Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions ifill there were calls for peace around the world today, as millions celebrated christmas. Good evening. Im gwen ifill on the newshour tonight. From remembrances of young lives lost in newtown, connecticut, to Church Services in bethlehem, we wrap up the news of this holiday. Then, part two of our conversation about upcomingin elections house races in illinois and south carolina, an highprofile politics in new jersey. We have two Health Stories. First, are annual mammogramswn necessary . Betty ann bowser examines theil conflicting answers. Or its going to result in an excessive treatment required for people that delay getting their cancer detected. Re ifill plus, 2013 will be am pivotal year for the new Health Care Reform law. Ray suarez gets an update from julie rovner of npr. From the island of mindanao in the philippines, fred de sam lazaro profiles a group of peacekeepers struggling to maintain a fragile ceasefire between government and rebel forces. O there are many other organizations that do medical care and food provisions. Never enough. What is new here is civilians protecting civilians. Ifill itns john sparks reports on Police Officers in china, and their accusations of widespread corruption by local officials. And Jeffrey Brown samples the poetry about greeces financial woes and its austerity measures. Well hock the person to buy our bread. If you believe the headlines, then were sunk. Greece downgraded deeper into junk. Ifill thats all ahead on tonights newshour. N major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by e bill and melina ges foundatn. Dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill much of the world paused today to observe christmas. The day brought all the traditional rites of faith for christians and a new urgency to calls for calm in the troubled corners of the globe. Thousands of the faithful greeted Pope Benedict xvi today at his cal bony overlooking st. Peters square. In that timeless setting, the pontiff issued a new appeal for an end to violence especially in syria. May peace be for the people of syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which has not spared even the defenseless and reached innocent victims. Ifill pilgrims also flocked to the holy land for Christmas Mass in Bethlehems Church of the nativity believe to be the site of the jesus birth. To the east in Iraq Security was tight outside a church in baghdad. Armed police searched everyone who arrived for the Christmas Day service in a bid to prevent attacks by islamic militants. But sectarian violence did erupt in nigeria for the third christmas in a row. Gunmen killed at least five worshippers in the northeast where the radical islammist sect has staged repeated attacks. Back in this country, memories of violence and loss were still fresh in newtown, connecticut. As townspeople filled Trinity Episcopal Church on Christmas Eve. The pastor focused on the youngest worshippers ten days after a gunman killed 20 students and six adults at an elementary school. I just want to ask how you are. Are you good . Yeah. Are you okay . Are you doing okay . Ifill today visitors stopped by a snowcovered memorial to those lost at sandy hook. As a parent, i just wanted o come to respect the kids and the adulls. It touched everybodys heart. I just couldnt move forward without coming this morning early, you know, and just saying a prayer. We just wanted to come down and show support for the families obviously they will never be the same again. Whose holidays will never be. Ifill in parts of the countrys mid section, the holiday was marked by bad weather. Snow was moving from the ozarks through the ohio valley, causing blizzard warnings in indiana and kentucky. Sleet, freezing rain caused a 21car pileup in oklahoma. And left cars spinning on icy roads all the way into western maryland. I tried to back up. I couldnt see. I backed into this little wooden whatever the heck that is, busted out my side of my back light there. Now im stuck here. Ifill farther south parts of the gulf coast were on alert for tornadoes and powerful thunderstorms. But the weather wasnt a problem everywhere. Downunderwhere its summer, christmas meant a trip to the beach in sydney, australia. Santa claus used a paddle board to reach the shore handing out gifts to waiting children. Santa is here in summer. Its not strange for us at all. He comes here every year. A nice annual thing we always come to. Ifill it was warmer than usual in Berlin Germany for those who take an annual Christmas Day plunge into icy waters. Some wore little more than santa hats. Stil ifill still to come on the newshour, contests to watch in three states; screening for Breast Cancer; getting ready for the new health care law; civilians keeping the peace in the philippines; corruption in china; and writing verse about greeces troubled times. But first, with the other news of the day, heres kwame holman. Holman police in webster, new york, found human remains today in the burnedout home where a gunman ambushed firefighters on Christmas Eve. The victim appeared to be william spenglers sister. He left a note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and kill people. Spengler set fire to his house, then shot four firefighters killing two before killing himself. He had a revolver, a shotgun, and a bushmaster rifle, the same model used in the Newtown School shooting. I cant tell you at this time what the victims were shot with. We assume it w the rifle because of the distance. Its going to