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
Intel: How White House efforts to sidestep Congress on Saudi nuclear deal are blowing up The House Oversight Committee spoke with Donald Trump administration whistleblowers and released a report Tuesday detailing the White House’s efforts to give Congress the run-around in its determination to reach a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia
Intel: How the Palestinians are trying to take Netanyahu down via Israeli elections Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ weekend meeting with Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem is widely seen as a desperate gambit, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to coast to re-election on a security platform while Israeli peacemakers fade from the scene. Israel
Iran’s central bank under pressure to print money, weaken rial To cover the budget deficit, Iran’s lawmakers are seeking to force the central bank to print money. If they are successful, they will likely end up making life more difficult for average Iranians. Iran
Iran's hard-line MPs launch fresh drive to impeach Rouhani A group of ultraconservative Iranian lawmakers is robustly lobbying to gather support from colleagues to unseat President Hassan Rouhani over his perceived mismanagement of the country's ailing economy. Iran
Families fret as Turkey's Gulenist purge continues Plainclothes operatives captured two more alleged followers of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen in broad daylight in Ankara and they have not been heard from since. Turkey
Egypt campaign to reject Sisi's power grab gains traction A campaign to reject constitutional amendments that would extend President Sisi's term has led to an unlikely alignment between Egypt's Islamists and secular activists. Egypt
Why did Turkey deport alleged Muslim Brotherhood member? Is the extradition of an alleged Muslim Brotherhood member to Egypt a simple bureaucratic glitch or a sign of Erdogan’s change of heart toward the Egyptian organization? Egypt
Erdogan denied Syrian opportunity to shore up electoral fortunes The outcome of the Sochi summit suggests that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s prospects of launching a new operation in Syria ahead of the March 31 local elections to win back voters disgruntled over economic woes have greatly diminished. Syria
Turkey running out of native soccer players to sing anthem Turkish soccer is facing an invasion of foreign players while failing to train promising locals. Turkey
Is Libya's revolution anniversary cause for celebration? It seems Libyans have nothing to celebrate on the eighth anniversary of its revolution. Libya
Can Egyptian MPs oppose constitutional amendments? As Egypt’s parliament voted in favor of constitutional amendments that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to remain in power until 2034, parliamentarians who opposed the decision seem to have been victims of defamation campaigns. Egypt
