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
Meet the powerful Iranian cleric looking to unseat Rouhani Ebrahim Raisi emerges as the conservative consensus candidate in Iran’s upcoming May presidential elections. Iran
Pro-Kurdish HDP leader kicked out of Turkish parliament In Turkey’s latest salvo against the pro-Kurdish bloc, the parliament has expelled Peoples’ Democratic Party co-leader Figen Yuksekdag, who remains in jail with fellow leader Selahattin Demirtas and at least nine other HDP deputies while the ruling party continues its legal assaults ahead of the presidential referendum. Turkey
Refugee influx to Turkey sharply rises In the past five months, 551,000 new refugees arrived in Turkey, raising the total number to 3.551 million and the monthly cost to host them to $590 million. Syria
Canal Istanbul: Still hyped, still 'crazy' Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is dusting off plans for the megaproject Canal Istanbul ahead of the constitutional referendum as an example of what a strong president could achieve. Turkey
Why Israel's ultra-Orthodox are fighting fur ban A move to ban the sale of fur in Israel is being blocked by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are hanging on to the tradition of wearing expensive fur hats on the Sabbath and other holy days. Israel
Who are real losers of US veto at UN against former Palestine PM? The United States' blocking of Salam Fayyad as an envoy to the UN secretary-general has reminded the world of the former Palestinian prime minister's applauded reputation. Palestine
How this West Bank village became a writers' retreat A Palestinian journalist living in Germany started a cultural retreat program in the West Bank village of Kafr Rumman where visitors, in exchange for educating and interacting with the area’s children, can stay for free. Palestine
Is Jordan's state security court threat to freedom of expression? As the Jordanian authorities arrested about 20 activists and referred them to the controversial State Security Court, some have been voicing criticism against the use of loose charges to silence peaceful opposition voices. Jordan
Trump's warm embrace of Netanyahu nothing for Jews to celebrate While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revels over his meeting with US President Donald Trump, US and Australian Jews are uncomfortable with his warm relations with a volatile and anti-Muslim leader. Palestine
Iraqi special forces stand to gain stature with victory over IS Iraq's counterterrorism bureau, which is receiving accolades and lots of support, could become even more powerful in the post-Islamic State era. Iraq
Online platforms help sick Egyptians find drugs A medicine shortage produced by a currency valuation has Egyptians turning to the internet to locate donors and other sources for their medications. Egypt
Why Moscow now sees value in Syrian local councils Russia has come to realize that some opponents of the Syrian regime are actually moderates rather than terrorists and that a move to empower local governments could help resolve the conflict. Syria
