Morocco and the Polisario Front are to embark on UN-sponsored talks over the disputed territories of Western Sahara, while the Security Council unanimously resolved [May 1] to renew the 220-strong UN peacekeeping operation in the region. [The resolution also calls on both sides to enter into talks "without preconditions in good faith."] [AlJazeera, May 1]

Turkish police have arrested hundreds of left-wing protestors in Istanbul, amid a May Day rally. People were marching toward Taksim Square, to mark the 30th anniversary of the 'Bloody May Day'—when thirty-four people were killed in a stampede in 1977 [after a gunman opened fire]. They were met with tear gas and officers wielding batons. [BBC, May 1]

Several Bangladeshi railway stations have been targeted by a series of small bombs [May 1]. The devices were detonated in the capital, Dhaka, the southeastern port of Chittagong and the northern city of Sylhet, at around 7:30 AM local time. Metal plates found at two of the sites contained the inscription: "Zadid [new] al-Qaeda." One person was injured. [The inscriptions included threats against the Ahmadiyya minority, and read: "If Hazrat [Prophet] Mohammad is not declared the superman of the world by May 10, all non-governmental organizations will be blown up."] AlJazeera, May 1]

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is reported to have been killed in an "internal battle" between militants in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi interior ministry has disclosed. United States officials have long speculated about rising tensions between al-Qaeda and native Sunni insurgents in the country. [BBC, May 1]

A US-led raid on a suspected militant cell in Bati Kot district, Nangarhar province, killed as many as six Afghans April 30, including a woman and a teenage girl, sparking protests by hundreds of angry Afghans chanting "Death to Bush!" The protest was held on the same highway where a US Marine convoy fired indiscriminately on vehicles and pedestrians in the wake of a suicide bombing, killing 12 people March 4. "Their operation was based on incorrect reports, and they carried out a cruel attack on these houses," said local resident Akhtar Mohammad at the protest. "We are not the enemy; we are not al-Qaida. Why are they attacking us?"

Over the past weeks, Somalia has seen the worst fighting since the fall of the Said Barre dictatorship in 1991, leaving some 350,000 displaced from the capital, Mogadishu. (BBC, April 27) Our April issue featured the story "Somalia: the New Resistance" by Osman Yusuf, examining the Islamist factions that took up arms against the US-supported transition government and its Ethiopian allies. We also featured the story "Yemen: On the Brink of Sectarian War" by Mohamed Al-Azaki, a chilling account of the armed Shi'ite rebellion and harsh government repression shaking Washington's strategic Red Sea ally. Yemen, although rarely in the news, lies just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia—and we can be sure that the Pentagon is warily eyeing it as a "next domino," and potential threat to the stability of the bordering Saudi dictatorship. There have already been reliable reports that US Special Forces were directly involved in the Somalia fighting. Our April Exit Poll was: "Is Somalia the next Iraq? Is Yemen the next Somalia?" We received the following responses:

It has received no international coverage, but a BBC Monitoring translation of an April 28 report from the Madagascar Tribune indicates as explosion of ethnic violence in the African island nation over the weekend. What began as a street protest by the political opposition (called to oppose austerity measures, according to a brief item on the BBC World Service) escalated when "uncontrolled" elements started harassing the crowd, calling them "foreigners." Ire seems to have been focused on members of "the Indo-Pakistani community" and "Merinas" (defined by BBC Monitoring as the "largest ethnic community of Malay origin"). Homes and businesses belonging to people who hail from the highlands (around Antananarivo) or "karanas" (Indo-Pakistanis) were looted. Police apparently used bullets and teargas, resulting in at least 12 casualties. The report was unclear on whether there were any deaths, but several were hospitalized. "It all reminds me of the events of 6 March 1986," an eyewitness reached by telephone said, referring to the "anti-karana pogrom of the 1980s."

Legislators in Mexico's Federal District (DF, Mexico City) voted 46-19 with one abstention on April 24 in favor of a law decriminalizing abortion in the DF during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The law also requires the DF government to provide abortions in public hospitals, along with medical and social counseling and education on sexual and reproductive health. The law will take effect the day after it is officially published; the DF government has 60 days to make arrangements for providing the new services.