Moammar Qaddafi's forces resumed shelling of the rebel-held Libyan port of Misrata April 29, as NATO said its warships intercepted pro-Qaddafi forces trying to lay mines in the city's harbor. The harbor has been a lifeline for ships ferrying the injured to hospitals in the rebel stronghold, Benghazi, and for aid entering the city. The US also charged that Qaddafi's regime is giving viagra to troops to carry out rapes. NATO warplanes meanwhile bombed unnamed sites in the southern Ain Zara district of Tripoli, a frequent target of air-strikes in the campaign. One targeted compound apparently included the state television building, which was not damaged. Italy's military took part in its first air-strikes on Libya, with a pair of Tornado jets taking off from Sicily to strike what a defense ministry official called "selected targets." (The Guardian, April 30; Middle East Online, BBC News, April 29)

Israeli tank fire wounded several people near the central Gaza Strip's al-Bureij refugee camp April 28. "Israeli tanks fired shells at terrorists and hit them as they were about to place explosive devices near the security barrier" between the Strip and Israeli territory, an Israeli military spokesman said. (Middle East Online, April 29) The violence comes as Hamas chief Khaled Masha'al prepares to meet Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo next week to sign a unity deal. It will be the first time the two men have met since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting Fatah from the coastal territory after a week of street battles. (Maan News Agency, April 29)

Authorities in Morocco say al-Qaeda is suspected in the April 28 remote-controlled bomb blast that killed 16, including 12 tourists, at a cafe on the Djemaa el-Fna, the central square of Marrakesh. A video posted on the Internet three days before the attack, attributed to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), included a threat to Morocco, authorities said. (MEO, April 29) The attack came four days after thousands of Moroccans marched nationwide to demand sweeping reforms before a new constitution is unveiled in June by King Mohammed VI. The march was organized by the Facebook youth movement Fevrier 20. The group said its members would not accept the present draft constitution drawn up by the monarchy. (CNN, April 24)

Activists said some 50 were shot dead by Syrian security forces as tens of thousands took part in "day of rage" protests in Daraa and other cities April 29. Witnesses and rights groups reported that army units clashed with each other in Daraa following President Bashar Assad's orders to crack down on protesters. (AlJazeera, AP, April 29)

The president of the Bolivian Sentate's Commission on Land, Territory, Natural Resources and Environment, Julio Salazar, announced April 20 the introduction of a Law of Mother Earth, which would officially enshrine the "rights of nature" in the Andean nation's legal code. Saying the bill would also be introduced in the Chamber of Deputies, lower house of Bolivia's Plurinational Legislative Assembly, Salazar stated: "We are going to seek an equilibrium between man and nature, because under previous law natural resources were anticipated to be commercialized, and now with the new laws we are converting what nature offers into a common good for the benefit of all living beings." (ABI, Bolivia, April 20)

At least one is reported dead in Peru's southern region of Puno after the National Police fired on protesters April 26, the second day of a 48-hour civil strike or paro called by campesino groups to demand a halt to local mining and petroleum leases. The deceased, identified as María Choque Limache, 61, died after inhaling tear gas as police broke up a protest at the village of Yohoroco, in Huacullani district of Chucuito province, according to Walter Aduviri Calisaya, president of the Puno Front for the Defense of Natural Resources. National Police commander Jaime Cordero Ayala denied this version of events, insisting she had not been at the protest and had died of natural causes. (Peru21, April 27)

At least nine were killed and more than 100 wounded as troops opened fire on anti-regime protesters in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, on April 27. Violence broke out as troops moved in to disperse a demonstration to call for the immediate ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hundreds of young activists protested outside the Saudi embassy to oppose the plan brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council that calls for Saleh's staggered exit from power. "Youth of the revolt reject the Gulf initiative," said a banner carried by the protesters outside the embassy. (Middle East Online, April 28)

Israeli army and Border Guard forces detained some 40 settlers from the extremist "Hilltop Youth" and "Hebrew Cities" movements who entered the Balata refugee camp in Nablus late April 27, in an apparent effort to make an unauthorized visit to Joseph's Tomb. The infiltrators, who clashed with the Israeli security forces, were accompanied by right-wing activist Baruch Marzel and MK Michael Ben-Ari. The situation has been escalating since April 24, when an Israeli settler was apparently shot dead and four others were injured by Palestinian police after a group of Jewish worshipers entered Nablus to visit Joseph's Tomb without coordinating with either Palestinian or Israeli security. Nablus and Joseph's Tomb are officially under full Palestinian control. The man killed in the incident is identified as Breslov Hasidic worshiper Ben-Yosef Livnat, 24. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shooting as a "terrorist attack" and called on the Palestinian Authority "to take harsh steps against the perpetrators who committed this heinous act against Jewish worshipers who were on their way to prayer." (YNet, Maan News Agency, JTA, April 28; YNet, April 24)