Indore:

A Hindu group made a food delivery agent in Indore remove his Santa Claus costume while he was out to deliver an order on Christmas.

A video of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, shows the Zomato delivery agent being interrogated by Sumit Hardia, district convenor of  the ‘Hindu Jagran Manch’.

“Are you delivering an order by dressing up as Santa Claus?”, Mr Hardia asked the man, to which the agent nodded and said yes. He further asked, “Do you ever go to people’s homes dressed as Lord Ram on Diwali”?  To this, the delivery agent replied, “No, but now the company has asked me to wear this costume”.

The delivery agent was then made to remove the costume.

Mr Hardia told the delivery man, “We are Hindus, what message are we giving to children. Is it necessary that the message will only be conveyed if you only dress-up as Santa Claus. If you really want to send a message, dress-up as Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad.”

In the video, Mr Hardia can also be heard saying that majority of food is delivered to Hindus and that India is a Hindu rashtra (country).

Mr Hardia said that such “temptations” are often used for religious conversion. He also questioned the mindsets of owners of food delivery companies, asking what is their intention behind making agents wear such costumes.

Washington:

The outgoing and incoming U.S. presidents had different messages for the Christmas holiday, with Democrat Joe Biden urging Americans to reflect and unite and Republican Donald Trump offering a holiday greeting and a flurry of politically focused social media posts.

Biden narrated a video tour of the White House Christmas decorations that was published on YouTube late on Christmas Eve, in which he urges Americans to set aside “all the noise and everything that divides us.”

“We’re here on this Earth to care for one another, to love one another,” Biden says in a voiceover as a camera pans past adorned evergreen trees and bedecked fireplaces inside the White House. “Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbors, not as fellow Americans,” he said.

Biden urged Americans to find a moment of “quiet reflection” to remind themselves to treat each other with dignity and respect, “live in the light” and remember there was more to unite than divide Americans. “We’re truly blessed to live in this nation,” he said.

Trump published a mid-morning “Merry Christmas” message on Truth Social on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife Melania, followed by over two dozen retweets of articles or other social media posts that backed his political positions on topics including controversial Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and his pursuit of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

One was a mocking meme of Barack Obama that shows a photo of the 44th President and Trump at the 2017 inauguration with the message “When you see the guy who said ‘you’ll never be president’ at your inauguration.”

Biden took office in 2021 vowing to “end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” and said he bowed out of the 2024 presidential race in July to unite the country.

By some measures, polarization in the country has increased instead, including during the 2024 campaign that pits Biden against Trump, again, before Democrat Kamala Harris took over.

Trump has called for the prosecution of perceived political enemies and vowed to restructure the federal government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are currently stuck at the International Space Station (ISS), celebrated Christmas in space with Santa hats, sparking several conspiracy theories on social media. The video, posted by the US space agency, showed Williams wearing a red t-shirt, while three of her colleagues wore the Santa caps.

Social media users were quick to come up with theories, questioning if the astronauts knew they would have a prolonged stay at the ISS.

“You brought Christmas decorations into space months ago?” asked a user. Another said, “Seriously? How did they know to have all these Christmas decorations with them when they were only going in an 8 day mission?”

One user asked, “Who delivered the Christmas hats and decorations?? So…u thought far enough in advance to pack them when extra space in the capsule is at a very high premium??”

To everyone on Earth, Merry Christmas from our @NASA_Astronauts aboard the International @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/GoOZjXJYLP

— NASA (@NASA) December 23, 2024

Williams and her fellow astronaut have been at the ISS since June. What was supposed to be an eight-day ISS mission, stretched into months due to a Starliner spacecraft malfunction. The astronauts were to return home in February next year, but even that has been delayed. They will now return in March.

However, NASA has put an end to the conspiracy theories.

The US space agency told the New York Post that the Santa hats. Christmas tree, and other decorations and presents were sent to the ISS crew members as a part of a three-ton SpaceX delivery in November. The package also had Christmas meals including ham, turkey, potatoes, vegetables, pies, and cookies. Apart from this, some mission-specific and scientific items were also a part of the delivery.

