At least 24 people were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a busy market in Spin Boldak, a town in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, Feb. 24. The attack is the latest in a string of suicide blasts to hit Afghanistan. More than 100 people have died in such attacks in the last three weeks. (RFE/RL, Feb. 24) The offensive comes as Steve Coll in the New Yorker of Feb. 28 asserts that the US has entered into exploratory talks with the Taliban. But the Taliban has reportedly set NATO withdrawal as a prerequisite for negotiations, and the US demands a breaking of ties with al-Qaeda. (The News, Pakistan, Feb. 23)

The opposition in Pakistan is expressing outrage over revelations that a US citizen held by the authorities in connection with a shooting incident last month is a security contractor for the CIA. Raymond Davis was taken into custody following the shooting deaths Jan. 27 of two Pakistanis in Lahore. Davis claimed he acted in self-defense during an armed robbery attempt. The US government said Davis was an embassy employee, and should be immediately released on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. Now Washington officials have confirmed reports in the New York Times that Davis was part of a CIA operation tracking the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group. He is also said to have worked for security firm Xe/Blackwater.

The Algerian Council of Ministers on Feb. 22 approved a draft ordinance repealing the country's 19-year state of emergency, delivering on a promise made the week before. The draft ordinance will have the force of law upon publication in the Official Journal of Algeria, which the Council of Ministers said would be "imminent." The state of emergency, which has been in place since a series of decrees in 1992, gave the government power to limit political freedoms and even peaceful protests. Opponents also claimed that the state of emergency gave rise to arbitrary detentions.

Government troops in the Comoros killed or repelled white mercenaries who tried to seize control of part of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation Feb. 22. The apparent coup attempt was launched in the island of Moheli in the early hours by about 20 French-speaking soldiers wearing balaclavas who took over government buildings and cut telephone lines. The troops were reported to have distributed leaflets written in English, linking President Azaly Assoumani to Osama bin Laden.

Senegal cut diplomatic ties with Iran Feb. 22, accusing Tehran of arming separatist rebels in its restive southern Casamance region, where 16 soldiers have been killed this year. A cache of weapons concealed as building material intercepted in Nigeria in October was determined to be one of several Iranian shipments passing through Gambia and destined for the Casamance guerillas. "Senegal is outraged to see that Iranian bullets caused the death of Senegalese soldiers," said the statement announcing the breaking of ties.

Moammar Qaddafi's regime has lost vast swathes of Libya's east to insurrectionists, it became clear Feb. 23. Opponents of Qaddafi appear firmly in control of Libya's coastal east, from the Egyptian border through to the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi, with government soldiers switching sides to join the uprising. Fighting has been reported near the capital, Tripoli.

Veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro in his column "Reflections of Comrade Fidel" writes that "NATO's Plan is to Occupy Libya." The piece is dated Feb. 21—the same day that European diplomats broached the use of NATO to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. It is unclear if Fidel's piece was in reaction to the diplomats' comments, or predictive of them.

As we've pointed out, the right is divided on the Egyptian and Arab revolutions—between neocons who have deluded themselves into thinking the Egyptians are following their "regime change" playbook, and more hardcore Islamophobes who can see only a fundamentalist threat in Arab masses rising to shake off their oppressors. Falling into the latter category is Phyllis Chesler—once, long ago, a feminist of basically progressive inclination but today a monomaniacal Muslim-basher who has defected to the right. She writes on David Horowitz's Front Page Mag Feb. 21 of "A War Crime in Cairo"—making hay of CBS reporter Lara Logan's sexual abuse at the hands of Tahrir Square protesters. She uses the incident to sneer at "mainstream American media" portrayals of the protesters as "brave pro-democracy freedom fighters."