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  • 'Skid Row Santa' hands out $20K to homeless people in Los Angeles

    By John Brecher

    The story here mentions critics who feel that the money would do more good at a charity. What do you think?

     

    Damian Dovarganes / AP

    A retired lawyer who wishes to remain anonymous, right, hands out $10 bills to thousands of destitute people who queued up for several hours to receive their gift at the Midnight Mission, downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010. The 69-year-old attorney known as the Skid Row's Santa Claus, has been giving away $20,000 of his own money every year over the past 30 years during Christmas.

    Damian Dovarganes / AP

    A handful of $10 bills.

    Damian Dovarganes / AP

    Thousands of destitute people line up for several hours to receive a $10 bill gift.

     

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  • KNS / AFP - Getty Images

    This picture taken by North Korea's Central News Agency on December 23, 2010 and distributed by Tokyo's Korean News Service on December 24, 2010 shows a national meeting at the April 25 House of Culture to mark the 19th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's gaining of the supreme commandership of the Korean People's Army. North Korea on December 23, 2010 said it was ready for a "sacred war" using its nuclear weapons as the South held a live-fire drill in a show of strength a month after Pyongyang's deadly attack on a border island.

    North Korea's House of Culture holds meeting to mark Kim Jong Il's command of army

    By John Brecher

    Each glimpse of North Korea adds to its inscrutability. Here's the latest story about the Koreas' recent interchange.

  • Michael Hayman / The Courier-Journa via AP

    A pickup truck sits Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010, in the crater left after an explosion at a closed gas station in Louisville Ky. A Louisville fire official says no one was injured.

    Truck sits in a crater following explosion at a vacant gas station in Kentucky

    By John Brecher

    This is a great reminder of the need to avoid producing sparks anywhere fuel vapors may be present, such as at a gas station. Full story here.

  • NASA

    Israel, the West Bank and the Dead Sea are at center stage in this picture taken from the shuttle Atlantis during its flight to Russia's Mir space station in 1996.

    Holiday calendar: Holy Land from on high

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    "Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains..." This view from the shuttle Atlantis, captured during a 1996 mission to Russia's now-defunct Mir space station, shows what the angels from the Christmas carol might have seen if they were more than 200 miles above the Holy Land. The Dead Sea is just to the right of Atlantis' tail in this photograph, which was taken looking back from the space shuttle's cabin.

    This view takes in all the key spots in the Nativity story, including Bethlehem on the Palestinian West Bank, where the Gospels say Jesus was born; and Nazareth in northern Israel, where he is said to have grown up. The shuttle's resolution isn't fine enough to make out those present-day cities, however. Even Jerusalem is hard to spot. For higher-resolution views, check out the satellite images of Nazareth and Bethlehem from the Sacred Destinations website, or this false-color image of Jerusalem captured by the ASTER instrument on NASA's Terra satellite.

    Today's space shuttle view is one of the final visual treats in our Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar. For additional views of Earth from space, check out these past offerings. We've also included links to other online Advent calendars that have been serving up space images daily since the beginning of the month:

    Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).

  • Nathan Bilow / AP

    Kim Walter clears a path from her home to the road on Thursday, Dec. 23, in Crested Butte, Colo. The last round of the winter storm that has impacted Eastern Utah and Western Colorado with a Winter Storm Warning is still in effect through today.

    Coloradans still digging out from blizzard

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Nathan shot another image composed in a similar fashion yesterday. Which one do you like better?

    You can see the other photo HERE. Vote / leave your comments below.

  • Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters

    Venezuelan riot police clash with students during a protest against Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, in Caracas on Thursday, Dec. 23. Venezuelan security forces fired a water cannon and rubber bullets on Thursday to disperse hundreds of students protesting against a new law tightening the government's control over universities.

    Police and protesters clash in Venezuela

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Venezuela's opposition accused President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday of a "coup d'etat" after the outgoing parliament gave him the power to rule by decree for 18 months and pushed through a host of new laws.

    A newly united opposition coalition that won about half the popular vote at a legislative poll in September will take 40 percent of seats in the National Assembly from January 5, when it had hoped to put the brakes on the former soldier's agenda.

    But the opposition was outraged by the outgoing parliament's move to let Chavez bypass the next Assembly by granting him decree powers, at the same time as passing a raft of new laws, many of them contentious.

    Read more about Chavez's goals according to his opponents HERE and about Venezuelan students here.

