Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Frohe Weihnachten! Buon Natale! Felix Nativitas!
’We Three Kings’, an original painting by James C. Christensen. Collage: Google Images
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. – The Gospel According to John, 1, 14

Et la Parole a été faite chair, et elle a habité parmi nous, pleine de grâce et de verité; et nous avons contemplé sa gloire, une gloire du Fils unique venu du Père. – Evangile selon Jean, 1, 14

Und das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnte unter uns, und wir schauten seine Herrlichkeit, eine Herrlichkeit, wie sie der eingige [Sohn] von seinem Vater hat, voll Gnade und Wahrheit. – Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1, 14

E la Parola è stata fatta carne ed ha abitato per un tempo fra noi, plena di grazia e di verità; e noi abbiam contemplata la sua gloria, gloria come quella dell’Unigenito venuto da presso al Padre. – Evangelo secondo Giovanni, 1, 14

Et Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobus, et vidimus gloriam eius, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Padre, plenum gratiae et veritatis. – Evangelium secundum Ioannem, 1, 14

Louis-Claude d'Aquin: Noël X

The Queen's Christmas Message 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Queen's Speech: 2009 a 'difficult year for many': The nation owes a "profound" debt of gratitude to the Armed Forces serving in Afghanistan, the Queen said in her Christmas message as she spoke of her sadness at the heavy death toll. >>> Anita Singh | Friday, December 25, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: 2009? Some years are best forgotten, says Queen in Christmas address >>> Tom Coghlan | Friday, December 25, 2009

Passions over 'Prosperity Gospel': Was Jesus Wealthy?
Some pastors are making a bold claim: Jesus wasn't poor; he was rich. Photo: CNN
CNN: Each Christmas, Christians tell stories about the poor baby Jesus born in a lowly manger because there was no room in the inn.

But the Rev. C. Thomas Anderson, senior pastor of the Living Word Bible Church in Mesa, Arizona, preaches a version of the Christmas story that says baby Jesus wasn't so poor after all.

Anderson says Jesus couldn't have been poor because he received lucrative gifts -- gold, frankincense and myrrh -- at birth. Jesus had to be wealthy because the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for his expensive undergarments. Even Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, lived and traveled in style, he says.

"Mary and Joseph took a Cadillac to get to Bethlehem because the finest transportation of their day was a donkey," says Anderson. "Poor people ate their donkey. Only the wealthy used it as transportation."

Many Christians see Jesus as the poor, itinerant preacher who had "no place to lay his head." But as Christians gather around the globe this year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, another group of Christians are insisting that Jesus' beginnings weren't so humble.

They say that Jesus was never poor -- and neither should his followers be. Their claim is embedded in the doctrine known as the prosperity gospel, which holds that God rewards the faithful with financial prosperity and spiritual gifts. >>> John Blake, CNN | Friday, December 25, 2009

How Long Before Small Boys Here Ask: A Church? What’s That, Grandad?
MAIL ONLINE: I had hoped to have a sort of Christmas truce this week, but the controversy just keeps on raging, drowning out the choirs and bells.

And one of the problems is Christmas itself. How much longer will it exist in the form we know today?

I fear it won’t be much longer. Many of its traditions are visibly dying. Teachers complain that children don’t know the carols any more, because their parents don’t know them either.

At a couple of packed services during Advent (a season many haven’t heard of), I’ve noticed that large numbers of adults stand with their lips not moving during the singing of these simple, easily mastered songs.

Perhaps they’re humming, or struck dumb with awe, but it looks to me as if they are just completely unfamiliar with words or music and don’t know what to do.

For the moment, they still think they should come to church, but for how much longer?

A few days ago I heard a story from the former East Germany, where Christianity was coldly tolerated but officially discouraged, and as far as possible denied to children.

This created a mixture of hostility and indifference that has not been overcome in the 20 years since the regime collapsed. The link between people and Christianity, many centuries old, has now been broken.

A small boy was walking with his grandparent past a church in a small town in Brandenburg. ‘What’s that strange building? What’s it for?’ he asked.

But East Germany wasn’t half as subtle as the politically correct revolutionaries who run this country. Our lot are far cleverer.

