Syria's government passed a draft decree to lift the emergency law and a bill to dismantle the Supreme State Security Court on April 19. The government also approved a third bill to "regulate the right to peacefully protest." Syrians nonetheless took to the streets in large numbers again the next day in the central city of Homs, where activists say more than 20 protesters have been killed this week by soldiers and irregular forces. Demonstrations were also reported in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. (Reuters, CNN, April 20; AlJazeera, April 19)

Italy's government on April 19 announced it is indefinitely suspending plans to build the country's first nuclear power plants—ahead of a June referendum on the nuclear development plans, which the administration says is no longer necessary. "The program had been halted in order to acquire more scientific evidence," the government said in a surprise clause inserted in the text of a decree which submitted to parliament. The damage at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors "has imposed a pause for reflection," Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said.

Women protesters, many in full face veils, led protests against Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh on April 17, in an angry show of defiance after he tried to win support from Islamists by attacking the "mixing of sexes" at demonstrations. Security forces fired on protesters in the capital, Sana'a, wounding at least 30. The next day, at least 45 were injured as security forces again opened fire and hurled tear gas at protesters in Yemen's Red Sea port al-Hudaydah. (VOA, April 18; The Telegraph, April 17)

Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who became the hero of the Egyptian revolution, spoke before an International Monetary Fund paenl in Washington DC on April 15, chiding the organization for its long support of strongman Hosni Mubarak. Billed as "Internet activist" in the roundtable discussion also featuring IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Ghonim said, "To me what was happening was a crime, not a mistake." He charged that international financial institutions and world "elites" were "partners in crime" in supporting Mubarak's regime. Wearing a wristband with the date Jan. 25, 2011—the day the protesters drove Mubarak from power—Ghonim said: "We wanted our dignity back." (Middle East Online, April 17)

At least seven people were killed overnight by Syrian security forces in the flashpoint town of Homs, rights activists said April 18. The previous day, in the nearby town of Talbisseh, at least four were killed and more than 50 wounded when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for a demonstrator killed on Friday, witnesses said. In the country's major port, Latakia, around 10,000 people also took to the streets for the funeral of a protester killed on Friday, according to witnesses. Regime supporters are reported to have broken up two rallies in southern Syria.The protests followed a televised address April 16 by President Bashar al-Assad, promising to end emergency rule—in force since 1963 when the Ba'ath party took power—within a week. (Middle East Online, April 18)

At least one was killed as police fired on protesters April 18 near Jaitapur, site of a proposed nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district of India's Maharashtra state. Authorities said officers opened fire after some 700 protesters set ablaze a police station and vehicles at Sakhrinate village. Villagers apparently took the opportunity to overrun the police station when most of the officers were mobilized to the Jaitapur project site where a demonstration was underway. (India Today, April 18)

The Mexican state of Tamaulipas has dismissed its security chief while federal police arrested 16 municipal police officers in the town of San Fernando following the discovery of more than 145 bodies in mass graves over the past weeks. Former army general Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco has been replaced as Tamaulipas public security secretary by another ex-military man, Capt Rafael Lomelí Martínez, who pledges to bring all those involved in the mass killings to justice. In addition to the police, some 20 have already been arrested in connection with the killings. Most of the victims are believed to have been abducted from long-distance buses travelling north to the US border; there is speculation they were killed by cartel gunmen after refusing to join their ranks. The bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants were found in the same area last year. On April 16, the Mexican navy announced the capture of Omar Martin Estrada Luna AKA "El Kilo"—suspected leader of Los Zetas in San Fernando and alleged mastermind of the recent killings. Federal authorities say he will likely be charged in last year's killings as well—for a total of 217 homicides. (BBC News, Hoy Tamaulipas, La Prensa, April 17; LAT, April 14)

Baghdad has ordered the expulsion of Mujahedeen Khalq (or People's Mujahadeen Organization), armed wing of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), following an April 8 raid on Camp Ashraf, the group's stronghold. The NCRI said 34 people were killed when Iraqi security forces attacked the camp 65 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has has given the estimated 4,500 members of Mujahedeen Khalq and their families until the end of 2011 to leave Iraq. "This organization must be removed from Iraqi territory by all means, including political and diplomatic, with the cooperation of the United Nations and international organizations," Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said. (World Tribune, NCRI, April 14)