World News

photo: AP / L'Osservatore Romano, HO

Intruder knocks pope down
read more Houston Chronicle

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing Friday, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine hours after being knocked down by a woman who jumped the barrier at the start of Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican said the 82-year-old Benedict was unhurt in the fall and that his busy Christmas schedule...

Soldiers of Pakistan Army surround the site of a suicide bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009.

photo: AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Suicide blasts hit Pakistani cities
read more Al Jazeera

At least seven people have been killed in suicide attacks in Pakistan. Five people were killed in a blast in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, and another bombing later killed two people in the city of Rawalpindi in the northwest. The explosion in Rawalpindi occurred outside a shrine visited by Shia Muslims. Police said the attacker...

File - In this photo taken June 11, 2007, a Hmong boy looks up as his brother pays attention on an embroidery at Huay Nam Khao village in Thailand's northeastern province of Petchabun.

photo: AP / Apichart Weerawong

Fears for Hmong soon to be deported by Thailand to Laos
read more BBC News

Fears are growing for the safety of about 4,000 Hmong refugees, subject to deportation from Thailand within days. The head of the United Nations refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, has urged Thailand to call off its plan to send the ethnic Hmong back to Laos. The United States has expressed concern and Amnesty International said it was...

Christian pilgrims wait to get into the Grotto inside the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009.

photo: AP / Oded Balilty

Bethlehem celebrates Christmas
read more Al Jazeera

Thousands of people have crowded into the Palestinian town of Bethlehem to take part in Christmas celebrations. Pilgrims and Palestinians gathered on Thursday outside the Church of the Nativity, built at the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born. Live rock music mingled with traditional carols on bagpipes in Manger Square outside, bringing...

Pro-democracy lawmakers and activities hold the picture of Liu Xiaobo protest outside the China's liaison office in Hong Kong Thursday, June 25, 2009.

photo: AP / Kin Cheung

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo jailed for subversion
read more BBC News

Leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been jailed for 11 years for "inciting subversion of state power", after a trial condemned in the...

Students brave the snow on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, as a winter storm travels through the region.

photo: AP / Nati Harnik

Winter storm spreads across US Midwest
read more The Star

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP): A major winter storm lumbering across America's midsection promised a white Christmas for some but brought headaches for travelers caught on slick, icy roads or dealing with canceled and delayed flights. The worst of the storm was heading northeast across the region Thursday, carrying heavy snow, sleet and rain to a large swath...

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful as he arrives to celebrate Christmas Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009.

photo: AP / Gregorio Borgia

Pope Benedict XVI knocked to floor during Christmas Eve Mass
read more The Times

A woman jumped the barriers in St Peter's Basilica in Rome this evening and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass. The 82-year-old pontiff quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Ciro Benedettini....

With a poster of hardline Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu seen at right, Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni adjusts her collar prior to an interview at Israel's Channel 2 studio in Neve Ilan, near Jerusalem, Saturday Jan. 31 2009. A new Israeli poll shows Netanyahu ahead as a national election approaches. The poll gives Netanyahu 28 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament. That's five seats more than his closest rival, moderate Foreign Minister Livni. Friday's poll results mean Netanyahu is most likely to win the Feb. 10 election and will have the best chance of forming a governing coaliti

photo: AP / Peter Dejong

Israeli PM asks opposition leader Livni to join govt
read more Khaleej Times

JERUSALEM - Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked centrist opposition leader and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday to join his government, his office said. 'The prime minister asked Mrs Livni to join a national unity government ... in the face of the national and international challenges facing Israel today,' a...

RAFAH , GAZA STRIP - JULY 13 2009: Palestinian children play in front of their ruined houses, hit during Israel�s 22-day offensive over Gaza, on July 05 2009

photo: WN / Ahmed Deeb

An Open Letter From Gaza
read more Khaleej Times

One year after the massacre in Gaza, we the people of Gaza need your support to end the inhuman blockade. This week marks one year since Israel began its attack on the Gaza Strip: a year since phosphorus bombs, dime bombs and other weapons of death and destruction were unleashed on a defenceless civilian population. A year since the people of the...

Relatives and friends of Nasser Ali, 22, load his coffin during his funeral procession in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec, 24, 2009.

photo: AP / Khalid Mohammed

Bombings Kill At Least 13 Ahead Of Shiite Rite In Iraq
read more Huffington Post

BAGHDAD — Bombs hit Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and a central Iraqi city Thursday, killing at least 27 people and wounding scores more, in the latest attack in the lead-up to Ashoura, the sect's most solemn annual rite. The blasts raised fears of more bloodshed as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head to the holy city of Karbala in central...