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.

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.