 Thousands of people joined by marching bands, clergymen in magenta skullcaps and children dressed as Santa Claus celebrated Christmas Eve in the center of Bethlehem Sunday, doing their best to dispel the gloom hovering over Jesus' traditional birthplace.Most were local residents or Christian Arabs from neighboring Israel with a sprinkling of foreign tourists."It hasn't really set in that I am here in Bethlehem where everything happened so many thousand years ago," said an overwhelmed Matt Lafontaine, a 21-year-old university student from Plymouth, Minnesota. "It's really exciting. It's just starting to set in. It's surreal."In an annual tradition, Bethlehem's residents enacted Christmas rituals that seem out of place in the Middle East. Palestinian scouts marched through the streets, some wearing kilts and pompom-topped berets, playing drums and bagpipes. They passed inflatable red-suited Santas, looking forlorn in the West Bank sunshine....
http://www.usatoday.com
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Editor - 17:16:00 12-24-06
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 An army Christmas in Iraq |
Thousands of British troops remain in Iraq and most of them will remain on duty over Christmas. Army padres there will be trying to give the troops some spiritual cheer over the festive period. There is not much to be said for war. But one thing it does is to allow the military chaplains to hold their Christmas services at the right time, with the men and women of the armed forces all around them. At home the services would be held days or even weeks before the event, in garrison churches, before the regiments dispersed for Christmas. By contrast the 12 chaplains - 11 from the Army and one from the Air Force - serving more than 7,000 troops in southern Iraq will be in the thick of things. They will hold midnight Masses and carol services in every unit for those who wish to attend provided they are off duty. For the rest, Christmas is like any other day. Patron of lost causes Those attacking them do not take the day off and the defenders will, if anything, be extra vigilant...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6200511.stm
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Editor - 16:56:00 12-24-06
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| Australia ponders climate future |
Parts of Australia are in the grip of the worst drought in memory. Rainfall in many eastern and southern regions has been at near record lows. On top of that, the weather has been exceptionally warm. The parched conditions have sparked an emotional debate about global warming. Conservationists insist the "big dry" is almost certainly the result of climate change and warn that Australia is on the brink of environmental disaster. Other experts believe such hysteria is wildly misplaced and that the country shouldn't panic. 'A war-like scenario' The drought in Australia has lasted for more than five years. The worry for some is that this could be the start of a protracted period of low rainfall that could go on for decades. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6204141.stm
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Editor - 16:48:00 12-24-06
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| Surgeon 'flew in to treat Castro' |
A leading Spanish surgeon flew to Havana last Thursday to treat the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a Spanish newspaper is reporting. The Cuban government has not commented on any aspect of the report. The surgeon, Dr Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, is an expert on intestinal ailments, particularly cancer. President Castro temporarily stepped down from power last July and issued a statement saying he had undergone an operation to stop intestinal bleeding. Although his health is a state secret, Cuban officials have said that he is not suffering from cancer or any terminal illness, and that he is recuperating. The Barcelona-based newspaper says that Dr Sabrido flew to Havana on a jet chartered by the Cuban government. Citing Spanish medical sources, it reports that the surgeon brought with him equipment which is not available in Cuba. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6208451.stm
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Editor - 16:46:00 12-24-06
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| Two powerful women, one longstanding feud |
For 15 years Bangladesh has been dominated by the revolving-door premiership of two women. And their rivalry is among the most ferocious in the democratic world. President Jimmy Carter tried to get Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wazed to shake hands in 2004, but couldn't even persuade them to look at each other. Last month, at a party, the two held court in different corners of the room. It's the stuff of political slapstick, except that this feud is rooted in the assassination of one woman's father and the other's husband, and the result today is anything but funny. "We have floods, cyclones, many people die. But Zia and Hasina are worse," says Abul Islam, a 51-year-old Dhaka shop owner. "The two ladies are our worst disaster." Many Bangladeshis -- illiterate men pedaling rickshaws through Dhaka's squalid streets, or educated women sipping tea in stately homes -- will tell you the rivalry is the cause of all the country's problems of poverty and corruption...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/24/bangladesh.rivalry.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world
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Editor - 16:44:00 12-24-06
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| 6 Killed in 2-Car Crash on Icy Road in Maine; 3 Die in Wrong-Way Crash on Pa. Interstate |
A collision on an icy road in central Maine killed both drivers and all four passengers, authorities said. One car apparently skidded into the path of another vehicle on a two-lane highway late Saturday, the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Department said. The victims were Michael Cournoyer, 20, who was driving one of the vehicles, and his three passengers, Jacob Roy, 20; Matthew Manley, 16; and Robert Bruce, 19. In the other car were driver Steven Walton, 27, and his girlfriend, Laura Caron, 26. Their dog also died. The cause was being investigated, police said. In Pennsylvania, a pickup truck going the wrong way hit a van Saturday, killing three members of a Canadian family on vacation, state police said. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2749683
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Editor - 16:41:00 12-24-06
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