approval rating. amon say, yes, he is leading by example. thank you for being part of "the real story" on this christmas eve. merry christmas and happy new year. harris is up next. >> and we begin with breaking news on a story we have covered extensively. a court-appoint editor declared a california teenager brain dead. he journey has been the subject of a huge debate over life support. hirings the -- here's the back story. after a routine surgery to remove her tonsils the guilder suffered blood loss and breathing problems before going into cardiac arrest. doctors say she is brain dead and that they have no obligation to keep her on life support. but on friday a judge issued a court order that essentially forces them to keep her on a ventilator. the family asked for a second pound, and this second doctor

just declared this child brain dead. we're working on getting the developments now more at the break. i'm harris faulkner in today for shepard smith. only a few hours left before it's over. your chance to sign up for healthcare coverage if you need coverage to begin on january 1st. for millions of americans it seems this time, today's deadline is the real deal. people have until midnight tonight in the east, 9:00 p.m. on the west, to sign up, and the obama administration has pushed back the deadline by one day, citing high demand during the last, minute rush. according to the twitter account for the enrollment web site there were nearly two millions visits to the healthcare.gov site and 250,000 calls to their manned lines today. a record number for the web site after the rollout in october, and restarting a month later. customers reporting long wait times yesterday. some people got this message. telling them to wait. the site was overloaded and

they'd have to stand in line -- well, a digital line. and we do not know yet how many people signed up for healthcare coverage, a number that could be a key indicator how the affordable care act is doing. ed henry is live with the news. the administration is calling yesterday's web traffic a success? >> there's no doubt about it. they feel like they're turning the corner with healthcare.gov. you mentioned the statistics and there were 129,000 people that specifically gave their e-mail addresses to get into what they call an advanced cueing system. so you have to wait on longer lines but they say inside the administration you eventually do get to enroll. of course, that will be thele -- the magic number. but how many people are meeting the process? the white house spokesperson

said they're happy it appears they're turning the page. >> the web site was stirredy, stayed -- stir di, and stayed up and people were able to choose healthcare options. >> but he also told me they know there are going to be more glitches. that's the white house trying to play the expectations game. they did a poor job of that up to the october 1st deadline, for the actual rollout, lawmakers telling the public, things were fine, it's going great. when it didn't, the president really took it on the chin. now they're trying to temper expectation because they know they're taking baby steps, when you're saying the web site didn't crash again. they still have a long way to go. >> having raced a couple of babies they tend to go backwards when their crawling. >> what if the white house hit holoexpectations and there were problems? they talked about doing some kind of deal in congress to fix the problems.

>> they have been trying to push back on any changes. there have been a lot of republican lawmakers who have been talking about outright repeal of the law. that was been resisted vehemently by the white house, but they have to listen to fellow democrats, specifically looking at the 2014 mid-term elections, who are saying, wait a second, might need to be some dramatic changes, and when you have a democrat like joe man chin say there could be a meltdown if not enough young people sign up and make the matt work. that's why republicans are saying, if there's not a repeal, there may have to be some major changes in january. >> we need to do things to improve health care in our country. the affordable care act is not the way to do it, but for us to determine where to go from here, one would think, particularly when they're spending taxpayer dollar dollars, come would have something to say. >> that's the line, congress holds the purse strings in

implementing this law, and you have seen in the administration that is tweaking the law at the 11th hour. there's a growing number of lawmakers saying, wait a second, if there's major changes to the law, at some point congress has to step in here. >> nothing says christmas like frantically shopping for medical coverage for you and your family. ed henry, merry everything to you. >> good to see you. >> let's bring in chris moody. this is a lot of pressure to deal with for families who need this coverage at the end of the year. is the extra day making a difference? >> when they first rolled out this law in october, the problems were either based on procrastination, government incompetence, or lack of interest, and with this new excess of numbers checking in on the site at the last minute, looks to be a combination of the first two. i'm not surprised that people waited until the last minute to go on the web site. it shows people are interested in it, but as ed mentioned, the

