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
More Troubling News For Turkish Media’s Independence Can Dundar, veteran journalist of Milliyet daily, is fired under government pressure. Turkey
Erdogan’s Crisis With Pregnant Women A remark by a supporter of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has created a domestic political crisis for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey
Turkish Media Drifting Toward an Abyss The crisis at Sabah and Milliyet, two of Turkey’s flagship newpapers, has deepened under persistent political pressure, sounding the alarm for the country’s media. Turkey
An Anatolian Tiger Gives Fair Warning to Erdogan A leader of the conservative business community in Turkey criticizes the government’s latest move against the country’s largest industrial group Turkey
Iraq’s Civilian Activists Under Siege Civilian activists in Iraq have increasingly been subject to attacks, killings and threats from the authorities, militias and terrorist organizations. Iraq
Egyptian Crisis Reduces Friction Between Israel and Hamas Both Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza have an interest in preventing a further deterioration on the Egyptian border. Palestine
Egypt’s Military Shows No Restraint Egypt’s political factions may soon regret their deal with the military as a pact with the devil in unseating deposed President Mohammed Morsi. Egypt
Extremist Preacher Denies Al-Qaeda’s Presence in Lebanon Salafist preacher Omar Bakri Fostock has denied that al-Qaeda maintains a presence in Lebanon, but doesn’t rule out the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the country. Lebanon
US Must Sell Peace Talks To Israeli, Palestinian Public The US has the additional task of having to convince the Israeli and Palestinian people of the merits of the current talks. Palestine
Lebanon's Latest Church-State Scuffle In Lebanon’s complex, diverse society, religious institutions often take on vocal roles in protecting what they regard as affronts to the sanctity of their beliefs. Lebanon
Lebanon's Economy Shrinks Under Burden of Syrian Crisis Traditionally bolstered by its larger and more economically diverse neighbor, Lebanon’s economy has felt the sting of the war raging in Syria. Lebanon
Lebanon Needs Viable Solutions For Displaced Syrians Just as it is inevitable that displaced Syrians will continue to flow across the Lebanese border, it is also inevitable that the Lebanese state’s inability to keep up with the burden will drag Lebanon into a crisis of its own. Lebanon