They hope to destroy the Christian religion through a thousand regulations. But first they have to rob it of its ancient standing by treating it as equal (if not slightly inferior) to Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, December 26, 2009 (Boxing Day)

No Burqas in France? Ruling Party Moves to Ban Veils in Public
A woman wears a burqa as she shops with her family at a street market in Roubaix northern France, August 9, 2009. France's ruling party has announced plans to present a bill to ban Islamic veils in all public places. Photograph: The Christian Science Monitor
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: The new effort to outlaw the full-length veil - niqabs and burqas - in public trumps earlier efforts to ban it only in some official buildings. The move comes at a time when French Muslims say they are being targeted as outsiders or not fully French.

Paris: The French ruling party of President Nicolas Sarkozy now affirms it will present a bill to ban full-length Islamic veils in all public places in France. It won't wait for the results of a parliamentary inquiry into the all-covering niqab and burqa to be published. The move adds fuel to an increasingly hot debate on French identity that has minorities here upset.

A nationwide identity debate, engineered by the ruling UMP party last month, has evolved into an embarrassingly unruly discussion about Muslims and northern Africans in France. And it comes on the heels of a surprise vote in neighboring Switzerland last month to outlaw the construction of new minarets at Muslim worship sites.

The UMP effort to outlaw the full-length veil in public trumps earlier efforts to ban it only in some official buildings, and comes at a time when French Muslims say they are being targeted as outsiders or not fully French.

Yet UMP party leader Jean-François Cope yesterday said veils that cover a woman’s entire face are a “violation of individual liberty” and a “negation” of one’s identity and that of others in a public milieu.

Under the proposed law, women would not be able to move in public with their faces fully covered. The legal rendering is that burqas and all-covering niqabs are a public order issue, and not a religious practice issue - as is the French ban on headscarves in schools, which has been carried out to uphold French secularism, known as laïcité.

Offenders wearing veils would receive a fine – though lawmakers now say there will be a period of mediation following the initial charge. Vote expected in early Jan >>> Robert Marquand, Staff writer | Wednesday, December 23, 2009

We Need a Shared Story to Underpin Our National Life
THE TELEGRAPH: Our future leaders must be taught selflessness in place of greed, and service in place of arrogance

By any reckoning, Britons have had an uncomfortable and anxious year. Even as the implications of the financial crisis sank in and the belt-tightening began, news broke of the ride for which we had been taken by our political masters, via their expenses forms. The war in Afghanistan claimed the lives of more than 100 British soldiers. The Copenhagen summit raised awareness of environmental problems, but left it unclear what would or should be done about them. And attacks on the traditional family continued, with claims by ministers and "experts" that no one form of the family was to be preferred to any other.

It has been tough for everyone, but Christians in particular have found themselves under pressure. Nurses have been told not to pray with their patients; registrars ordered to conduct civil partnership ceremonies in spite of conscientious objections; evangelists forbidden to spread the word in "Muslim" areas; and permission for Good Friday processions refused on the grounds that they are a "minority" interest and do not warrant police time.

Given the sea of troubles with which we are faced – at home and elsewhere – what can we look forward to as we face 2010? First, we need to accept that the financial and political crises are not primarily about the failure of procedures and regulation. The angst about the war in Afghanistan, similarly, is not just about the sad loss of life. The broader problem is that there has been the loss of a common narrative, a story which underpins our national life. In the past, this was provided by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, derived from the Bible. This narrative has been at the root of those values which we regard as particularly British, whether to do with the dignity of the human person, with fundamental freedoms of belief, speech and assembly, or with equality – which is not about "sameness", but a recognition of the image of God in others.

This tradition has also provided us with the virtues for which we have looked in vain in our economic and political leaders. The best of British business and politics has been characterised by a sense – largely derived from the Bible's teachings – of responsibility, of trust, justice, fairness and truth-telling. In recent years, these virtues have been jettisoned, so that we can be more "competitive" in a cut-throat world, or engage in a more adversarial form of politics. We, and the generations to follow, will have to live with the consequences of this dissolution of a moral and spiritual framework for our common life.

