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☆ The Pool of Siloam, where the Bible says Jesus healed a blind man, will be open to the public for the first time in nearly 2,000 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Pool of Siloam will be fully excavated and open to the public for the first time in almost 2,000 years. The New Testament says it is where Jesus performed the miracle of healing a blind man. The pool originally functioned as part of Jerusalem's ancient water system, later becoming a site of religious significance for ancient Jewish people. A water company carrying out infrastructure work for a sewage pipe accidentally discovered steps to the pool, Israeli authorities said in the statement. Moshe Lion, Jerusalem's mayor, described the Pool of Siloam in a statement as "a site of historic, national, and international significance."

☆ Ukrainians mark Orthodox Christmas in Poland with a prayer to return home
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WARSAW, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Victoria, a Ukrainian refugee, is celebrating Orthodox Christmas in Poland with a simple prayer - that next year she will be back at home. "The important thing is that it's still a family holiday... We hope to celebrate next Christmas with our family back home," Victoria said. "Many of our brothers who have found themselves in Poland because of the war cannot return to their homeland. Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, but the Russian Orthodox Church's backing for Moscow's war in Ukraine has angered many Ukrainian Orthodox believers and splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church. This year, some Ukrainians chose to celebrate Christmas with Catholics on Dec. 25 in protest at Russian aggression.

☆ Russia-installed official says drone shot down over Crimea's Sevastopol
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 7 (Reuters) - The Russian-installed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol said on Saturday that air defences had shot down a drone in what he suggested was the latest attempted Ukrainian attack on a port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based. "Even the sacred holiday of Christmas was not a reason for these inhuman people to halt their attempts to attack our Hero City," Razvozhaev wrote. Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a truce to coincide with Orthodox Christmas. Kyiv rejected his offer as a cynical ruse to buy time for Russia's forces to rest and bring in new equipment. Reporting by Reuters Editing by Andrew OsbornOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Taiwan exports fall for 4th month in December, decline seen extending into Q1
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Exports dropped 12.1% by value last month from a year earlier to $35.75 billion, the lowest in 20 months, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday. That followed a 13.1% drop in November, and was slightly better than Reuters poll forecast for a 13.3% contraction. Taiwan's total exports of electronics components in December fell 1.4% to $16.04 billion, with semiconductor exports up 0.8% from a year earlier. At $14.28 billion in December, Taiwan's exports to China, the island's largest trading partner, were down 16.4% from a year ago, after suffering a 20.9% drop in November. December's exports to the United States were down 2.6%, compared with an 11.3% contraction recorded the previous month.

About an hour after the Russian cease-fire began, air raid sirens sounded in the capital, Kyiv. Ukrainian officials accused Putin of using Christmas as cover to buy time for his military to regroup. Putin's surprise order instructed his defense minister to institute the cease-fire “along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine” from Friday, which is Christmas Eve for the Orthodox church. The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the ancient Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7 — later than the Gregorian calendar. Some Orthodox Christians in Ukraine recently started celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 to show their anger at and defiance of Moscow.

☆ A family drove 2,500 miles from Miami to Salt Lake City in a rental car after Southwest transferred them onto different flights 3 times, then canceled them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The whole experience was a "nightmare," Sara Toro told Insider. Toro told Insider that the family saw their initial flight was canceled when they woke up on Christmas Day. Southwest canceled 71% of its schedule, or nearly 3,000 flights, on December 26, according to data from flight-tracking service FlightAware. Toro told Insider that Southwest staff booked the family onto another flight, which was then canceled. Toro told Insider that her family had applied for a refund of their travel expenses.

☆ Putin's Orthodox Christmas ceasefire has started, but Ukraine thinks it's a trick and says 'it's too late for the Kremlin to think of God'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a ceasefire in honor of Russian Orthodox Christmas. But Ukraine think it's a trap intended to give Russia time to regroup without Ukrainian attacks. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense tweeted, "isn't it too late for the Kremlin to think of God?" Mykhailo Podolyak, a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on social media Thursday that the "'Christmas truce' is a cynical trap & an element of propaganda." Though the Kremlin called the truce, it's also unclear if Russia itself is abiding by it.

☆ After Christmas relief UK retailers face 2023 reality check
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( James Davey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Ahead of Christmas, European retailers fretted that the key trading period could be the worst in at least a decade. Next, often acclaimed as a bellwether for the UK consumer economy, said it expected sales and profit to fall in 2023. The strain on Britons' household budgets is likely to begin to tell this month as Christmas credit card bills arrive. UK consumers will this year face persistent inflation in essential goods, particularly food and energy. M&S's apparel business will likely have benefited from Britain's severe cold snap in December which Next said dramatically boosted sales.

☆ Retailers brace for tougher times and more frugal customers in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 rose 7.6%, according to data from MasterCard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment. The next few weeks, which close out many retailers' fiscal year, could help determine whether the holiday quarter is a win or a bust. Retailers enter 2023 reckoning with the fact that store traffic already lagged during peak weeks of the holiday season. It is also retailers' last chance to sell through excess inventory and start the new fiscal year in a cleaner position. Like many other retailers, Walmart's holiday quarter includes January.

