Offline: Users of Sony Play Station and Microsoft Xbox, two of the outlets that were streaming the movie The Interview, were forced offline yesterday in an apparent hacking attack. Users who tried to play new games on Christmas Day posted hundreds of complaints on social media. A hacking group called Squad Lizard took responsibility and there was no immediate indication that it was connected to the attack on Sony Pictures.

At the Movies: Crowds packed 331 independent movie theaters that screened The Interview on Christmas Day. Many said they were there to make a political statement about freedom of speech. Some film critics said it was a demonstration of the freedom to make a bad movie. Actor Seth Rogen, one of the stars of the sophomoric spoof, showed up at a theater in Los Angeles to thank the audience. Box office numbers have not been reported, but The Interview was the number one seller yesterday on YouTube Movies and Google Play.

Nation: Former President George HW Bush spent Christmas in the hospital. The 90-year-old Bush was admitted Tuesday night with shortness of breath.

> Illegal immigrants living in California will be able to apply for driver’s licenses beginning Jan. 1. The state Department of Motor Vehicles has added 800 employees in preparation for a possible onslaught of 1.6 million applicants.

World: Peace talks between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels that were to be held in Minsk, Belarus, have been called off with no explanation. Some reports say the ceasefire between the two warring sides have not been honored.

>Two Saudi women caught driving cars in defiance of the ban on women driving are to be tried in a terrorism court. The two women, ages 25, and 33, have been detained for a month. It’s not illegal for a woman to drive in Saudi Arabia, but it’s not allowed either. A small number of Saudi women has been campaigning for the right to drive.

>American traveller Stacey Addison, 41, of Portland, Ore., was released after months of imprisonment in East Timor. She had been travelling around the world. Addison was sharing a taxi with a stranger who asked to stop to pick up a package. Police later stopped the taxi and found the package contained illegal drugs.

NYPD: Seven men have been arrested for making threats against New York police officers since last Saturday when two officers were randomly assassinated while sitting in their car. An NYPD statement said, “”All threats against members of the NYPD are taken seriously and are investigated immediately to determine the credibility and origin of the information,”

Winter: A winter weather advisory stretches in a band all the way from Colorado and New Mexico into Northwest Wisconsin. Denver got several inches of snow and more than a foot fell in parts of Idaho and Montana. As the storm picks up moisture it’s expected to bring thunderstorms and heavy rain to the Gulf.

Cash Call: Authorities say most of the nearly $2 million in Hong Kong dollars spilled on a roadway in an accident have been recovered. Authorities put out a plea and by last night 29 people had turned in $5.7 million.

War on Christmas: For the 62^nd time yesterday, re-enactors played out George Washington’s famous 1776 crossing of the Delaware River. It was 50 degrees in daylight and there were no Hessian soldiers on the other side. Although Trenton is probably more dangerous today than in 1776.

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