fox's john huddy reports from bethlehem. >> reporter: inof hatican city, pope francis delivering hisnnual christmas message and blessing focusing on those caught in conflicts. >> open your hearts to trust and bestow his piece upon the whole middle east beginning with the land blessed by his birth. >> reporter: meanwhile in bethlehem the site where christians believe jesus was born tourists from around the world gathering for mass at the church of the nativity. >> we've been honored to be here all the way from the other side of the world. >> this is aof hery special feeling to be here in bethlehem today. and to see all of the things that for many years we have read of. >> reporter: president obama spending the holiday with his familiar until hawaii releasing his weekly address a few days early. >> merry christmas, everyboudd. >> reporter: the president and first lady asking americans to celebrate and honor us troops, veterans and their families. >> in just a few days our combat mission in aeavhanistan will be over. our longest war will come to responsible end. responsih.> reporter: sp

in jerusalem, john huddy, fox news. >>> chaos on college campus, coming up there was a brawl that leftnt battered and bruised. plus, also, something heartwarming. couples struggling to become parents say they are finding miracles, it is happening in new jersey, there is a clinic making their families complete. that story coming up. and also take a close look. this does not happen very often. that is cool. would you look at all of that fog there. rare scene at the grand canyon, left a lot of tourists stunned. >>> you have heard that mantra over and over again, echoed throughout our country for weeks. this was a scene in new york city today, protesters angry about the deaths of two un armed black men at the hands of two white police officers in two separate incidents n our nation's capitol thousands walking along pennsylvania avenue, all calling for change. in that rally, many people from our area. dave kinchen was with them and has their story. >> we are inside the march held by the national action network. there are thousands of people in washington here, marching to capitol hill. they

>> john, that was john huddy reporting. thanks a lot. >>> turning to our top story action the tragedy of american photo journalist luke somers was murdered today. he was killed by al-qaeda terrorists in yemen during that brave rescue attempt by u.s. special forces. he was kidnapped in september of last year in yemen's capitol. authorities say the terror group had planned to execute him this morning. that apparently prompting this rescue attempt. the u.s. special forces, the navy seal team six were unable to save him. what does this mean? our guest is here. this is so heart breaking and tragic because we're told the seals went through the forest, five or six miles after they were dropped far away at 1:00 o'clock in the morning. they got very close, 100 yards away where somers was being held when maybe a dog started barking for some reason. the terrorists were alerted and apparently one of the terrorists shot them and they were not able to be rescued and they retreated on the owe spree and flown to a naval ship. this must ind

john huddy is keeping an eye on that story in jerusalem for us. >> jon this should have been a routine trip. it's done all the time from greece to italy. but it turned into a deadly and horrendous 24-hour nightmare as we've been talking about. take a look. you're going to see dramatic video. all of this started early sunday morning when a fire broke out in the parking bay aboard the norman atlantic ferry. one passenger described the chaos and panic as people scrambled out of their smoke-filled cabins and trampled each other to get to the rescue helicopter. some say men were pushing women and children out of the way. others reportedly jumped into the adriatic sea to get to the rescue boats. many passenger, however waited on the ship's upper deck in the pouring rain, the hail, the gale force winds as mentioned, for more than a day to be lifted up one by one to the choppers that were struggling to keep control. that's because the rescue effort was hampered by those gale force winds. the rough seas and also terrible visibility. but as mentioned the more than 450 passengers and crew have be

in jerusalem, john huddy fox news. >> a local boy's dream comes true all thanks to a mix-up.he group of strangers across the country jumped in to save the day. >>> one community's winter dilemma may leave a lot of drives stuck in the snow. why snowplows are disappearing. domenica? >> temperatures down 13 degrees from where they were yesterday and that's just the beginning of the cold that's about to move in. we'll have a look at the forecast coming up. >> right now at 10:30. some philly parents are scrambling to find a place for their kids to go to school. they just found out few days ago that the walter palmer middle school is shutting down december december 31st. that's on wednesday. fox 29's dave kinchen broke this story over the weekend. he was at a rally for the school tonight. >> reporter: a small but vocal group of parents heard a curb side meeting outside the walter palmer charter school in northern liberties. they are angry palmer administrators decideed to abruptly close the school over the holiday break. these parents plan on sending a message to the state departme