  • Justin Lane / EPA

    Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette, dancers from the New York City Ballet's production of 'George Balanchine's Nutcracker,' perform during a visit to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Thursday, Dec. 23. The company is performing the traditional holiday ballet until Jan. 2, 2011.

    New York City Ballet visits the NY Stock Exchange

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  • Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP - Getty Images

    A worker in a Santa Claus costume bounds off a building while cleaning windows at the Odaiba shopping mall on Tokyo's waterfront on Thursday, Dec. 23. The costumes were worn as part of a Christmas promotional event to attract shoppers.

    Santa Claus washes windows in Tokyo

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    I have my doubts that this publicity stunt drew many shoppers to the mall.

    See other ways Santa spreads cheer around the world HERE.

  • Freaky (and ornate) snow sculptures in China

    Sheng Li / Reuters

    A worker shapes a snow sculpture ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China, on Thursday, Dec. 23. The 27th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2011

    Sheng Li / Reuters

    A worker installs lights on a snow sculpture before the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival on Thursday.

     
    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    The top photo looks like an evil cross between a LEGO guy and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.

    For more interesting weather pictures, check out our Winter Wonderland slideshow.

  • Martin Gerten / AFP - Getty Images

    Firefighters work at the scene where a bus crashed in to a tree after a collision with a car in Duesseldorf, Germany on Thursday, Dec. 23. Wintery weather conditions continue to make traveling difficult in many parts of Europe.

    German bus split down the middle after colliding with tree

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Although weather conditions are improving throughout much of Europe, slick roads still appear to be having an impact on travel.

    You can see more images of impacted travel around Europe HERE.

  • JIJI PRESS / AFP - Getty Images

    Hugo Cazares of Mexico connects with the head of Japan's Hiroyuki Hisataka during their WBA super flyweight title boxing match in Osaka, Japan, on Thursday, Dec. 23. Cazares defended his WBA super flyweight title by beating Hisataka by a unanimous decision.

    Mexico's Cazares retains WBA super flyweight title

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    You can see a roundup of this year's best sports images in the Year in Sports Pictures.

  • Jason Lee / Reuters

    Vehicles drive on Three Ring Road and Jianwai Street during rush hour in central Beijing, on Thursday, Dec. 23. Starting in 2011, Beijing will limit how many new cars it licenses to 240,000 annually, in an effort to ease the capital city's traffic jams.

    Beijing's traffic woes drive talk of relocating capital

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    NBC News' Eric Baculinao reports: Sharp limits will be imposed on the number of new cars licensed in Beijing next year, and purchases would be limited to the city’s registered residents only, to the exclusion of millions of migrants living there.

    The sweeping rules will curb new car licenses by a whopping two-thirds, bring in stiff parking fees and also bar out of town vehicles from entering the main city area during rush hours.

    Read the full story HERE.

  • Romanian flings himself from Parliament balcony

    Bogdan Stamatin / EPA

    A public television employee, Adrian Sobaru, prepares to jump from a balcony in the Romanian parliament building, in Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday, Dec. 23.

    Bogdan Stamatin / EPA

    Adrian Sobaru jumps from a balcony during a speech by Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc (not shown) in the Romanian parliament building on Thursday, Dec. 23. He sustained injuries but was reported to be conscious after the fall.

    Reuters

    Paramedics attend to Adrian Sobaru after he jumped off the Parliament hall's balcony to protest the government's austerity drive, including wage cuts and tax hikes during a vote over wage reforms in Bucharest, Romaina on Thursday, Dec. 23. The Associated Press says the father of two jumped from aroudn 23 feet and landed on benches. No one else was injured.

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    The AP reports:  Romania's government survived a no-confidence motion in Parliament on Thursday in a session overshadowed by a man who flung himself from the chamber's balcony, apparently in protest over the government austerity measures.

    His injuries were not life-threatening. A loud thud reverberated in the chamber after the man, Adrian Sobaru — identified by the country's public television station as one of its engineers — jumped from a height of about 7 meters (23 feet).

    He hit the benches shortly after Prime Minister Emil Boc greeted the lawmakers. No one else was injured.

    Boc looked startled and rushed over to Sobaru, along with other lawmakers, before Speaker Mircea Geoana briefly postponed the session.

    Boc called the incident "a tragedy that shocked me," and appealed for calm "in these tough times."

    You can read the full story HERE.

  • Evan Vucci / AP

    A daughter of Lt. Col. Robert Baldwin, of Eliza, Ill., looks on as a flag is presented during a burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Lt. Col. Baldwin was killed in Afghanistan.

