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A Franciscan monk attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (Photo by Bernat Armangue / AP)

Thousands visit Bethlehem on Christmas Eve

Thousands of pilgrims, tourists and local Christians gathered in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem to begin Christmas Eve celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

San Francisco Chronicle

Christmas spirit crushed in besieged Bethlehem

Sydney Morning Herald

Pilgrims gather in Bethlehem

MSNBC

Modern-day Cratchits get big break during holiday season

As soon as the calendar flips to 2012, accountants face their busiest time of the year — so managers want their CPAs, bookkeepers and other staffers rested and ready for the months ahead.

Detroit News

Obama ends year on a political high note

The White House has ended a year with a political victory before, but this time the stakes are higher and the president is by no means assured of carrying the momentum deep into an election year.

ABC News

Payroll tax-cut extension sets up 2012 fight over long-term plan

Bloomberg

Boehner speaks on payroll tax cut deal

YouTube

Thousands take to Moscow streets, calling for fair elections

Thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow, braving bitterly cold weather to demand fair elections after what they claim were rigged results that returned Vladimir Putin’s party to power.

CNN

Protests and counterprotests in Russia

TIME

New Air Jordans cause shopping frenzy

Fights, vandalism and arrests marked the release of Nike’s new Air Jordan basketball shoes as a shopping rush on stores across the country led to unrest that nearly turned into rioting.

Denver Post

Release of new Air Jordans sparks nationwide shopping frenzy

YouTube

NATION

Net, text, tweet ban for Calif. jurors begins Jan. 1

Before trials, California judges will admonish jurors to forgo any online research or chatter. The penalty for ignoring the instruction will be contempt of court charges, punishable by jail.

San Francisco Chronicle

Keeping it weird in Austin, Texas

Hipsters of all kinds trek to Austin, Texas. By hipsters, I mean people who love irony but are suspicious of symbolism. But, aren’t these residents just traditionalists at heart?

Smithsonian Magazine

Blog:

Austin’s musicians caught in a conundrum

(NPR)

The Record

Arizona sheriff faces new setback over immigration enforcement

America’s “toughest sheriff” faces a setback to his immigration enforcement efforts from a federal judge’s ruling barring deputies from detaining people whom they think are in the country illegally.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

POLITICS

Economic inequality an important issue for 2012 campaign

Fighting to win over American voters, President Obama and his Republican challengers are seizing on a potent issue: the struggling middle class and the widening gap between rich and poor.

Yahoo! News

Gingrich, Perry won’t be on Va. ballot

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has failed to qualify for Virginia’s Republican primary, a development that adds to the challenges faced by the recent frontrunner in the GOP presidential race.

USA TODAY

South Carolina voter identification law is blocked as discriminatory

South Carolina’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls was blocked by the U.S. Justice Department, which said it would “significantly” burden non-white voters.

BusinessWeek

BUSINESS

Mighty Monday looms for retailers

The day after Christmas, dubbed “Mighty Monday,” is expected to be the third biggest shopping day of the year in terms of foot traffic.

Houston Chronicle

Sales up as US weather helps year-end surge

BusinessWeek

Fast-casual restaurants are gobbling up market share

Fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle and Panera are just a slice of the restaurant market, but they are steadily building a following among customers looking for better quality and moderate prices.

Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

School accused of putting autistic student in bag

In Kentucky, Mercer Country Public School employees are under investigation of mistreating students who are diagnosed with autism.

MSNBC

Georgia high schools emphasize career

Starting in 2012, incoming high school freshmen in Georgia will be required to complete a series of courses in one of 17 career pathways.

The Telegraph

RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

Car designers to craft ‘green’ popemobile

A Vatican newspaper announced details of a competition to design a low-emission popemobile that meets the Vatican’s high security standards.

USA TODAY

Nun famous for kissing Elvis is praying for a miracle

Dolores Hart, who walked away from Hollywood stardom in 1963 to become a nun in rural Bethlehem, Conn., now finds herself back in the spotlight.

Hartford Courant

Faith helps veterans return to normal life, study says

Faith has played a large role in determining how easily a post-9/11 service member adjusts back to civilian life, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.

The Augusta Chronicle

SPORTS

NBA hoping to pick up where it left off

The NBA is coming back Christmas Day, and the belief is strong that the league can pick up right where it left off.

