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Members of France's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, July 14, 2013

NATOSource

Apr 30, 2015

France to Boost Defense Spending to Fight Terrorism

By NBC News and Voice of America

From NBC News:  France will increase its defense budget by 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 billion) over four years from 2016 to ensure the army can tackle problems at home and maintain missions abroad, notably in Africa and the Middle East, President Francois Hollande said.

France

MENASource

Apr 30, 2015

Top News: Iran Says Warships at Entrance to Key Yemen Strait

By MENASource

Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab al-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti.

MENASource

Apr 30, 2015

Top News: Proposed Amendments to Prisons Act Would Allow Prisoners Telephone Calls

By EgyptSource

Transitional Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ibrahim al-Heneidi said the Legislative Reform Committee has discussed amendments to the Prisons Act. Article 38, which gives a prisoner the right to send letters and receive visits, would be amended to include the right to make telephone calls as well.

MENASource

Apr 30, 2015

EconSource: Libya Chaos Threatens Oilfields, Power Supply, and Gas Exports to Italy

By EconSource

Libyan protesters demanding jobs have shut down the eastern Irda gas field and are threatening to close the western Wafa oil and gas field, which would stop gas exports to Italy, a spokesman for Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.

New Atlanticist

Apr 30, 2015

Would You Care More About Climate Change if You Knew it Would Change Your Life?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Panel discusses ‘power of narrative’ in getting message across on important issues and preparing for future challenges Do you care much about climate change? How about the fate of polar bears gingerly making their way across thinning Arctic ice? Most people would probably care a lot more if they heard how dramatic temperature spikes and […]

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Apr 30, 2015

Enhancing Foresight: Experts See a Future of Robot Swarms, DNA-Modified People

By Larry Luxner

Tiny robots that can predict the exact fruit yield of apple trees while helping farmers cut water usage. Drone swarms which respond to 911 emergency calls without risking human lives. Genetically modified humans free of dozens of diseases that once killed millions. Science fiction? Maybe, but not for long, say two scholars who spoke April […]

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

Ukraine’s Volunteer Battalions Must Join the Military or Sheath the Sword

By Ruben Gzirian

The Ukrainian army faces growing criticism from within its ranks after humiliating defeats at Debaltseve and Ilovaisk in eastern Ukraine. When fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, the Ukrainian military was weak and the state had to rely on volunteers. Of the fifty thousand Ukrainian troops in the field, 22 percent are […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Apr 30, 2015

The West’s Strategy Toward Putin Promises Conflict and Increases Danger of Wider War

By Melinda Haring

Ian Brzezinski: Our policy “conveys hesitancy and a lack of unity and determination. It has failed to convince Putin to reverse course. Indeed, it may have actually emboldened him.”    The West’s current strategy toward Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine not only promises continued conflict in Ukraine but also poses an increased danger […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Apr 29, 2015

Tunisia’s Security Sector and Countering Violent Extremism; Part II: The Police State, Six Years On

By Fadil Aliriza

In 2009, the US Ambassador to Tunisia wrote in a cable later published by Wikileaks, “Tunisia is a police state,” where the ruling regime used the police to protect itself rather than citizens.

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 29, 2015

Top News: King Salman of Saudi Arabia Changes Line of Succession

By MENASource

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued a series of surprise royal decrees early Wednesday, shaking up the line of princes slated to succeed him to the throne, replacing a number of ministers and further enhancing the power of his own line.