question is how many people will actually be able to enroll, and can we blame that on more government incompetence or people that just aren't that interested once they found out the deal. >> one of our news members signed op on and got wait-listed and that's happening -- nine hour later he was notified the web site could process him. what happens if you can't get signed on today? >> then you're out of luck for some people. now, i'm sure, as we have seen in the past couple of weeks and months, president obama is not going to be shied from delaying setter -- certain things or letting people signed up past the deadline. he has a precedent for doing that since the rollout. if that web site continues not to work they'll have little choice but to continue extending it until they can get it right. >> let's talk about the politics of this. if that happens, who does that ?

do the democrats share that? is it like a rash? >> it is 2014. mid-term elections coming up in november. republicans make sure every democrat the republicans end. are they going to constantly going to undermine? it does not seem like they will do much to make it work or any easier on the president or democrats to accomplish that. >> republicans haven't needed to say very much about this actually because of the things that is imploding on its own. we will see what 2014 brings. good to see you on this holiday. merry christmas. >> thank you. merry christmas. >> i'm getting ahead of myself, of course. because these people surely know it is not quite the holiday yet. they are trying get there. more now on that huge 40-vehicle

pileup in northeast ohio. this is just outside of cleveland. look at this mess. troopers say no one was seriously hurt in all of this. just minor injuries for people. they closed down an 11-mile stretch of i-90. troopers say snow and ice are making it very, very dangerous out there to drive, obviously. more on this as we get it. of course the not just in ohio. icy roads are creating potentially dangerous situations in places already packed with holiday travelers for michigan to maine. people are feeling the effects of the weekend's winter storm. lingering effects of it. hundreds of thousands of people are still without electricity. utilities today. some states are keeping emergency shelters open through the holiday. in southern maine, we are told pretty much the entire countys into power. officials are blaming the storm for at least 11 deaths. you know, it is one of the busiest travel times of the year. we don't have to tell you that. analysts say the conditions, though have gotten a little

better since the weekend and that storm passed officially. but more than a thousand pilots across the nation are running behind schedule. scott williams is a meteorologist at wtxf. that's fox 29 in philadelphia. you guys saw a lot of snow a couple of weeks ago. how sit looking now on the nation's maps? >> good afternoon on this christmas eve. apparently quiet conditions across the southern tier of the united states from dallas to atlanta as well as miami. we do have trouble spots as we move into sections of the midwest. in particular, some snowfall moving towards the minneapolis area. also, around des moines. just watch out for some slick travel there. also, around cleveland we continue to deal with that lake-effect snow. you saw the video of that pileup. use caution on the roadways. towards the northeast right now, pretty quiet from new york city to boston as well as philadelphia. look at the snow flurries off to the north and west. some of this activity will approach philadelphia as well as new york city over the next several hours. here is 5:00. you can see approaching the i-95

corridor. by 7:00, new york city area, we are looking at the threat for snow on your christmas eve. as far as the travel conditions right now fairly quiet conditions across the nation. portland, oregon, looking good. we are looking at foggy concerns. la guardia, no weather worries now. watching out for volume delays. atlanta looking good and 40 degrees. l.a.x. now, temperature of 76 degrees. all in all looking good as far as christmas eve weather now. >> all right. in the next 12 hours or so, as people begin to get ready for santa's arrival, what will it look like on christmas? >> let's talk about that christmas day forecast because the northern tier, we are looking at snow across the great lakes. staying cold as we move into the new york city-boston area. cool conditions for dallas and atlanta. but dry weather as we move towards parts of the pacific and also the southwest looking good. and no weather worries as far as snow. what about those chances for a white christmas? places like minneapolis, over to green bay, as well as chicago

and cleveland, looking at some snowfall on christmas day. the likelihood of that is good. otherwise, it is going to be cold across much of the lower 48. the exception will be the sunshine states. head there if you want warm weather for christmas day. >> it is bawe may have to head a surfboard in the ocean. merry christmas to you. a tough story on this holiday week. an emotional life support fight. a court-appointed doctor weighed in. this will be the second official they asked about this. saying that a 13-year-old girl is, in fact, brain dead. her family has been fighting to keep her on life support. they want to spend christmas with her. what does the court's doctors' ruling mean for their legal battle?

