Two protesters died in Yemen on March 13, a day after being shot by police in the southern city of Aden, raising the death toll to seven in demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. There were also disturbing reports from the capital, Sanaa, of protesters passing out and going into convulsions after inhaling gas fired by police. "This isn't tear gas," said Iraqi doctor Hussein al-Joshaai, a nerve specialist who was at the scene. "This is poison gas that disables the nervous and respiratory systems." Another doctor, Abdulwahab al-Inssi, said: "Those wounded today couldn't have been hit by tear gas grenades. They are suffering spasms." The interior ministry denied the allegations as "baseless slander." (Middle East Online, March 13)

Saudi Arabia is preparing to intervene in neighboring Bahrain, after a day of clashes between police and protesters. Bahrain's crown prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa is expected to formally invite Saudi forces into his country, as part of a request now being considered by the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council. Hundreds were injured after police fired tear gas and charged protesters who had occupied Manama’s financial center on March 13.

Some 60,000 Germans marched against nuclear power on March 12, forming a 45-kilometer human chain from Neckarwestheim power plant to the city of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg state. The demonstration had been planned for some time, but was given new urgency after the Japanese nuclear disaster. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has extended the lifespan of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants for another 12 years beyond their original shutdown date, summoned senior cabinet ministers to an emergency meeting on nuclear safety. (The Local, Germany, March 13; AP, The Guardian, March 12)

Four were killed in fighting between anti-government protesters and security forces in Yemen March 12, even as President Ali Abdullah Saleh promised the White House that he would not use violence against the demonstrators. At least three people were killed in the capital, where some 100,000 staged a sit-in at Sanaa University to demand Saleh's ouster. As police used tear gas to break up the sit-in, pro-government snipers opened fire from rooftops. The fourth casualty, a 14-year-old boy, was killed in a protest the southern port city of Mukalla. In a bid to counter what he called "sedition," Saleh went on TV to pledge a referendum on a new constitution later this year, which would devolve further powers to parliament. But the move was dismissed by the opposition. "The president's initiative is too late and constitutes the last breath of the political regime which protesters demand and end to," parliamentary opposition spokesman Mohammad al-Sabri said. (NYT, Middle East Online, March 11)

An explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in northern Japan on March 12 blew the roof off one building and destroyed the exterior walls of a crippled reactor, but officials said the steel containment core around the reactor had not been breached, and denied that a major meltdown was imminent. Government officials and executives of Tokyo Electric Power gave what the New York Times called "confusing accounts" of the causes of the explosion and the damage it caused. But the explosion apparently occurred in a structure housing turbines near the No. 1 reactor at the plant rather than inside the reactor itself. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said serious damage to the containment core was unlikely despite the explosion.

Police in Bahrain fired tear gas at anti-government protesters March 11, as thousands marched on a square near the royal palace in Manama. Protesters were also confronted by a group of pro-regime loyalists armed with golf clubs, knives, swords, metal pipes and sticks embedded with nails. A clash ensued for control of the square as the mainly Shi'ite protesters hurled stones at the mainly Sunni regime supporters. Earlier, protesters chanted "Peaceful, peaceful" and handed flowers to police in a bid to avoid violence. Government loyalists chanted "Long live the Bahraini monarchy," and "The people want Khalifa bin Salman," referring to the long-time prime minister whose ouster the opposition demands. (Middle East Online, March 11)

The Israeli government is trying to use a "divide and conquer" strategy on the Bedouin community in the Negev Desert in order to seize its lands, Bedouin representatives charged March 10, in response to a reported initiative to settle the issue of "unrecognized" villages. A special committee is reported to have prepared a plan under which Bedouins who can prove a historical link to their land could receive financial compensation for a portion of their lots. If the Bedouins accept this offer, the extent of land that could be included in the deal would be approximately 150,000 dunums (about 40,000 acres)—less than half of the land the Bedouins lay claim to.

In the wake of the March 10 devastating earthquake and tsunami, which have left perhaps 1,000 dead, Japan's government has for the first time declared a "nuclear emergency." Diesel backup systems ceased functioning at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's reactor Number 1, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Fukushima Prefecture (Tohoku region, north of Tokyo). Temperatures are rising in the reactor, and the government has ordered 2,000 residents within a three-kilometer radius of the plant to evacuate. The plant may have risen to 2.1 times its designed capacity, and authorities are considering a controlled release of radioactive gas and steam to relieve the pressure.