But while the task of reconstruction must begin immediately, it cannot be just about tinkering with the expenses system at Westminster, or the regulation of the City. It has to be about moral and spiritual education in our schools and universities. Future leaders must be taught that the public have the right to expect selflessness rather than greed, service rather than arrogance, and even sacrifice for the greater good of the organisation, or the nation. >>> Dr Michael Nazir-Ali | Saturday, December 26, 2009 (Boxing Day)

The Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali is president of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue, and was until this year Bishop of Rochester

Mexico City Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage Bill


YOU TUBE: Watch Reuters video: Mexico City legalises gay marriage >>> | Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Head of Russian Orthodox Church Condemns Discrimination against Gays
PINK NEWS: The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said that although homosexuality is still a sin, gay people must not be discriminated against.

Kirill met with Thorbjorn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, a pan-European human rights body.

According to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, he told Jagland: "We respect the person's free choice, including in sex relations."

Although he reiterated that the majority of religions saw homosexuality as a sin and gay marriage could not be allowed, he added: "Those who commit a sin must not be punished… And we have repeatedly spoken out against discriminating people for their nontraditional sexual orientation." >>> Jessica Geen | Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Yusuf al Qaradawi on Christmas

US on the Brink of Embracing Socialized Medicine! Barack Obama's Health Reform Set to Pass Senate after Abortion Deal
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama's goal of health care reform received a key boost when Senate Democrat leaders said they had secured the key 60th vote needed to pass legislation.

The Senate bill is now expected to be put to a vote before Christmas, despite Republican delaying tactics.

Democrats from the Senate and the House of Representatives will then still have to hammer out major differences between their two versions of health reform before a final bill can be delivered to Mr Obama.

The president has made health reform his domestic policy priority and White House aides welcomed reports that there were now 60 supporters for a compromise deal in the Senate.

Mr Obama devoted his weekend radio and Internet address to the issue he campaigned on in 2008.

"Now - for the first time - there is a clear majority in the Senate that's willing to stand up to the insurance lobby and embrace lasting health insurance reforms that have eluded us for generations," he said.

The breakthrough came when Sen Ben Nelson, a socially conservative Democrat, told his party colleagues that he was willing to accept new wording that restricted federal funding for abortion.

It also emerged that he had secured extra federal funding for health programmes in his home state of Nebraska after days of negotiations.

His support appeared to give Senate leader Harry Reid the 60 votes required in the 100-seat chamber to overcome the threat of a Republican filibuster. >>> Philip Sherwell in New York | Saturday, December 19, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama’s Top Ten Foreign Policy Follies: This has hardly been a stellar year for the projection of American global power. Weakness, rather than strength, has been the hallmark of US foreign policy under Barack Obama, from the Iranian nuclear crisis to dithering over the war in Afghanistan. Instead of strong American leadership, the White House has all too often offered humiliating apologies for America’s past and embarrassing gaffes.

Here is a list of the ten biggest foreign policy follies of Barack Obama’s first year in office. I’ve tried to make the list inclusive of all corners of the world, ranging from Tehran to Tokyo to Khartoum, and frankly could easily have expanded it to a top 20 or even top 30 list. There are plenty to choose from, including some of the most cringe worthy moments in modern American history. >>> Nile Gardiner | Wednesday, December 23, 2009

There'll Be Nowhere to Run from the New World Government
THE TELEGRAPH: 'Global' thinking won't necessarily solve the world's problems, says Janet Daley

There is scope for debate – and innumerable newspaper quizzes – about who was the most influential public figure of the year, or which the most significant event. But there can be little doubt which word won the prize for most important adjective. 2009 was the year in which "global" swept the rest of the political lexicon into obscurity. There were "global crises" and "global challenges", the only possible resolution to which lay in "global solutions" necessitating "global agreements". Gordon Brown actually suggested something called a "global alliance" in response to climate change. (Would this be an alliance against the Axis of Extra-Terrestrials?)

Some of this was sheer hokum: when uttered by Gordon Brown, the word "global", as in "global economic crisis", meant: "It's not my fault". To the extent that the word had intelligible meaning, it also had political ramifications that were scarcely examined by those who bandied it about with such ponderous self-importance. The mere utterance of it was assumed to sweep away any consideration of what was once assumed to be the most basic principle of modern democracy: that elected national governments are responsible to their own people – that the right to govern derives from the consent of the electorate.