continuing coverage now. wroyng at this hour. a major legal battle over a child's life. a court-appointed doctor now says the 13-year-old girl is, in fact, brain dead after suffer complications following having her tonsils removed. the children's hospital of oakland filed court papers late monday asking to take the child off of life support. that after doctors there had also concluded she was brain dead. family members say they want to keep their 13-year-old daughter connected to a breathing machine. they say believe she is still alive and that the hospital should not remove her from the ventilator without their

permission. dr. fisher testify today that the girl meets tall critical criteria of brain death. dr. fisher's evaluation wassing the second to reach that conclusion. joining me to talk more about this, attorney calloway. this is difficult to take. the law is clear, though. courtney, how does this second opinion change things? >> there will probably be a third opinion because the courts will be hesitant to sort of terminate a life support measure while this young woman whose family is still fighting foreher life. they have to look -- several factors. one being is there my pain and suffer going on? they are going to want to know more about this. are there any measures that could be taken that could free serve her life or help her life. there's more to it than just whether or not she is clinically brain dead but the hospital

under the law in california has every right to terminate life support mesh whurs she is pronounced brain dead. >> aside from the law does this come down to money? i don't want to be insensitive but i know hospitals have budge. >> they absolutely do. i think that a potential third expert that may be brought into the situation and will do nothing more than complicate things and muddy the waters. courts are very hesitant to get involved in these kind of the families to resolve this with the hospital. they want the parties to come together to make the decisions. judges don't like to get involved in these things. every day she remains on that ventilator in icu she is running up health care costs that are astronomical. once the determination is made she is brain dead we are not talking about a coma, we are talking about brain death. the insurance companies are under no obligation to pay any more of the medical costs and so on and so forth. it will boil gown to the medical care costs falling upon this

family and this tragic situation. >> did you know what, though, hospitals make a lot of money. on the flip side of this, it is christmas time. could they just wait? >> absolutely. they can wait. i mean, who wouldn't give this family a christmas with their child? you bring up a great point. you know, with regard to the economics of this situation. there's clearly a case now pending and in california, those monetary damages are capped at $260,000. if for some reason they allow this child to remain on life you sxort what does f she gets better and there is some brain activity? they could be in a worse financial situation. you know, as terrible to talk bit, you know, it is a reality and something that should be discussed. if i was the victim's family that what i would be bringing to the attention of the court. there is no way they will terminate life support before christmas on this case for sure. >> a couple of key things you said there. medical malpractice. you use the term in your -- industry of med mouth but for people that may be just tuning

in and wonder how does that play in. she was getting a tonsillectomy when things went wrong. talk to me about where that case stands. >> i don't think that we are going to know what went wrong unless or until there is a postmortem and this child -- if the life support is removed. we can judgment top a lot of conclusions about possibly there being medical malpractice. but until we know all the information i think it is premature to go there. it may well have been a medical malpractice. we just don't know. >> i'm looking now to see if there is anything. there only has been one short line about this doctor's ruling today or his finding today to see if there is any sort of talk of a third opinion. before i let you go you think another doctor will be called. then at what point do you say that it is over? >> well, i -- that's going to be a judge's december figures the family cannot come to terms with the reality of her health. you know, i have read -- that

there are reports that the family is seeking a physician out of the university of toledo, i believe, who has experience with brain death and in his indication is that she is breathing on a ventilator, there some viability for her. i think the courts will allow maybe the family a little leeway to exhaust their avenues and to come to terms with the fact she is not going to get better, she is brain dead. but -- like philip said, the courts don't want to get involved. want the parties to work it out and give the families the time they need and being the holidays, it has to be devastating for them. >> nobody would even begin to guess how this family will or should or is going to grieve. quickly before i let you both go, i want to add this. we have mentioned a second doctor in this process. at that hospital, this is the sixth doctor to make this determination because had have doctors on staff at the hospital who looked at this case. philip and courtney, thank you very much for your expertise on this breaking news story. >> thanks. >> merry christmas.

