Around the world
REBELLION: The Mexican government made a two-pronged weekend push to end a smoldering Indian rebellion, agreeing to let the Roman Catholic Church mediate peace talks while moving troops into guerrilla territory. The moves - conciliatory on the one hand, tough on the other - left residents of southern Chiapas state uncertain about the future of a dormant guerrilla war that has threatened to reignite recently with increased movement by Mexican soldiers and rebels of the Zapatista National Liberation Army.BURGLARY: Police called to rescue two men stuck in a elevator said Sunday they found the men with a stolen safe. Police in Southend-on-Sea, eastern England, said the pair had evidently taken the safe from an office only to be trapped when the elevator broke down. They banged and shouted so loudly they disturbed revelers at a next-door disco, who called police.
BLAST: A suicide bomber who tried to blow up a bus filled with Israeli soldiers Sunday in Jerusalem was a former Palestinian policeman who felt guilty about putting down riots in the Gaza Strip, Islamic militants said. The 25-year-old bomber died and 12 people were wounded, including one American woman cut by flying glass. The blast outside the Binyenei Ha'ouma convention center scattered glass and metal across the main western road into Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, forcing it shut during rush hour.
RAMPAGE: Three armed men drove up to an outdoors party in the eastern beach town of Luquillo, Puerto Rico, early Christmas Day and opened fire with AK-47s and pistols on the 100 guests. The host, who was awaiting trial on drug charges, and three others died instantly of bullet wounds, breaking last year's record number of 951 killings in this U.S. territory.
Across the nation
PASTOR: Churchgoers knew something was wrong when their pastor didn't show up for Christmas Eve services. Members who went to look for him made a gruesome discovery in his residence in Essex, Md. The Rev. Samual Nathaniel Booth had been stabbed to death. Police recovered a knife from the trailer home behind the Christian Faith Tabernacle Church but had no suspects in Booth's death, said Cpl. Kevin Novak, a Baltimore County police spokesman.
FIRE: Four small Christmas trees were burned Sunday by two men who may have had a bigger target: the 80-foot-high Norway spruce that draws thousands of tourists to Rockefeller Center in New York City. The men were seen hanging around the large decorated tree in the plaza shortly before they walked a block away to the four smaller trees at about 6 a.m., said Detective Kim Royster, a police spokeswoman. A security guard saw them throw cans of flammable liquid and rags at the smaller trees, 12- and 14-feet high.
SUICIDE: A New York police officer walked into a Times Square bar before dawn on Christmas morning and fatally shot himself in the head. It was 12th suicide of the year by a member of the nation's largest municipal police force.