newsmakers

newsmakers

Elizabeth calls for harmony in Christmas message

SANDRINGHAM, England

Queen Elizabeth II used her traditional Christmas broadcast Thursday to call for reconciliation throughout the United Kingdom and to praise medical workers fighting Ebola in Africa.

She said it will take time to heal divisions in Scotland, where a referendum took place this year on whether to remain part of Britain, and praised progress resolving the conflict in Northern Ireland. Elizabeth cited the “Christmas truce” in 1914 as an example to be remembered.

“Something remarkable did happen that Christmas, exactly 100 years ago today,” she said. “Without any instruction or command, the shooting stopped, and German and British soldiers met in No Man’s Land. Photographs were taken and gifts exchanged. It was a Christmas truce.”

She said German forces sang “Silent Night” so that it could be heard on the British side of the front line.

“That carol is still much-loved today, a legacy of the Christmas truce, and a reminder to us all that even in the unlikeliest of places, hope can still be found,” the queen said before wishing everyone a happy Christmas.

The queen writes her own Christmas speech, which is pre-recorded and televised in many parts of the world. She made her first Christmas broadcast on radio in 1952.

The queen and her close family celebrated Christmas at the sprawling Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The royals attended a church service Christmas morning before a gala lunch. Prince William and his pregnant wife, Kate, were present, but their toddler son, Prince George, didn’t go to church.

Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, also didn’t attend because of a painful back injury suffered earlier this month, officials said.

The queen arrived by car while the other royals walked from her estate to the village church.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined the route to the church to exchange Christmas greetings with the royals.

‘Selma’ disappoints LBJ historian

AUSTIN, Texas

The widely acclaimed movie “Selma” about the 1965 civil-rights movement has disappointed at least one moviegoer: a leading historian of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, which hosted a major civil-rights summit this year that was headlined by four U.S. presidents, said the film, which opened in theaters Thursday, incorrectly portrays Johnson as an obstructionist to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Selma” is based on the 1965 marches from the Alabama cities of Selma to Montgomery that were led by King. Marchers were calling for voting rights.

LBJ Library Director Mark Updegrove said the film unfairly casts Johnson as a sort of composite character who represents the obstacles blacks faced in getting civil-rights laws passed. What history shows, Updegrove said, is that Johnson and King had a partnership.

He said Johnson and King had disagreements but not like the film suggests. Updegrove called the portrayal unfortunate given the current climate in the wake of the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.

“When racial tension is so high, it does no good to suggest that the president of the U.S. himself stood in the way of progress a half-century ago. It flies in the face of history,” Updegrove said.

A spokeswoman for Paramount Pictures, the studio that released the film, did not immediately return messages for comment Wednesday.

“Selma” is nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including best picture for a drama and best director.

Associated Press