An early Friday US drone strike against North Waziristan killed a number of civilians, sparking more anti-US protests across Pakistan. With the Pakistani Army demanding an end to the strikes, their continuation is fueling growing tensions between the two nations.

Earlier in the week US officials were doubting the seriousness of the demands, saying that Pakistan had not stopped the US from using Pakistani air fields to launch the drone. Now the indications are that this too may be changing. While the exact details are not clear yet, Pakistani officials have confirmed that the US contingent has left Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan Province, which is the key base for CIA drones. It is unclear if they were ordered out or left for some other reason.

Keith Jones: Pakistan: CIA drone kills 25 on eve of mass protest against US missile strikes

Barack Obama, the US president, has said Syria's deadly crackdown on protesters "must come to an end now" and accused Damascus of seeking Iranian help to repress its people. Some 75 protesters were killed on Friday, according to human rights group Amnesty International, in the bloodiest violence in a month of escalating protests against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's rule. Local activists have released a list of 103 people who they say were killed in Friday's crackdown. Despite the criticism, Obama did not refer to any potential US consequences should Assad refuse to heed his demands.

World News: Protestors gunned down in Syria
Antiwar: Good Friday Massacre: At Least 88 Protesters Killed in Syria Crackdown
Reuters: Syria buries scores of dead; more protests due
WSWS: Dozens killed in Syrian protests

Nato bombs have hit what appeared to be a bunker in Col Gaddafi's Tripoli compound, as the Libyan government said it is ready to withdraw from Misurata and let tribes deal with rebels in the besieged city.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said three people were killed by the "very powerful explosion" in a car park near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound. Reuters reporters said the area was surrounded by a wall and guarded by watchtowers and soldiers.

They saw two large holes in the ground where the bombs had torn through soil and reinforced concrete, to pierce what appeared to be an underground bunker. Smoke was rising from one of the craters and ammunition crates lay nearby. Mr Ibrahim said the area was disused and the ammunition boxes were empty. The strike came just hours after deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said the Libyan army had been given an "ultimatum" to stop the rebellion in Misurata, 120 miles east of the capital Tripoli.

Demotix: Death in Libya - Photos
Newsvine: US deploys armed drones over Libya
The Independent: US launches first drone attacks on Libya
WSWS: Mounting Libyan death toll from US-NATO bombings

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, but one filling station in Florida has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the country. Suncoast Energys, located near the Orlando International Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline on Friday. That's the highest of any gas retailer in the nation, according to price tracker gasbuddy.com. By contrast, the average price in the city of Orlando is $3.78 a gallon, a few pennies below the state and national averages.

The release of 200 million gallons of crude oil and millions of gallons of chemical dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico over the space of three months last year makes the BP Gulf oil blowout one of the worst environmental catastrophes in human history.

BP and the Obama administration have from the beginning obscured the dangers posed by the spill to the ecosystem of the Gulf and to human health. This position was reiterated last week by Janet Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who declared that the Gulf is “much better than people feared,” and by Obama “claims czar” Kenneth Feinberg, who predicted the Gulf would be back to normal by 2012.

In fact, the disastrous longer-term consequences of the BP blowout are only now beginning to be registered, in spite of efforts to suppress environmental study by NOAA and the US Justice Department.

Alexander Higgins: Cover up of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Radiation Fallout Forecasts Exposed!
Stephen Lendman: Poisoning Mother Earth: America's Gulf and Fukushima

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei wants Bush officials charged for the needless war in Iraq. The AP reported:

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the “shame of a needless war” in Iraq. Freer to speak now than he was as an international civil servant, the Nobel-winning Egyptian accuses U.S. leaders of “grotesque distortion” in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, when then-President George W. Bush and his lieutenants claimed Iraq possessed doomsday weapons despite contrary evidence collected by ElBaradei’s and other arms inspectors inside the country.

A new wave of school voucher bills is sweeping the nation, which would allow public education funds to be used in private or parochial schools. As with past waves of voucher initiatives, these new bills are largely promoted and funded by the billionaire DeVos family and a core group of wealthy pro-privatization supporters. They include Pennsylvania SB-1, soon coming to a vote in the PA Senate, and the "Vouchers-for-All" bill approved by the Florida Senate Education Committee on April 14. Betsy DeVos is at the helm of organizations that have set the stage for both bills, but you would never know it based on the propaganda being marketed to Pennsylvanians. Even if you are from another state, keep reading. Chances are a Betsy DeVos-led campaign is already at work in your state or will be there soon.