fox's john huddy reports from bethlehem. >> reporter: in vatican city pope francis delivering his annualchristmas message and blessing focusing on those caught in conflict. >> open heart trust and may he bestow his belief upon belief beginning with the land bless by his birth. >> reporter: in bethlehem the the the site where christians believe jesus was born tourist from around the world gathered for mass at church of the nativity. >> we have been honored to be here all the way from the outside of the world. >> there is a very special feeling to be here in bethlehem today and to see all of the things that for many years we have read of. >> reporter: president obama spending the holiday with his family in hawaii releasing his weekly address a few days earlier. >> merry christmas, everybody. >> reporter: the the president and first lady asking americans to celebrate and honor u.s. troops, veterans and their families. >> in just a few days our combat mission in have again stan will be over. our longest war will come to than a end. >> reporter: assuring them u.s. support will continue. >> i

john huddy, thank you so much. >> there's brand-new details about the horrible attack on the pakistani school earlier this week. the mastermind of the killings is a man known as slim, the pakistan taliban leader. the attack left 130 children dead. described as a lifelong islamic militant and appeared in a video released by taliban where he attempts to justify that attack, arguing it was done in retaliation. the attacks by pakistani army and saying if you attack us, we'll take revenge for the innocence. school is run by the army and many were children are military officers. pakistani prime minister now vowing to bring him to justice. >>> the nypd arresting a fourth suspect who they say played a role in a protest that turned violent on the brooklyn bridge resulting in injuries to two police officers. brian as more from our new york city newsroom. >> three of those four have come in the last three days. they are facing charges for alleged roles of the assault on two new york city police officers during last saturday's massive millions march protesting police violence and racism. when you

. >> john huddy live in our mideast bureau thank you. >>> later this half hour, lieutenant colonel bill cowan will talk more about the impact of the extra 1,000 troops remaining behind in afghanistan. >>> pakistan's military now claims to have killed a top al qaeda operative. this man served as head of external operations, the same role once held by khalid sheikh mohammed, the mastermind of the september 11th attacks. back in 2000le the 39-year-old saudi national was indicted for his alleged involvement in a plot to bomb the new york city subway system. >>> in the big easy and across louisiana it is election day, it's the final face-off between these two candidates, democratic incumbent senator mary landrieu and her republican challenger bill cassidy. both failed to win 50% of the vote in november, forcing this special election. john roberts right now is live in baton rouge, louisiana, with the latest. hi, john. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. mary landrieu hoping this will not be her last stand but she goes into today's runoff election at a definite disadvantage. she's done just ab

john huddy is live with that story. hi, john. >> reporter: this was a surprise visit by outgoing secretary of defense hagel to afghanistan as you mentioned. and his announcement was a bit of a surprise i guess you could say for some folks as well. that's because the us military planned to pull a thousand troops out of afghanistan starting in the beginning of 2015. but that's been put on hold. secretary hagel today said that 10,000800 troops will remain in the country. he made the announcement as mentioned during a press conference with afghan president ashraf ghani in kabul. he there's been delays to send a couple thousand troops to join nato forces on the ground helping train and assist afghan security forces. so he says the contingent of u.s. troops could remain in afghanistan for the first few months next year but added that u.s. commanders have been given flexibility with the dates. that said, hagel also talked about the surge of taliban attacks in kabul over the last two weeks saying, quote, we will take appropriate

tenderness. >> in bethlehem, christians around the world are celebrating the birth of jesus christ. >> john huddyme it manger square. families out and about enjoying the day. i told you guys about this earlier, it's absolutely gorgeous out. clear, sunny. a slight breeze. so beautiful day to celebrate christmas. then of course, we have the church of the nativity, the site of jesus' birth. as i said, dating back to the 4th century. so you're looking at stones that date back to the 4th century. the church was damaged at one point and rebuilt. sections were rebuilt in the mid 7th century. but again, the history is incredible here. things call minutated, did she cull minutated with midnight mass here and across the world for that matterment after a procession led through manger square. and the celebration, the christmas celebration wasn't only here in this region, but also across the middle east, including christmas celebrations in baghdad, iraq. as i mentioned earlier, pope francis called christians in a refugee camp outside of northern iraq wishing them a merry christmas and also saying -- comparing

