Goanetters annual year-end meet is on Dec 27, 2010 (Monday) from 4-6 pm at
Institute Piedade (near Hotel Mandovi, opp Bread & More) in Panjim. Do come
along. RSVP via SMS 9822122436, [email protected] or 2409490 (after 2 pm).
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Iraqi churches cancel Christmas festivities
By YAHYA BARZANJI and SAMEER N. YACOUB
The Associated Press
KIRKUK, Iraq -- No decorations, no midnight Mass. Even an appearance by
Santa Claus has been nixed after Iraq's Christian leaders called off
Christmas celebrations amid new al-Qaida threats on the tiny community
still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church.
Christians across Iraq have been living in fear since the assault on Our
Lady of Salvation Church as its Catholic congregation was celebrating
Sunday Mass. Sixty-eight people were killed. Days later Islamic
insurgents bombed Christian homes and neighborhoods across the capital.
On Tuesday, al-Qaida insurgents threatened more attacks on Iraq's
beleaguered Christians, many of whom have fled their homes or the
country since the church attack. A council representing Christian
denominations across Iraq advised its followers to cancel public
celebrations of Christmas out of concern for their lives and as a show
of mourning for the victims.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101222/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
