Over 40 people have been arrested in pre-emptive sweeps of left and anarchist groups in Japan ahead of the Hokkaido G8 summit. In the latest arrest, "Kin-chan" from the local anarchist collective Kamagasaki Patrol was detained without charge in Osaka June 10. (Gipfelsoli, Germany, June 13) That same day, 19 officers from the Kyoto Prefecture Security Police raided and searched the office used by the activist groups Rakunan Union, Rakunan Workers Network and Asia Joint Action (Asia Kyodokodo). (Gipfelsoli, June 13) Bloggers on the scene say the northern island of Hokkaido is being saturated with posters and other government propaganda urging citizen vigilance against terrorist activity. (Gipfelsoli, June 8)

More than 18,000 operators of construction machinery in South Korea are set to strike June 16 to press for cheaper fuel and higher pay, joining thousands of truckers who walked off the job last week, effectively shutting down the country's ports. About 14,000 truckers walked off the job June 13 after talks on higher pay and cheaper diesel broke down. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) also opposes President Lee Myung-bak's privatization and pension plans. Lee, elected by a landslide, has seen his popularity plummet after an unpopular deal to resume imports of US beef—which has also sparked massive protests in Seoul in recent days. (Reuters, June 16)

Traditional Aboriginal land-users from Borroloola, near Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria, are demanding compensation for land taken by the expansion of Xstrata's McArthur River zinc mine in the Northern Territory. A federal court June 13 rejected an appeal by traditional residents to halt the expansion of the mine, which involves redirecting five kilometers of the river. Justice John Mansfield decided former environment minister Ian Campbell was not in error when he approved the expansion. Indigenous land user Harry Lancen says sacred sites are being destroyed by the mine's operation.

From Human Rights Watch, June 12:

Ethiopia: Army Commits Executions, Torture, and Rape in Ogaden
In its battle against rebels in eastern Ethiopia’s Somali Region, Ethiopia's army has subjected civilians to executions, torture, and rape, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The widespread violence, part of a vicious counterinsurgency campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has contributed to a looming humanitarian crisis, threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads.

Peru sent tanker ships carrying food and fuel June 13 to its southernmost coastal region of Tacna, where thousands of residents are stranded by a general strike over mining royalties in neighboring Moquegua region. More than 5,000 Moquegua residents have blocked roads, including the Panamerican highway, cutting off access to the Ilo smelter and Cuajone mine of Grupo Mexico's Southern Copper, the country's largest producer. They are demanding a greater share of profits for local governments in the region. Several provincial and district leaders have started a hunger strike in support of the campaign.

Mexican authorities are searching for 37 undocumented migrants from Cuba and Central America taken from a government bus at gunpoint by ski-masked men with assault rifles. Authorities say the gunmen belong to a human trafficking ring. Police found the empty bus, and no sign of the migrants or the assailants, on the morning of June 12 near Ocosingo, Chiapas. The seven guards and two bus drivers were left on the highway.

We aren't sure that the optimism in his closing assessment of Obama's AIPAC speech is warranted. But this June 13 piece by Bernard Avishai in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz says much about the dilemmas the candidate faces. The piece is ostensibly about how Obama is perceived by the ruling elites within Israel, but much of it also applies to "the Lobby," the "neocons," and Israel's stateside amen chorus generally:

As the UN Security Council, Arab League and African Union urge Eritrea to halt military action against neighboring Djibouti, French officers stationed in the Horn of Africa mini-state say that France is providing Djibouti with military support—and preparing to send more troops and war material. Speaking to the official Agence Djiboutienne d'Information (ADI), a French officer identified as Col. Ducret said French forces are "providing assistance in logistics, medical [and] intelligence service to the Djiboutian army."