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Le 7 juin, la Commission européenne a publié le Rapport Convergence 2016 qui analyse les progrès réalisés par les Etats membres juridiquement engagés à adopter l'euro, à savoir la Bulgarie, la République tchèque, la Croatie, la Hongrie, la Pologne, la Roumanie et la Suède.

Le 7 juin, le directeur général de l'Organisation mondiale du Commerce a prévenu que les exportateurs britanniques risqueraient de payer 5,6 milliards £ (7,2 milliards €) par an de droits de douane supplémentaires si le Royaume-Uni quittait l'Union européenne.

L'Irlande, le Luxembourg, Malte et Chypre sont les pays européens les plus exposés à une éventuelle sortie du Royaume-Uni de l'Union européenne, selon une analyse publiée le 9 juin par l'agence d'évaluation financière S&P Global ratings.

Du 15 au 26 juin, la ville d'Édimbourg accueille la 69e édition du Festival international du film (EIFF).

Du 17 au 24 juin se tient le Festival international du film de Bruxelles, consacré au cinéma européen, avec plus de 100 courts et longs métrages à découvrir.

Du 17 au 19 juin, la ville d'Inkoo (Finlande) accueille dans une ambiance médiévale des interprètes venus de l'étranger pour une succession de concerts de musique de chambre.

Du 14 juin au 27 août se déroule "La nuit aux Invalides", un voyage dans le temps et dans l'histoire, avec des effets sonores et des projections d'images en 3D, au cœur de la Cour d'honneur des Invalides à Paris.

La Foire de Bâle (Art Basel), l'une des plus prestigieuses et éminentes expositions d'art moderne et contemporain, se tient du 16 au 19 juin.

Jusqu'au 18 septembre, Zürich accueille la 11ème édition de la biennale européenne d'art contemporain Manifesta avec 130 artistes et 250 œuvres d'art.

Une exposition de l'artiste danois Olafur Eliasson se tient dans le palais et les jardins du Château de Versailles jusqu'au 30 octobre.

Americas

• Boeing plans to test its new Chinook rotor blades this October. If successful, the heavy-lift helicopter will gain an extra 2,000lb for its maximum take-off weight. Using honeycomb composite rotor blades, good news from Boeing could see it form part of the CH-47 Block II upgrades the Army is pursuing, and be open to funding previously denied by the Department of Defense (DoD).

• The ongoing debacle over Canada’s exit from the F-35 program may see Lockheed Martin shift contracts associated with the fighter away from Canadian contractors. Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election promise to not order the next generation fighter, and government plans to purchase F/A-18 Super Hornets as an interim solution, has resulted in Ottawa not placing any orders for the fighter despite being an original partner nation in the project. With the F-35 supply chain contracts tied to the number of aircraft purchased by partner nations, Canadian companies may see work shifted to other partner nations who have seemingly been pestering Lockheed to do so. To date, Canadian firms account for about $1 billion of the project’s development and production work.

Middle East North Africa

• Two US senators are looking to limit sales of munitions to Saudi Arabia in protest of the Gulf kingdom’s conduct during its military intervention in Yemen. Senators Chris Murphy and Rand Paul, both members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would bar US sales of air-to-ground munitions until Saudi Arabia promises to take precautions to limit civilian casualties and combat terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda alongside Houthi rebels. In November, the State Department cleared a $1.29 billion sale of 10,000 advance air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia.

Africa

• Ammunition destined for use by German forces serving in Mali has gone missing. The crate, containing 880 pieces of ammunition, went missing on a commercial Air France flight transporting troops and weapons from Berlin to Bamoko via Paris on May 28. Berlin police have been notified of the incident. Germany is taking part in the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and also has 200 soldiers in the country as part of a European mission to train Malian troops.

Europe

• BAE Systems is confident that ongoing talks with the UK government could lead to the launch of a fourth flight trial for the Taranis unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator. The first three flight trials took place in Australia between August 2013 and late 2015. Work on the Taranis program was feeding into the Anglo-French Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS) which involves efforts from BAE Systems, Dassault, Rolls-Royce, Safran, Leonardo, and Thales.