john huddy in the bureau.e has been held by them for more than a year now, how do you explain that time in? >> lost to their first second. >> the timing of the video. >> the video just released. i watched it a short time ago, it is heartbreaking because as he mentioned you have him essentially appealing for his life at one point saying "i'm certain my life is in danger. having said that in the three minutes video the commander, he threatens executing it if they don't meet the demands within three days. and then a somber summers in a separate clip appeals for help saying "i asked if anything can be done, please let it be done. here's what we know, talk about in the beginning, the 33-year-old was working at a photojournalist in war-torn yemen when he was adopted in 2013. he has u.s. and british citizenship. his facebook page says he is from london, lives in yemen and went to college in wisconsin. now this is significant, getting a lot of information from our sources telling us there was a u.s. special forces rai

john huddy watching from the middle east bureau. john, who are these targets? >> reporter: bill, as mentioned up with was a top deputy to abu bakir al-baghdadi and one is the top commander of isis in iraq. a big blow to the major players. let me bring you up to speed. u.s. officials say airstrikes between december 3rd and december 9th. killed a man who was head of isis military operations in iraq and a key deputy to al bag buddy as i mentioned and in late november, another airstrike killed a midlevel commander. isis's so-called quote, governor in mosul, iraq. according to officials, mosul, iraq, was second largest city captured by isis militants in late june and has been a major battleground since then, bill. bill: john huddy, thanks for that. more details on this later with general jack keane. thank you, john. here's martha. martha: the government is broken, that is what 2/3 of americans believe. we'll talk to karl rove. find out what is broken and how to fix it. it is a tall order. bill: also the white house fence jumper cause ad chain reaction of skepticism

>> john huddy, thank you. >> back at home support pouring in for a medal of honor recipient sending atrong message to isis. it is going viral after he said threats from the terror group are a dream come true. refusing to lay low when the fbi warned isis may be targeting service members on-line. one of the readings wonder if any isis members want to drop by and join my book club has already been retweeted more than a thousand times. myers will join us live next hour on "fox & friends." >> ravens on the defense after ray rice's wife claimed the teen told her to apologize earlier this year for her role in the elevator incident that left her unconscious. the ravens say they only gave talking points for the running back including, i take full responsibility for what happened that night. we will not let this one night define who we are and i was wrong. i made a mistake. rice has since been reinstateed by the league. >> reality getting too real for teresa giudice the real housewife suing her former lawyer for $5 million. she he's the reason why she is going to jail for bankruptcy fraud. sayi

john huddy has the story of a dramatic rescue and those who sadly were not so lucky. >> reporter: smoke billowed from the ferry as it drifted on the aid yack it sea. the last of the more than 450 passengers and crew were rescued. at least 10 people were killed during the 24-hour nightmare, dozens of others injured. this spokesman for greece's coast guard said, quote, superhiman efforts were made in the rescue operations hampered by gail force winds rough seas and blinding rain and hail. >> helicopters struggled to lift passengers up one by one from the burning ferry, one man said people trampled each other to get to the chopper. others waited on the ferry's upper deck to be rescued. >>> in recent days, police officers in new york city have been figuratively turning the tables quite literally turning their backs on mayor bill deblaza. in a graduation ceremony for new officers where a small number of audience members turned their backs on the mayor. correspondent david lee miller has that story from new york city. >> it was a tough crowd for new york mayor bill de blasio, as he approached

the latest assault was carried out by a suicide bomber on boary of a bus & john huddy picks up the story from jerusalem. >> reporter: julie tis a bloody 24 hours in afghanistan. two u.s. solders were killed and they warned that the the violence will increase as the international military effort and mission comes to an end. >> this is all that is left of a bus destroyed in kabul. >> this man described two afghan soldiers badly injured and bleeding, jumping out of the burning bus. and another attack in kabul, two gun men shot to death. an afghan supreme court official walking to his car. taliban insurgents killed 12 workers clearing mines. the violence is growing in afghanistan as the international military effort comes to an end. a week after u.s. secretary of defense chuck hagel was in paxñ cable, germany's defense minister was there today. she said afghan forces are prepared to take over security responsibilities. the u.s. will leave 10000 troops in a noncom bat role. nato forces will remain on the ground as well. but the taliban warns that the attacks will continue and targeting govern

