► CNN has a helpful country-by-country overview of the Middle East situation [1] in both chart and text form. Updates include that Camaroon is now among the countries where protesters are calling for the government to be ousted; eight lawmakers from Yemen's ruling party have resigned; Bahrain has released 25 political detainees; and the Algerian government has lifed a state of emergency in effect since 1992 in an effort to placate protesters.

► The New York Times examines how the upheaval in the Middle East could change the power dynamics, perhaps to Iran's benefit. [2] "Iran and Syria are emboldened. Qatar and Oman are tilting toward Iran, and Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen are in play," writes the NYT. But, it notes, it's too early to know how events will unfold, and "Iran’s circumstances could change, experts cautioned, if it overplayed its hand or if popular Arab movements came to resent Iranian interference in the region."

► In other news, The Washington Post has an AP article on how attrition rates among Afghan security forces [3] remain high, and  the Electronic Privacy Information Center reports that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has fined Cignet Health $4.3 million for violating privacy protection provisions of HIPPA [4] (the Health Insurance Portability and Protection Act).