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
Will Turkish lira save economy in Syria's opposition-held areas? As Syria's currency plunges against the dollar, the opposition's Syrian Interim Government plans to replace the Syrian pound with the Turkish lira in the areas it controls. Syria
Israelis from Russia: A voyage from atheism to religion Despite the secular campaign by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman, and despite their atheist upbringing, a significant number of Jews who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union have become religious. Israel
Who is responsible for the new wave of killings in Aden? It's hard to determine which side or sides are behind the latest wave of killings as a new round of military escalation looms in Yemen’s south, which has seen skirmishes in Abyan province between the two partners of the Saudi-led coalition. Saudi Arabia
Yemen's shaky power-sharing pact faces uncertain future The agreement between Yemen's government and secessionist forces in the south has shown little progress since it was signed more than a month ago. Saudi Arabia
Lebanon’s real estate sector crumbles along with dreams As Lebanon’s economic crisis devastates the housing sector, homeowners are faced with increasing payments and debt tied to the dollar and rising interest rates. Lebanon
Sex workers fall victim to Israeli government paralysis Due to the paralysis of successive transitional governments in Israel, millions of shekels allocated to the Welfare Ministry to help sex workers get out of the business have gone unused and might therefore be returned to the Finance Ministry. Israel
Russia, US headed for new lows over terrorism, Syria Despite claims that the Russian foreign minister's visit to Washington was genial and productive, by the time Sergey Lavrov landed back in Moscow, some of the areas of potential cooperation had already grown more snarled. Syria
Rouhani looks to Japan’s Abe to pick up where Macron left off Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who appears to be seeking a mediator for the US-Iranian relationship, next week will visit Japan, a country where Iran has a lot of frozen assets. United States
Senate recognizes Armenian genocide in latest black eye for Turkey The Senate unanimously recognized the Armenian genocide today, the latest in a string of major blows against Turkey within a week. Turkey
Pentagon: Saudi military students can still enter US despite shooting The Defense Department plans to establish new vetting policies for all foreign military students who enter the United States as a result of the fatal shooting of US sailors by a Saudi air force member at a US base in Florida. Saudi Arabia
Could Israeli legal system force Netanyahu to resign? Faced with the cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the Supreme Court justices will be unable to ignore the precedent that booted indicted politicians. Israel
Will Netanyahu go to prison? If convicted, Benjamin Netanyahu would become the second Israeli prime minister to serve jail time. Israel
