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
Can Congress stop Obama from making payments to Iran? Congress wants to rein in the White House's legal settlements slush fund. It's a little late for that. United States
Elusive US-Russia deal on Syria may again prove out of reach US Secretary of State John Kerry had been expected to travel to Geneva to try to finalize a deal with Russia for a nationwide cease-fire in Syria this week, but hopes for concluding the accord appear once again to have been lowered. Syria
How this invasive flower is taking over the Nile Egypt is considering several less-than-appealing options to combat the Nile’s invasive plant problem. Egypt
US backing ensures Arab-Kurd alliance in Syria will survive Liwa al-Tahrir walking out of its alliance with the Kurdish People's Protection Units caused plenty of excitement in Turkey, but did it really change anything in Syria? Syria
Why Turkey’s Gulenist purge is going way too far The Gulenist threat to Turkish democracy was not a myth, yet the anti-Gulenist purge itself is now also a major threat if it continues along the same path. Turkey
EU tries to mend fences with Turkey following attempted coup European officials stream to Turkey to overcome tensions that are putting arrangements such as the migration agreement at risk, but serious differences remain. Turkey
Khamenei calls for international investigation into hajj stampede One year after the hajj disaster that killed nearly 500 Iranians out of more than 2,000 people, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is calling for an international body to investigate. Saudi Arabia
Qatar or Iran: Who will save Hamas? The Hamas delegation will split forces after performing the hajj in Mecca, with Ismail Haniyeh heading to Qatar and Mahmoud al-Zahar visiting Iran. Saudi Arabia
Why did Fatah remove female candidates' names from electoral lists? Fatah did not identify the names of female candidates on some of its electoral lists running in the Oct. 8 local elections, which raised the ire of activists who took to social media. Palestine
Western legends fight Eastern heroes in new Iranian animation A group of seminary students are turning the popular book “Tintin and Sinbad” into an animated film series. Iran
Ultra-Orthodox arms dealer faces extradition to US Israel's Supreme Court has rejected Eli Cohen's appeal to stop his extradition to the United States for violating sanctions against Iran after a long history of evading prosecution for such offenses. Israel
Meet the man who might replace Netanyahu A recent poll put Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if elections were held today. Palestine
