Army recruitment hits its target, the PM wields the axe in the reshuffle and Sinn Fein gains influence in the Irish election

The Army has some rare good news on the shortfalls in its ranks.  It is about to meet its recruitment target for the first time since it started a controversial private partnership with Capita in 2012. The cabinet reshuffle didn't go quite as expected but are there any defence implications?  We talk to Lucy Fisher, Defence Editor at the The Times Africa’s Sahel region, is currently at the centre of huge conflict and displacement with different armed groups, including Al Qaeda and Islamic State moving in. We talk to Paul Melly, consulting fellow at Chatham House. The United States is a hundred percent committed to NATO.  So says a US General involved in the planning of the largest deployment of U.S.-based forces to Europe for an exercise in more than 25 years. Follow us @bfbs.sitrep