US President Joe Biden and his incoming successor Donald Trump issued starkly contrasting Christmas messages Wednesday, with the latter doubling down on recent comments about seizing the Panama Canal,

The soon-to-be 47th president of the United States wished almost everyone a Merry Christmas on Wednesday, even the “Radical Left Lunatics” and the “wonderful soldiers of China.” Presidents and politicians have delivered holiday well wishes for decades — former President Calvin Coolidge issued the first official greeting in 1927 — but President-elect Donald Trump’s unique holiday greeting style

The Republican’s messages were in stark contrast to US President Joe Biden’s post emphasising ‘kindness and compassion’.

This year, the first night of Hanukkah will fall on the same day as Christmas for the first time since 2005. Christmas and Hanukkah both always fall on the 25th, but of two different months, with Christmas coming on the Dec.

Wednesday marks a rare holiday occurrence — when Hanukkah begins at sundown on Christmas night. It's just the fifth time in the last 114 years that both holidays are taking place on the same day, and it won't happen again until 2035.

While the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah often falls at varying points during November and December, this year's festival of lights begins a bit later - and it comes with a calendar rarity.