Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live: Israeli Jets Strike Gaza for 1st Time Since November

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Tuesday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live: An Agenda for a National Dialogue?

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1705 GMT: Egypt. Defying the judiciary, President Morsi has said Public Prosecutor Talaat Abdallah will remain in his position.

A Presidential spokesperson said a challenge to the court ruling ordering Abdallah's dismissal and the return of former Public Prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud is still being considered.

Last week, the Cairo Court of Appeals reinstated Mahmoud to his post, annulling a decree by Morsi replacing him with Talaat Abdallah.

1655 GMT: Libya. Egypt's Administrative Court ruled Wednesday against the extradition of Ahmed Gadhaf Al-Dam, a close aide and cousin of former Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi.

After the Libyan Government made its demand, Al-Dam requested political asylum. He claims he is originally Egyptian as he was born to Egyptian parents.

1625 GMT: Egypt. The US Embassy in Cairo briefly shut down its Twitter feed today after an on-line argument with the Muslim Brotherhood and the President's office.

The account is now operating again.

The Bmbassy's last tweet before its suspension was a link to the Daily Show's Jon Stewart talking about the Egyptian Government's arrest Bassem Youssef, a political satrist arrested and released on bail on charges of insulting President Morsi and denigrating Islam.

The tweet has now been deleted.

Before the suspension of the Embassy account, the Egyptian Presidency responded on Twitter, "It's inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda."

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), linked to the Brotherhood, tweeted, "Another undiplomatic & unwise move by @USEmbassyCairo, taking sides in an ongoing investigation & disregarding Egyptian law & culture."

A State Department official said the decision to take down the Embassy's Twitter feed was made by Ambassador Anne Patterson without the consultation of the State Department in Washington.

The source said the Department is urging the Embassy to restore its feed and Twitter page, lest it appear that the US is caving to the online pressure.

"This not a permanent shutdown. Embassy Cairo considers this to be temporary. They want to put new procedures in place," the official said.

1254 GMT: Turkey and Iraq. Iraq Oil Report claims Turkish authorities have developed a plan to assume unprecedented control over revenues from oil exports in northern Iraq, including Kurdistan.

Under the prospective arrangement, revenue from all Iraqi oil exports through Turkey --- from both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and federal entities – would flow into a Turkish-controlled escrow account that would ultimately be divided proportionally between Erbil and Baghdad.

according to multiple senior Turkish officials who have worked directly on the deal.

1142 GMT: Turkey. Growth in the Turkish economy slowed to 2.2% from rates of 9.2% and 8.8% in 2010 and 2011.

The economy grew by only 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Minister of Finance Mehmet Simsek said that its growth rate of 2.2% was good, considering the global economic slowdown and the European Union's economic crisis.

0602 GMT: Israel and Palestine. Following Tuesday night's Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, two Qassam rockets fired from the territory have hit near the southern Israeli town Sderot.

No injuries or damage were reported.

0008 GMT: Iraq. AFP posts an overview of the series of assassinations of Sunni political candidates.

Eleven men have been killed recently. Six of them were member of the Iraqiya bloc.

The murders come amid growing mostly-Sunni protests against the central Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, challenging discrimination, detentions, raids on Sunni figures, and anti-terrorism legislation.

Meanwhile, gunmen raided the offices of four independent Iraqi newspapers late Monday night, damaging them and wounding six employees.

The Baghdad offices of Al-Dustour (The Constitution), Al-Parliament, Al-Mustaqbal (The Future), and Al-Nas (The People) were all attacked.

All four newspapers were apparently targeted for publishing reports critical of Shia Muslim cleric Mahmud al-Sarkhi, but it was not immediately clear if the attackers were linked to him.

0001 GMT: Israel and Palestine. Israeli jets have struck Gaza for the first time since a ceasefire ended an eight-day war in November.

The Israeli planes carried out three attacks, two close to Gaza City and one farther north towards the Gaza-Israel border. The strikes hit empty fields and no one was injured.

The airstrikes followed the firing of a rocket from Gaza into southern Israel, hitting waste ground.