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
Netanyahu faces off against UNESCO over Jerusalem resolution Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers to ignore the fact that from a diplomatic-international standpoint, the Jewish holy sites in the Old City are under occupation. Palestine
New initiative aims to protect Palestinian working women In a bid to help women overcome the bitter situation plaguing the work environment, the Palestinian Ministry of Labor, in cooperation with the International Labor Organization, recently issued a guideline for the rights of working women in Palestine. Palestine
Will Palestine amend its local council electoral law, again? Following the postponement of local elections, the Palestinian government has started making contacts with the Palestinian factions to agree on a new formula for the elections, and one of the proposed ideas is amending electoral law No. 10 of 2005 to establish a court competent to settle local elections issues. Palestine
Why Israeli NGO’s UN testimony against occupation backfired The decision by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem to testify to the UN Security Council against the occupation has weakened its own camp and played into the hands of the Israeli right. Palestine
Police overwhelmed as drugs from Iran flood Basra Iraqi police are unable to keep up with increasing drug smuggling from Iran, and Basra, the hardest-hit province, has neither a rehabilitation center for drug addiction nor the resources to prosecute drug-trafficking gangs. Iraq
How Syria is pushing Egypt and Iran closer Converging views on Syria appear to be leading to real mutual support between regional powers Iran and Egypt. Egypt
US, Europe mull sanctions on Russia over Aleppo The United States and Europe are considering additional economic sanctions on Russia over its role in the Syrian regime's assault on Aleppo. Syria
Festival feeds growing success of Sahrawi filmmakers The world’s most remote film festival featured a number of Sahrawi-made movies, encouraging young artists there and drawing attention to the Sahrawis' plight. Algeria
US shifts Egypt aid to other countries The Barack Obama administration has reallocated $108 million in obstructed assistance. Egypt
Public schools are latest victim of Libyan infighting Amid the lack of school buildings, the shortage of textbooks and the fighting, thousands of Libyan children will not be able to attend classes this year. Libya
Video surfaces of detained US businessman in Iran A year after the arrest of Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, a video has appeared on social media with new footage of him. United States
US Navy's tweet seen as call to battle in Turkey The US Navy's birthday tweet of a painting depicting one of its first international battles has furious Turks asking what message the United States is trying to send to the Turkish government. Turkey