The dangerous idea that the democratic accountability of national governments should simply be dispensed with in favour of "global agreements" reached after closed negotiations between world leaders never, so far as I recall, entered into the arena of public discussion. Except in the United States, where it became a very contentious talking point, the US still holding firmly to the 18th-century idea that power should lie with the will of the people. >>> Janet Daley | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Weihnachtsfeier in der Sprache Jesu: Im Dorf Malula in Syrien erlebt das Aramäische eine ganz und gar unerwartete Renaissance
NZZ am SONNTAG: An Weihnachten findet im christlichen Bergdorf Malula eine Mitternachtsmesse statt. Die Leute sind stolz, dass ihre Sprache trotz der Übermacht des Arabischen überleben wird.

Erzählt Mushe Barkula von den Vorbereitungen für Weihnachten, wirkt der schüchterne Mann mit dem Schnauz wie ein schelmischer Bub. «Wir machen Köfte und Hummus, kochen Fisch, Weinblätter und bereiten Taboulé, Salat aus frischen Kräutern.»

Mushe war lange Sanitäter in Malula. Der Cousin des Schriftstellers Rafik Schami kennt die Geschichten der Leute und ihre Sprache. Weihnachten heisst hier «Edha Milothe». Das ist nicht etwa Arabisch, die Muttersprache der meisten Christen im Nahen Osten. Das ist Aramäisch. «Meine Muttersprache und die Sprache Jesu», sagt Mushe, während er in seiner Wohnung an der Einfahrt in das 1500 Meter über Meer gelegene Dorf sitzt, die Frau Kaffee kocht und die Kinder herumtollen.

Malula bedeutet Eingang auf Aramäisch. Es ist tatsächlich eine Pforte im Fels, hinter der sich das Dorf in die Schlucht aus beigem Fels zu drücken scheint. Einige Häuser sind in den Berg gebaut oder stehen wie von Kindern aufgetürmte Bauklötzchen übereinander. Früher lebten die Leute in den Höhlen, deren Eingänge wie Löcher im Fels klaffen. Oft drückt ein Wind aus der irakischen Wüste ins Tal, meist ist der Himmel azurblau. Wenn im Sommer in der Ebene von Damaskus die Hitze steigt, braucht man in Malula nicht einmal eine Klimaanlage. Dann wohnen bis zu 5000 Personen hier. Im Winter sind noch 1000 Bewohner da, die meisten Christen, wenige Muslime, die auch Aramäisch sprechen. Manchmal fällt an Weihnachten Schnee, dann ist der Weg nach Damaskus blockiert. >>> Christoph Plate, Malula | Sonntag, 20. Dezember 2009

It’s Only You Brits Who Don’t Appreciate Me, Insists Tony Blair
Photograph; The Sunday Times
Did the Europeans reject Tone as President of Europe because they appreciated him? – © Mark
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Tony Blair has hit back defiantly at his British critics, insisting that he is appreciated overseas much more than at home. He also defended his money-making activities.

“If I did what these people who criticise me here wanted, I’d end up just sitting in a corner, but that is never going to be me,” he said.

Interviewed for today’s News Review, the former prime minister said: “You get to a position where the criticism you get, you just have to live with. It’s the way it is. When you are someone like me, you create a lot of controversy one way or another. You just decide to do what you are going to do and let that speak for itself.”

He blamed his negative image in Britain on the press, saying: “They don’t approach me in an objective way. Their first question is how to belittle what I’m doing, knock it down, write something bad about it. It’s not right. It’s not journalism. They don’t get me and they’ve got a score to settle with me. But they are not going to settle it.”

He added: “It’s not true that nobody likes me! Reading the papers in Britain, you’d end up thinking I’d lost three elections rather than won them. There is a completely different atmosphere around me outside the country. People accept the work that you are doing, as it is. They don’t see anything wrong with being successful financially and also doing good work.”

Since leaving office in 2007, Blair has divided his time between unpaid humanitarian work and lucrative activities advising banks, companies and Arab governments.

There has been criticism of his high fees for public speaking, but Blair responded: “When leaders step down, they all do a certain amount of paid speaking and that is fair enough. If all I wanted to do was make speeches, let me tell you, I could make five times the number.”