• Ongoing bilateral talks between Germany and France to develop a joint next generation artillery are being conducted alongside discussions for a planned replacement of their Leopard and Leclerc heavy tanks. French weapons systems manufacturer Nexter has teamed up with German counter-part Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to form a joint venture, which has been named KNDS, or KMW and Nexter Defense Systems. It’s believed that any new artillery or tank programs will most likely be launched between 2025 and 2030.

Asia Pacific

• As many as five South East Asian nations are in talks to purchase the BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missile. News of the interest was reported by Reuters after seeing an undated note from the Indian government to BrahMos Aerospace ordering the manufacturer to accelerate talks to sell the missile to Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Chile, and Brazil. The note also mentions 11 other countries in which to carry out further talks including Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

• Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) plans to purchase two refurbished C-130Ks from UK firm Marshall Aerospace has raised some controversy over costs and previous history with the company. The former RAF aircraft were apparently sold to Marshall as scrap metal for $2.5 million each. A deal to modernize and resell the aircraft to the SLAF, however, is coming at a combined price tag of $35 million. According to an expert within the service, buying the plane in its original condition and having a refurbishing company bring the aircraft back to flying status would cost only an extra $6 to 7 million each.

Today’s Video

• GoPro footage of Kazakhstan Air Force EC-145 2-ship flying demo:

American Bell AH-1W Super Cobra Attack Helicopter

A monthly agricultural auction in England draws bidders from around the world. But why do two old Massey Ferguson tractors remain so popular?

Rheinmetall Air Defence will showcase its new remotely controlled, autonomous, network-capable air defence system, Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk3 at Eurosatory 2016.

A series of ten Project 12418 missile boats are being licence-built at the Ba Son Shipyard for the Vietnamese Navy.

Battelle and Halyard Health have been contracted by the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) to co-develop a medical device that can help reduce the loss of tissue in severely injured limbs.

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed a further £642m of funding for the Successor submarine programme, bringing the total spend so far to £3.9bn. With the programme’s assessment phase totalling £3.9bn and opposition remaining strong, how feasible…

Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has received a service order worth €40m from Peruvian naval shipyard SIMA to support extensive modernisation work on the Peruvian Navy's four HDW 209/1200 (Type 209/1200) class submarines.

The US Navy's newest Pathfinder class oceanographic survey ship, USNS Maury (T-AGS 66), has successfully concluded its first voyage.

June 12, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese minister of general education and instruction, Deng Deng Yai, has described education as the best weapon for liberation from poverty and ignorance.

US embassy chargé ambassador Charles Twining and education minister John Gai attend the BRAC launch (Photo courtesy of USAID)

He said South Sudan would have instilled nationalism and embrace democracy if its populations were educated.

“The best tool and weapon for liberation from poverty, hunger, ignorance in South Sudan is education. As a country and as people, we need to invest more in the development of an educational system that promotes harmony, instil nationalism and promote values of democracy, peaceful coexistence, tolerance and cultural diversity,” Yai said.

“This can be found through education. An educated society prospers,” he further explained when asked to comment on the purpose for organizing annual school competition.

Deng said he would like to leave behind a legacy after retiring from public service as someone who established vibrant educational system by ensuring during his tenure that more teachers, specifically those involved in inspection are trained and empowered to carry out their inspectorate work with relevant knowledge.

He made the remarks in line with the ongoing preparations for inter-school competitions that will involve teams from all the states of the country.

All the schools earmarked to participate in the inter-school competition slated to take place in Juba, will converge in Yambio town, Western Equatoria. Preparations, Yai said, are being undertaken.

A supervisory committee headed by him has been formed and another technical committee comprising the undersecretary at the ministry of general education and the ministry of youth and sports has also been assembled to study and recommend what needs to be done before competitions take place.

(ST)