GIs, Iraqi Christians Celebrate Christmas
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Security concerns kept many Iraqi Christians away from church Christmas Day, while U.S. troops in Baghdad celebrated the holiday as traditionally as possible &#151; feasting on turkey and then relaxing at the pool table or computer screen.
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Worshippers brought hopes for greater peace in the coming year as they flocked to Manger Square in Bethlehem and to St. Peter&#39;s in the Vatican to hear Christmas messages urging an end to violence, particularly in the Middle East.
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Iraqi Christians won't be celebrating  Christmas this year. Midnight mass, the centerpiece of  Christmas festivities in Iraq, has been canceled because of  night-time curfews.
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Hundreds of millions of Christians Saturday are celebrating Christmas, despite conflict, persecution and fear of terrorist attack.
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Worshippers brought hopes for greater peace in the coming year as they flocked to Manger Square in Bethlehem and to St. Peter's in the Vatican to hear Christmas messages urging an end to violence, particularly in the Middle East. But from Indonesia to Iraq, fear overshadowed the festivities.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Muslims in Iraq and worldwide have spent the weekend celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The feast of Eid ul-Fitr follows a month of daylight fasting.
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BAGHDAD  - At least 13 Iraqis were killed in a string of Christmas Day shootings and bombings, as US President George W. Bush thanked American soldiers for their sacrifice and for protecting America.
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The Queen sends a special Christmas message of 'gratitude and respect' to British troops in Iraq.
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Baghdad: Rescuers in Baghdad lifted blackened corpses on Christmas Day from the ruins of a suicide truck bombing the previous evening that killed eight people, further unnerving Iraq&#39;s embattled Christian community.
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VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II expressed &quot;great apprehension&quot; about the war in Iraq and other world hot spots, as he delivered his annual Christmas Day message to thousands of followers in Rome&#39;s St Peter&#39;s Square.
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Peace appeals are heard as Palestinian leaders join Christmas festivities in the town of Bethlehem.
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AMMAN, Jordan (RNS)--Iraqi Christians flocked to the Latin Catholic church in the Hashmi district of the Jordanian capital, a drab working-class area, where they celebrated Mass in the ancient Chaldean language.
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Several thousand pilgrims celebrated Christmas Eve in the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Friday (local time), welcoming the new thaw in Israeli-Palestinian relations and voicing hopes for peace in the Middle East.
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CAMP ISTIQLAAL, Iraq -- Even when you're a soldier far from home, a few of your buddies have died, and there's a chance you'll never return, Christmas must go on.
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People are reflect in a motorbike&#39;s rearview mirror during prayer in Baghdad&#39;s Shiite enclave of Sadr City Friday, Dec. 24, 2004.
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CHRISTMAS IN THE DESERT: There is no snow, though it hailed briefly in parts of Iraq last week and the temperature has dipped below freezing in recent days.
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Nestled off a bustling shopping avenue in central Baghdad, Babylon Farms offers all the retail trappings of Christmas. Baskets brim with glitterdusted ornaments.