The International Space Station is replenished with supplies several times each year, it said.

NASA astronauts’ Christmas greetings from space

NASA shared a video featuring Williams and others talking about their Christmas plans and extending their greetings.

“Welcome to the International Space Station as we get ready for the Christmas holidays. It’s a great time up here, we get to spend it with all of our ‘family’ on the International Space Station. There are seven of us up here and so we’re going to get to enjoy company together,” Williams said.

She also spoke about the things she liked about the occasion, saying, “One of the best things that I like about Christmas is the preparation and just getting ready, the anticipation, everybody getting together and preparing stuff and just getting ready for the holiday.”

Damascus:

Sarah Latifa had feared that her Christian community in Syria may struggle to celebrate its first Christmas since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

But at a church in Damascus’s historic centre, surrounded by some 500 faithful who were singing psalms on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, she could breathe a sigh of relief.

“It wasn’t easy to come together in the current circumstances and to joyfully pray, but thank God, we did it,” Latifa told AFP at mass at the capital’s Syriac Orthodox cathedral of Saint George.

Syria’s rulers who toppled Assad’s government on December 8 have since sought to assure religious and ethnic minorities that their rights would be upheld.

But for some in the Christian community of several hundred thousands, the promises made by the new Islamist leadership have done little to soothe their fears in a country scarred by years of civil war.

Hundreds took to the streets of Damascus on Tuesday to demand their rights be respected, after a Christmas tree was set ablaze in a town in central Syria.

A video on social media showed hooded fighters setting fire to the tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said they were foreign jihadists. A local religious leader from Syria’s victorious Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) condemned the torching.

At the Saint George Cathedral, Latifa said that even though the road towards a new Syria may seem “tumultuous or uncertain”, the future can be better “if we walk hand in hand”.

– ‘We don’t belong’ –

Before the war began in 2011, Syria was home to about one million Christians, or about five percent of the population, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche.

Now, he told AFP, only up to 300,000 of them are still in the country.

Assad, who hails from the Alawite minority and ruled with an iron fist, had long presented himself as a protector of minority groups in Syria, whose population is majority Sunni Muslim.

The new administration appointed by HTS — a group which is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda — has adopted an inclusive discourse, seeking to reassure groups in the multi-confessional and multi-ethnic country.

In this transformed political landscape, Syrian Christians are determined to make their voices heard.

In an overnight protest over the Christmas tree burning, Georges, who only gave his first name, condemned “sectarianism” and “injustice against Christians”.

“If we’re not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don’t belong here anymore,” he said.

In his first sermon in Damascus since Assad’s fall, John X, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, expressed his hope that a new constitution would be drawn up with the participation of “all parts of the Syrian mosaic”.

– ‘Afraid of the unknown’ –

In Bab Touma, a Christian-majority neighbourhood of Damascus, carols rang out from a cafe which was festively decorated and lit, and fitted with a Christmas tree.

Owner Yamen Basmar, 45, said that some people “are afraid” of the new situation.

“Many come to ask me whether I still sell alcohol, or if we still organise events,” he said.

“In reality, nothing has changed,” Basmar stressed, even though he said sales have gone down by 50 percent because “people are afraid anyway”.

Last Christmas, “we closed at 3:00 am. Now we close at 11:00 pm,” Basmar said.

One Damascus restaurant held a Christmas party, attended by dozens of people, Christians and Muslims alike.

“The party was really nice, not what we had imagined,” said 42-year-old Emma Siufji.

“As Christians this year, we’re afraid of the unknown.”

Her only wish this holiday season, Siufji told AFP, was that no Syrian would have to leave the country, as happened to millions during the war.

“No one would want to be forced to leave.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Santa Claus has no need to worry about recent mystery drone sightings over New Jersey, a US Air Force general said Tuesday, as an annual tradition of “tracking” Saint Nick swung into action.

General Gregory Guillot’s reassurances came as the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command reported that Santa and his reindeer were making stops across Asia, including Japan and North Korea.

Santa’s journey this year comes after weeks of mysterious sightings of alleged drones in New Jersey, sparking worldwide curiosity even as many of the reported sightings were debunked.