>> merry christmas to you, too. the nsa leaker, ed snowden is finally explaining why he spilled top secret information on u.s. surveillance. he says that even though he had to go into hiding and it is thousands of miles away from home, it has all been worth it. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade-proud to be ranked "best overall client experience."

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edward snowden says his mission is accomplished. months after he first leaked our nation's intelligence secrets to journalists, snowden gave an in-depth interview and is explaining why he went public with that information. even though some u.s. lawmakers have called him a traitor. remember, over the summer, snowden, former nsa contractedor, revealed how our government has been deep tabs on all of us. who we were calling and a lot of

what we were doing on the internet. government officials say such surveillance is critical to preventing terror attacks. they charged snowden with spying and theft charges. he has so far escaped by getting asylum in russia. in this new interview snowden seems to say it has been worth it. he says, quote, i already won. as soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that i have been trying to do was validated because, remember, dwant to change society. i wanted to give sosa chance to determine if it should change itself, end quote. if edward snowden says he already won, does that mean that he's ready to come home? >> if snowden is ready to come home he isn't saying so. right now snowden is looking back at the last six months and saying his mission has been accomplished because, as you heard, the american public is having an open debate now about whether or not both data collection is a good thing or a bad thing. it is interesting, snowden also

told "the washington post" this. quote, i'm not trying to bring down the nsa. i am working to improve the nsa. i am still working for the nsa right now. they are the only ones who don't realize it. now, the nsa is not commenting on this story today. the white house pointed out to us that mr. snowden is being charged with felonies and think he should come back to face trial. >> do we know what's next for him? >> i met with the reporter that sat down with snowden in russia last week. and he says that the nsa leaker's life right now is similar to his life about a year ago in that snowden was never somebody that liked to go out and socialize and snowden spent a lot of time in front of the computer screen. as for what is next, the reporter says that snowden isn't giving many specifics. >> he has no control or no desire to control what new documents may be leaked. he left that entirely to the

journalists to decide what our stories will be. you can expect more stories and i assume you can expect more development in foreign capital and congress and courts and so on. >> snowden also says that he doesn't have any kind of a deal with the russian government and that if he defected at all he thinks it is from the government to the public. >> we are going to continue talking about this. you have given as you lot to talk about. joining me, the managing editor of foreign affairs magazine, jonathan tuckerman. good to have you today. he calls it mission accomplish bid trying to improve the nsa happen. has he done that. >> if we take him at his word and accept his objective whether to spark debate in the united states, he accomplished that. we are talking about it all the time now. we are talking about it on the radio and on television and being discussed in congress. it is being litigated in the courts. the president is discussing it with the american public. there is very much now a debate

about the merits and problems with the nsa and activities. >> in his words, we are going to put these up on the screen for everybody to see, he says all i wanted was for the public to have a say in how they are governed. that's a milestone we left a long time ago. seems altruistic. any way that this could factor in into how the obama administration might treat it is crimes against edward snowden? >> no. i don't think so. for a couple of reasons. one, the administration has taken a very hard line on -- throughout in office. it has shown very little leanens with people that leaked all sorts much government information. the second issue is whether snow accident actually meets the definition of a whistle blower and that typically involves two things. revelation of illegal government activity and a willingness to submit yourself to american justice. it is not clear that snowden meets either of those conditions since most of what he reveals is

