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• Why Japanese girls want Christmas romance | Get yourself a wonderful boyfriend by Christmas; Best Christmas date spots; Christmas for lovers—the magazine headlines tell the story: all a Japanese girl wants for Christmas is the perfect date. (The Telegraph)

War on Christmas:

• `Nativity Story' trailer airs in plaza | A trailer for a movie depicting the birth of Jesus played at a holiday bazaar Wednesday afternoon but went largely unnoticed by the lunch-going crowd, despite early city concerns that it represented paid advertising that could offend non-Christians. (Associated Press )

• Nativity film promoted | A religious group set up a DVD player and TV set at a downtown Christmas bazaar to show a trailer for a movie depicting the birth of Jesus after the city dropped an objection to the display. (The Washington Times)

• Let nothing you dismay: Christmas holds its own | The war is not going as well as some had thought it would. We are referring, of course, to what some call the war on Christmas, not that other conflict. (The New York Times)

• 'Merry Christmas' out of hiding, back in fashion | "Merry Christmas" is making a comeback. The holiday greeting, once as common as snowflakes in a Midwestern winter, had been swept aside in recent years by retailers and concerned citizens who felt the phrase might be politically incorrect or culturally insensitive. (The Toledo Blade)

• Britain's unholy war over Christmas | Britain has imported America's "culture wars," in which Christmas becomes a pitched battle between Christians, secularists and minority faiths. (The International Herald Tribune)

• Christmas tree briefly reappears in courthouse | A Christmas tree which was removed from a courthouse lobby by a judge made a quick reappearance, only to be removed to reignite a debate about the holiday symbol. (CTV Toronto)

• Tolerance: An unnecessary 'war on Christmas | Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky walked into the Seattle-Tacoma airport recently, saw 14 plastic Christmas trees and threatened to sue unless authorities added a Hanukkah menorah. That made him one of the latest faces of what religious conservatives call a "war on Christmas." (USA Today)

• There's profit in alleging a 'War on Christmas' | Fox News host/Creators Syndicate columnist Bill O'Reilly is prominent among the conservatives known for complaining about the "War on Christmas" allegedly waged by retailers and others who prefer to say "Happy Holidays." (Editor & Publisher)

• Is it civil disobedience if nobody cares? | Local Christians who are part of a national campaign called "The Nativity Project: A Public Witness to Keep Christ in Christmas," will set up a Nativity Scene in front of Boise's City Hall on Friday, December 22, at 11:00 a.m. The display is sponsored by Generation Life and America's Renewal. (Boise, The New West)

Bethlehem/Israel:

• Few signs of Christmas cheer in the Jewish state | A glimmer of tinsel, a miniature Santa Claus and a cluster of plastic fir trees in a shop window are among the few signs that Christmas is on its way in the land of Israel. (Reuters)

• Fewer Christians in Birthplace of Jesus | Every year at this time, Christians around the world turn their attention to Bethlehem, a small city in the West Bank where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ was born.  Christians have lived in Bethlehem for centuries, but now many are leaving.  A bloody Palestinian uprising over the past few years and the construction of a massive security barrier around the city have diminished the Christmas spirit from Bethlehem. (Voice of America)

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December (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50