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.

BEIRUT: Lavish lunches in mountain-top restaurants overlooking Lebanon’s valleys. Engagement parties at high-end clubs. The joyous Christmas dinner with family and loved ones. Mark Maher is going all out for the Christmas season in Beirut — so much so that he and his friends made a shared calendar to keep track of all his plans.

Friday kicks off with sunset drinks at the swanky Hotel Albergo rooftop, followed by pub-hopping through Badaro’s bar-lined streets and capping the night off with a table at the ever-packed seaside AHM club.

GAZA CITY, PALESTINE: In Gaza City, the small but tight-knit Catholic Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church for Christmas mass earlier this month, presided over by Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
As Israel has prevented many Christians in Gaza from traveling to Bethlehem to attend midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, they celebrated the holiday early.
“For years, I have been coming to Gaza to celebrate with the Christian community, to get close to them and support them,” Pizzaballa told Arab News.

A second round of elections would cause chaos and should be postponed following record-low turnout in parliamentary voting last week, the powerful UGTT union has claimed, saying the resulting parliament would have no legitimacy.
Only 11.2 percent of the country’s eligible voters participated in the election last week, sparking widespread criticism from the opposition, which said that President Kais Saied should step down and pledged mass protests.
The UGTT union, with more than a million members, has previously paralyzed the economy with its strikes.

CAIRO; The chairman of Egypt’s Suez Canal has affirmed the waterway is “not for sale,” in a bid to allay fears over a draft law under discussion in parliament.
On Tuesday, the legislature approved in principle a bill proposed by the government seeking to establish a sovereign wealth fund “that can carry out all economic and investment activities” for the Suez Canal Authority.
The draft bill has sparked wide debate on social media.