He added: “I got out of politics early enough to have a second act in life. Why shouldn’t a politician be able to do that? Others do. Nobody says Bill Gates is bad for moving from business to philanthropy. Why shouldn’t a politician do a business model when they change their life?” >>> John Arlidge | Sunday, December 20, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair: I could make much more money: Tony Blair has likened himself to Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, and suggested he could make five times as many lucrative speeches as he does now >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Sunday, December 20, 2009

THE SUNDAY TIMES: What Tony Blair did next after Downing Street: Is the former prime minister a philanthropist or a hustler? The Sunday Times went to discover the truth about Blair Inc >>> John Arlidge | Sunday, December 20, 2009

UN Averts Climate Collapse by 'Noting' New Deal
THE INDEPENDENT: UN climate talks avoided a total collapse today by skirting bitter opposition from several nations to a deal championed by the US President Barack Obama and five emerging economies including China.

"Finally we sealed a deal," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "The 'Copenhagen Accord' may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this decision...is an important beginning."

But a decision at marathon 193-nation talks merely took note of the new accord, a non-binding deal for combating global warming led by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. >>> David Fogarty and Alister Doyle, Reuters | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Gay Activists Praise Rugby Star Gareth Thomas's Decision to Come Out
THE OBSERVER: Speculation is growing that other gay sports stars may follow suit

Gareth Thomas. Photograph: The Observer
The shock decision by rugby union player Gareth Thomas to announce that he is gay has triggered speculation that other sports stars might come out. Thomas is Wales's most-capped player and a former British and Irish Lions captain. The fact that he has confirmed his sexuality while still playing the game has been praised by gay rights campaigners.

The shock decision by rugby union player Gareth Thomas to announce that he is gay has triggered speculation that other sports stars might come out. Thomas is Wales's most-capped player and a former British and Irish Lions captain. The fact that he has confirmed his sexuality while still playing the game has been praised by gay rights campaigners.

Yesterday the 6ft 3in, 16-stone rugby star said he hoped he could make a difference to others struggling with their sexuality. "I just want to thank everyone for the amazing response I have received, on behalf of me, my family and friends," Thomas said. "I hope that by saying this I can make a big difference to others in my situation."

But he said he did not want to be known as a "gay rugby player" and hoped people would treat his sexuality as "irrelevant" to his career. "What I choose to do when I close the door at home has nothing to do with what I have achieved in rugby," he said. "I'd love for it, in 10 years' time, not to even be an issue in sport, and for people to say: 'So what?'"

Thomas, who came on as a substitute for his team Cardiff Blues as they lost 23-7 to Toulouse in the Heineken Cup quarter-final yesterday, said the secret of his sexuality was like a "ticking bomb" which he had tried to suppress. "I just couldn't ignore it any more," he told the Daily Mail.

"It is very positive Gareth has come out while he is still an active player," said gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. "Many of the sports people who have declared their homosexuality have tended to do so after their careers are over.

"Rugby is a very macho sport and has traditionally had a very robust he-man, heterosexual image so it is really great that he has had the guts to be honest with himself and his fans. Hopefully this will ease the way for other gay and bisexual players to also come out." >>> Jamie Doward | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Controversial Pope Moves Closer to Sainthood
TIMES ONLINE: The controversial wartime pope accused of failing to openly condemn the Holocaust has moved a step closer to sainthood, the Vatican has confirmed.

Pope Pius XII will be declared venerable after the current pontiff Pope Benedict XVI approved a "heroic virtues decree", the first of three stages before canonisation.

To be declared venerable, a church investigation has to conclude that the person in question lived a life of exemplary holiness and heroic virtue. There must be nothing in the dead person’s writings that enables these characteristics to be challenged. >>> Simon Alford | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Kopenhagen gescheitert: US-Präsident Obama stürzt vom Klima-Gipfel
WELT ONLINE: Das faktische Scheitern der Klimaverhandlungen in Kopenhagen ist eine schwere Niederlage für US-Präsident Barack Obama auf internationaler Ebene. Nicht nur, dass er und Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel vorzeitig abreisten, ohne ein sicheres Ergebnis erzielt zu haben. Er ließ sich zudem von den Chinesen vorführen.

Seiner Ankunft folgte sogleich ein markiger Auftritt. Kaum hatte US-Präsident Barack Obama das Konferenzzentrum betreten, ließ er die Anwesenden wissen: „Die Zeit für Reden ist vorbei.“ Ab jetzt wollte er die Verhandlungsführung übernehmen.

