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| Atheists, work with us for peace, Pope says on Christmas - Reuters India Posted: 25 Dec 2013 07:42 AM PST VATICAN CITY VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, celebrating his first Christmas as Roman Catholic leader, on Wednesday called on atheists to unite with believers of all religions and work for "a homemade peace" that can spread across the world. Speaking to about 70,000 people from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the same spot where he emerged to the world as pope when he was elected on March 13, Francis also made another appeal for the environment to be saved from "human greed and rapacity". The leader of the 1.2 billion-member Church wove his first "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and world) message around the theme of peace. "Peace is a daily commitment. It is a homemade peace," he said. He said that people of other religions were also praying for peace, and - departing from his prepared text - he urged atheists to join forces with believers. "I invite even non-believers to desire peace. (Join us) with your desire, a desire that widens the heart. Let us all unite, either with prayer or with desire, but everyone, for peace," he said, drawing sustained applause from the crowd. Francis's reaching out to atheists and people of other religions is a marked contrast to the attitude of former Pope Benedict, who sometimes left non-Catholics feeling that he saw them as second-class believers. He called for "social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused numerous victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state". Thousands are believed to have died in violence divided along ethnic lines between the Nuer and Dinka tribes in the country, which seceded from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war. The pontiff also called for dialogue to end the conflicts in Syria, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, and prayed for a "favourable outcome" to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. "Wars shatter and hurt so many lives!" he said, saying their most vulnerable victims were children, elderly, battered women and the sick. PERSONAL PEACEMAKERS The thread running through the message was that individuals had a role in promoting peace, either with their neighbour or between nations. The message of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was directed at "every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty," he said. "God is peace: let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world," he said. Pilgrims came from all over the world for Christmas at the Vatican and some said it was because they felt Francis had brought a breath of fresh air to the Church. "(He) is bringing a new era into the Church, a Church that is focusing much more on the poor and that is more austere, more lively," said Dolores Di Benedetto, who came from the pope's homeland, Argentina, to attend Christmas Eve Mass. Giacchino Sabello, an Italian, said he wanted to get a first-hand look at the new pope: "I thought it would be very nice to hear the words of this pope close up and to see how the people are overwhelmed by him." In his speech, Francis asked God to "look upon the many children who are kidnapped, wounded and killed in armed conflicts, and all those who are robbed of their childhood and forced to become soldiers". He also called for a "dignified life" for migrants, praying tragedies such as one in which hundreds died in a shipwreck off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa are never repeated, and made a particular appeal against human trafficking, which he called a "crime against humanity". (Editing by Pravin Char) |
| Power outages darken Christmas for thousands - USA TODAY Posted: 25 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST As repair crews worked around the clock to restore power, tens of thousands in central and northeastern USA woke up to a cold, dark Christmas. The fierce winter storm that brought a White Christmas to many Northerners also delivered a dark Christmas to those who lost power in Michigan, Maine, Vermont and New York state after a weekend ice and snowstorm rolled across the region. Crews in Maine restored power overnight to 35,000 people who had been without power since the weekend, the Associated Press reported. By 8 a.m., about 70,000 remained without power. In Michigan, where more winter weather was about to arrive, 151,000 customers remained without power after a Saturday storm that darkened more than twice that many homes, according to utilities. Consumers Energy's official Twitter account said "129k w/o power this morning as crews prepare to battle snow and wind." DTE Energy reported that 22,000 customers remained without power in its coverage area, which includes Detroit. Brad Hoving, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids, Mich., said most people were without power in some counties between Grand Rapids and Lansing, Mich. Some may not have electricity until sometime Wednesday or even Thursday, he said. "It's a big deal," Hoving said. "It's Christmas, and we've just had a major ice storm," with trees toppling over and ice-covered power lines. "This is our largest Christmas-week storm in our 126-year history, and it's our largest ice storm in the last 10 years," Consumers Energy spokeswoman Debra Dodd said. "We are working as hard as we can to get people back on. We recognize that this is a terrible time for this to happen." She said a total of 303,000 customers were affected at one point by the weekend storms, as ice-coated trees, roads and power lines. By Tuesday evening, that figure was down to 152,000, the Lansing State Journal reported. "Unfortunately, what's happening is, because the temperatures are remaining below freezing, the ice is not melting," Dodd said. "Things are continuing to fail." In Flint, the American Red Cross set up a warming shelter and a mobile food truck provided meals. "What we're recommending is, if they don't have a relative they can stay with, that they call 211," Dodd said. "That puts them in contact with their nearest United Way agency." The utility company said crews from as far away as Kansas and Washington, D.C., arrived Tuesday to help restore power, the Lansing State Journal said. In East Lansing, Terry Brock, from Richmond, Va., was visiting his parents when the ice storm struck. "I was basically up all night listening to transformers blow up and listening to branches fall all over the neighborhood," he said. "There's no one to be angry at so I'm not going to be," said Brock, whose car was damaged by a falling limb. In New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo activated the state Emergency Operations Center and declared a winter ice storm emergency for western and northern areas, where about 25,000 people were without power Tuesday. In Maine, nearly 70,000 people lost power, including a medical clinic in Bangor that forced walk-in patients to go elsewhere, the Bangor Daily News reports. The newspaper said as many as 150,000 customers were affected, including those in entire towns such as Readfield, Islesboro, Frankofot and Penobscot. Sharon Kiley Mack, executive director of the Machias Bay Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a Facebook post that the ice has taken its toll on the town: "Stand outside for a minute and all you can hear are crashing trees, falling branches and sirens." Power was knocked out to downtown Ellsworth, Maine, which declared a state of emergency. "Travel conditions are becoming life-threatening with icy conditions paired with downed power lines and fallen trees," the town said in a statement. "Especially after sunset, it will become difficult to see the downed power lines and trees contributing to even more hazardous conditions." In Vermont, almost 10,000 people were still without power on Tuesday. Vermont Electric Co-op CEO David Hallquist said ice continued to threaten power lines across the region and that co-op members living in the most isolated areas risk facing the longest outages, Vermont Public Radio reports. "We think we're heading for a very dangerous situation, that we're going to have power outages probably through Christmas," said Hallquist. "And the temperatures are going to be dropping below zero." In Canada, carbon monoxide poisoning likely killed five people using generators or barbecues to stay warm after losing power and heat. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said the city received about 110 carbon monoxide calls Monday — six times more than on a normal day. Hospitals treated 11 people with signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. About 90,000 customers were still awaiting power Tuesday evening, and officials said some may not have it restored until after Christmas. Contributing: Tammy Stables Battaglia, Detroit Free Press; Steven R. Reed, Lansing State Journal; the Associated Press |
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