“Of course we are concerned about drones and anything else in the air,” NORAD commander Guillot told Fox News. “But I don’t foresee any difficulty at all with drones for Santa this year.”

NORAD’s Santa tracker dates to 1955, when a Colorado newspaper advertisement printed a phone number to connect children with Santa — but mistakenly directed them to the hotline for the joint military nerve center.

To avoid disappointing the little ones, NORAD’s director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, ordered his staff to “check” the radar to see where Santa might be and update the children calling in on his location.

When not spreading holiday cheer, NORAD conducts aerospace and maritime control and warning operations — including monitoring for missile launches from North Korea, something perhaps on Santa’s mind as he guided his reindeer-hauled sleigh over Pyongyang.

The tracker, which has been modernized and moved online to noradsanta.org, includes a 3D map showing Santa’s movements in real time, as well as a ticker — constantly shooting upward — showing approximately how many presents have been delivered.

“North American Aerospace Defense Command always does a fantastic job helping us keep tabs on Santa’s navigational heading and bearing in the skies above,” astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to ever walk on the Moon, said on social media.

Last year, US President Joe Biden joined in the fun at NORAD’s call center, taking calls from children.

As of Tuesday morning, some 1.2 billion presents had been delivered, according to NORAD.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Mary Millben, an African-American singer and actress known for her admiration for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday exchanged Christmas greetings with him and praised him for honouring Jesus Christ at an event.

After PM Modi attended Christmas celebrations at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in India, Ms Millben posted on X, “Bless you, @PMOIndia. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift and example of love. Thank you, PM Modi, for honouring my Savior Jesus Christ publicly at the @IndianBishops Christmas Celebration. Your words touched me… Merry Christmas to all my brothers and sisters in India.”

PM Modi later responded by posting a message, “The teachings of Lord Christ celebrate love, harmony, and brotherhood. It is important that we all work to make this spirit stronger.”

Ms Millben had first met PM Modi in June 2023 when he was on a state visit to the US.

She is the singer who performed the Indian national anthem at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., in 2023. Following her performance, she touched the feet of PM Modi to seek his blessings, attracting huge media attention.

Ms Millben earlier called the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) a “true act of democracy,” commending the Indian PM for providing refuge to persecuted religious minorities. She urged the US government to recognise his leadership and improve diplomatic relations with India.

On another occasion, she highlighted PM Modi’s efforts towards women’s empowerment, suggesting that he is the best leader for India’s progress and advocating for more women in leadership roles in the country.

She also praised PM Modi’s leadership during the ongoing issues in Manipur, stating that he “will always fight for your freedom” and emphasised the confidence India has in him as a leader.

The singer has often expressed deep affection for India, stating, “I love India.”

On Monday, speaking at the Christmas event hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) at its headquarters in Delhi, PM Modi condemned attempts to incite violence in society, highlighting that Jesus Christ’s teachings promote love, harmony and brotherhood.

He also condemned last week’s terror attack at Germany’s Magdeburg Christmas Market, where a Sports Utility Vehicle drove into a crowd, killing four women and a nine-year-old child, while injuring 205 people, including seven Indians.

Vatican City:

Pope Francis will mark Christmas Eve on Tuesday with a special ceremony launching Jubilee 2025, a year of Catholic celebrations set to draw more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome.

The 88-year-old, who has been suffering from a cold in recent days, will at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) open the “Holy Door” of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, in front of 30,000 people and a live TV audience around the world.

Over the next 12 months, pilgrims will pass through the large and imposing bronze door, which is normally closed, by tradition benefiting from a “plenary indulgence”, a type of forgiveness for their sins.

The Argentine pontiff will then preside over the Christmas Eve mass in St Peter’s, before delivering his traditional Christmas Day blessing, Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world), at midday on Wednesday.

Ahead of a busy week, the pontiff missed his usual Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sunday because of a cold, instead delivering it online from his home in the Vatican.

On Christmas Day, Francis is expected to repeat his calls for peace in a world riven by conflict, particularly in the Middle East.