☆ Insider spent 18 months investigating 175 murders of transgender people. Here's what we found.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Insider Investigations Team | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Colorado Springs was a center for anti-trans vitriol long before the deadly Club Q attack. Leia-jhene Seals mourns the Club Q dead at a November 20 vigil at All Souls Unitarian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Those who stoke anti-trans bias are "essentially creating a boogeyman and then unleashing forces on that boogeyman," one expert on extremism told Insider. Many media reports said the Club Q attacker's motives were unknown. "The shooting was a tragedy, but it strengthened their enemy," Erin, a local transgender woman, told Insider.

Their parents were dead, their SUV overturned, but three children under the age of five managed to survive in the searing heat of the Australian Outback for 55 hours, local media reported. “Devastatingly Jake and Cindy did not survive the accident,” he said, adding that “it was a miracle their beautiful babies survived for over two days in the Australian Outback before being rescued.”The children have not been named. Day and Braddock were reported missing in the early hours of Christmas morning, sparking a massive police search, Australian broadcaster 7News reported. As the hours went by with no news, Braddock’s sister, Helen Braddock, turned to Facebook to ask for help. The overturned vehicle discovered after three children spent 55 hours in the Australian Outback.

☆ ‘A Man Called Otto’ Review: Forrest Grump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

This was the year Tom Hanks decided to stretch himself: Lately seen portraying Col. Tom Parker as a Mephistophelean con artist in “Elvis,” he’s back as the world’s grumpiest man in “A Man Called Otto,” which attempts to disguise the famously sunny actor as a walking cloud bank. Set in a condominium development in Pennsylvania in the winter, the remake of 2015’s Swedish film “A Man Called Ove” (which was based on a novel of the same name) casts Mr. Hanks as a lonely and humorless widower who isn’t so much fighting depression as surrendering to it. He’s an inveterate rule-enforcer, whistle-blower and manager-caller who snarls and grumbles at everyone who crosses his path. But given Mr. Hanks’s history of role choices, it seems only a matter of time before Otto’s heart of gold starts to shine through his miserable façade. And without even a warning from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

☆ Fact Check-Fabricated Greg Abbott tweet about migrants bussed to DC on Christmas Eve circulates online
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A screenshot purporting to show a tweet about migrants published on Christmas Eve by Governor of Texas Greg Abbott has misled some online. The fabricated tweet purportedly published via Abbott’s official Twitter account (@GregAbbott_TX) features a photograph of Abbott and his family and reads: “We celebrated Christmas Eve by putting migrants on a bus and kicking them out into the freezing cold. Merry Christmas from the Abbott family.”The screenshot circulated after busloads of migrants from the Texas border were dropped near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve, and The White House accused Abbott of endangering lives (here). A spokesperson for Abbott did not respond to a request for comment about the fabricated screenshot or whether the governor was behind the incident in Washington D.C. Abbott did tweet the same photograph of his family on Dec. 25, although with a different comment that reads: “From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!” (here)VERDICTFalse.

☆ Factbox: Former Pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Following are some facts about former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday:- Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the widely popular Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. Benedict said he stood down because bad health prevented him from bearing the full weight of the papacy. [1/2] Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate a mass at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, March 28, 2012. The Vatican under Pope John Paul II had failed to take action against Maciel despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes. Some loyalists failed to accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to consider him "my pope".

☆ Factbox: Former pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Former pope Benedict, who Pope Francis said on Wednesday was "very sick", resigned in 2013, the first pontiff in 600 years to take such a step rather than rule for life. - Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the widely popular Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. The Vatican under Pope John Paul II had failed to take action against Maciel despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes. Some loyalists failed to accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to consider him "my pope". Pope Francis, by contrast, also loves classical music but appreciates Italian pop songs from the early 1960s and also likes tango music from his native Argentina.

☆ Hundreds more flights are canceled, but winter storm travel disruptions are easing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Flight cancellations eased further on Monday but disruptions from severe winter weather across the U.S. lingered at the tail end of Christmas weekend. From Wednesday through Saturday, about a quarter of Southwest’s flights were canceled, and two-thirds were delayed, according to FlightAware data. On Monday, more than 1,700 flights were canceled and 2,200 more were delayed, down from nearly 3,200 canceled flights and 7,700 delayed U.S. flights on Sunday. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines were among the other carriers affected by the weather. More than half of U.S.-based airlines’ flights arrived late from Thursday through Saturday, with delays averaging 81 minutes, according to FlightAware.

☆ Economy Week Ahead: U.S. Housing Market in Focus
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Bryan Mena | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Higher mortgage rates this year have cooled the housing market sharply, keeping many buyers on the sidelines. MondayU.S. stock and bond markets are closed in observance of Christmas Day, which falls on Sunday, Dec. 25. TuesdayS&P Global releases its S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index for October. The index showed that U.S. home prices fell 1% in September from August, marking the first time prices declined for three straight months in nearly four years.

