In a beautiful, almost ethereal scene, about 2,000 Christians quietly ascended the Mount of Olives as midnight approached. Following a lighted crucifix, they carried votive candles that flickered in the still darkness of a city devoid of any official celebration of the millennium.
At the top, they planted the crucifix and gathered round, moved by the serenity. Then, switching in a flash from the sublime to the cheesy, it turned into a Dick Clark New Year's Eve special with a Felliniesque cast, set in the heart of the Holy Land.
There, a Franciscan priest stepped on to a rickety sound stage and into an emcee persona. Beckoning the crowd closer, he led a heavily accented English countdown to midnight. An amplified electronic keyboard let loose a bad disco version of Auld Lang Syne. And the people, from the Italian nuns to the Catholic church group from Texas, all ran for cover as sparks from a fireworks display rained on their moment of faith.
In Bethlehem, Manger Square was packed, a Palestinian block party par excellence, culminating in a resounding fireworks show that coincided with the release of 2,000 doves for peace. Stunned, the doves crashed and bumped their way into the night, but the crowd was elated.
"It's a time of looking forward to the future with hope, and not toward disaster and doom and all that," said the Reverend Mitchell Pacwa of Dallas.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from