not problematic or was actually incongruence. >> have you been reading what's in the internet world? >> sure. >> come on. people definitely see this as problematic. >> a lot of it is. my point is that snowden handed over 1.7 million documents to reporters. in will is a lot of surveillance that americans are uncomfortable with. a lot of surveillance that foreign leaders and governments are uncomfortable with and there is no question there are issues that need to be debated and resolved. but there's so much in there that is not necessarily problematic. details about america's drone campaign and details about a cooperation with foreign governments. the revelation of which may be harmful to the united states and to his allies. >> it is interesting. we talk about an interview

whether or not it makes news or not. this potentially does. edward snowden takes a swipe at the establishment in washington intelligence community. democrats and republicans alike. they put him into a position where he had to come out about this. he first talks about senator feinstein out of california. dianne feinstein elected me when she asked softball questions in committee hearings. he said mike rogers, michigan republican congressman, he is the chair of the house health committee, he says he elected me when he kept the programs hidden. the fisa court elected me when they decided to legislate from the bench on things that were far beyond the mandate of what that court was ever intended to do. did he choose the kind of information that distorts what the nsa is up to or is this exactly what americans needed to know m. >> i think he gave everything that he wasn't discriminating what he revealed.

some of it makes the nsa look bad. a lot of it doesn't. as for his intentions, again, i think it is hard to say. but he -- he hasn't certainly encouraged the debate that he was hoping for. >> definitely. we are all still talking about him and everything he had to say. good to have you today. >> thank you. let's talk that definitely speaks to the season we are in. a live look at the vatican city. this is happening ahead of a mid might mass. they are about six hours ahead of us. not about. six hours ahead of us on the east coast. 9s:30. we are just listening in as we go to commercial. it is so beautiful. ♪ >> pope francis invited bishops and priests to celebrate mass.

about 40 bishops. the altar symbolizes christ.

it is a gorgeous sight we will share again. thousands of pilgrims expected to attend at st. peter's basilica in the vatican. pope francis is celebrating his first christmas mass as pontiff. pope francis is "time" magazine person of the year and well liked by americans. according to the latest "wall street journal"/nbc news poll, americans hold a positive view of pope francis. the second poll by "the washington post" ask americans how they feel about the pope. a whopping 92% had a favorable opinion. away from all of this, of course, it is christmas time. and a billion-plus catholics around the world and those from

all faith watch as religious leaders give meaning to the season. let's listen in and we will be back at the news desk momentarily. honestly, i'm not looking for five-star treatment. i get times are tight. but it's hard get any work done le this. then came this baby -- smal but with windows and office. it runs my work stuff. ...and i can use apps like flipboard for news, or xbox video to watch the shows i'm never home to see... and i can still get work done at the same time. cuse me, do you mind if i... yep. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪

the u.n. security council approved a resolution to send more peacekeeping troops to the world's newest country. south sudan. it will bring the total to more than 12,000 troops there. that's double the previous amount. and, of course, you know, we have been telling you violence has been continuing to erupt. additional police and helicopters will move in from south sudan from other peacekeeping missions. a reminder, officials say that as many as 1,000 people have died since the fighting began more than a week ago. the united states has put more marines on stand bynow to heby.

private citizens and their families, you know what we saw this weekend, they shot from the ground. the situation is rapidly deteriorating there. steve, tell us about the latest troop deployment to gather by the u.n. >> the united nations, of course, as you know, very concerned about the situation in south sudan. the security council voting just today, a little while ago, to temporarily increase the u.n. peacekeeping force in south sudan so that they are going to raise the level from 7,000 and to 12,500. nearly 80% increase. the situation becoming extremely dangerous for an estimated 100,000 refugees in the face of fighting between two ethnic groups. one loyal to the president and the other to the former vice president. that violence began spreading across south sudan after an ethnic clash among the presidential guards on september 15.