Zusammen mit Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, den „Chefs“ aus Russland, Brasilien, Japan, der Europäischen Union und anderer wichtiger Länder machte sich Obama an die Arbeit. Doch es lief nicht so, wie der Friedensnobelpreisträger es sich vorgestellt hatte. Nur Bundesumweltminister Norbert Röttgen blieb optimistisch. Trotz der zähen Verhandlungen könne es einen Kompromiss geben, meinte er. „Heute fallen die Würfel.“

Stattdessen bahnte sich ein Fiasko an. Es begann in der Nacht von Freitag auf Samstag. Ein enger Verhandlungskreis von 30 wichtigen und repräsentativ ausgewählten Staaten, darunter Deutschland, diskutierten noch immer die Grundzüge eines Zwölf-Punkte-Papiers. Es trug den Titel „Copenhagen Accord“ und bestand aus einer dreiseitigen Sammlung vager politischer Absichtserklärungen ohne fest definierte Ziele oder rechtliche Bindung. >>> Von D. Wetzel und G. Lachmann | Samstag, 19. Dezember 2009

New Dark Age Alert! MP Condemns Plan to Build Muslim Eton for Girls
Forerunner: Students at an all-girl Muslim school in Bradford. Photograph: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: A Labour MP has bitterly attacked plans for a Muslim ‘Eton’ for girls.

The college for 1,500 pupils would be both the largest Muslim faith school and the biggest boarding school in the country – larger than 1,330-pupil Eton.

Yesterday Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, near the school site in Burnley, warned that it could damage existing schools and colleges in the area and stoke community tensions.

‘The last thing we need is single-sex, single faith schools for girls,’ he told the Times Educational Supplement.

‘It pulls against community cohesion. It makes me weep to think so much time, energy and effort has gone into the community to get people to mix together. [This] goes against all public policy.’

The blueprint emerged after a proposal for a 5,000-place girls’ boarding school in Pendle was dropped amid public opposition.

The Islamic charity behind the Burnley project, the Mohiuddin Trust, insists its aim is to ‘strengthen inter-community relationships’.

It is in the process of setting up Mohiuddin International Girls’ College after purchasing the former Burnley College site for £2million.

The college would cater for girls of 16 and over and teach mainstream qualifications and faith studies.

The trust wants the school to cater initially for 500 students, expanding to 1,500. >>> Laura Clark | Friday, December 18, 2009

Amid the Carols and Decorations, Iraq Christians Fear Extinction
A policeman stands guard atop an armoured vehicle outside a Christian church in Mosul. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: It could be a scene from a Victorian Christmas card. The young people gather in the church, decorating a tree, while in the background the choir rehearses for Christmas Day — the tune of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen playing out. In the theatre next to the church two clowns are playing musical chairs with hundreds of children, while a bishop and an inflatable Father Christmas look on.

The words to the carol are in Iraqi-accented Arabic — Feltestereh qolubikum, ya ayuha al jumoor — “may your hearts take comfort, you who are gathered here”. The church is Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad, and outside is the more familiar Iraqi scene of barbed wire and armed guards. Behind the tinsel and carols lies a fear that Christians in Iraq are a community under threat of extinction. Proportionally more Christians are leaving Iraq than any other group.

Last week 100 Christian leaders and politicians of all religions held an emergency meeting just before fresh violence broke out in the northern city of Mosul, with attacks on churches and Christian schools. On Tuesday a baby was killed and 40 people, including schoolchildren, were injured in three simultaneous bombings. Two days ago a Christian man was shot dead as he travelled to work. >>> Alice Fordham, in Baghdad | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Eis und Schnee haben Europa im Griff: Eisenbahnzüge stecken im Eurotunnel fest
NZZ ONLINE: Eisige Temperaturen und starker Schneefall haben weite Teile Europas fest im Griff. Als Folge der starken Kälte blieben auch Züge im Tunnel unter dem Ärmelkanal stecken. Und in einigen Staaten Amerikas beginnt der Winter mit Scheestürmen.

