Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Afghan Policewoman Who Killed U.S. Contractor Is Iranian Citizen RFE/RL 25 Dec 2012 -- Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says it has discovered that the policewoman who shot dead a U.S. civilian police trainer at Kabul's police headquarters on December 24 is not an Afghan national, as they originally thought, but is instead an Iranian citizen.
• Afghan 'Green-on-Blue' Attacker Named as Iranian National VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- Authorities in Afghanistan say that a female policewoman who killed an American contractor in Kabul this week is an Iranian national. However, they have not presented any evidence that the woman has links to militant groups, or that Iran may have orchestrated the "insider attack."

Defense Policy / Programs

• ACU-1: Always Ready To Move NNS 25 Dec 2012 -- Down the ramp and below decks, over hurdles of Humvees, boxes, and stockpiles of Marine equipment, lies a small community set in a place not often visited by Sailors and Marines.
• Russia's Voronezh Air Base to Get 5 Su-34 Fighters RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- Five multi-role Su-34 bombers will be delivered for a second squadron of the Baltimore air base in Voronezh, southwest Russia, on Tuesday.
• Russian Navy Gets New Research Vessel RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- Russia's Defense Ministry on Tuesday took delivery of a new deep-sea research and search-and-rescue vessel, the shipyard said.
• Russian Warships Gather in Mediterranean for Drills RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- About a dozen Russian warships are converging on the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden as part of a large-scale strategic exercise, a high-ranking representative the General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces said on Tuesday.
• Mi-8 Helicopter Crashes in Ukraine, 5 Dead RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- Five people died when a Mi-8 helicopter of Ukraine's internal troops crashed in central Ukraine's Kirovograd Region on Tuesday, the country's interior ministry said in a statement.
• Border Guard Plane Crashes in Kazakhstan, 27 Dead RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- A military plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan on Tuesday, killing all 27 people onboard, including the acting head of Kazakhstan's border guard service, the National Security Committee said.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• FM spokesman underlines national dialogue, free elections as only solution to Syrian crisis IRNA 25 Dec 2012 -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast underlined halt in clashes, preparing the ground for national dialogue and free and democratic elections as the only solutions to the ongoing crisis in Syria.
• Activists: Syrian Rebels Capture Northern Town Near Turkey VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- Syrian rights activists say rebels have captured a northern town near the border with Turkey, driving out government troops after a siege that lasted several weeks.
• Armenian PM: Syrian Refugees Plan to Stay VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- When the fighting began in Syria, some of the country's Syrian Armenians began to head to Armenia, but as the fighting has intensified so has the number of those looking to their ancestral homeland.
• China's Claims on South China Sea Grow Challenge for ASEAN, World VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- China's increasing assertiveness about disputed territory in the South China Sea is posing a major challenge to unity in the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations. ASEAN summits this year in Cambodia failed to negotiate a much anticipated "code of conduct" and exposed splits between members. Indications are the competition for the resource-rich region is heating up.
• China on Alert After Japan Scrambles Jets over E. China Sea VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- China says it is on alert after Japan dispatched fighter jets over the East China Sea.
• Israel Approves Construction of Over 1,000 New Apartments VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- Israeli officials have approved the construction of more than 1,200 apartments in a Jerusalem neighborhood outside the pre-1967 Israeli borders.
• Security Challenges Await Somalia After Historic Year VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- In the last 12 months, Somalia has approved a new constitution, selected a new parliament, president and prime minister, making way for the first stable government in over 20 years.

News Reports

• New Constitution Approved by 60% of Egyptians - Results RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- Egypt's draft constitution was approved by more than 60 percent of voters, Supreme Electoral Commission Samir Abu El-Maati said on Tuesday.
• Egypt Military Retirees to Establish Political Party RIA Novosti 25 Dec 2012 -- The Association of Egyptian Military Retirees will become a political party, association coordinator Samir Ragheb announced on Tuesday.
• Egypt Approves Islamist-backed Constitution VOA 25 Dec 2012 -- Egypt's High Electoral Commission announced the final results of the two-stage constitutional referendum Tuesday, after a 24-hour delay to examine charges of fraud. Opposition leaders allege the vote was tainted by numerous irregularities, but the presiding judge says they were all investigated and some results thrown out for irregular procedures.
• Taiwan will not accept double recognition: minister CNA 25 Dec 2012 -- Taiwan will not accept its diplomatic allies' double recognition of both Taiwan and China, the foreign minister said Tuesday, adding that he did not believe that such a situation could ever occur.
• Envoy expresses hopes of improving Taiwan-U.S. ties CNA 25 Dec 2012 -- Taiwan's representative to the United States King Pu-tsung said Tuesday that the relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. is at its best in nearly 30 years and that he hopes to help further deepen bilateral ties.