    The Year in Pictures: Outtakes

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    I've seen a lot of pictures of funerals at Arlington cemetery, but this one is simple and heartbreaking. You don't need to see more than the soldiers hands with the folded flag to know exactly where they are and what is happening. It didn't make the final cut, but you can see what did here.

  • Jorge Luis Plata / Reuters

    Salvadoran migrants rest at the "Hermanos del camino" (Brothers of the road) shelter in Ixtepec, in the state of Oaxaca Dec. 22, 2010. About 50 Central American immigrants were kidnapped in Mexico when armed men stopped the cargo train they were riding and abducted all of the women aboard, El Salvador said on Tuesday. Mexico's interior ministry said it had found no evidence backing the Salvadoran claims of the disappearance in the state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.

    Salvadoran migrants rest at Mexican shelter

    By Rich Shulman

    Life is getting more dangerous for Central American migrants in Mexico, as this recent incident indicates. The lighting and the shadows make a striking image.

  • Watch an eclipse and sunset on Mars

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    We've just had a lovely total lunar eclipse on Earth — so how about watching a solar eclipse on Mars? Pictures from NASA's Opportunity rover record just such an event, which occurred on Nov. 9. Neither of Mars' moons is big enough to cover the whole disk of the sun during an eclipse, so a partial blackout is the best Phobos could do in this video clip.

    After the eclipse, you'll see a typical Martian sunset, stitched together from exposures taken on Nov. 4 and 5. The 30-second sequence is a speeded-up rendition of a sunset that would take 17 minutes in real time. The sky looks blue around the sun in these pictures because of the scattering effect produced by dust particles of a particular size in the Martian atmosphere. Farther away from the sun, the Martian sky takes on more of a reddish cast.

    The scientists who created the rover movies say they're the next-best thing to being there. "These visualizations of an alien sunset show what it must have looked like for Opportunity, in a way we rarely get to see, with motion," rover science team member Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University said in a NASA image advisory. Simulated images were added to the sequences to produce a smooth viewing experience.

    More moving pictures from Mars:

    For the eclipse movie, the image sequencing was done by Emily Dean, Dale Theiling, Elaina McCartney and Jon Proton. Image processing was done by Jim Bell and Mark Lemmon. Event timing was handled by Tom Duxbury. The team expressed thanks to members of the operations and support teams in the NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Program and Deep Space Network. Credit for both movies goes to NASA, JPL-Caltech, Cornell University and Texas A&M.

    Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).

  • Cherokees use technology to teach traditional language

    By Rich Shulman

    Now the Cherokees can say "There's an app for that." A specially designed keyboard allows students to type the language.

    Sue Ogrocki / AP

    Joseph Erb, helps out students Cambria Bird, left, and Lauren Grayson, right, in the fifth grade class of the Cherokee Nation Immersion School in Tahlequah, Okla., Cherokee children are asking for iPods and iPhones for Christmas this year, and their parents are having a much tougher time saying no than one might expect. Nearly two centuries after a Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah developed a system of symbols for each syllable spoken by the Cherokee, the tribe's written language has become available on iPhone and iPods.

    Sue Ogrocki / AP

    Joseph Erb demonstrates the iPhone at the Cherokee Nation Immersion School in Tahlequah, Okla., Cherokee children are asking for iPods and iPhones for Christmas this year, and their parents are having a much tougher time saying no than one might expect. Nearly two centuries after a Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah developed a system of symbols for each syllable spoken by the Cherokee, the tribe's written language has become available on iPhone and iPods.

     

     

  • Ethan Miller / Getty Images

    Titus Young #1 of the Boise State Broncos catches a pass just out of bounds in the end zone in front of Brandon Burton #27 of the Utah Utes during the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium December 22, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Boise State dominates Utah

    By Rich Shulman

    It sure would have been fun to see Boise State in the national championship game instead of the MAACO Bowl. I guess there's always next year.

  • Park Young-chul / AFP - Getty Images

    A picture taken on December 21 from a South Korean helicopter shows 12 Chinese fishing boats banded together with ropes to thwart an attempt by South Korean coast guard ships to stop their alleged illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea. Illegal fishing by Chinese vessels is common in South Korean waters. The coastguard said 332 Chinese boats were caught last year.

    Chinese fisherman band together in scuffle with South Korean coast guard

    By Rich Shulman

    The ongoing conflict over fishing rights continues to escalate in the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea.

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