Mehmet Ugur, Professor of Economics and Institutions at the University of Greenwich, examines some of the major issues around the Summer 2013 protests in Istanbul, looking at the historical and economic background as well as some of the major human rights issues that fuel the protests.

• FPC Briefing: Protests in Turkey and the discontents

Stephen Royle looks at the background of the new Palestinian Prime Minister Professor Rami Hamdallah, looking at what skills and experience he is able to bring from his time as President of Al Najah University to help address the major challenges facing the Palestinian Authority.

• A Prime Minister for Peace and the Unity of Palestine?

FPC Research Associate James Denselow examines the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

• From Mountain People to Partner?

The Foreign Policy Centre's new publication, Europe in the World: Can EU foreign policy make an impact?, examines both how Europe is seen on the world stage and the effectiveness of the new External Action Service in delivering on its key objectives: building an effective new diplomatic service, strengthening EU influence in the neighbourhood and developing relations with strategic partners. It explores the institutional and organisational challenges surrounding the creation of the EEAS and considers what tensions remain with other EU institutions and national governments, with particular reference to the UK's difficult relationship with Europe.

Europe in the World is edited by Adam Hug (Foreign Policy Centre). It contains contributions on a range of topics and different perspectives from: Dr. Jozef Batora (Comenius University), Thiago de Aragão (Foreign Policy Centre), William Gumede (Foreign Policy Centre), Jacqueline Hale (Open Society Foundations), Richard Howitt MEP, Stefan Lehne (Carnegie Europe), Dr. Simon Lightfoot and Dr Balazs Szent-Ivanyi (University of Leeds), Prof. Anand Menon (Kings College London), Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG, QC, MP, Edward Macmillan-Scott MEP, Prof. John Peterson (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Neil Winn (University of Leeds). Rt. Hon. Douglas Alexander MP (Shadow Foreign Secretary) provides the foreword.

• Europe in the World: Can EU foreign policy make an impact?

This pamphlet builds on an FPC and UK Foreign Office event series, the first of which took place in March 2011, with a follow-up conference taking place in March 2012 - in association with the City of London Corporation and 'This is Africa' - the FT's bi-monthly magazine. The events and publication brought together national and international experts and specialists from across the mobile payment service sector. The project aimed to develop and promote an evidence-based understanding of the risks and challenges associated with supervising mobile payment services and promoting their global expansion. This essay collection focuses on three core themes. The first explores how effective regulatory oversight might be developed. The second examines how expanding the provision of mobile payment schemes might improve the distribution of financial services and finally the third section critically assesses the future of branchless banking beyond issues of financial access. Essentially, it considers the challenges of increasing service use and integrating mobile money services into existing electronic payment systems.

The pamphlet contains contributions by: Mark Simmonds MP, UK Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Susie Lonie, Co-Creator of M-Pesa, Mireya Almazán and Claire Alexandre (formerly), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hemant Baijal and Sal Karakaplan, MasterCard, Simone di Castri, GSMA, Christine Hougaard, Cenfri, Quan Le, GMX Consulting, Prateek Shrivastava, Accendo Associate (and formerly at Monitise), Cicero Torteli, Freeddom and Josephine Osikena (ed.), Foreign Policy Centre.

• The financial revolution in Africa: Mobile payment services