AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have abducted an outspoken tribesman as part of their assault on internet influencers and others who accuse the militia group of corruption and leaving people to starve.

The Houthis reportedly abducted Mohammed Salah Al-Houthi from his home in Sanaa’s Khawlan just days after he appeared on recordings condemning the militia’s leaders for enriching themselves and failing to tackle poverty and famine.

TEL AVIV, Israel: Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the legal system and weaken the Supreme Court.
The step, critics say will destroy the country’s democratic system of checks and balances.
The protest presented an early challenge to Netanyahu and his ultranationalist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has ordered police to take tough action if protesters block roads or display Palestinian flags.

LONDON: Friends of Al-Aqsa, a pro-Palestinian organization in the UK, has launched a campaign to persuade sandwich shop chain Pret A Manger to rethink its plans to open dozens of stores in Israel, organizers said on Friday.

The London-based company has entered into a 10-year, non-binding agreement with Israeli fashion chain Fox-Wizel and restaurant group Yarzin Sella to open and operate about 40 franchises in Israel in the next decade.

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Friday that Iran must not follow through with threatening to execute British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari.
“The Iranian regime should be in no doubt. We are watching the case of Alireza Akbari closely,” he said in a tweet.
Cleverly on Wednesday called for immediate release of Akbari who has been sentenced to death by the Iranian regime on charges of spying for Britain.

ANKARA: Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has denounced a protest by Kurds in central Stockholm, where an effigy of Turkiye’s president was hung from a lamppost, as an act of “sabotage” against Sweden’s bid to join NATO.