US Feature: Justice Department --- Yes, We Can Kill American Citizens Overseas with Drones (NBC and DeYoung)

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Rachel Maddow features the Justice Department paper, "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen"

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The United States can lawfully kill a U.S. citizen overseas if it determines the target is a “senior, operational leader” of al-Qaeda or an associated group and poses an imminent threat to the United States, according to a Justice Department document.

The document defines “imminent threat” expansively, saying it does not have to be based on intelligence about a specific attack since such actions are being “continually” planned by al-Qaeda. “In this context,” it says, “imminence must incorporate considerations of the relevant window of opportunity” as well as possible collateral damage to civilians.

It says that such determinations can be made by an “informed, high-level official of the U.S. government.”

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Iran Live Coverage: Humiliation of Ahmadinejad Continues --- Advisor Mortazavi Arrested

See also Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Latest Defeat --- Senior Advisor Mortazavi Arrested
Monday's Iran Live Coverage: Has Tehran Agreed to Resume Nuclear Talks?

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2112 GMT: Ahmadinjad Watch (Egyptian Front). President Ahmadinejad and Al-Azhar cleric Hassan al-Shafai clash at a press conference after a stormy meeting between Ahmadinejad and Sunni Muslim scholar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of the 1000-year-old mosque and University,today (see 1755 GMT):

2037 GMT: Ahmadinjad Watch (Egyptian Front). Lots of chatter on the Web tonight about this video of a man throwing a shoe at President Ahmadinejad during his visit to Cairo --- a Syrian man, who was heard chanting anti-Iranian slogans over Tehran's support of the Assad regime, has been arrested:

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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israelis Arrest More than 20 Hamas Members in West Bank

1458 GMT: Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces has failed to adequately investigate complaints of abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians, according to a human rights group. Haaretz reports:

Of the 240 complaints regarding possible crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers against Palestinians filed with the Military Police in 2012, only 78 investigations were launched and not a single indictment was served, a report by the Yesh Din human rights group has revealed.

0800 GMT: Mali. Two senior Islamist insurgents, including a top leader of the group Ansar Dine, have been captured in the north, near Mali's border with Algeria.

The Tuareg separatist group MNLA said it arrested Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed on Saturday

Ag Mohamed is the third-ranking leader of Ansar Dine, which controlled Timbuktu for 10 months until French and Malian Government forces moved in last week.

Baba Akhmed is believed to be a member of the Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa.

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Syria Live Coverage: Minister of Defense "We Cannot Be Broken"

2129 GMT: More Foreign Weapons - Now Near Damascus. All day we've been discussing the fresh infusion of arms in Daraa from foreign countries, many of which are now moving northwards. In updates below, we've directly tied the sighting of these weapons to a sudden surge in rebel offensives and victories in Daraa province, including now Daraa city itself. However, in the last two weeks we've also seen a new offensive for the Damascus airport, one that has penetrated deeper than we've previously seen. Today, this video was uploaded, reportedly showing an attack on Assad military positions near the airport. In the video, two RPGs can be seen. The far one looks like an RPG-7 with an OG-7 anti-personnel warhead (described here). But the closest one is, according to our own analysis and that of Eliot Higgins, an RPG-22 disposable antitank weapon. As Eliot had previously pointed out (see links above), these aren't in the Syrian military's arsenal - but they are in Croatia's.

In other words, everywhere these weapons are showing up there is a surge in rebel offensives - relatively successful rebel offenses. Eliot also points out something else. All these videos appear to show this equipment in the hands of Free Syrian Army units, not the more extreme or independent groups. This also adds to the theory that a foreign supplier is providing these weapons, as it has helped the FSA gain ground faster, before Jabhat al Nusra or other groups take control.

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Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Latest Defeat --- Senior Advisor Mortazavi Arrested

On Monday night, after more than three years of political and legal controversy, the news suddenly erupted. Saeed Mortazavi --- senior Presidential advisor, head of the Social Security Funds, former Tehran Prosecutor General, "Butcher of the Press" --- had been arrested.