He drew an angry response from Israel at the weekend for condemning the “cruelty” of Israel’s strikes in Gaza that killed children.

Some 700 security officers are being deployed around the Vatican and Rome for the Jubilee celebrations, with measures further tightened following Friday’s car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Germany.

‘Little miracle’

Organised by the Church every 25 years, the Jubilee is intended as a period of reflection and penance for Catholics, and is marked by a long list of cultural and religious events, from masses to exhibitions, conferences and concerts.

Much of Rome has been given a facelift in preparation, with monuments such as the Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Sant’Angelo cleaned up and roads redesigned to improve the flow of traffic.

Many residents have questioned how the Eternal City — where key sites are already overcrowded and public transport is unreliable — will cope with millions more visitors next year.

Key Jubilee projects were only finished in the last few days after months of works that turned much of the city into a building site.

Inaugurating a new road tunnel at Piazza Pia next to the Vatican on Monday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it had taken a “little civil miracle” to get the project finished in time.

Over the course of the next few days, Holy Doors will be opened in Rome’s three major basilicas and in Catholic churches around the world.

On Thursday, Pope Francis will open a Holy Door at Rebibbia prison in Rome and preside over a mass in a show of support for the inmates.

LGBTQ faithful

While primarily aimed at the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics, the Jubilee aims to also reach a wider audience.

And traditions have evolved since the first such event back in 1300, launched by Pope Boniface VIII.

This year, the Vatican has provided pilgrims with online registration and multilingual phone apps to navigate events.

Jubilee 2025 also has a mascot named Luce (meaning Light in Latin) inspired by Japanese anime cartoons — a choice that drew some criticism from traditionalists, but which is intended to target the younger generation.

With the motto “Pilgrims of Hope”, the event will see groups from around the world come to Rome throughout 2025, from sports and business figures to migrants, artists and young people.

Among the groups registered on the official site is Italian LGBTQ group La Tenda di Gionata, reflecting the pope’s call for the Church to be open to all.

As well as the regular Jubilees every 25 years, the Church has organised extraordinary Jubilees, the most recent in 2016. The next is in 2033 to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Write a headline for this: With Christmas only a few days away, teachers at a primary school in Hampshire, UK thought it would be a great opportunity to invite the local vicar to impart knowledge about the festival, the birth of Jesus and related customs. The decision, however, soon turned out to be a mistake as the vicar ended up spoiling Christmas for the little kids who were robbed of their precious belief in Santa Claus. Rev Dr Paul Chamberlain, addressing a group of 10 and 11-year-olds at the Lee-on-the-Solent Junior School, said Father Christmas was not real, adding that their parents bought their presents and ate the biscuits left out for Santa.

“You’re all year six, now let’s be real, Santa isn’t real,” Rev Chamberlain told the children during the lesson. The pupils, who believed in the mythical being that imparted gifts to the good and obedient children through the chimney at night, instantly burst into tears.

“So he said, ‘You’re all Year 6, now let’s be real, Santa isn’t real’. Then he also was saying what Santa likes. Someone said he likes cookies. Then he said that, ‘Do your parents like cookies?’ And a lot of them said, ‘Yeah’. And then he said how the parents were the ones that were eating it,” one of the children told The Times.

“I heard a lot of gasps because they were shocked about it, so I don’t think everyone knew. We had this note that came in was saying about how he was sorry, and then we had these stickers and a customised bauble.”

Complaint lodged

A formal complaint has since been lodged by the parents against Rev Chamberlain with the school launching an effort to restore the festive spirit by giving out “believe” badges. 

“We understand that the vicar of St Faith’s, Lee-on-the-Solent, the Rev Paul Chamberlain, was leading an RE lesson for 10- and 11-year-olds at Lee-on-Solent junior school,” a spokesperson for the Diocese of Portsmouth said.

“After talking about the nativity story from the Bible, he made some comments about the existence of Father Christmas. Paul has accepted that this was an error of judgment, and he should not have done so. He apologised unreservedly to the school, to the parents and to the children, and the headteacher immediately wrote to all parents to explain this.”

