Dec. 24 Daily Brief: Crossing into Egypt, Pope Francis and baby Jesus and a Christmas polar bear plunge
Children dressed in Santa Claus costumes pose in front of a sand sculpture featuring Jesus Christ, Santa hangs out with fishermen, last-minute deliveries and more in today’s daily breif .
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- A woman, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, and from the Anonymous movement embraces a homeless child during a Christmas street celebration in downtown Sao Paulo December 24, 2013. Members of Black Bloc group and the Anonymous movement provided food and clothes to homeless people during the celebration. (REUTERS/Nacho Doce)
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- A member from the Anonymous movement stands on an escalator at a subway station with food to give to homeless people as part of a Christmas street celebration, in downtown Sao Paulo December 24, 2013. Members of Black Bloc group and the Anonymous movement provided food and clothes to homeless people during the celebration. (REUTERS/Nacho Doce)
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- An ice encrusted tree glistens in the setting sun in Earl Bales Park following an ice storm in Toronto, December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Gary Hershorn)
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- A Chadian Muslim girl stands by the doorway outside her house in the KM5 neighbourhood, as street violence targeting members of their community increased, in the capital Bangui December 24, 2013. Chadian peacekeepers fired on a crowd demonstrating against their presence in the capital of Central African Republic, where at least nine people were killed in inter-religious violence on Monday. (REUTERS/Andreea Campeanu)
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- Ruben Torres, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, wave to people from a boat with fishermen on Christmas Eve along the coast of Valparaiso city, about 121 km (75 miles) northwest of Santiago, December 24, 2013. Every year, fishermen in Valparaiso organize a Santa Claus boat trip as people wait on the shore to receive their Christmas presents and well-wishes. (REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez)
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- Audiences (bottom) raise their hands as performers sing a song at the end of a performance to celebrate the upcoming 120th anniversary of the birthday of Chinese late Chairman Mao Zedong, in Changsha, Hunan province December 23, 2013. Thursday, December 26, 2013, marks the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth, while various commemorative activities are scheduled to carry out in Hunan province, where Mao was born, and throughout the nation. Picture taken December 23, 2013. (REUTERS/China Daily)
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- A woman cries during a funeral service for policemen and people killed in a car bomb explosion, near Al Naser Mosque in Egypt’s Nile Delta city of Mansoura in Dakahlyia province, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Cairo, December 24, 2013. The car bomb tore through a police compound in Mansoura on Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding more than 130, security officials said, in one of the deadliest attacks since the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. The army-backed government vowed to fight “black terrorism”, saying the blast an hour after midnight in the city of Mansoura north of Cairo would not derail a political transition plan whose next step is a January referendum on a new constitution. (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
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- Children dressed in Santa Claus costumes pose in front of a sand sculpture featuring Jesus Christ (top) and Santa Claus created by Indian artist Sudarshan Pattnaik as part of Christmas celebrations on a beach in Puri, located in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, December 24, 2013. (REUTERS)
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- A priest holds a cross as he awaits the arrival of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, outside the Church of Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, during Christmas celebrations in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
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- A Palestinian woman, hoping to cross into Egypt, holds a boy as they wait at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip December 24, 2013. Egyptian authorities partially opened the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main window to the world, on Tuesday for three days, border officials said. Since July, the authorities have kept the crossing largely closed, only opening it partially for humanitarian purposes. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
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- Darren Fabella, 6, lights candles for his departed friend, a victim of the onslaught of super typhoon Haiyan a month ago, who was buried in a vacant lot on Christmas Eve in front of a Catholic church in San Joaquin town in Palo, Leyte province central Philippines December 24, 2013. Super typhoon Haiyan reduced almost everything in its path to rubble when it swept ashore in the central Philippines on November 8, killing at least 6,069 people, leaving 1,779 missing and 4 million either homeless or with damaged homes. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)
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- Victims of super Typhoon Haiyan decorate their improvised Christmas tree with empty cans and bottles at the ravaged town of Anibong, Tacloban city, central Philippines December 24, 2013, a month after Typhoon Haiyan battered central Philippines. Super typhoon Haiyan reduced almost everything in its path to rubble when it swept ashore in the central Philippines on November 8, killing at least 6,069 people, leaving 1,779 missing and 4 million either homeless or with damaged homes. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)