The arrest stemmed from the summer 2009 abuse and killing of post-election protesters in Kahrizak detention centre. Mortazavi, then Tehran Prosecutor General, was accused by his political critics and suspected by prosecutors of complicity in the crimes; however, while a few guards have been convicted and some judges charged, he has never faced trial.

So why now?

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EA on the Road: A Break in Yorkshire

I will be on the road in the north of England today.

James Miller will be here this afternoon to take you through developments in Syria and across the Middle East and North Africa. Updates to Iran Live Coverage will be limited, however, until tonight.

In the meantime, please have a look at our latest features on Iran and North Africa and keep the conversation going through news and ideas in our Comments sections.

Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad Humiliated as Parliament Dismisses Minister

Audio of the confrontation between President Ahmadinejad and Speaker of Parliament Larijani on Sunday

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Let's be clear. Sunday's confusion over whether Iran will attend renewed talks on its nuclear programme was not the most important story of the day.

That honour was taken by Parliament's removal of the Minister of Labour. Or, rather, it was the humiliation of President Ahmadinejad as he tried to prevent that dismissal.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after almost eight years of Presidential political drama, has effectively been thrown off the stage.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The King Meets His British PR Man

Bahrain's King Hamad with the Duke of Westminster on Sunday

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1009 GMT: Bahrain Analyst Marc Owen Jones picks up on an interesting encounter in the capital Manama:

Yesterday King Hamad met with the Duke of Westminster, otherwise known as Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor. The two discussed Bahrain and Britain’s historic bilateral relationship and the need to "enhance it". There was also talk of ‘bolstering cooperation’ in all fields --- whatever that means....

Grosvenor is chairman of G3, a strategic advisory firm hired by Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority in 2011 to develop a ”media campaign to support Bahrain’s position in the international community”. What the contract involved was not quite clear, though Lt Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, who worked as a ‘special adviser’ to G3, wrote a number of pieces in various news outlets that focused on Britain’s important military relationship with Bahrain.

Clearly 1.5 million pounds will buy a lot more than some PR in the form of a few sketchy articles. Indeed, the fact King Hamad gets to meet with G3′s chairman suggests that Bahrain plumped for the company’s platinum package.

North Africa Video Feature: Here Come the US Drones (Al Jazeera English)

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Al Jazeera English's Inside Story reviews the expansion of US bases, supporting drone operations, across North Africa.

Panelists are Robert Densmore, a former US naval flight officer and editor of Defence Report; David Shinn, Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University and former US ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia; and Noel Sharkey, aProfessor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield.

Iran Live Coverage: Has Tehran Agreed to Resume Nuclear Talks?

Sunday's confrontation between President Ahmadinejad and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani

See also Iran Analysis: Ahmadinejad Humiliated as Parliament Dismisses Minister
Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: First the Space Monkey, Now a New Fighter Jet

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2146 GMT: Ahmadinejad In Space Watch. Now, on the lighter side of the news --- President Ahmadinejad has said that he is ready to be the first human to go into space in Iran's aeronautics programme.

Last week Tehran put a monkey on a satellite for the first time, reaching 75 miles above Earth. The head of the space programme declared this month that the Islamic Republic plans for a manned flight in four to five years.

2134 GMT: Nuclear Watch. There is still no clarity as to whether Iran has agreed to join the 5+1 Powers for nuclear talks in Kazakhstan on 25 February.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, speaking in Berlin, has put out the positive signal, "I am optimistic. I feel this new [Obama] administration is really this time seeking to at least divert from its previous traditional approach vis-a-vis my country."

However, Salehi also expressed doubt over the US indication that it will engage in direct discussions with Tehran --- made by Vice President Joe Biden on sautrday --- and said that it was still very hard for Tehran to trust Washington: "How do we trust again this new gesture?"

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