>> it is of mounting urgency. i'm especially worried by reports of ethnic targeted killings. united nations will investigate reports of rights violations and crimes against humanity. >> meantime, according to a military spokesperson in south sudan troops are plan to advance on the same region where mass graves were found just today. >> yeah. i'm going tell everybody about that now. the u.n. is reporting that it made this discovery. staff members found a mass grave in an oil-rich city in the northern part of the country. she says that they counted at least 14 bodies in that grave. 20 more at a nearby river. she says that they have been able to get reports but are unconfirmed at this point of at least two other mass graves near south central -- south sudan's capital city. >> the south sudan government

indicates that the rebels were claiming the u.n. is likely to investigate and get to the bottom of it. secretary of state john kerry spoke on the phone today with the former vice president of south sudan and the state department has not yet provided details of the -- secretary's phone conversation but mccar said he's willing to negotiate and so has the president. no actual meeting has been set so far. a group of foreign ministers from five neighboring african countries is now helping to negotiate. the u.s. envoy to south sudan urged those regional officers to move swiftly in engaging the government and opposition forces with ending hostilities and underlying political causes. the united states emphasizes the urgency of the situation and stands ready to support those efforts as necessary. of course, now the u.s., african leaders and the european leaders, all keeping a very

close watch on this situation. >> you and i were working this weekend and we know this came on to the mass public's radar because of what they did there from the ground. our guys trying to land. we have a diplomatic mission there. as those crafts were coming in and trying to land do that, they were fired upon. our guys made it. a lot of damage. they were hurt. they are going to be okay. steve, thank you very much. >> you bet. >> you know, it is never a normal christmas eve if you spend it floating. hundreds of miles above the earth. for some as row naughts at the international space station was more challenging than usual. it is the second phase of what they are trying to do up there. and another live look at vatican city. thousands of pilgrims expected to attend at st. basilica. pope francis celebrating his first christmas mass as pontiff.

it looks like today's christmas eve space walk went smoothly. two astronauts introduce ad new palm. the pump will fix a cooling system and potential part of the space station. this was part two. the second emergency walk in four days. marks the second time nasa conducted this christmas eve space walk. let . >> we had a bump test out there, burnout and in bone-dry conditions during the space walk. inside the space suit in particular, finally after two previous space walks, of great concern where watt her gotten into hair space suits and that did not happen this time.

astounding images coming down from 250 miles up above the earth today during the 7 1/2-hour space walk. especially when mike hopkins, the american, strapped in by his boots to the big robotic boom arm swung all the way to the other side. carrying him 800-pound cooling pump module with just his hand. of course, with nothing up there. he was steer flood place. rocket science took a back seat as rick holding on guided it into place 2 old-fashioned way. >> little bit more. maybe another turn. >> okay. >> i think that's good. we can stop there. >> nasa then did a bump test to make sure the pump appeared to be working. that was pretty effective. it does appear to be working. once back inside the air lock both astronauts did what is called a burnout. a ten-minute deacon contamination procedure for their space suit. during the space walk, as you control in houston noted,

ammonia flakes floating out as they were attaching the fluid lines and that would decontaminate space suits for the next one on the agenda. >> i guess later tonight we will know for sure whether the cooling system actually has been repaired. >> yeah. that will basically justify the preliminary approval of the bump test. the pressurization will happen around 9:00 eastern time tonight. both are back up and running in unison. the science research that has been on hold for the past two weeks and finally resumes. this christmas eve space walk did have its befestive moment. >> best christmas ever. thanks, guys. >> juthat was fantastic work. >> merry christmas to everybody.

took a couple of licks to get it done but we got it. >> we are not working any possible conjunctions or avoidance maneuvers for a sleigh being pulled by reindeer and occupied by a jolly man in a beard and red suit the next two days. the skies are all clear. >> in summary, christmas has been saved. happy holidays. >> thank good must and thank you very much. merry christmas. we are just days away from the new year. that means a bunch of new laws will take effect. in colorado, anyone 21 years or older will be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana from a state licensed store. in illinois, they will see restrictions on how law enforcement can use drones and the information they can gather on it. as we get ready for all those new laws we are talking -- taking a look at old laws which are still on the books. really, really old. laws that don't seem to make sense anymore. many cities and states simply do

