Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch, which filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the Clinton administration alleging cover-ups, brought suit in Miami district court against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), accusing the cartel of price-fixing. "It's now quite obvious that what they're doing is intentional," Klayman told the New York Times. "What they're trying to do is bring Western economies to their knees. It's extremely clever."

The Ahmadiyyah Muslim community in Indonesia is planning to file a lawsuit against the government over a new decree banning activities by the sect, condemned as "deviant" by protesters. "We ask the silent majority of moderate Muslims in Indonesia to speak out because now we are being held hostage by a small group of hardliners who commit violence and who want to change the ideology of our state," said Siti Musdah Mulia of the National Alliance for Religious Freedom.

Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Bal has started a hunger strike, claiming that he was subjected to violence and pressure following his arrest June 8. The Istanbul branch of Turkey's Human Rights Association and Antimilitarist Initiative said in a press release that Bal was beaten and denied water or use of the bathroom as he was kept waiting for hours the night of his arrest. The statement called for his immediate release, and that those responsible for his mistreatment be held responsible. (BIANet, June 11)

A statement from the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, via the Iraq Freedom Congress, June 7:

The Ministry of Industry and Minerals Privatizes Its Companies
Brothers and sisters in the working class: Amid chaos and lawlessness, surprisingly the Ministry of Industry and Minerals decides to privatize its affiliate companies. The ministry announced privatization of a number of corporations, including manufacturers of cement, pharmaceutical and petrochemicals companies, despite the fact that these enterprises are economically feasible and substantially profitable.

On his June 8 Sunday TV program, Alo Presidente, Venezeula's President Hugo Chávez called on Colombia's FARC guerillas to lay down arms, saying: "Guerilla warfare has passed from history, and you in the FARC should know one thing: you have been converted into an excuse for the empire to threaten us all, you are the perfect excuse. The day peace comes to Colombia, the empire will lose the principal excuse it has—terrorism." (El Universal, Mexico, June 9)

From Anarchist Black Cross-Osaka via the 325 Collective, June 6:

Anarchist in Kansai area (West Japan) arrested in G8 preparations—Solidarity needed!
Tabi Rounin, better known as 'Rebel_Jill' has been detained by police on minor charges in the run-up to the G8 in Japan, as the police attempt to investigate his international connections and disrupt his revolutionary activities. This is a known tactic of the Japanese political police, see here for a similar case (Comrade 'M') and also see this interview with Tabi.

Turkey's military is cooperating with Iran by sharing information and coordinating strikes against PKK guerillas in northern Iraq, commander of the Turkish Land Forces Ilker Basbug said on June 5. "We are sharing intelligence with Iran, we are talking, we are coordinating," CNN-Turk TV quoted Basbug as telling reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Istanbul. "When they start an operation, we do, too. They carry out an operation from the Iranian side of the border, we from the Turkish side... We haven't done it for one or two months but we would do it if necessary." (AP, Hurriyet, June 5) Such claims have been heard before.

Israeli forces again violently broke up a peaceful demonstration against the construction of the separation wall in the West Bank village of Nil'in June 8, shooting a foreign cameraman with a rubber-coated bullet. Three protesters were injured and three arrested, including a foreign solidarity activist. The coordinator of Ni'lin's popular committee against the wall, Salah Al-Khawaja, said village farmers lay on the ground to stop Israeli bulldozers from digging up the fields and erecting the wall section planned there. According to Al-Khawaja, the farmers succeeded in stopping the work for one hour. He said bulldozers have uprooted 90 trees in the village in just three days. (Ma'an News Agency, June 8)