🇪🇬 An Egyptian court ordered the closure of Mada Masr, one of the last independent news outlets in Egypt, and the detention of its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, until she pays a fine of about $50,000. Drop Site Middle East editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who worked at Mada Masr for four years, told Democracy Now! that it is "a dark day for journalism, not just in Egypt, but in the entire Arab world." Founded in 2013 amid Egypt's revolution and counterrevolution, the outlet has survived jailed journalists, deported staff, police raids and a website block lasting nearly a decade. But Tuesday's ruling is "an unprecedented escalation," Sharif said. @sharifkouddous | @democracynow

🚨 Over 200 people have been killed in drone strikes across Sudan and the disputed Abyei region on Sunday and Monday, as the army and UAE’s RSF escalate their air war. The two deadliest attacks, both blamed on the SAF, killed about 110 people at a transport hub in West Kordofan and 73 at a market on the border with South Sudan. The recent attacks include: 
🔸 A strike on a transport hub in al-Dibab, West Kordofan, killed 80 people on Sunday evening, residents and medical workers told Al Jazeera. Of 47 wounded taken to nearby al-Mujlad, 30 later died, a medical source told AFP. The RSF's administration and the rights group Emergency Lawyers blamed the army. 
🔸 About 12 drone strikes on Amiet market in Abyei, on the border with South Sudan, killed at least 73 people and wounded 19 on Monday, Radio Tamazuj reported. Abyei officials blamed the Sudanese army. South Sudan summoned Sudan's envoy. 
🔸 Strikes on Nyala, South Darfur, on Monday, killed 17, including seven RSF officers, medical and RSF sources said. 
🔸 An RSF drone hit a house near Khartoum airport, killing three children aged two to six, Sudan Tribune reported. Sudan monitor @BSonblast also reported army strikes on Ed Daein, East Darfur, and an RSF strike on Kadugli, South Kordofan.

⭕️ Kristi Rogers, the wife of Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, handed out $10 gas gift cards to drivers at a gas station on Detroit's east side on Wednesday, footage published by Sam Robinson shows. "You should have gotten me before you filled up. I've got a $10 gift card," Kristi Rogers told one driver in footage of the stop at a Freedom Fuel station. Asked about the giveaway, Mike Rogers told CBS News' Ed O'Keefe on Sunday that his wife paid for the cards out of pocket and was trying to raise campaign awareness. Michigan law bars offering anything of value to influence a vote. Lawyers told the Detroit News it's unclear whether campaign funds can be spent on gas cards. If they were, the campaign will likely have to disclose the spending under federal rules.