not have the resources to wipe them away. >> we saw this and thought it was cute. >> women can't vote. it is still ruled in the charter of the small town of sistersville, west virginia. they founded there nine decades after rendered pointless. the mayor says it is not worth it to change things now. >> anything you take -- has to be held by the desired public. >> america doesn't have the capacity to get rid of all laws of for the decade law piles up but mob goes back to clean out the old one. >> like the one in mississippi that bans folks from crossing state lines for a due-over or the one in georgia that bans parents from selling their children to the circus. new york city just changed a law had a banned restaurants from serving breakfast outdoors on sunday morning. >> it was really surveying very -- serving very little

purpose. we decided we would take aim at that time war on bunch. >> for every dumb law that goes away many remain. so you might not even realize you are breaking a law if you drive while frowning in idaho or roll a cigar in someone else's bedroom in tennessee. >> at this point democracy is really run by dead people. it is the people that wrote all these laws through regulations that nobody can get rid of. >> that was shepherd smith reporting. if there is ever a place to celebrate christmas, it is bethlehem. thousands of christians submerging on the city to celebrate the birth of jesus. we will go live there next. for now, pope francis getting ready. little less than three hours to celebrate the holiday. at the vatican. let's listen in and watch. ick with innovation.

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it is christmas eve and thousands of people p graered at the traditional birth place of christ, bethlehem. for now we are looking at vatican city. i understand that pope francis has already met with his predecessor and they shared a christmas blessing today. and now, of course, they are gathered getting ready for a couple of hours from now for his first mass on this christmas eve. to bethlehem. the place of birth of jesus christ. ♪ parades and christmas songs all day long today. but the main event is mid might mass of the church of the

nativity. connor powell is joining us live from bethlehem. connor, quite a scene there. >> reporter: very much a scene here. they do christmas particularly well here in bethlehem. it has been a real activity down in major square. all day long. you can see it is starting to clear out now because, as you said, everybody is starting to move to the church of the nativity for midnight mass. the festivities began earlier when the boy scouts led a long procession marching through bethlehem, drums and a lot of fanfare. down star road. bannister that leads from jerusalem to bethlehem. christmas is really a special place here. he is going to lead mass tonight which is expected to start here in about an hour. the palestinian president is now arriving here in to bethlehem. he will be part of the celebration here as well. things are starting to wrap up

here at major square. of course, the highlight of the night will be the evening mass, midnight mass, starting in about an hour. >> it is so beautiful behind you, connor. thank you very much. of course, it is already christmas day in some parts of the world. santa claus have his reindeer hard at work dropping off presents. we have the santa tracker.

as kids across the nation dream about what santa is about to bring them, it is already christmas in some parts of the world. that means st. nick has been busy. trackers at norad are watching his every move. we have twitter feed up on the news deck. tweeting out updates on santa's location. last spotted jerusalem. how about that? i wonder if connor powell saw him. norad also set up a santa tracker website. more than 22 million people

logged on last year. and we have a link for that at foxnews.com. here is the website's live stream if you are wondering why norad gets involved. it dates back to 1955 when the newspaper invited children to call santa. but it list ad military phone number by mistake. instead of disappointing curious children, commanders said they were happy to give them santa's latest coordinates. a tradition that continues today. on this day in 1968 people around the world tuned in to a very special christmas eve message from the crew of apollo viii. the first that orbited the moon. they took turns reading from the bible. >> as god said, let will be light and there was light. >> reporter: >> an estimate 1d million people watched them on tv or listened in on radio. 1 million rather. apollo's eight christmas eve broadcasts since turned up in movies and music.

the world got the first message from them 45 years ago today. we leave you with the midnight mass at vatican city. will may have been a mere cole 34th street. millions of americans are finding more coal than gifts in their health care stock thing year. that has the president looking more like the grinch. it is looking like a not so very merry christmas for millions of americans seeing their health care plans cancelled and others seeing their premiums and ded t deductibles