Calls for peace as Christmas is celebrated
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Hundreds of millions people around the world celebrated on Saturday the birth of Jesus Christ as appeals rang out from Jesus&#39; birthplace in Bethlehem to the Vatican for peace in the Middle East.
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VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II offered Christmas wishes yesterday for a world where he said timid but hopeful efforts at peace coexist with worries over Iraq, the Holy Land, and Africa.
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Thousands of pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of Jesus's birth Saturday with prayers for peace after the death of Yasser Arafat.
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The familiar sound of ringing bells announces the beginning of a Christmas -time tradition. Christmas shoppers are once again reminded by the Salvation Army
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Israel is taking special steps to insure a merry Christmas in Bethlehem, an Israeli military official said Thursday, raising hopes for a gentler holiday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus after four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Muslims and Christians joined together on Christmas Eve in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, holding their breath that the festive season would be peaceful and possibly the start of a new dawn.
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Pope John Paul told the world in  his Christmas message on Saturday that people everywhere were  yearning for peace and expressed particular concern for Iraq,  the Middle East and Africa.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Dec. 24 -- Encouraged by renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Christian pilgrims from around the world converged on Jesus's traditional birthplace Monday to celebrate Christmas -- a palpable contrast to the sparse crowds of recent years.
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The Queen calls on people to take care of the more vulnerable in her traditional Christmas speech.
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Indonesiaâs Christians packed tightly guarded churches to celebrate Christmas today despite fears of terrorist attacks, while the president of the Philippines appealed for an end to corruption in a seasonal message.
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Some 80 percent of Britons believe that celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is still an important part of Christmas, a survey has found.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem on Monday for a Christmas mass promoted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Western powers as a chance to highlight the benefits of peacemaking.
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Queen Elizabeth has called for tolerance between different cultural and religious groups in her Christmas address to the nation. &quot;Religion and culture are much in the news these days, usually
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Religious harmony is on full display in a year when Christmas and the Muslim holiday of Tabaski fall within days of each other.
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(Undated) Dec. 25, 2004 - As the world celebrates Christmas, there is new hope for peace abroad despite ever-present tensions. The crowds are larger than in recent years at Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.
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Firms and local authorities which &quot;ban&quot; Christmas, fearing that celebrations or references could offend other faiths, risk triggering an anti-Muslim backlash, religious leaders have warned.
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For the past four years, Middle East peace could safely be filed under the same heading as Santa Claus: nice fantasy. But this Christmas, glimmers of hope have materialized in the Holy Land.