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- Pope Francis holds the baby Jesus statue at the end of the Christmas night mass in the Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Tony Gentile)
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- Pope Francis kisses the baby Jesus statue as he leads the Christmas night mass in the Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Tony Gentile)
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- A woman jumps down onto the beach in the Adler district of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, December 24, 2013. Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics in February. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)
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- Children displaced by recent fighting in South Sudan react to the camera from behind a fence at the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNAMIS) facility in Jabel, on the outskirts of capital Juba December 23, 2013. South Sudan President Salva Kiir said on Tuesday government troops have take control of the Jonglei state capital Bor, a key town which rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar seized last week. Picture taken December 23, 2013. (REUTERS/James Akena)
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- A volunteer gives a bottle of drinks to woman (R) during daily a food distribution on Christmas eve from the Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) Angeles Malaguenos de la noche (Malaga’s Angels of the night) on a street in downtown Malaga, southern Spain December 24, 2013. About 3,000 people received food, a local newspaper reported. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca)
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- A dancer is lifted by his companions in front of the Olentzero, the Basque Father Christmas, and his helper Mari Domingi (both not pictured), during Christmas Eve celebrations in Elorrio, December 24, 2013. In Basque tradition, the Olentzero, a pipe-smoking, wine-drinking coal man, delivers presents on Christmas Eve to Basque children, many of whom also enjoy a second round of gifts on January 6, the day of the Reyes Magos (The Three Kings). (REUTERS/Vincent West)
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- A man transports furniture on a cart, as he moves house from an area controlled by the Free Syrian Army to one controlled by the Syrian regime along a street in Aleppo’s Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Jalal Alhalab)
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- Supporters of Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans and wave flags as they gather to welcome his arrival at Esenboga Airport in Ankara December 24, 2013. Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul pledged on Tuesday there would be no cover-up in a high-level corruption case, despite a government-ordered purge of police investigating it that drew protests at home and a caution from the European Union. The week-long scandal, which erupted with the arrest for graft of 24 people, including the chief of a state-run bank and the sons of two ministers, pits Erdogan against the judiciary and has rattled investor confidence. (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)
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- Supporters of Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans and wave flags as they gather to welcome his arrival at Esenboga Airport in Ankara December 24, 2013. Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul pledged on Tuesday there would be no cover-up in a high-level corruption case, despite a government-ordered purge of police investigating it that drew protests at home and a caution from the European Union. The week-long scandal, which erupted with the arrest for graft of 24 people, including the chief of a state-run bank and the sons of two ministers, pits Erdogan against the judiciary and has rattled investor confidence. (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)
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- A woman places a candle inside a makeshift chapel in Independence Square where pro-European integration supporters are holding a rally in Kiev December 24, 2013. Ukrainian opposition leaders urged supporters at a rally on Sunday to stay on Kiev’s main square through New Year and Christmas, as street protests appeared to be losing momentum. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
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- UPS delivery man Vinny Ambrosino prepares to deliver packages on Christmas Eve while wearing a Rudolf nose and antlers in New York, December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
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- A man sleeps on the stairs of Grand Central Station as commuters pass by on Christmas Eve in New York, December 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
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- A man stands alone at London Bridge Station after numerous trains were cancelled due to storms in London December 24, 2013. Disrupted transport networks and power cuts wreaked havoc in Britain and France on Tuesday, one of the busiest travel and shopping days of the year just before Christmas, after hurricane-force winds and torrential rain lashed the region. (REUTERS/Luke MacGregor)
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- Winter swimmers wearing Santa Claus hats get out of a partially frozen lake after swimming in icy water to celebrate Christmas at a park in Shenyang, Liaoning province December 24, 2013. (REUTERS)
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- Winter swimmers wearing Santa Claus hats swim in a partially frozen lake as others (back) line up to get into the icy water to celebrate Christmas at a park in Shenyang, Liaoning province December 24, 2013. (REUTERS)
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