Photos of Christmas 2023 around the world
CBSN
Families around the world are marking Christmas Day with traditions both ancient and new — from church services to icy swim races. The Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is celebrated by billions worldwide, and while customs vary in different cultures, the universal theme of the holiday is love and joy — shadowed this year by the toll of war in the Middle East, Ukraine and other conflicts across the globe.
Here is a look at scenes of Christmas 2023 worldwide, beginning with a blessing from Pope Francis, who delivered his annual Christmas message calling for peace from St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
Observances in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, were subdued amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Many public celebrations were canceled, and one church displayed a Nativity scene showing the baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh and surrounded by rubble.
The police chief in a small town in central Mexico took his own life Friday as troops closed in to arrest him as part of anticorruption raids that also detained several other top police commanders and the mayor of another town.
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Belgian authorities said on Friday they had seized almost five tons of cocaine stashed in shipping containers at Antwerp port, as part of a cross-border investigation into a drug-trafficking ring.
Brazil's federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections.
Archaeologists in Turkey say they have discovered an ancient amulet depicting a Biblical figure in a battle against the devil.
Russia launched a barrage of missiles at Ukraine Thursday in its first major retaliation for Ukraine's attack earlier in the week on a military facility in the Russian region of Bryansk. That strike saw the Ukrainians use American-made and supplied long-range missiles known as ATACMS, which President Biden had given the Ukrainian forces permission to fire deeper into Russian territory only two days earlier.
A U.S. citizen has died in a tourist town in the Southeast Asian nation of Laos following reports that multiple travelers suffered suspected cases of alcohol poisoning in the same town after possibly consuming tainted drinks.
Three state police officers and four drug cartel suspects were killed in a running series of shootouts in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas, across the border from Texas, officials said Wednesday.
Japanese officials said Wednesday they are closely watching to see if China keeps its promise to prevent further violations of Japan's airspace after explaining that an incursion by a Chinese military aircraft nearly three months ago was unintentional and caused by turbulence.
Amersham, England — Family and friends of One Direction star Liam Payne, who died last month after falling from a Buenos Aires hotel room, gathered for his funeral in Britain on Wednesday. Payne's former bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson were among mourners at the private service at St Mary's Church in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, just outside London.
A Thai woman believed to be among the worst serial killers in the kingdom's history was convicted and sentenced to death Wednesday for poisoning a friend with cyanide, in the first of her 14 murder trials.