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
US sends 'message' to Abbas with $80 million aid cut The State Department has notified Congress that it's cutting FY 2015 assistance to the Palestinians by 22%. Palestine
Rouhani thanks Khamenei for nuke deal 'stamp of approval' In a letter, President Hassan Rouhani says the supreme leader's letter provided a "stamp of approval" for the nuclear deal, though others believe Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's "conditions" provide the antidote to a bad deal. Iran
Israel-Palestine peace process 'kidnapped by religious zealots' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must each separate himself from the religious parties near him, or else the conflict will escalate into unprecedented levels. Palestine
Would you like your terror straight up or as a cocktail? Turkey's Justice and Development Party hopes to boost its image by casting aspersions and creating terror conspiracies. Syria
What's happening on Gaza-Israeli border? Tensions have escalated along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, as Gazans head there daily to throw stones at Israeli soldiers, in parallel with the uprising in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Palestine
Tehran tries to make its addicts go to rehab Iran's policy of forcibly transferring street addicts to government-run rehabilitation camps appears to falter. Iran
The truth about 'united' Jerusalem Israeli center-left politicians are still forced to defend themselves from accusations of wanting to split Jerusalem, even though the Palestinian neighborhoods in question could be separated from the city without hurting the state. Israel
Who is spreading rumors about a coup in Iraq? A rumor about an imminent coup spread in Baghdad at the end of September, which the Iraqi government rushed to deny. Iraq
The renewed blood pact between Israeli, Palestinian extremists Israelis are reacting with hatred and racism to the current spate of violence, ignoring the destructive ramifications of the endless cycle of occupation, humiliation, hatred and violence on their own security. Palestine
Egypt's fake mosque problem For years, Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments has been weeding out dozens of fake mosques that employ thousands of salaried workers paid by the state to do nothing. Egypt
Hamas tries to make nice with Egypt to focus on intifada The Egyptian army in Sinai continues its operations against Hamas members, but the movement says it has no interest in clashing with Egypt and has turned its attention to the budding intifada in the West Bank. Palestine
What do Israelis want more than all-inclusive Turkish holidays? A new survey indicates that Israelis are keen to restore relations with Turkey, mainly to battle the Islamic State. Israel
![Iranian drug addicts prepare heroin for injection near the Zeytoun (olive) drug rehabilitation center in south Tehran February 23, 2004.The Zeytoun center is run by a former addict called 'Forouhar' who weaned himself off drugs in the [United States]. Senior police officers have recently estimated that the Islamic Republic has some two million addicts and their forces struggle to contend with huge consignments of drugs smuggled over the porous border with [Afghanistan].
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