Thousands walked off the job in Athens and other Greek cities to protest a package of proposed “reforms” and austerity measures. Police used tear gas and pepper spray in running street battles with black-clad youth.
The US took a step closer to providing financial assistance to the Libyan rebels, 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.
Aid groups fear a power vacuum that will make their work in the country untenable after Afghan police and army troops replace foreign forces, a process slated to begin this summer and be complete in December 2014.
Japan will abandon plans to expand its nuclear power industry and instead focus on renewable energy, Prime Minister, Naoto Kan announced—following weeks of the country’s biggest public protests in 40 years.
Security forces fired on protesters across both Syria and Yemen, leaving several dead, while in Bahrain the government is bulldozing dozens of mosques in Shi’ite villages as part of a crackdown on Shi’ite-led protests.
Israel has used a covert procedure to cancel the residency status of 140,000 West Bank Palestinians between 1967 and 1994, the Justice Ministry admits in a new document obtained by Haaretz newspaper.
Amnesty International called on Israel to release or charge a Palestinian writer and academic held for almost three weeks in the occupied West Bank. Ahmad Qatamesh was detained on suspicion of involvement with the PFLP.
From Chile to Mexico, Latin American May Day marches focused on demands for wage increases and for fighting the high cost of living following recent jumps in food and fuel prices.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) hosted a high-publicity fact-finding delegation in San Juan to highlight human rights abuses in Puerto Rico, finding that that a “culture of fear” inhibits free speech on the island.
Quetzalcóatl Leija Herrera, a prominent Guerrero LGBT activist, was found dead near the main plaza in Chilpancingo, the state capital. He had been beaten to death, in what prosecutors call “a homophobic hate crime.”
Tens of thousands of people participated in a silent “March for Peace With Justice and Dignity” in Mexico City to call for an end to the US-backed militarization of the fight against drug trafficking.
A new United Nations report agrees with most of the conclusions of Haitian and foreign observers who blame the deadly cholera outbreak on bad sanitation practices at a base operated by UN troops.
