Wednesday, December 26 in the news.....
- Pope Benedict XVI issued a Christmas Day appeal Tuesday to political leaders around the globe to find the "wisdom and courage" to end bloody conflicts in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo. The Pope had said he spoke from experience when he solved his own bloody conflict after spilling communion wine on his choir dress.
- Two Turkish airstrikes this month destroyed more than 200 Kurdish rebel targets in the mountains of northern Iraq, killing hundreds of insurgents, the military said Tuesday. A coordination center has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information on Kurdish rebels deemed terrorists, the Turks were unsuccessful every time they got agreement and then responded with "So how 'bout them Greeks too?"
- In Iraq, two separate suicide attacks, including one apparently targeting workers in a northern oil hub, killed at least 34 people on Christmas Day, shattering more than a week of relative calm. US military authorities said it was actually looking quite Christmassy before this, but it appeared the terrorists had waited for their presents under the tree too, and this was the result.
- Egypt has rejected Israeli criticism that its government has failed to stop smugglers from crossing the porous border with the Gaza Strip. Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni infuriated Egyptian officials on Monday by accusing Egypt of doing a "terrible" job in securing the border. Egypt shot back by saying that it's not so easy to do and Israelis should know since Moses proved the difficulty of containing such efforts.