john huddy is standing by from our mideast bureau following the story with the latest developments. john. >> uma, these attacks have really escalated not only the past 48 hour also but really over the past couple weeks. as the international mission starts to wind down and it's been a particular bloody 12 hours. let me walk you through the latest numbers. two u.s. soldiers were killed yesterday near the bagram airfield outside of kabul. today, insurgents shot to death 12 workers who were clearing mines in southern afghanistan in the helmand province. one of the largest minefields in the world. in kabul, two separate attacks. a suicide bomber destroyed a bus carrying afghan soldiers. reportedly killing six and wounding 14 others. though that number could grow. those are the initial numbers that we're getting. and in another attack, two gunman shot to death an afghans who was walking from his home to his car. that also happened in kabul as well. now, all of this as the international effort comes to an end in afghanistan. the u.s. will leave about 10,000 troops to advise and assist afgha

john huddy has more from uremia's bureau. >> reporter: two u.s. soldiers were killed when their military convoy was attacked in afghanistan late yesterday. today at least 19 people had been killed in afghanistan by taliban insurgents who warned that the violence will increase as the international military effort comes to an end. this is all that was left of a bus destroyed by a suicide bomber in kabul. six afghan soldiers killed, at least 14 others wounded. this man described two afghan soldiers badly injured and bleeding, jumping out of the burning bus. in another attack today in kabul, two gunmen shot to death an afghan supreme court official who was walking to his car. the violence continued in other parts of the country. in southern afghanistan, taliban insurgents killed 12 workers who were clearing mines. dozens of others were injured in that attack. the violence is growing in afghanistan, as the international military effort comes to an end. a week after u.s. secretary of defense chuck hagel was in kabul, germany's defense minister was there

john huddy has the details. >> reporter: kurdish forces have had to reamateur hundreds much small milesrom isis in what has been a grueling and difficult military and logistical rescue operation. headway has been made. kurdish fighters had reportedly opened a 44-mile long cor consider, basically an escape route between their positions in northeastern syria and mount sinjar. that allowed for rescues of thousands trapped since august with tanks and troops clearing a path allowing food, water and other aid to flow in to help those people. also a big help in the effort has been the ongoing assault in kabbani where critical ground has been recaptured from isis. kurdish fighters taking over 16 neighborhoods, pushing isis militants back from their fighting positions with help from the u.s.-led coalition air strikes. positions have helped in the516 rescue effort of the yaziti people. and that continues tonight. >> john, thank you very much from jerusalem. >>> a u.s. drone strike in pakistan reportedly very successful. security officials say now that two missiles were fired into a taliban hideou

. >>> news from overseas, violent day, more than dozen people were killed today, fox's john huddy hashe story >> 2us soldiers were killed when military attack in afghanistan, so far today at least 20 people have been killed as the violence in afghanistan continues to increase. this is all that was left after bus destroyed by suicide bomber earlier today in kabul, six afghan soldiers were killed, at least 14 others ones dollars. in another attack, two gunmen shot to death, afghan supreme court official was walking to his car. and violence continued in other part of the country, as well. in southern afghanistan, taliban insurgents killed 12 workers, who are clearing mines, dozen of others were injured. the violence is growing in afghanistan, as the international military effort comes to an end. the us, however, will leave about 10,800 troops to advice, assist, train afghan soldiers, nato forces will remain on the grounds, as will. the taliban has warned the attacks will continue, on government officials, the military, and also foreigners, including the media. >> still ahead on "fox 29 n

john, huddy, thanks a lot for the update. >>> well, right now new york republican congressman michael grimm says he will resign his office. this after pleading guilty to one count of tax evasion. he faces up to three years in federal prison. rick leventhal has more from our new york newsroom. >> a quick change of heart from the former fbi agent who just last week after pleading guilty in federal court said he was sorry but wouldn't quit, and then after meeting with house speaker john boehner yesterday, grimm announced he was done. his resignation statement reads in part, the events which led to this day did not break my spirit nor the will of the voters. however, i do not believe that i can continue to be 100% effective in the next congress and, therefore out of the respect for the office and the people i so proudly represent it's time for me to start the next chapter of my life. he was indicted on 20 counts of misconduct in connection with a restaurant he co-owned before being elected. he pled guilty to a single count of felony tax fraud and will be sentenced in june. he may be best

