The military began to withdraw from the besieged Syrian city of Daraa on May 5, as more troop were deployed to towns in Homs province. Maj-Gen. Riyad Haddad, announcing the withdrawal form Daraa, did not give any figures of fatalities or detainees among what the Syrian government refers to as "terrorist elements," but he said that 25 soldiers were killed and 177 were wounded in the operation. This statement was denied by activists on social networking sites. At least 16 protesters were reported killed in Homs. Fresh protests were also reported in Hama and Aleppo. On May 6, a total of 27 protesters were reported killed at various locations around the country. (AlJazeera, May 6; Link TV, May 5)

A US drone attack killed two al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen May 5, days after the apparent killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The apparent target, Anwar al-Awlaki, leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is said to have narrowly escaped. (Reuters, May 6) Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in th capital Sanaa May 6, releasing red, white and black balloons painted with the message "Leave, Ali," with the hope that they would drift over the presidential palace. Near the palace, President Ali Abdullah Saleh was addressing a mass rally of his supporters, where he denounced his opponents as "outlaws, bandits and murderers." (Global Post, May 6)

The Libertarian Book Club,* New York City's oldest continuously active anarchist institution (founded 1946), kicks off a new season of its Anarchist Forum series as legendary underground intellectual Peter Lamborn Wilson, author of Escape From the Nineteenth Century and numerous other books, leads a discussion on the theme: "DOES ANARCHISM HAVE A FUTURE IN THE 21st CENTURY? The prospects for an anarchist revival in the contemporary dystopian world situation. "

This is pretty funny, given that the Taliban stone people to death for getting stoned. But it really appears that Osama bin Laden liked to get bombed as well as to bomb others. Hopefully, this will expose the jihadi fundamentalists as a bunch of hypocrites—like most puritans. From New York magazine's Daily Intel blog:

Workers have entered the unit 1 reactor building of Japan's damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant for the first time since a hydrogen explosion hit the facility a day after the devastating March earthquake and tsunami. Twelve staff members stepped in to install duct pipes to six ventillation machines that will filter out the radioactive material in the air, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said May 5. High radiation levels inside the plant have kept workers from entering the facility to repair the plant's cooling systems. The workers—equipped with protective suits, masks and air tanks—entered through a special tent set up to prevent radiation leaks. They are to work in 10-minute shifts. The operation is expected to take four or five days. (AlJazeera, May 5)

Hundreds of Syrian soldiers stormed the Damascus suburb of Saqba and rounded up residents, witnesses said May 5. Sweeps were also reported from the Homs suburb of Rastan, where security forces shot dead at least 17 demonstrators six days earlier. The protests were sparked after 50 local members of the governing Baath Party resigned. Activists say at least 1,000 people have been arrested across the country since then. Among the detained is AlJazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz.

At a meeting in Rome on May 4, the international Contact Group on Libya agreed to establish a fund that the rebels can access, ostensibly to provide services in their areas of control. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it will be "an international fund in which nations can make their contributions in a transparent way." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama administration is trying to free up some of the more than $31 billion it has frozen in Libyan assets. The administration has already authorized up to $26 million in non-lethal military assistance to the rebels, and has pledged $55 million in humanitarian aid. Britain has so far provided $21 million in similar aid the rebels. Italy, which hosted the meeting, recently joined the NATO air campaign against Moammar Qaddafi's regime. (VOA, May 5)

The lack of reaction to the apparent killing of Osama bin Laden is in some ways more telling than the reaction. For starters, thank goodness, the feds have not issued a terror alert. Politico notes on May 4:

When President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed, there was no color-coded chart in the corner of the TV screen to alert Americans that the government had raised the threat level from yellow to orange.