM Have you got Christmas dinner covered? While Santa is busy going around the world sorting out the presents, who is sorting out the turkey covered on the big day? We recommend you start your prep for the big Christmas day meal today and save yourself any extra stress on the day. You can prep the vegetables, make the stocks for the gravy and roll up your stuffing balls. Still feeling nervous about cooking Christmas dinner? Take a gander at our ultimate guide to cooking the perfect Christmas dinner. How to cook the perfect Christmas dinner 1:10PM We hope Santa has wrapped up warm Santa is currently flying over the Eastern tip of Russia with the temperature at -17°C. Chilly stuff - so make sure you put some warmed mince pies out on the side for when he eventually comes round to you. 1:02PM Change of Telegraph Christmas Elf That's me done for the year. Over to Richard Jones for more Santa tracking tracking... 12:41PM A peaceful place Santa is currently on his way to the Federated States of Micronesia, population 104,937, which we've previously listed as one of 16 countries that do not have an army. Can you guess the 15 others? 12:13PM The rise of the Christmas Eve box In case you haven't already heard, there's a new Christmas trend in town – and today is the day when it comes to fruition. The Christmas Eve box is a package full of small gifts that kids get to open the night before Christmas. Think of as an early bird's stocking, only without the connotations of mouldy feet. You can find out more about what to put in these boxes (there's still time to cook one up at home – though you'll need to get creative) by reading our useful guide. Ho ho ho, merry Christmas Eve. 11:41AM Q: Why is Rudolph's nose red? A: Because it's hotter than the sun. Here's some science from Norad, on how they use the heat from Rudolph's nose to follow their man... Santa spotted on DSP satellite from the heat off Rudolph's nose! https://t.co/ODGqIM3THR— NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 24, 2017 11:31AM Eyes to the skies He's off! We have our first Santa spotting of Christmas Eve 2017, with Norad reporting that his red sleigh is currently zooming over Russia, en route to New Zealand and Australia. Now that they've got Santa locked on their radar, you can follow his progress in the video at the top of this article. Godspeed, Santa Claus. 11:31AM Urgent: Presents needed Are you just waking up to the realisation that it's Christmas Eve? Have you hitherto buried your head in the snow, unwilling to even countenance the idea that you might need to buy a semi-random assortment of objects for your friends and loved ones? Does the thought of a last-minute trip to the heaving High Street make you want to heave in an entirely different manner? Then fear not, because we've rounded up some gift subscription ideas that a) will make great presents, and b) can be bought from the comfort of your front room, without so much as the need to put on a pair of pants. Take a look at the below, and heave a sigh of relief. Last-minute Christmas gift guide: how to do all your shopping ... without going to the shops 11:30AM The wait is nearly over Well boys and girls, we're getting close. It seems that Santa is currently doing some last minute quality control. Here's a leaked image from his HQ in Greenland... 11:30AM Santa's journey in numbers Santa will travel an estimated 510,000,000km on Christmas Eve, which means he'll average 10,703,437.5km/hr, or about 1,800 miles per second. According to calculations in 2014, there are roughly 1.85bn children who can hope to receive presents. With an average of 2.5 children per household, that means Santa has to slide down 740m chimneys. To hit those numbers, Santa needs to visit 390,000 homes per minute – or 6,424 per second. And what of the big guy's expanding waist line? Well, if each house places a 200ml glass of semi-skimmed milk and a mince pie by the fireplace, Santa will make his way throughy 148m litres of milk – enough to fill around 60 Olympic-size swimming pools – and chomp on 740m mince pies. As there are around 250 calories in a mince pie and 100 calories in the glass of milk, that means Santa will consume 259bn calories on Christmas Eve alone. Let's hope his trousers are elasticated. 11:30AM Fake news? A quick word on sources. This time last year, the Santa tracking world was split asunder by an apparent disagreement between the two main tracking organisations. While's Google's tracker reported its first sighting of Santa at 10am GMT, Norad's tracker lagged about 30 minutes behind. And it remained thus for the rest of the day: where one would see Santa arrive in, say, Madrid at 11pm GMT, the other would spot Santa in the same location half an hour later. Little has been said publicly about the confusion since then. The two organisations have apparently closed ranks after the division – leaving online conspiracy theorists to run amok. Are there two Father Christmases, sharing the burden of delivering gifts to every (good) child in the land? Was one tracker detecting an echo in time, the logical consequence of the vertiginous speeds at which Santa must travel? Had Google picked up a genuine unidentified flying object? No one has the answers to these questions – but suffice to say that if the same happens again this year, we at The Telegraph will treat Norad's tracker as the official timekeeper. No disrespect, Google, but those guys have got the nukes... 11:29AM Why does NORAD track Santa? While we wait for Santa to file all the obligatory flight plans and put the finishing touches on his sleigh packing (we imagine he's much like any father on Christmas Eve right now, desperately pushing another bag of presents into a car boot that's already jammed full), let's take the opportunity to look back on how this Santa tracking business started. The year was 1955, and an advert promoting Santa's Toyland at the Sears department store had been published in the Colorado Springs newspaper, offering excited children the chance to speak to big man himself. The only problem? Rather than listing a dedicated Sears phoneline, the advert referenced a top secret hotline at Conad – Norad's predecessor. The Sears advert that started it all Over at CONAD, all was calm and well, when US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, director of operations at the nuclear missile base, noticed the red phone on his desk ringing. Col. Shoup had two phones, and you can imagine what the red one was for. "Only a four-star general at the Pentagon and my dad had the number," recalled his daughter Pam. Presumably fearing the worst, Col. Shoup picked up the receiver. Pam continues: "And then there was a small voice that just asked, 'Is this Santa Claus?'" Shoup was a straight-laced and disciplined