US Feature: How the Obama Administration Killed 3 US Citizens in Yemen (New York Times)

See also EA Video Analysis: Drones, President Obama, and Rand Paul's Filibuster --- "More Macbeth Than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

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Abdulrahman al-AwlakiThe missile strike on Sept. 30, 2011, that killed Mr. Awlaki — a terrorist leader whose death lawyers in the Obama administration believed to be justifiable — also killed Mr. Khan, though officials had judged he was not a significant enough threat to warrant being specifically targeted. The next month, another drone strike mistakenly killed Mr. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who had set off into the Yemeni desert in search of his father. Within just two weeks, the American government had killed three of its own citizens in Yemen. Only one had been killed on purpose.

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EA Video Analysis: Drones, President Obama, and Rand Paul's Filibuster --- "More Macbeth Than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

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Six minutes taking apart Wednesday night's drama of Senator Rand Paul, nominally opposing the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director, speaking for 13 hours --- the ninth-longest filibuster in history --- about the Obama Administration's use of drone warfare....

Was it really significant?

"Here's what the media didn't recognise. Rand Paul's statements, his show, his declarations, his posturing didn't do a damn thing....This wasn't Mr Smith Goes to Washington. This was Mr Macbeth: a 13-hour speech full of sound and fury, but signifying nothng."

Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Port Said Braces for Protests After Court Verdicts

Soldiers stand guard in front of the Security Directorate on Friday (Photo: Reuters)

See also Syria Live Coverage: Regime Shelling Prevents Release of 21 UN Peacekeepers
Saudi Arabia Feature: The Protests in the Central Cities
Friday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Policemen on Strike

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1715 GMT: Egypt. Three people have now been killed in clashes in Cairo, following the verdicts handed down over the Port Said football deaths, is now three.

An eight-year-old child and a worker were found dead inside Omar Makram mosque near CTahrir Square. Both were killed by birdshot during fighting near Qasr El-Nil Bridge.

Ambulance personnel refused to transport the corpses to the morgue, leaving them at the mosque instead.

1625 GMT: Egypt. Back from a Saturday day to find that a protester has been killed by tear gas inhalation near Qasr El-Nil Bridge in Cairo.

Fadel Ahmed Abdel-Qader, 36, died after he was transferred to Qasr El-Eini Hospital suffering from breathing problems.

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Syria Live Coverage: Regime Shelling Prevents Release of 21 UN Peacekeepers

Freed UN peacekeepers arrived in the Jordanian capital Amman today

See also Syria Feature: US, Britain, and France Train Insurgents in Jordan
Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Port Said Braces for Protests After Court Verdicts
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Leaders Cancel Trip to Washington --- Why?

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1807 GMT: Captured Governor. Claimed footage of the Governor of al-Raqqa province, captured last week when insurgents took al-Raqqa city, under the flag of the Islamist insurgency Jabhat al-Nusra --- he is the figure on the right:

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Syria Feature: US, Britain, and France Train Insurgents in Jordan (Borger/Hopkins)

EA Video Analysis, 21 February: "How and Why the US is Arming the Insurgents"

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Western training of Syrian rebels is under way in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements in the opposition as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, and to begin building security forces to maintain order in the event of Bashar al-Assad's fall.

Jordanian security sources say the training effort is led by the US, but involves British and French instructors.

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Iran Feature: Week in Civil Society --- From International Women's Day to the Death of Hugo Chavez (Arseh Sevom)

This week the mother of Neda Soltan, the young woman whose death was captured on camera during the demonstrations following the 2009 Presidential elections, reminds us of International Women’s Day. Ban Ki Moon makes a statement for an end to violence against women and children. Iran’s sociologists report on growing sexual freedom in Iran, while 250 female activists complain about the treatment of the daughters of Zahra Rahnavard and Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran issues a report, which is immediately branded biased by Iran’s media. A new cinema organization is launched --- state-sponsored and with a director who has worked hard to close the independent House of Cinema. A letter to Syrian President Assad from the Physicians' Association leads to its takeover by the Revolutionary Guards.

A message from well-respected economists warns of increased instability if the country’s economic problems aren’t addressed. Crime is on the rise, and the former Tehran Prosecutor General, Saeed Mortazavi, appears before the court in the defendant’s chair.

The death of Hugo Chavez is cause for (another) day of mourning in Iran.

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Saudi Arabia Feature: The Protests in the Central Cities (Perazzo)

In recent months, however, protests in the central cities of Qassim and Riyadh have become more frequent. In January 2013, a group of 11 women and children were arrested for demonstrating in front of the Board of Grievances in Buraida, a town in Qassim. In February 2013, 50 more women were arrested in Riyadh and Qassim. Finally, in the first week of March, more than 170 men, women, and children were arrested in Buraida after organizing a sit-in in front of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution. A spokesman for the Buraida police reported that one hundred protesters have been released, According to Saudi activists, several female demonstrators remain unaccounted for.

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Iran Live Coverage: "UN Human Rights Investigator Bribed by US", Regime Claims

See also Iran Feature: Week in Civil Society --- From International Women's Day to the Death of Hugo Chavez
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: Chest-Beating for the Next Nuclear Talks

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1701 GMT: CyberWatch. More on the curious story of the blocking of "illegal" Virtual Private Networks, which allow users to circumvent filtering and surveillance....

The curiosity is not VPNs have been declared illegal --- that has long been the case --- but that Fars pulled the news, soon after posting it. The screenshot of the story before it disappeared:

Other sites, like Fararu, continue to carry the story.

Activists report that services like Skype and Viber are now blocked in Iran.

Datak ISP has confirmed that VPNs, Skype and Viber have been blocked in #Iran: [Fa]ow.ly/iCx6N @liberationtech @cda

— Amin Sabeti (@aminsabeti) March 9, 2013

Last month, officials said that Iranians could register for a "legal" VPN through a Government site, but this was soon off-line and is still not available.

Blocked in Iran will tell you if a site is filtered inside Iran.

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Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Leaders Cancel Trip to Washington --- Why?

1950 GMT: Friday Protests. With UN kidnappings and Damascus on fire, it's easy to lose the fact that today is Friday, and every Friday for almost two whole years there have been widespread protests. Today's protest theme roughly translates to "Your sectarian state will not pass," but that's a literally translation. Essentially, it means "Assad's sectarian state will not happen," a reference to Assad's efforts to stoke sectarian tensions, and a reference to the world's tendency to classify this conflict in purely sectarian terms.

An impressive rally today in Yabroud, north of Damascus (map). This area is on the edge of both rebel-controlled territory and some of the most substantial military bases in the Middle East, and is often attacked by regime airpower:

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US Audio Feature: Drones and Senator Paul's "False Drama" Filibuster --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24

I spoke with Monocle 24's The Daily last night about the "false drama" of Senator Rand Paul's 13-hour filibuster on Wednesday-Thursday, initially over the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director but featuring criticism of the Obama Administration's policy on drone warfare.

Listen to interview from 7:55 on The Briefing's homepage or in a pop-out window.

Why a "false drama"? For all the sudden media attention because of Paul's speech --- the ninth-longest in Senate history --- his criticism was, in the end, superficial.

The only substantive demand that Paul made was an assurance that Americans could not be killed on American soil by drones. The White House offered that "concession" on Thursday.

Brennan was subsequently confirmed as CIA Director by the Senate.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration retains the freedom to develop its new strategy of drone warfare --- including the target killing of American citizens, as well as the "collateral damage" of slain civilians --- in any country except the US.