The South African political landscape experienced a shock from an unlikely source; the country’s local government elections on August 3, 2016 representing the last tier of government and often overlooked in favour of national and provincial polls. 

Japan’s latest space policy is designed to support a more proactive US-Japan alliance role in containing China, and robustly defend Japan against North Korean ballistic missile threats. 

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis in early 2014, the states of East Central Europe have become increasingly important targets of Russian economic, political and military pressure. Russia finds itself in the trajectory of geopolitical retreat on the Western “front”, and seeks to slow down this process by mobilizing every economic, political and military asset in East Central Europe, where various weak points in the European and Atlantic unity exist—and are typically overestimated by Moscow.

Up until recently, little attention has been paid to the crisis which the Ethiopian regime has nonetheless been sinking into for more than two years. The rare spotlights focused on this country have praised its economic performance, describing it as a new “Far East” or even an “African lion”. The violence and imprisonment aimed at activists, journalists, and a good many citizens have remained hidden.

In the context of liberalisation and the creation of a European electricity market, security conditions underlying the supply of electricity need to be reconsidered. 

The French Army's Sangaris Operation in Central African Republic proved successful despite it being first undermined. 

The Indian government has launched the Smart Cities Mission in June 2015 with the aim of providing a better quality of life to the citizens in 100 cities of the country. This paper describes the main features of the Mission and attempts to explain the challenges in the way forward.

The Calais’ camp demolition operation that has begun on October 24^th 2016 is the most significant ever conducted. It follows numerous failed or aborted attempts to dismantle the shanty town and relocalize its inhabitants.