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Middle East FeaturesBy dpa correspondentsJan 27, 2009, 4:04 GMT Baghdad – As voters prepare to go to the polls on January 31, Iraq stands balanced on a knife-edge as the streets are safer now than they have been at any time since the country slid into civil war in 2005. …

The Associated Press Tuesday, January 27, 2009   Amman Jordan: Twelve Jordanians of Palestinian origin went on trial Tuesday on charges of carrying out what the Jordanian military court described as terrorist attacks on a Christian church and cemetery in the Arab country. The 12 men stood quietly in the dock …

     Ankara, Turkij – AsiaNews — Demonstrations are being held in many European countries to save the monastery of Mor Gabriel, a spiritual center for the Syriac Orthodox community in Turkey. Founded in 397, it is the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world. It is located on the plateau …

     Mosul – AsiaNews — The lifeless body of a young Christian was found yesterday by the army in Mosul (Northern Iraq). The abandoned body uncovered in a street in the east of the city was that of 36 year old Chourik Bagrad. AsiaNews sources in Mosul – a city …

By Dikran Ego Turkye – Seyfo Center — Inheritance from a Turkish father was shown to be taken from an Assyrian who was killed during the genocide in 1915. Berzan Boti is now apologizing for what his forefathers did and is returning the house and other properties to its rightful …

Kimi Yoshino Baghdad – Los Angeles Times — Trying to prove just how much safer Baghdad is these days, Iraqi officials threw a party for Christians on Saturday, complete with huge event posters featuring pictures of Jesus Christ. A skinny Santa Claus draped in an Iraqi flag also made an …

 Ankara – AFP — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Monday accused Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of “declaring war on the Egyptian people.” Abul Gheit, responding to Nasrallah’s address on Sunday without naming him, vowed that “the Egyptian people would confront this war.” “Someone yesterday called on the …

     Tur Abdin – KSTA — The Assyrians are a beleaguered minority. Today, only around 3000 that Syrian Orthodox Christians in Turkey. And even they are fighting for their identity: the Assyrian Mor Gabriel monastery in the southeastern province of Mardin is threatening the expropriation. The Monastery of Mor Gabriel …

     Vatican City – AsiaNews — Peace in the Holy Land and children who suffer from violence, lack of love, and the exploitation of adults: on the night when God did not only “look down,” but became a child, “made himself dependent and weak, in need of our love,” Benedict …

     Kirkuk – AsiaNews — For the Christian community in Kirkuk, the most eagerly awaited Christmas gift is “participation at midnight Mass.” It is a wish that, again this year, cannot be fulfilled: nighttime celebrations are banned for reasons connected to security. But there remains the hope that “one day …