static List parse(Element root, Channel channel, 
        boolean updateChannel) throws java.net.MalformedURLException {

        LinkedList itemList = new LinkedList();

        // Now look for the channel nodes within this file.
        NodeList nodes = root.getChildNodes();

        int numNodes = nodes.getLength();

        for (int i = 0; i < numNodes; i++) {
            Node child = nodes.item(i);

            switch (child.getNodeType()) {
                case Node.ELEMENT_NODE:
                    String childName = child.getNodeName();

                    if (childName.equals("channel")) {
                        parseChannel(child, channel, updateChannel);
                    } else if (childName.equals("image")) {
                        parseImage(child, channel, updateChannel);
                    } else if (childName.equals("item")) {
                        Item item = parseItem(child, channel);

                        if (item != null) {
                            itemList.add(item);
                        }
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        // Lastly, let's extract all the items within this file. Each of
        // the items will have a separate item object created for it and
        // it will be populated with data from this file.

        return (itemList);
    }