Activists on the NO-G8 e-mail list report that three "citizen reporters" from the Hong Kong alternative website In-media, arriving for the upcoming protests against the Hokkaido G8 summit, have been detained by Japanese authorities at the Tokyo airport. Korean activists from the KCTU trade union federation have also been barred entry by the Japanese government.

Seven Maori tribes signed New Zealand's largest-ever settlement on grievances over the loss of lands and fisheries during European settlement in the 19th century. Hundreds of Maori, some wearing traditional feather cloaks, gathered at Wellington to watch the agreement being signed in parliament by the government and tribal leaders. Some wept during the ceremony, while others chanted, sang and blew conch shells.

From Human Rights Watch, June 25:

Russia: Stop 'Dirty War' Tactics in Ingushetia
Killings, Torture, Disappearances in Chechnya-Style Counterinsurgency
Moscow – The Chechnya armed conflict has spread human rights abuses and instability across the North Caucasus, and particularly in Ingushetia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the Russian government to amend its counterinsurgency techniques and address impunity for violations in Ingushetia to ensure that the situation does not descend to the appalling abuses that characterized the conflict in Chechnya.

Islamabad has angrily denied findings by Afghanistan's intelligence agency that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the "real schemer and organizer" behind the failed April 27 assassination attempt on President Karzai at a military parade. (Gulf Daily News, June 26) That was the fourth attempt on Karzai's life by our count.

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) has completed a new classified assessment that explores how climate change could threaten US security in the next 20 years, causing political instability, mass movements of refugees, terrorism, and conflicts over water and other resources. The House Intelligence Committee was briefed June 25 on the main findings.

The Supreme Court on June 25 dealt a blow to victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, cutting the $2.5 billion in punitive damages award for the worst oil spill in US history to $507 million. The court ruled 5-3 that the damages were excessive under maritime law. The ruling in Exxon Shipping v. Baker, No. 07-219 brings to a close a long-running legal battle between Exxon and a group of 33,000 fishermen, cannery workers, Native Alaskans and others affected by the disaster.

One is reported killed and over 80 people, including at least 30 police, injured in clashes when protests over the transfer of forest land to the Amarnath shrine trust exploded into street-fighting in Srinagar and Ganderbal district, Kashmir, June 23. Indian police, including elite Central Reserve Police Force officers, fired tear-gas and live ammunition to break up protests by Muslims angry with a government decision to transfer 100 acres to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to erect temporary structures for thousands of Hindu pilgrims who annually trek to the holy site deep in the Himalayas. Muslim protesters attacked government buildings and a police post, and set vehicles ablaze. A strike to protest the death of a protester in the repression has shut down Srinagar.

NATO forces in Afghanistan shelled insurgent targets in Pakistan in two incidents June 22, following rocket and artillery attacks launched into Khost and Paktika provinces from sanctuaries across the border. Four Afghan civilians were reportedly killed in the insurgents attacks, at least two of them children. Casualty figures for Pakistan were not available. Last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened to send troops across the border if Pakistan's government does not prevent militants from crossing the border. (NYT, June 23)