man – much as you would expect for the director of operations at the US's nuclear HQ – and he reacted with due annoyance, suspecting he was the victim of a practical joke. But then the little voice started crying. "And Dad realised that it wasn't a joke," says Shoup's daughter. "So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho'd and asked if he had been a good boy and, 'May I talk to your mother?' And the mother got on and said, 'You haven't seen the paper yet? "'There's a phone number to call Santa. It's in the Sears ad.'" Shoup took the reins and ran with them. Soon, he was on local radio every hour, updating listeners on the whereabouts of an unidentified flying object that had the unmistakable look of a sleigh. From one small mistake, a tradition was born. Every year hence, the nuclear has run a Christmas Eve hotline for children, updating them on the whereabouts of the Great Benefactor In The Sky. The Norad Santa Tracking Operation HQ, in 2014 Over the years, Conad/Norad and Santa have proved to be a perfect fit. After all, who better to spot where Santa's sleigh is flying than a major operation dedicated to monitoring the skies? And what better way for the joint US-Canadian military division – men and women who routinely spent their time checking radar screens for signs of impending nuclear apocalypse – to spend their down time than talking to children about what they wanted for Christmas? In 2007, Norad partnered with Google to put the Santa tracking ritual online, and now children around the world can follow Santa's snow-flecked footsteps as he delivers presents during the night before Christmas. With the help of our live blog, of course. 11:29AM Good morning... ... and welcome to The Telegraph's Christmas Eve live blog, where we'll be tracking the movements of good ol' Santa (that's Father Christmas or even St. Nick to you and I) as he dashes around the world, delivering gifts and joy to all those children who have been well behaved over the course of the last 12 months. According to (un)official estimates, there's a while to go before Santa starts doing his thing. So, put the kettle on, get some breakfast inside you, fish out those dusty binoculars from wherever you left them this time last year, and get ready to join us for the ride.
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| Modern-day amber 'Klondikes' thrive in troubled Ukraine Posted: 23 Dec 2017 07:54 PM PST  Once a scenic forest area, the site has been turned into a moonscape with wet marshy sand on the surface and man-made, funnel-like pits scattered for hundreds of metres around, evidence of work by hundreds of illicit prospectors. This site, which locals call a "Klondike" in reference to a 19th-century gold rush in Canada, is one of a number of amber fields in Ukraine, which has the world's second-largest reserves of amber -- some 15,000 tonnes -- after Russia, according to the country's state geology committee. Legal mining in Ukraine produced just four tonnes of the mineral in 2015, according to the most recent available figures, while unlawful methods of amber extraction have reaped 120 to 300 tonnes annually in recent years, said the geology committee.
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| Islamic State claims blast at Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul Posted: 25 Dec 2017 07:17 AM PST ![Islamic State claims blast at Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul]( "Islamic State claims blast at Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul") By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Monday on a compound of Afghanistan's national intelligence agency in Kabul, which killed at least five people and wounded two. The blast comes a week after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a training facility of the same agency, the National Directorate for Security, in Kabul that ended when the attackers were killed before causing significant casualties. In a statement issued through the group's Amaq news agency, Islamic State said it was also behind Monday's attack.
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| The True Story of the Kidnapping Behind All the Money in the World Posted: 25 Dec 2017 07:00 AM PST  How the real story of John Paul Getty III's kidnapping—the subject of 'All the Money in the World'—was reported as it was happening in 1973
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| AP PHOTOS: Lingering drought threatens Holy Land's waters Posted: 25 Dec 2017 08:15 AM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israel heads into its fifth consecutive year of drought, the Sea of Galilee stands at a century low, much of the Jordan River is a fetid trickle and the Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking.
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| China, Russia oppose UN criticism of Myanmar over Rohingya Posted: 24 Dec 2017 11:14 AM PST  The UN General Assembly on Sunday urged Myanmar to end a military campaign against Muslim Rohingya and called for the appointment of a UN special envoy, despite opposition from China, Russia and some regional countries. A resolution put forward by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was adopted by a vote of 122 to 10 with 24 abstentions.
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| Iran confirms upholding death sentence for academic over spying Posted: 25 Dec 2017 05:22 AM PST ![Iran confirms upholding death sentence for academic over spying]( "Iran confirms upholding death sentence for academic over spying") Iran's Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against a Sweden-based Iranian academic convicted of spying for Israel, the Tehran prosecutor was quoted as saying on Monday, confirming reports by Amnesty International and his family. Ahmadreza Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute, a Stockholm medical university, was accused of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists. Djalali was arrested in Iran in April 2016 and later convicted of espionage.
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| Vice Media apologises for ‘boy’s club’ culture that fostered sexual harassment: ‘We let far too many people down’ Posted: 24 Dec 2017 01:40 PM PST  The founders of Vice Media, the news company famed for its hipster style and digital savvy, have apologised for the organisation's "boy's club" culture that failed to protect women staff from sexual harassment and misconduct. In a letter to staff, Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, said the company had not done enough by its employees and were setting in place a series of management and human resources processes to help tackle the problem.
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