joining us, john huddy, standing by with why these sporadic clashes are delaying the evacuation of those last ezidys who remain trapped on mt. sinjar. >> kurtdish forces have had to recapture hundreds of square miles from isis. this has been a very difficult logistical and military effort that's caused, as you mention, those delays. but we're hearing that tremendous headway has been made. that's because kurdish forces have reportedly opened a 44-mile long corridor between these positions in northeast syria and mt. sinjar in neighboring iraq. that's allowed for the rescue of thousands of eye zidys who have been trapped since august. as you see there, clearing a path, and now aid and food and water being brought in to all those people. a big help has also been the ongoing offensive in kobani. as you mentioned in the lead-in, the syrian town along the turkish border, where critical ground has been recap chured from isis. this has been a main battleground that's lasted for several months. it's been a bloody one, too. at this point, we're hearing kurdish forces have recaptured six key areas,

john huddy has more from our mideast bureau with the very latest. hi, john. >> reporter: hi, eric. yeah, the taliban is warning that these attacks will continue as you mentioned the international military effort is now winding down in two weeks will be over at that point. that said it's been a bloody day. and for that matter a bloody 24 hours. let me bring you up to speed on the latest. as mentioned two u.s. soldiers were killed yesterday. that happened near the bagram airfield outside of kabul. of course afghanistan's capital. today also in kabul there are two separate attacks, one a suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying afghan soldiers, reportedly killing six and wounding 14 others. that number could grow over the next couple hours. also two gunmen shot to death an afghan supreme court official who was walking to his car today. that happened in kabul as well. there was more violence across the country, insurgents shot to death 12 workers clearing mines in southern afghanistan in the helmand province, that's one of the largest if not the largest minefield areas in the world. all t

john huddy has been tracking this down in our middle east bureau.here are a lot of conflicting reports about whether the wife and child are indeed in custody. what do we know about this? >> reporter: it depends on who you ask at this point. lebanese military officials say that it is true, that this woman is the wife of isis leader abu bakr al-baghdadi. in fact they say she even admitted to it. but then today you have an iraqi official of the interior ministry in iraq denying that claim saying the woman is the quote sister of a terrorist suspect being held in iraq, not abu bakr al-baghdadi's wife. the hope was that if fit was or is al-baghdadi's wife it could help military officials track him down if he is alive. there were reports al-baghdadi was injured or killed in a u.s. coalition airstrikes but that was not confirmed. so a lot of murky and sketchy information. we are trying to put it all together for you. bill: there are now comparisons between the current hope and pope john paul ii. could francis help bring an end to islamic extremism the way j

john huddy joins us live from bethlehem. john? yeah, the celebration continues tonight here in bethlehem. in fact, let me give you a nice little panoramic shot behind me. behind you see the trees, manger square. then of course the beautiful church of the nativity. there are many people still here. last night, yesterday was packed. thousands of people for the festivities. there is of course midnight mass. it has been a very lively atmosphere so far today and peaceful i should add, at a time of great political turmoil and violence. but overall very lively and peace phil atmosphere. that was the case earlier today outside of the church with people singing and dancing and it's celebration wasn't only here in bethlehem but all throughout the middle east. in syria christians were celebrating christmas and also in iraq, in baghdad, christians there were celebrating at a time when of course the battle continues against isis. isis persecuting christians among many other people. as we've been reporting pope francis last night called a group

john huddy live in bethlehem just outside jerusalem today. , john, welcome to christmas in bethlehem. it's in full swing behind me. as you can see, let me step out of the way. i'll set the scene for you. you're looking at manger square. boy, there's got to be a couple of thousand people down there. there's been music all day. there's a stage down . traditional, of course, christmas songs, and not only english, but also arabic as well. we are in the west bank. that's something that's interesting. i never heard jingle bells in arabic. there's the smell of food, the great middle eastern food here. just the overall celebration. it's a great atmosphere. it's a great respit from what has been a tough and violent, of course, year here in israel in israel and also in the west bank. now, earlier today the patriarch of jerusalem led the traditional procession through manger square. the glorious and historic church of the nativity just on the other side of the square from us where really the christian celebration officially kicked off here and then, of c