The US on May 11 approved a Royal Dutch Shell plan to drill for oil in five locations deep under the Gulf of Mexico. The proposal, for drilling in the so-called Appomattox discovery, was the second exploration plan submitted by Shell to win approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) since the agency introduced stricter criteria for new drilling following last year’s Macondo disaster. The company’s Cardamom discovery in the Garden Banks area of the Gulf was approved in March. At least six other deep-water plans are now pending for the Gulf. Companies apply for permits to actually exploit oil after receiving approval for an exploration plan. The government lifted a moratorium on deep-water Gulf drilling in October. Shell runs the Appomattox venture and holds an 80% stake, with Nexen Inc. holding the remaining 20%. (WSJ, Upstream Online, May 11)

A group of 150 "self-styled" (sic) anarchists stormed into an Athens hospital where a protester who was severely injured in a protest march on May 11 is being treated and attacked three police officers guarding him there, a police official said. Thousands of workers walked off the job, pouring onto the streets of Athens and other Greek cities to protest a package of proposed "reforms" and cost-cutting measures designed to save the crisis-hit country $33 billion through 2015. In Athens, some 30,000 marched on the nation's parliament building, jeering lawmakers and calling them "thieves" and "robbers." Police used tear gas and pepper spray in running street battles with black-clad youth. (Reuters, LAT, May 11)

The US took a step closer to providing financial assistance to the Libyan rebels May 11, as Sen. John Kerry announced he is drafting legislation to free up some of the $34 billion in the Tripoli regime's assets frozen by the White House. Rebel leaders arrived in Washington to press the Obama administration on the plan, saying they are down to less than two weeks of cash reserves and are hard-pressed to pay for food, fuel, and medicine. "I needed something yesterday," Ali Tarhouni, finance minister for Libya's Transitional National Council, said in an interview. "The issue for me is running a war economy with no resources."

Afghan police and army troops are to replace foreign forces in at least five locations in the country in July and a transition process, agreed by the Afghan government and NATO, is slated to be complete in December 2014. But aid groups fear a power vacuum that will make their work in the country untenable. "If the national security forces that are left behind in 2014 are unable to provide for the security of the population, and the indications at the moment are that this will indeed be the case, then we can expect that they'll also be unable to provide the security conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance," said Rebecca Barber, a humanitarian policy and advocacy adviser with Oxfam. "This will have serious implications for the Afghan people—millions of whom are reliant upon humanitarian aid." (IRIN, May 10)

Japan will abandon plans to expand its nuclear power industry and instead focus on renewable energy, Prime Minister, Naoto Kan announced May 11 as Japan marked two months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami. As workers continued efforts to bring the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant under control, Kan said he would "start from scratch" on an energy policy that initially foresaw nuclear meeting more than 50% of Japan's energy needs by 2030. Japan, whose 54 reactors now provide 30% of its electricity, had planned to build at least 14 new reactors over the next 20 years. "I think it is necessary to move in the direction of promoting natural energy and renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass," Kan said. Renewables now make up 20% of Japan's overall supply.

In Syria, army tanks shelled the country's third biggest city, Homs, as security forces continue their nationwide crackdown on weeks of anti-government protests May 11. At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in Homs and surrounding villages, activists said. Amateur video footage posted to the Web also appears to show men in plain clothes shooting on the streets of Hama, in central Syria. (BBC News, May 11) In Yemen, security forces also opened fire on protesters in three cities, killing at least nine and wounding scores. In the capital Sanaa, forces fired on a crowd of tens of thousands marching to the cabinet building, killing at least six. In the industrial center Taiz, snipers killed two protesters, while in the Red Sea port of Hudaida, one protester was killed when security forces opened fire on marchers. (Reuters, May 11)

From Amnesty International, May 10:

Israeli authorities should release or charge a Palestinian writer and academic held for almost three weeks in the occupied West Bank, Amnesty International said today. The Israel Security Agency (ISA) say they want to keep Ahmad Qatamesh in detention in connection with allegations of involvement with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which he denies.

The Native Federation of the Río Madre de Dios and Tributaries (FENAMAD) issued a statement protesting that the state company PeruPetro has demarcated three new oil exploration blocs in Peru's southern Amazon region of Madre de Dios. The new blocs—numbered 187, 190 and 191—are located in the provinces of Tahuamanu and Tambopata, and bring to 22 the number of new exploration blocs instated nationally under President Alan García. FENAMAD charges that the new blocs threaten the Manú Biosphere Reserve and the Vilcabamba-Amboró biological corridor—already under threat by the operations of Hunt Oil and Repsol YPF in Lot 76, established in the ancestral territory of the Harakmbut, Yine and Matziguenka indigenous peoples. Hunt and Repsol have concluded seismic exploration in the bloc, over the protests of traditional indigenous leaders of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, which overlaps with the exploration bloc. The Hunt-Repsol consortium is now about to drill eight test wells in the bloc. (FENAMAD, May 6)