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BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) Muslims and Christians thronged the streets of Bethlehem united in Christmas celebration and in the hope that this festive season would herald a new dawn after four years of violence. PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas journeyed from Ramallah for the annual Christmas Eve mass, the first time …

Sorya Isho Warda, Minister of Displacement and Migration, was once displaced herself. She told IRIN she narrowly escaped being killed by former president Saddam Hussein by fleeing the country and living in exile. Warda faces a nearly impossible task: How to create an equitable distribution of housing for people who …

Compared with the ferocity of war in much of Iraq, the isolated Monastery of the Virgin Mary — 25 miles north of Mosul — exists in tranquility. Surrounded by desert, this cool shelter — complete with olive trees, honeybees and a Chaldean church — houses six monks and 36 orphaned …

This year, Baghdad’s Christians are celebrating the season of peace and goodwill discreetly and in fear of further attacks on their churches, in a climate of rising violence in war-torn Iraq. “Lots of people have told me they’re afraid to come,” says Pastor Nabil Sara at the Baptist Evangelist Church …

IRAQ-MOSUL Iraqi security forces In Najaf stormed a house?early Wednesday, leaving one suspect and one policeman dead, police said.?According to the AP, police said they detained another four suspects after they stormed their hideout. Meanwhile, the U.S.?Army opened an investigation Wednesday into the cause of?Tuesday’s blast in a mess tent …

Washington -Iraq-BBCUS Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come under pressure over the attack at a US base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed 22 people. Investigations so far suggest the blast was caused by a suicide bomber, the Pentagon chief told a news conference. Journalists asked Mr …

By Albert Aji DAMASCUS – Syria – AP Iran’s foreign minister challenged U.S. and Iraqi officials Thursday to prove their allegations that his country is meddling in Iraqi affairs. Kamal Kharrazi, speaking to reporters during a visit to Syria, which has faced similar charges from Washington and Baghdad, said such …

Cairo – BBC Thirteen Egyptian Coptic Christians detained after clashes with police have been released on humanitarian grounds, the prosecutor-general said. Maher Abdel Wahed told reporters he had extended the detention of 21 others pending further investigations. Policemen were injured when stones were hurled by protesters who had occupied the …

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yesterday wrote to President George W. Bush expressing its concern about the violent attacks in Iraq targeting religious places of worship, holy sites, and individual members of religious communities. The escalation of religious terror since August is having a particularly devastating effect …

Bigotry and violent Muslim fanatics have forced many Christians to flee the region of Jesus’ birth — but the world has barely noticed, writes Salim Mansur Again this year, in the land between two rivers, the Nile and the Indus, Christians will gather to celebrate the birth of Christ and …