NERW YORK (AP) — Unlike Santa Claus, Federal Express wasn’t be able to make all its scheduled deliveries on Christmas Eve.
FedEx is hoping to ease the disappointment by delivering packages on Christmas Day and opening counters at its Express offices across the U.S. so customers can pick up the gifts themselves.
The carrier blames the delayed shipments on inclement weather in parts of the U.S. and a last-minute surge of holiday shopping.
The counters at the Express offices will be open Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. FedEx’s other offices will be closed.
Household deliveries will be given top priority on Friday.
Customers can find out if their delayed shipment is scheduled for Christmas day delivery or available for pick up by checking at fedex.com or calling 800-463-3339.

Convenience store
chain boss works
40th straight Christmas
MT. ARLINGTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey convenience store executive has fulfilled his Christmas tradition of working in one of the company’s stores for the 40th consecutive year.
QuickChek Senior Vice President Mike Murphy worked Friday at a store in Mount Arlington.
Murphy says he’s always felt he should work the holiday since many of the employees have to. According to the company’s website, it has 140 stores in New York and New Jersey.
He served coffee and cleaned inside and outside the store during his five-hour shift. The store is run by one of his sons.
Murphy says coffee and batteries are the top two products for customers to pick up on Christmas morning.

Huge container
ship to arrive at
Port of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A huge new cargo ship is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Los Angeles this weekend.
The CMA-CGM Benjamin Franklin will be the largest container ship ever to call at a North American port when it arrives Saturday.
Recently delivered to the French shipping line CMA-CGM, the ship is 1,300 feet long, 177 feet wide and has the capacity of nearly 18,000 containers.
A port statement says that’s about a third larger than the biggest container ships that currently call at the twin ports of Los Angeles and adjacent Long Beach.
Port of LA Executive Director Gene Seroka says the mega ship’s arrival signals a new chapter in Pacific Rim trade flow.

Choking on smog,
Rome and Milan
issue no-car day edicts
ROME (AP) — Rome and Milan have ordered no-car days next week to combat pollution, which has hit unhealthy levels for weeks mainly because no rain has fallen to wash away the smog.
A six-hour ban on cars this Monday and Tuesday was announced by Rome on Thursday, while Milan’s anti-pollution measure sees six-hour bans daily from Monday to Wednesday.
In Rome, home heating is blamed along with heavy traffic for the eye-stinging, throat-irritating air. Until air quality improves, thermostat settings in Rome’s homes and offices cannot exceed 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit.) The total daily hours that furnaces can run is being reduced from 12 to eight, except for schools and hospitals. But many Romans ignore the rules and leave the heat on all day.
Warm, dry weather is worsening pollution.