go to the medical examiner. Theyll have the autopsies done. Holman two firefighters remained hospitalized today in stable condition. The fire spengler set ultimately burned seven homes. The Election Commission in egypt confirmed today the new constitution won nearly 64 of the vote in a referendum. The panel also reported turnout was just a third of the countrys 52 million registered voters. President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood backed the draft constitution. Opponents warnedt paves the way for islamic rule and curbsd on civil liberties. The six persian gulf arab nations demanded an end to what they called iranian interference. They issued a Statement Today as the end of the Gulf Cooperation Councils annual summit. The statement gave no details. The six u. S. Allied countries also called for Swift International action to end the bloodshed in syria. In in central asia, a military plane crashed early this morning in kazakhstan, killing 27in people, including the countrys head of border security. Ll the russianmade aircraft went down near the Southern City of shymkent. The dead also included seven crew members and 19 border guards. There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, but kazakhstan has been plagued by heavy winds and snow in recent weeks. The longtime actor Charles Durning died monday at his home in new york. He came to be known as the king of the character actors in a 50year career that spanned 5 broadway, the movies and television. Along the way, he earned two oscar nomations. One was for his role as the corrupt governor in the best little whorehouse in texas in 1982. I and in tootsie, he played the9 unwitting suitor of dustin hoffman, who was posing as a female soap opera star. Charles durning was 89 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. A now, back to gwen. Ifill we turn to politics and part two of our look at upcoming elections. G last night, i talked with newshour Political EditorChristina Bellantoni and Shira Toeplitz of roll call about hot senate contests. Tonight, we continue our conversation. M welcome. O lets talk some more politics. I want to start with illinoise where jesse jackson, jr. Whol just resigned his house seat has left a wide open political fight in his wake. There will be a specialbe election to fill his house seat which is the Second District onr the south side of chicago. Just about 10 blocks or so fromu president obamas home. Ag this is a very geographically diverse district. It includes the urban parts the south side of chicago,ub urn parts. Ry and rural farmland on the southern tip of the district. And such a diverse geography means the field is very diverse. A whole lot of candidates, seven pretty well known names in chicago politics are running right now. That number could increase. When the petitions come in to file for the race in a week or two. Po ifill i have to ask you this because it seems for a long time jesse, jr. Had in problems. Either legal or health problemsp and maybe people have been positioning themselves for a while for this race. Lv has that been going on even before he said he was going to drop out . Absolutely. Dr theres no shortage of ambitious politicians in chicago. Ill use the former congressman, for example, she running in this specl election she also ran against jesse jackson, jr. In the primary, sensing he had some vulnerabilities then. She ended up losing by a large margin then. Shes back again like i said for this special election, one in a field of about seven candidates. Ifill lets turn to south carolina, because thereste something very interesting thats happening there, which is were beginning to see people thinking about running for the t house seat being vacated by tim scott, who just became the appointee to be senator to take jim demints place, dominoes falling. What are people thinking about running kind of know each other a little bit. This seat could be vacant as early as next week, january 2, when they come back into session for the 113th congress. Whats really interesting about this is former governor mark sanford, who for a time was a very popular republican. He fought president Obamas Administration on the stimulus program. He had a lot of different thingf that had him really in highin regards in conservatives. H then he had an affair. Ifill but hes running against or looking. Le jenny sanford, his exwife, had also expressed interest in this house seat. Fa whats very interesting about this, in addition to the fact that they were once married and he had this affair and wentac public and ended up leaving the governors race in a bit of disgrace and under investigation for using state funds for t meeting his mistress he held this seat for three terms. This is a district hes familiar with. She was actually his campaign20 manager when he held this seat in the late 1990 as and into 2002 when he was elected as governor. Neither of them are backing away. Both of them have said theyre inferested. They havent officially declared. Hes got more than a Million Dollars in the bank left over m from his political career. Its possible he could be in good shape there. Is ifill its interesting. E at the time that this story, this very lurid story about mark sanford first surfaced, people thought at the time hes toast. T he wont be able to serve out his term but he did survive. D he served out his term, didnt he . He did survive. You know, like christina said before this scandal he was pretty popular. People talked about him even running for president. He was well regarded in