The Takeaway: Would Hamas complicate US plans for reset with Palestinians? Also: the back story on the spat between Israel and Jordan; Gulf post-COVID economic trends; Turkey’s Kurds; Egypt and Somalia; and more! Originals
Egypt sentences activist Sanaa Seif to 18 months in prison Seif, who had been in pretrial detention since June, was convicted Wednesday of spreading false news and misusing social media. Egypt
Ukraine rejects Iran's final report on downed passenger plane The Iranian government said last year's shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was the result of a human error. Iran
Palestinians receive first batch of vaccines through COVAX More than 60,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestine
Uproar after scholar bans excavation of Egyptian mummies As Egypt carries out intensive excavation works, leading to major discoveries in recent months, an Egyptian Al-Azhar scholar stirred a heated debate after stating that displaying mummies is against Islam. Egypt
Ultra-Orthodox riot across Israel over lockdown Resistance to pandemic restrictions has grown violent in ultra-Orthodox towns, where a bus driver was attacked during anti-government riots. Israel
Erdogan seeks better ties with US and EU, but on his terms How Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to improve ties with the United States and the European Union and get Turkey out of its economic morass without making any significant concessions remains unclear. Turkey
Meet the Syrian who saved cats from regime shelling A group of volunteers is providing shelter for animals that were wounded due to the shelling or those abandoned by their owners and putting them in a sanctuary that was built in Idlib in northern Syria. Syria
Israel's subsea gas, oil fields heat up International consortiums are showing increasing interest in developing Israel’s offshore oil and gas fields. Israel
Israel’s defense minister wants to close Army Radio Like other defense ministers before him, Benny Gantz wants to rid the ministry of the IDF radio station. Israel
Qatar Airways announces expansion of flights to US Qatar's flagship airline will resume flights to Seattle and Atlanta and increase daily and weekly flights to other cities in the United States. Qatar
Israeli airstrikes hit central Syria Iranian forces have repositioned themselves in eastern Syria due to recent suspected Israeli strikes. Israel
Will Turkish defense minister’s Iraq visit yield concrete results? Although Turkey's defense minister seems to be satisfied with the outcome of his recent visit to Baghdad and Erbil, there are several impediments to Turkey's security demands. Iraq
Twitter suspends account linked to Iran's supreme leader following threat against Trump The social media giant also suspended an account from an Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander; these actions follow the suspension of Donald Trump's Twitter account earlier this month when he was still president. Iran
UAE confirms F-35 agreement inked with Trump administration The weapons package, which includes dozens of the stealth fighter jets, drones and other munitions, is valued at $23 billion. United Arab Emirates
Islamic State kills 1, wounds 3 in Sinai The Egyptian peninsula's deadly insurgency lingers on. Egypt