San Francisco Chronicle

21 former players sue NFL

Nearly two dozen former NFL players are suing the league over severe and permanent brain damage they say is linked to concussions suffered on the job.

ESPN

Columns And Op-Ed

The opinions in the items below are not necessarily those of DailySource or our editors. Read more.

Column (Lynn McCarty):

Going to church to find peace, comfort and joy

The Trenton Times

Column (Cal Thomas):

For families of war dead, Christmas brings grief

Baltimore Sun

Column (Robert Creamer):

Why GOP collapse on the payroll tax could be a turning point

Huffington Post

Editorial:

The desperation down the block

Detroit Free Press

Editorial:

Gingrich court bombast is irresponsible

Des Moines Register

Editorial:

Dickens of a Christmas: celebrating the tale of a redeemed Scrooge

Christian Science Monitor

Column (David Gergen):

Why the winds are shifting toward Obama

CNN

Column (Bob Ray Sanders):

Bah, humbug to this ‘War on Christmas’ stuff

McClatchy Newspapers

Site edited by: Jameson O'Neal, Ashley Nawn, Rachel Barrus, Sanaz Ariya and Catherine Lux.

GOOD NEWS

Basement pageant keeps the Christmas spirit alive

An annual play held in one Illinois family’s basement has not only entertained relatives and neighbors on Christmas Eve, but also has helped dozens of the area’s poor and suffering.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Burned Chinese orphan meets new family, will receive treatment

A 9-year-old girl who was abandoned on a Chinese street with severe burn injuries arrived in Los Angeles to meet her new adoptive family and receive treatment from the Grossman Burn Foundation.

Los Angeles Times

An impact felt even in death

When President Barack Obama signed a law last month to protect Peace Corps volunteers around the globe, a young woman with Delaware ties was on the minds of many.

News Journal

WORLD

Cuba to free 2,900 in sweeping amnesty

Cuba will release 2,900 prisoners in the coming days for humanitarian reasons in a sweeping amnesty ahead of a visit next spring by Pope Benedict XVI, the Cuban government said.

Reuters

Blog:

Cuba pardons 2,900 prisoners, but not jailed American

(USA TODAY)

On Deadline

Czechs, world leaders remember ‘irreplaceable’ Vaclav Havel at funeral

Vaclav Havel, the humble Czech playwright who became his country’s first democratically elected president, was remembered today for his enduring legacy of hope, freedom, and human rights.

Christian Science Monitor

ENVIRONMENT

After Fukushima: a changing climate for nuclear power

Nuclear power had enjoyed 25 years of relative quiet, but the Fukushima accident in Japan reminded people that despite improvements in safety, nuclear plants could still go horribly wrong.

NPR

Analysis: Oil sands pipeline seems likely to endure

The Obama administration confirmed that if forced by Congress to quickly decide the fate of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast, it would probably kill the project.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Eau de DNA: Do genes determine our perfume preference?

Scientists asked people to rate their preference for common scents and then tested participants for gene variations. Which version of a gene someone had correlated with the smells they liked best.

Msnbc.com

To flirt in cities, birds adjust their pitch

A big part of being a bird is singing, often to attract other birds. Sometimes this is hard to do that amid all the noise in a city, which is where birds are literally changing their tune.

NPR

HEALTH

Experts discover ‘better’ and safer ways of spotting heart problems

Patients are better off having magnetic resonance imaging to scan for heart diseases than the existing “gold standard” tests, experts say.

Medical Daily

Study: Brain scans help predict Alzheimer’s disease early

Shrinkage in certain parts of the brain may herald Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms arise, according to new research.

TIME

LIVING AND ENTERTAINMENT

How to create a family charity tradition

Many families use the holidays as a time to have multi-generational discussions about the importance of giving, reports Bruce Boyd, a principal at Arabella Philanthropic Investments Advisors.

Reuters

Santa’s son watches him work with kids

For the past 17 years, Timothy Bella‘s father has been dressing up as Santa Claus, so Timothy decided to witness Santa in action and tell us his story.

The Atlantic

‘Santa’ dad surprises daughter, comes home early from Iraq

CBS News

‘Natural Santas’ live by strict code

Natural Santas live by a moral code — no public drinking, womanizing or grumpiness is allowed from them.

Columbia Missourian

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