Deja vu for U.S. troops celebrating Christmas in Iraq again
EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – This is the third Christmas that Staff Sergeant Magdiel Asencio is spending in Iraq. For Sergeant First Class Noel Alvarado, it is number four. And so it is with many U.S. troops stationed less than a hour’s drive from t…
Israeli PM, angered by anti-settlement U.N. vote, summons U.S. ambassador
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday summoned the U.S. ambassador to Israel to discuss the U.S. abstention in a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an end to settlement-building.
Egypt confirms Al Jazeera producer’s arrest for ‘provoking sedition’
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt confirmed on Sunday that it had arrested an Al Jazeera news producer, accusing him of “provoking sedition” on behalf of the Qatar-based broadcaster that it considers a mouthpiece of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Aleppo Christians celebrate holiday in hope peace has returned
AMMAN (Reuters) – Christians in Aleppo celebrated under a giant Christmas tree lit up for the first time in five years, hailing what many described as the return of peace to a city that came back under full government control last week.
Fearful Christmas in Baghdad after attacks on Christians
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Christians in Baghdad celebrated Christmas on Sunday in a heightened state of fear after deadly attacks on Christian-owned shops that sell alcohol.
Pope’s Christmas message offers hope in world hit by terrorism, war
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday offered a Christmas hope for peace in a world lacerated by war and terrorism, urging people to remember migrants, refugees and those hit by economic instability caused by “idolatry of money”.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth misses Christmas church service due to ‘heavy cold’
SANDRINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 90, missed a traditional Christmas church service on Sunday for the first time in decades due to a heavy cold, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
Kremlin says Putin and Erdogan discuss Syria by phone
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Syria crisis in a phone conversation on Sunday, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Four doctors in China suspended over kickbacks: state media
BEIJING (Reuters) – Three doctors in Shanghai and one in Hunan province have been suspended pending investigations over allegations they took kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, Chinese state media reported.
China’s aircraft carrier to drill in Western Pacific
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s first aircraft carrier will carry out drills in the Western Pacific, in what the navy called part of routine exercises, amid renewed tension over self-ruled Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own.
