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JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are about to receive a special delivery of more than 10 tons of mail that has been delayed by Israel for the past eight years.

Postal workers have been sorting through thousands of mail sacks in the West Bank city of Jericho for the past several days after Israeli authorities allowed the entry of the letters and packages from neighboring Jordan.

The 10.5 tons of mail had been held in Jordan since 2010 because Israel would not permit direct transfer to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

Mail for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the borders of which are under Israeli control, first passes through Israel, enabling it to perform securityWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A botanic garden on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol is expecting a stinky first in coming days as a trio of so-called corpse flowers is due to open and release an odor likened to the smell of rotting flesh.

FILE PHOTO - Tourists look at a seven year old 250 pound titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) after it bloomed for the first time ever at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, U.S., on July 22, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo

The event would mark the first time that three of the giant plants, also known as titan arums, have bloomed close to the same time at a North American institution, U.S. Botanic Garden spokesman Ray Mims said on Wednesday.

The biggest plant has surged to about 7 feet