☆ Airlines cancel 17,000 flights due to severe winter weather but disruptions ease
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Flight cancellations eased further on Monday but disruptions from severe winter weather across the U.S. lingered at the tail end of Christmas weekend. Carriers are likely to detail the costs of the disruptions when they report results next month, if not earlier. Southwest had been canceling many flights proactively in an effort to stabilize its operation, COO Andrew Watterson said. From Wednesday through Saturday, about a quarter of Southwest's flights were canceled, and two-thirds were delayed, according to FlightAware data. Airlines often cancel flights proactively during bad weather to avoid having planes, crews and customers out of place, problems that can make recovery from a storm more difficult.

☆ Trump called himself 'clairvoyant' and claimed that the US is 'dying from within' in a series of Christmas messages
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump said that the "USA is dying from within" in a social media post on Christmas Day. Trump made the comment in reference to high numbers of migrants coming to the US at the southern border. He then claimed that those groups were pushing for "a mentally disabled Democrat over the Brilliant, Clairvoyant, and USA LOVING Donald J. "On this very cold but beautiful Christmas Day, look at our Nation NOW on the Southern Border compared to only a short time ago during the Trump Administration," Trump wrote. Trump followed that message with six more posts on Christmas Day, including one ending with: "TODAY, LIKE NEVER BEFORE, WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION!"

☆ Festive season in Moscow incorporates symbols of conflict
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Outside the gates of Moscow's Gorky Park, the three Latin letters Z, V and O - frontline military symbols now used to promote the conflict in Ukraine - loom on plinths. Nearby, traditional festive decorations and a giant decorative bauble jostle for attention as parents and children walk into the park to ice skate or visit cafes. The "special military operation", which the Kremlin paints as an existential conflict with the West, has come to predominate over typical holiday decorations in the Russian capital. Inside the park, there's a pavilion that contains a studio where people can record New Year and Christmas video messages for troops. On Red Square, a pavilion was set up for people to donate gifts and humanitarian aid to troops.

☆ Ukrainian's 'know what we are fighting for,' Zelenksyy says in defiant Christmas message after Russian strikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Henry Austin | Henry Austin Is A London-Based Editor For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainians “know what we are fighting for,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a defiant Christmas message Saturday, hours after officials said 10 people were killed by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly through air raid sirens, or even worse — gunshots and explosions,” Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy’s message came despite the fact that the majority of his compatriots are Orthodox Christians and mark Christmas on Jan. 7, in accordance with the Julian calendar. “This is not sensitive content — it’s the real life of Kherson,” Zelenskyy tweeted alongside images showing cars on fire, bodies on the street and building windows blown out. At least 10 people had been killed and 68 injured by the strikes, Kherson Regional Gov.

☆ A Tesla owner says his car wouldn't charge in freezing temperatures, leaving him stranded on Christmas Eve
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Tesla owner said he was left stranded on Christmas Eve after his car wouldn't charge in the cold. Domenick Nati, 44, said it was 19 degrees when he plugged his Tesla into a supercharger. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, he decided to drive to another Tesla supercharger. He posted a video on TikTok about the problem that he said left him stranded on Christmas Eve. He also expected the Tesla trouble would stop him joining his son on Christmas morning to see him open his presents.

☆ The Magical Curve for Holiday Lights and Sturdy Domes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Eugenia Cheng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mathematician Eugenia Cheng explores the uses of math beyond the classroom. Read more columns here. When we hang strings of Christmas lights or tinsel, we often drape them in curves instead of pulling them taut, to look more festive. In math, the curved shape they take is called a catenary. The word is derived from the Latin for “chain,” as it’s the curve that a chain or rope will make when hanging just by its own weight.

☆ Wild winter storm envelops U.S., snarling Christmas travel
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Buffalo suburb and surrounding area are expecting wind gusts over 70 miles per hour battering homes and businesses through out the holiday weekend. A wild winter storm continued to envelop much of the United States on Saturday, bringing blinding blizzards, freezing rain, flooding and life-threatening cold that created mayhem for those traveling for the Christmas holiday. The storm that arrived earlier in the week downed power lines, littered highways with piles of cars in deadly accidents and led to mass flight cancellations. The storm was nearly unprecedented in its scope, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - Ukrainians will create their own miracle this Christmas by showing they remain unbowed despite Russian attacks that have plunged millions into darkness, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a defiant message on Saturday. "We endured at the beginning of the war - we withstood attacks, threats, nuclear blackmail, terror, missile strikes. Zelenskiy made his remarks in a video address to Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas in December. [1/3] A Christmas tree is seen in front of an Orthodox cathedral during a service on the eve of Christmas, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 24, 2022. The clip, which lasted just under nine minutes, was filmed outside at night with just a few white lights and a Christmas tree in the background.

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