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
Tunisia allows regions to impose nightly curfews amid COVID-19 spike The North African country has reported more than 40,000 infections since March. North Africa
12 bodies discovered in new mass graves in Libya At least 100 bodies have been discovered since the retreat of Khalifa Hifter's forces from the area earlier this year. Libya
UAE cabinet ratifies normalization accord with Israel The cabinet's approval came a day before an Emirati delegation is scheduled to make a first official visit to Israel. Israel
Iran arms embargo ends with warnings from Washington US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to sanction countries that engage in weapons trade with Iran. United States
First commercial flight from UAE to Israel lands in Tel Aviv Etihad Airways flew to Tel Aviv to bring an Israeli delegation back to Abu Dhabi for trade and tourism talks. Israel and the UAE continue to further ties after normalizing relations in September. Originals
Turkey-backed president's election to reshape negotiations in North Cyprus Northern Cypriots elected right-wing nationalist Ersin Tatar in runoff presidential elections Sunday, likely drawing a new path for peace talks and energy-revenue sharing negotiations amid rising regional tensions. Turkey
Iraq's Kadhimi kicks off European tour in Paris Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadimi is also slated to visit Germany and the United Kingdom as he looks to deepen economic and security cooperation. Iraq
With expiration of UN embargo, Iran makes pitch for arms sales The UN embargo on Iranian arms sales expired Sunday, and Iranian officials are ready to export weapons. Iran
White House official traveled to Syria for secret hostage talks The Wall Street Journal first reported that Kash Patel traveled to Damascus in an effort to secure the release of Americans hostages including Austin Tice and Majd Kamalmaz. Syria
Intel: Congress urges Egypt’s president to release political prisoners More than 50 US members of the US Congress called for Egyptian journalists, lawyers and rights activists to be released in a letter addressed directly to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt
Turkey' fears further downward spiral in relations with Saudi Arabia Ankara worries that the "unofficial boycott" is just the start of increased acrimony with Riyadh. Turkey
Killing of Sunni youths prompts calls for end to impunity in Iraq The killing of at least eight Sunni youths from a village in Iraq’s Salahuddin province, allegedly by groups other than the Islamic State, has sparked outcry and demands for non-local forces to be expelled from the region. Iraq