In der Nacht zum Samstag sind im Eurotunnel unter dem Ärmelkanal vier Züge mit mehr als 2000 Fahrgästen liegen geblieben. Wie ein Sprecher von Eurostar erklärte, hatte der grosse Temperaturunterschied der Luft innerhalb und ausserhalb des Kanaltunnels zu einer technischen Panne geführt. Für die Fahrgäste habe keine Gefahr bestanden, aber es sei «sehr unbequem» gewesen.

Am frühen Morgen wurden die Fahrgäste zweier liegengebliebener Züge mit einem Notzug aus dem Tunnel gebracht. Eine Ersatzlokomotive sollte die beiden anderen Züge in Richtung Folkestone im Südosten Englands schieben.

In den Eurostar-Hochgeschwindigkeitszügen sassen jeweils zwischen 500 und 700 Menschen fest. Alle vier Züge waren auf dem Weg von Paris nach London, als sie in dem Tunnel steckenblieben. Zwei weitere Züge, die sich aus Brüssel und Paris auf dem Weg in Richtung London befanden, wurden rechtzeitig angehalten. >>> sda/dpa | Samstag, 19. Dezember 2009

Copenhagen Climate Summit: Confusion as 'Historic Deal' Descends into Chaos
THE TELEGRAPH: The “historic” climate change deal at the Copenhagen climate summit has descended into chaos after some developing nations rejected the plan for fighting global warming championed by US President Barack Obama.

(From Left) European Commission President Barroso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, US President Barack Obama and British PM Gordon Brown. Photo: The Telegraph
An agreement to limit global warming to a 3.6F (2C) temperature rise, alongside a $100 billion (£62bn) a year in aid from 2020, were condemned as inadequate by some delegates and appeared to be in danger of unravelling.

Developing nations, including Venezuela, said they could not accept a text originally agreed by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa as the blueprint of a wider United Nations plan to fight climate change.

Tempers flared during an all-night plenary session, held after most of 120 visiting world leaders had left.

Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the Sudanese negotiator, said the draft text asked “Africa to sign a suicide pact”.

One Saudi delegate said it was without doubt “the worst plenary I have ever attended.” >>> David Barrett and Louise Gray, in Copenhagen | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Obama's Climate Accord Fails the Test
THE INDEPENDENT: Watered-down agreement follows day of bitter wrangling in Copenhagen

World leaders late last night agreed a hugely watered-down version of a new global pact on climate change, after an astonishing day of deadlock, disagreement, misunderstandings, walkouts and insults at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

The agreement, patched together after massive and rancorous divisions between the rich nations and the developing countries, especially America and China, was described as a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" by the US President Barack Obama. However, a senior American official openly admitted it was not enough to combat the threat of a warming planet, saying merely: "It is a first step."

Known as the Copenhagen Accord, the new agreement falls massively short of the ambitions many people had centred on the two-week meeting in the Danish capital, in the hope of a major new effort to combat the global warming threat. Although in principle it commits – for the first time – all the countries of the world, including the developing countries, to cut their emissions of the greenhouse gases which are causing climate change, the accord is not legally binding, merely a political statement. >>> Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, in Copenhagen | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Milton Friedman: Socialism vs. Capitalism

Neo-Nazis Suspected of Raid on Auschwitz ‘to Rewrite History’
TIMES ONLINE: The slickly organised theft of one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust sent a wave of outrage around the world yesterday.

The sign that hung over the gates of Auschwitz extermination camp, where more than a million people died during the Second World War, was stolen in minutes. Polish police suspect that the culprits were either neo-Nazis or acting on behalf of collectors or a group of individuals.

The slogan wrought in iron, Arbeit Macht Frei (“Work sets you free”), was the cynical welcome to those entering the camp in the 1940s. One million of the 1.1 million people who died at Auschwitz were Jewish.

The theft in the early hours of yesterday was seen as an attempt by right-wing extremists to muddy the narrative of the Holocaust.

“This act constitutes a true declaration of war,” said Avner Shalev, the head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial institute in Jerusalem. “We don’t know the identity of the perpetrators but I assume they are neo-Nazis.”

Poland is treating the recovery of the sign from the site, near Cracow, as a matter of national honour. President Kaczynski said: “I appeal to all countrymen to help the police to track down the sign. A worldwide symbol of the cynicism of Hitler’s executioners and the martyrdom of their victims has been stolen. This act deserves the strongest possible condemnation.” >>> Roger Boyes | Saturday, December 19, 2009