AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni social media activists in Houthi-controlled Sanaa said that the Iran-backed militia has kidnapped a prominent YouTuber off a Sanaa street days after he sharply attacked them on social media.

Ahmed Hajar, a well-known Yemeni comedian, actor and YouTuber was strolling last week along Al-Zubairi street in Sanaa when he was kidnapped by armed men in civilian clothing driving a bus and taken to an unknown destination.

The news of his disappearance spread over the weekend after his relatives reported him missing.

RAMALLAH: In a surprise move, Israel has offered Palestinian inmates with Jordanian citizenship the option of being transferred to prisons in Jordan to continue serving out their sentences there.

The National Committee for Jordanian Prisoners and Missing Persons in Israeli Detention Centers has revealed an agreement presented by the Israeli Prisons Administration to Palestinian prisoners of Jordanian nationality.

Four out of 18 Jordanian prisoners have so far accepted the offer of the prison administration, most of whom had been served with long sentences.

LONDON: Municipality workers in Baghdad on Saturday worked to pump water out of flooded roads after torrential rains hit several areas in Iraq, the state-run Iraq News Agency reported.

The municipality said it has fully mobilized all its workers and was working at maximum capacity to drain the rainwater throughout the capital, in joint cooperation with a government team, the Ministry of Interior, and the Civil Defense.

BEIRUT, Lebanon: The Lebanese are getting ready to welcome the holidays, but their joy is only as deep as their pockets.

Some commercial streets in Beirut and major coastal cities such as Jounieh, Jbeil and Batroun were decorated with Christmas lights, powered either by solar panels or private electricity generators, in an attempt to lighten up the holidays in cities that had plunged into darkness months ago.

ANKARA: Although Christmas is not officially celebrated in Turkiye, the streets of its towns and cities are already aglow with festive lights, decorated trees and even the occasional Santa Claus. And while Christians make up just 0.5 percent of the population, Christmas traditions have been absorbed into cultural life.

In a land populated by many ethnic and religious communities, the Arabic-speaking Christian community living in southern Turkiye has sought to preserve its Christmas traditions by conducting worship and rituals in its members’ native Arabic tongue on Dec. 25.