We sure hope not, but this isn't looking too good. From AP, June 26:

BROWNVILLE, Neb. — A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger.

Angry parents held a hundreds-strong march in Japan's Fukushima city June 26 to demand greater protection for their children from radiation more than three months after the start of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years in the northern prefecture. The parents won a victory last month, when a protest campaign pressured the government to lower the limit for radiation exposure for children at schools, and to offer money for schools to remove topsoil in playgrounds with too much radiation. But also June 26, government officials met with local residents in a televised meeting at Saga, on Kyushu island, to try to convince them that it is safe to restart the prefecture's Genkai nuclear power plant. Since the Fukushima disaster, 35 of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors have been temporarily shut down. (Reuters, AFP, June 26; Asahi Shimbun, June 14)

On June 20, the Court of Appeals in the city of Puerto Montt, Chile, ordered a halt to all construction and permitting processes for the controversial HidroAysén five-dam mega-project while a case against the project is pending. The case, jointly filed on June 9 by citizens and congress members, charges that HidroAysén’s environmental review, which was approved by authorities last month, was arbitrary, illegal, and violated constitutional rights of local inhabitants. The case would normally be heard by the Court of Appeals in Coyhaique, the capital city of the Aysén Region—where the dams are slated to be built, where the approval was granted, and where the appeal was filed. However, several of the justices who sit on the appeals court there recused themselves from the case due to conflicts of interest, and the case was moved to the neighboring region of Los Lagos. (See map.)

The US State Department issued the following terse warning on June 22:

The security environment within Gaza, including its border with Egypt and its seacoast, is dangerous and volatile. U.S. citizens are advised against traveling to Gaza by any means, including via sea. Previous attempts to enter Gaza by sea have been stopped by Israeli naval vessels and resulted in the injury, death, arrest, and deportation of U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens participating in any effort to reach Gaza by sea should understand that they may face arrest, prosecution, and deportation by the Government of Israel... On May 31, 2010, nine people were killed, including one U.S. citizen, in such an attempt.

A new Israeli proposal that would forcibly transfer more than 40,000 Bedouin citizens into government-planned townships in the Negev (Naqab) desert has raised the ire of Bedouin communities and their supporters, who say the plan is both discriminatory and ignores the Bedouins' historic connection to the land, Electronic Intifada reports. Dr. Awad Abu Freih, the spokesperson of al-Araqib, one of approximately 45 so-called unrecognized villages in the Negev, told Electronic Intifada: "Now we are very angry and we reject this plan. We will not accept it. We are working all the time to explain to our communities that this plan is very dangerous, it's not good for us and not good for the Jews, not good for the state, not good for anybody."

Security forces opened fire as thousands took to Syria's streets for Friday protests to demand the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad June 24. Activists told AlJazeera at least 15 people were killed and many more injured in demonstrations following evening prayers. People were just emerging from Ibn Affan Mosque in the Damascus suburb of al-Qusweh, chanting for Assad's overthrow, when security forces opened fire without warning, killing six people and wounding 15, according to Mohammed Suliman. He said that ambulances took the wounded to the headquarters of the military secret service, rather than the hospital. "We don't regard the president as legitimate," said Suliman, rejecting a speech made by Assad five days earlier in which he announced a general amnesty for those involved in protests "His speech didn't make any sense. He gave his speech on Monday and today we witnessed many killed - the only speech now that will make any sense is his resignation speech." (AlJazeera, June 24)

The House of Representatives on June 24 voted 295-123 against a resolution authorizing US participation in the NATO campaign in Libya, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's decision to wage war without congressional approval. In the face of opposition from conservative Republicans and anti-war Democrats alike, the White House has maintained the Orwellian position that the bombing campaign does not constitute "hostilities" and therefore does not fall under the purview of the War Powers Resolution.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on June 23 condemned a Bahraini court for sentencing 21 human rights advocates, political activists and opposition leaders to harsh punishments. The court sentenced the protestors to lengthy prison sentences, including life terms. Ban urged Bahraini authorities to comply with international human rights obligations such as ensuring the right to due process and a fair trial and permitting the defendants to appeal their sentences. A spokesperson for the secretary-general relayed Ban's sentiments about how Bahraini authorities should proceed: