The Afghan government intends to ban live media coverage of Taliban attacks and military action because it has evidence that militants have used live footage to coordinate fighters on the ground. The change in procedure is announced four days after five Taliban suicide bombers attacked two guesthouses in the heart of Kabul, killing 17 people, including 11 Indians and Westerners.

The Obama Administration has reversed its push for sanctions against Iran by the end of March, with or without the UN Security Council. On February 25, 2010 Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak was given ‘the end of March’ in his talks with administration officials regarding sanctions against Iran. On March 2, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Security Council action would take ‘several months.’ The sudden reversal has taken tension off Tehran and left Israel in an uncertain situation.

SOURCE: DEBKAfile US backs off speedy Iran sanctions promised Israel

AQIM — Al-Qaida’s terror network in North Africa is growing more active and attracting new recruits, threatening to further destabilize the continent’s already vulnerable Sahara region, according to U.S. defense and counterterrorism officials.

The North African faction, which calls itself Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is still small and mostly isolated, numbering a couple hundred militants based mostly in the vast desert of northern Mali. But signs of stepped-up activity and the group’s advancing potential for growth worry analysts familiar with the region.

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