washington d. C. Too among the i delegation. Yes, i think this is the perfect path for a comeback if he is going to do that. Hes going back to his old district where hes known well. Hell make a go. Thishe it will either work or it wonti but this is the most direct path back to public life and Public Service he could probably find. H ifill if they run against each other it will be the most hotly covered race in the country. This is a republican seat so its likely that a republican will hold that seat when its over. En ifill lets talk about the governor of new jersey. T we had been watching Chris Christie a lot whether it was to do super storm sandy or whether to campaign for mitt romney. S theres a lot of question about whether he would get the o challenge from the very popular mayor of newark, at least popular in some circles cory booker. Whats interesting about this is that cory booker put out a web video which is how all the a politicians announce these days. He said im interested in obnning for senate. That job isnt actually open at this point. Senator Frank Lautenberg holds that seat, a longtime democrat. He has not telegraphed what hes going to do. When cory booker put out this statement that he was going to run lautenberg said theres a time for politics. Au its next year. Thats when ill address it. Lautenberg is 80 years old. Hes in his 80s. He might decide to run. H he could be. Decide to keep that challenge afloat there. We could either be talking about a democratic primary or booker is very well known. Hes got a Strong National presence. El so this is somebody who could clear the field for the democrats but either way it will be competitive. Republicans always say that they think hes within their sights. Chris christie proved to republicans that a republican can win there. T its going to be very interesting but that governors race is next fall. Ifill lets talk about that governors race next fall. Does Chris Christie have a free run . Its looking like his ride to a second term will be a lot easier than it would have been if cory booker were in the race. These are two big new jersey personalities. In a state like new jersey those are big, big personalities. Se i think hell have a much easier time. This obviously sets him up in as much better position should he decide to run for president in 2016. I he can focus on that building a National Profile and a nationali donor base, not having to worry so much about his challenge at home. P ifill you raise an interesting point. I wonder what you both think about this, whether both of these folks, Chris Christie and cory booker have such National Platforms now that we can expect to hear a lot from them, no matter what happens in the 2014 race. I would think so. Certainly what you saw Chris Christies complement of the president during super storm sandy. Oi then cory booker has been out there not just doing the National Talk show circuit but also even in the comedy circuit. The two of them recorded a video playing off each other. The two of them have a Big Personality but also the big profiles. Theyre not gog away no matter what they do. Ifill theyre being watched. I dont know that cory booker is being talked about for president but certainly Chris Christie ise theyre being watched very y osely by national figures. Absolutely. Chris christie topped the lists. Of contenders that republicans would like to see run. His favorability rating especially post hurricane sanda is quite high in new jersey. Eyou republicans would like to see someone who is a little more, i guess, not a southern governor. Someone from the northeast try again. Th i think Chris Christie has an. Better profile f that than mitt romney did. They would like to see him run again. Ee cory booker, 2016 might be a little soon for him to run. Li if he gets in the senate, he cae serve out a term change and tryt again maybe 2020, 2024. Ifill i want to know what Bruce Springsteen has to say. Whatever he says goes. Thank you both. Merry christmas. Ifill thank you. You can watch the first part ofd our discussion about the latesta scramble for senate seats in two states. Find that on our politics page. Now to a pair of Health Stories and the important questions p theyve prompted. First a recent study on mammograms is reigniting a longstanding debate over the benefit of annual screenings. Be Newshour Health correspondent betty ann bowser has our report. Reporter last year after a routine mammogram detected two tiny Breast Cancers 56yearold diane wright underwent a lumpectomy, four months ofnt chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation. I think i was devastated. I was surprised. I i was shocked. I was overwhelmed by it all. Reporter wright has been following the advice of the American Cancer Society, getting an annual mammogram every year since the age of 40. I i feel very fortunate that it was caught then because i had really no symptoms or signs that i had Breast Cancer. I felt good. Without the mammogram i dontod know how long it would be before it was discovered. Reporter like millions of american women wright thinks mammograms are a good screening tool. But she now finds herself at the center of yet another controversy in the medical community over just how effective annual mammograms really are. This latest dustup came on the heels of a new study in the new england journal of medicine last month. The study found that annual mammograms do a good job of detecting new small cancers. Finding over half of them in the past 30 years. But the researchers said mammograms have not been