hOrthodox Christmas

hOrthodox Christmas

Georgians carry the national flags during a procession to mark the Christian Orthodox Christmas in downtown Tbilisi, Georgia. Christmas falls Jan. 7 for Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, Russia and other Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 16th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics and Protestants and commonly used in secular life around the world.

Body of hiker found

BLAIRSVILLE, Ga. — Authorities found the body of a missing hiker Monday, hours after a judge denied bond to the man accused of kidnapping her in the mountains of northern Georgia.

Investigators were also examining whether the death and the disappearance of two elderly hikers in October in North Carolina were related.

A source close to the investigation, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, said the remains of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson had been found. The disclosure came after authorities scheduled a “major announcement” in the case in Dawson County, south of where Gary Michael Hilton, 61, appeared in court.

Mayor’s racy photos
create a stir in town

ARLINGTON, Ore. — Some residents of this small town wish their mayor felt like she had something to hide. Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist created a stir with her MySpace page, where at one time anyone could see photos of her on one of the town’s fire engines, clad only in a black bra and panties.

Now only her friends have access to the page, but some people in this eastern Oregon community of about 500 are still upset.

Resident Lorena Woods said the photos reflect poorly on Arlington, especially since she was photographed on the fire truck. “This isn’t the way we want our city to be portrayed,” she said.

Kontur-Gronquist, who is also the fire department’s executive secretary, said the photos were taken before she was elected mayor three years ago, and she saw no reason to remove them from the Internet after taking office.

Israel to make promise
to Bush during his visit

MIGRON, West Bank — Israel will tell President Bush during his visit this week that it is committed to “expeditiously” evacuating unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, a spokesman for Israel’s premier said Monday.

Bush has said he expects Israel to comply with its 5-year-old pledge to take down the outposts. Most of the outposts consist of a few trailers on West Bank hilltops, put up by hard-line Israeli settlers to prevent creation of a Palestinian state. The Israeli Peace Now movement counts more than 100 such outposts, but the “road map” peace plan commits Israel to removing only the two dozen established after March 2002.

Dead wife’s letter points
to husband at murder trial

ELKHORN, Wis. — A dead woman’s letter pointing the finger at her husband helps prove he poisoned her, a prosecutor said Monday as the man’s murder trial began. His defense called it a touch of over-the-top theatrics she used to frame him for her suicide as punishment for his cheating.

“I pray that I am wrong and nothing happens, but I am suspicious of Mark’s suspicious behaviors and fear for my early demise,” Julie Jensen said in the letter read in court by Special Prosecutor Robert Jambois.

She gave the letter to a neighbor and told him to give it to police if anything happened to her.

Mark Jensen, 48, was charged in 2002 with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, whose body was found in 1998 at her home in Pleasant Prairie, a Kenosha suburb on Lake Michigan just north of the Illinois line. Legal wrangling has delayed the trial until now.

Associated Press