Workers have entered the unit 1 reactor building of Japan's damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant for the first time since a hydrogen explosion hit the facility a day after the devastating March earthquake and tsunami. Twelve staff members stepped in to install duct pipes to six ventillation machines that will filter out the radioactive material in the air, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said May 5. High radiation levels inside the plant have kept workers from entering the facility to repair the plant's cooling systems. The workers—equipped with protective suits, masks and air tanks—entered through a special tent set up to prevent radiation leaks. They are to work in 10-minute shifts. The operation is expected to take four or five days. (AlJazeera, May 5)

Hundreds of Syrian soldiers stormed the Damascus suburb of Saqba and rounded up residents, witnesses said May 5. Sweeps were also reported from the Homs suburb of Rastan, where security forces shot dead at least 17 demonstrators six days earlier. The protests were sparked after 50 local members of the governing Baath Party resigned. Activists say at least 1,000 people have been arrested across the country since then. Among the detained is AlJazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz.

At a meeting in Rome on May 4, the international Contact Group on Libya agreed to establish a fund that the rebels can access, ostensibly to provide services in their areas of control. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it will be "an international fund in which nations can make their contributions in a transparent way." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration is trying to free up some of the more than $31 billion it has frozen in Libyan assets. The administration has already authorized up to $26 million in non-lethal military assistance to the rebels, and has pledged $55 million in humanitarian aid. Britain has so far provided $21 million in similar aid the rebels. Italy, which hosted the meeting, recently joined the NATO air campaign against Moammar Qaddafi's regime. (VOA, May 5)

An explosion ripped through a military vehicle in the southern Yemeni town of Zinjibar May 4, killing five soldiers, while four civilians died in the ensuing firefight. The blast hit the vehicle close to a busy market selling khat, the mildly stimulating leaf (considered haram by al-Qaeda). The blast came hours after an unnamed leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) vowed revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden. "We will take revenge for the death of our Sheikh Osama bin Laden and we will prove this to the enemies of God," the spokesman told AFP, contacted by telephone from Yemen's southern province of Abyand. "The martyrdom of Sheikh Osama does not mean that jihad will end." (AP, AFP, May 4)

As momentum builds for the May 8 protest against violence and impunity in Mexico, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) announced its support for the movement started by poet Javier Sicilia. In a communiqué dated April 28, the EZLN leadership declared it would wholeheartedly support the struggle by conducting a silent march of Zapatista base communities in the Chiapas highland city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas on May 7.

President Barack Obama went on national TV late on May 1 to announce that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in a US raid on a "compound deep inside Pakistan." Media reports indicated the target was a mansion in the Bilal area of Abbottabad, about 100 kilometers north of Islamabad. What Obama called "a small team of Americans"—presumably Special Forces troops—was apparently flown to the site in four helicopters. In a brief firefight, bin Laden was shot in the head, and his body in said to be in US custody. Three others were reportedly killed, including a son of the al-Qaeda leader. Also killed, according to unnamed Pakistani officials, was a woman who was being used as a human shield. Obama said there were no US casualties. However, an anonymous Pakistani intelligence official said one of the helicopters crashed after it was hit by fire from the ground. Another anonymous Pakistani security official told AFP: "Yes, I can confirm that he was killed in a highly sensitive intelligence operation." Asked whether Pakistani intelligence participated in the operation he would only reiterate: "It was a highly sensitive intelligence operation." (AFP, AP, Radio Australia, BBC World Service, May 2; VOA, May 1)

The number of bodies found in clandestine graves in the northern Mexican city of Durango reached 104 after the discovery of eight more corpses April 27. The total bodies pulled from two sets of clandestine graves this month is now approaching 300, after 183 were also found buried in the border state of Tamaulipas to the northwest. The prosecutor general's office for Durango state said the 104 bodies had been found in hidden graves around the city since April 11, and that they had been buried for at least one year.

At least two people were killed and some 120 injured in the Ugandan capital Kampala April 29 as police fired bullets and tear gas at crowds protesting the arrest of opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye. who had led recent demonstrations over rising food and fuel prices. Besigye, who was attacked with pepper spray as police snatched him from his car the previous day, was roughly treated before being released hours later. He then flew to Kenya for treatment—after an airport standoff with government agents trying to block his departure. President Yoweri Museveni has ordered the Uganda Communication Commission to shut down all social networking sites, fearing they will be used as a tool for organizing protests. (Irish Times, Reuters, April 30; Computerworld Kenya, April 28)