After six weeks without generating any nuclear power, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda this week succeeded in lobbying local authorities in Fukui prefecture to approve the restart of two reactors at the Ohi nuclear complex, raising the specter of widespread power shortages over the summer. The archipelago nation got more than 30% of its electrical energy from nuclear generation before the Fukushima disaster that gradually shut down the whole nuclear production network was shut for safety checks and upgrades after last year's Fukushima disaster. Activists opposing the return to nuclear power are holding a cross-country "March for Life" from Fukushima to Hiroshima—where they will meet with hibakusha, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings of August 1945. The dwindling hibakusha have re-emerged as a voice warning of the dangers of radiation since the Fukushima disaster. (LAT, 命の行進-2012, June 15)

A US prosecutor has filed drug trafficking charges against a retired Colombian police general who was former President Alvaro Uribe's security chief, newspaper El Tiempo reported June 15. According to the charges filed before the Eastern District Court of Virginia, retired Gen. Mauricio Santoyo Velasco collaborated with paramilitary organization AUC and Medellín-based crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado between 2000 and 2008. Santoyo was Uribe's security chief between 2002 and 2006 after which he was named military attaché in Italy.

Yemeni officials announced June 12 that government troops have recaptured two al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula strongholds in the country's south after a month-long offensive against AQAP, which seized the areas more than a year ago. Officials said Yemeni troops and tribal allies took full control of Abyan's provincial capital, Zinjibar, and the town of Jaar to the north. They said government forces also re-opened the highway linking Abyan with the southern port of Aden. (VOA, June 12) The next day, airstrikes destroyed a car parked near a house in the AQAP-held town of Azzan, Shabwa province, leaving nine dead. AQAP charged in a statement that the strike came from a US drone. (AP, June 13)

Iran announced June 12 that it plans to build its first nuclear-powered submarine—days before talks with world powers on its nuclear program were set to begin. "Preliminary steps in making an atomic submarine have started and we hope to see the use of...nuclear submarines in the navy in the future," deputy navy commander Abbas Zamini was quoted as saying by Iran's Fars News Agency. (Reuters, June 12) Last month, Israel received its fourth German-made submarine—capable of launching nuclear warheads. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that the submarine would increase Israel's capabilities "in the face of the growing regional challenges." The Dolphin-type military submarine is one of six Israel has ordered from Germany, which subsidizes the sales. (AP, May 3) Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said it has learned that Israel is arming the submarines with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Officials said the German government has known about Israel's nuclear weapons program for decades, despite official denials, and assumed nuclear arms would be used on the subs. (Der Spiegel, June 3)

Congressman Steve King (R-IA) said June 15 that President Barack Obama's plan to issue an executive order implementing (some) policies of the DREAM Act is unconstitutional and announced that he plans to sue the administration to delay implementation. King claims that this executive order would effectively implement a law that was rejected by Congress and, therefore, Obama does not have the power to issue it.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on June 13 dismissed a lawsuit filed by seven Guatemalans who alleged that they had been the subject of non-consensual human medical experimentation by the US Public Health Service. In its decision, the court found that under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) the US government is specifically exempt from liability for torts that occur outside of the US. Because the plaintiffs sued government officials who were acting in the capacity of their positions, the claim is automatically converted to a claim against the US government, and the court is bound by the FTCA. In his decision, Judge Reggie Walton acknowledged that "the Guatemala Study is a deeply troubling chapter in our Nation's history," but concluded that the court had no authority to provide relief. He suggested that the victims seek a remedy through political means. The Guatemalan government had reportedly requested that the US government provide out-of-court settlements before the lawsuit was filed, but the US did not respond.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will analyze information regarding the Colombian army murdering civilians and disguising them as guerillas killed in combat to artificially inflate its enemy kill count. "We are asking [the government] about this issue, they have responded to us about the cases currently under investigation. We are preparing a report about this, but for now we are in the process of analyzing," said the court's outgoing prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in an interview with Spanish news agency EFE June 13.

At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured June 15 in armed clashes that erupted as police evicted landless campesinos who had invaded a privately-owned "forest reserve" in Paraguay. The 2,000-hectare "reserve" is within the sprawling Morumbí hacienda, outside Curuguaty town in fertile Canindeyu department, near the borders with Brazil and Argentina. (See map.) The ranch is owned by Blas Riquelme, a former senator with the Colorado Party. Some 300 police were mobilized to the site, backed up with helicopters. Authorities said the campesinos were armed with M-16s and other assault rifles, and opened fire as police moved to eject them. The dead included six police and at least 10 campesinos.