Today's Headlines and Commentary

Nelson Mandela died yesterday. We mourn his loss with deep appreciation and recognition of his unparalleled dedication to bettering the lives of others. The New York Times’ obituary has a detailed history of his life that honors him appropriately. According to Time magazine, Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack on Yemen’s Ministry of Defense. The death toll has risen to 52.  The United States considers the Yemeni arm of Al-Qaeda to be the most active in the world. The Huffington Post examines the recent resurgence of Al-Qaeda across the Middle East. The attack in Yemen was one of many recent attacks, for which different local branches of the terrorist network have taken credit. HuffPo’s Farah Mohamed considers the views of Jessica Lewis, a research director at the Institute for the Study of War.  The latter attributes the spike in Al-Qaeda activity to the conflict of Syria. Public Radio International tells us about Russia’s intelligence gathering program. The country that granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum is actually looking to his leaks, in an effort to gather information about how to better structure Russia's foreign surveillance programs. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is cracking down on internet activists. Several arrests have been made over the past few weeks on charges of cyber crimes that, the Iranian government claims, threaten Iranian national security.  Of course the Revolutionary Guard is not controlled by Iran’s new, more moderate President, Hassan Rouhani---but instead by (surprise) Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. No one was surprised at this news: Israel was none too pleased about the ongoing American negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. In the end, a deal was struck. But Secretary of State John Kerry is now on the defensive and trying to appease Israel. According to the Associated Press, Kerry was back in Jerusalem yesterday, where he has “pledged to support the Jewish state's security throughout separate negotiations with Iran and the Palestinians.” Meanwhile, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security has claimed that India is “expanding its uranium enrichment program.” The report points to satellite images of what could be a new gas centrifuge facility=---one that “could significantly increase India's ability to produce highly enriched uranium for military purposes, including more powerful nuclear weapons.” The NSA is defending its practice of collecting cell phone location data. An NSA spokeswoman said today that the agency uses its authority under a 1981 executive order to carry out this specific type of intelligence gathering.  According to the agency, the practices conducted pursuant to the order, EO 12333, do not violate the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act.   Relatedly, as Wells mentioned last night, President Obama has said he plans to curb some NSA collection programs.  That's the scoop from Politico's Josh Gerstein. The Obama Administration is keeping the Blackberry alive: President Obama said in a meeting on Wednesday that he cannot have an iPhone because of “security reasons.” Bitcoin is gaining in popularity all over the financial world. Bank of America Merrill Lynch just released a research report assessing the potential of the virtual currency to become mainstream. The Verge has a breakdown and analysis of the report. One key excerpt from it: “Bank of America currency strategists estimate [that each Bitcoin] is worth $1,300 apiece.” The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution that will launch a French operation in the Central African Republic as violence worsens in the civil war-torn country. The French are expected to arrive within days, and have been authorized to use force to protect civilians. Civil violence has been brewing in the CAR since March after Muslim rebels seized power in a coup that overthrew the predominantly Christian country’s government.