The school and diocese were collaborating on the matter to minimise the damage with the headteacher writing a note to parents for a sending time, apologising profusely for Rev Chamberlain’s act.

Liverpool Football Club’s (LFC) annual staff Christmas party at the city’s Anglican cathedral on Thursday (Oct 12) had to be shut down prematurely after authorities discovered drug paraphernalia in the restrooms. The team from Merseyside had rented the cathedral, one of the most iconic landmarks in the city, for a party for about 500 staff members, according to a report in the New York Times (NYT). Neither head coach Arne Slot, nor the players were present at the venue at the time of the incident.

After an unrelated medical emergency at the venue, officials carried out searches at the venue which led to the discovery of suspected drug paraphernalia in the toilets. The emergency saw a staff member receive medical treatment after collapsing but it is believed to be not related to the drug discovery.

After the discovery, the club officials decided to call off the party with 30 minutes remaining before the bars were scheduled to be closed. The club also issued a statement, saying it did not condone the presence of illicit substances.

“We do not condone or tolerate the use of illegal substances at any of our sites or events. We thank the events team at the venue for their swift action and professional response to the medical emergency which was unrelated,” the club said.

“The member of staff is recovering well,” it added.

Social media posts by Liverpool’s Vice President of Communications, Craig Evans, showed the venue fully decked up with the club’s badge, featuring the mythical Liver bird projected high onto the chapel windows while the hall was floodlit with a streak of red light.

The @LFC staff Christmas party is underway at the amazing @LivCathedral. pic.twitter.com/0AR35Vsray

— Craig Evans (@CraigEvans_LFC) December 12, 2024

Liverpool’s strong start to the campaign

Liverpool under Mr Slot have started the season in brilliant fashion. The Reds are currently top of the Premier League as well as the Champions League table and look certain to go the distance in cup competition as well. The team has only lost a single match this season so far while beating the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.

Mr Slot, who took over from legendary Jurgen Klopp in the summer, has quickly implemented his style of play that oscillates between the heavy metal style of the German as well as the possession control of Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola.

US-based United Airlines is spreading Christmas cheer by offering free ‘Fantasy flights’ to children in need to the ‘North Pole’ to see Santa Claus. The flights will depart from 13 cities including Los Angeles London and Tokyo among others. One of the first “Fantasy Flight” took off from Honolulu on Saturday (Dec 7) bringing some smiles to those in need. “Santa has invited us to Christmas Island and all his elves are waiting there on the ground for us,” the pilot of Flight 3894, announced over the intercom.

Families that have children with cancer or who have been orphaned by the loss of someone on active duty are taken aboard a short flight that loops back around and lands right where they started. However, upon exiting, children are transported to Santa’s hometown, the “North Pole” — a fantasy winter wonderland created by United airport employees and local volunteers who “transform an average airport gate or maintenance hangar into a sea of twinkling lights, sparkling Christmas trees and Santa himself – along with his elves”.

“We’ve stocked up on de-icing fluid to fly from even more cities. United is honoured to uplift children and their families through the joy of the holiday season. Making the North Pole closer than ever is one of the many ways we can show support for the communities where we live, work and fly,” said Kate Gebo, United’s Executive Vice President of Human Resources.

Also Read | These Are The Best And Worst Airlines Of 2024, According To AirHelp Score Report

Internet reacts

Social media users lauded the move by United Airlines and called it a heartwarming gesture that would mean a lot to the kids.

“That is the nicest most heartwarming story. Thank you, United for spreading true Christmas joy!” said one user while another added: “What a wonderful experience for these children & families…ENJOY!”

A third commented: “Christmas is the season of miracles. Good on United to bring cheer to these kids.”

Flight schedule:

• Honolulu (HNL) December 5
• Washington-Dulles (IAD) December 7
• Houston Bush (IAH) December 7
• Los Angeles (LAX) December 7
• London (LHR) December 7
• Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) December 7
• San Francisco (SFO) December 7
• Tokyo (NRT) December 8
• Cleveland (CLE) December 10
• Fort Lauderdale (FLL) December 10
• Guam (GUM) December 13
• Denver (DEN) December 14
• Newark (EWR) December 14