Min-cuts and Shortest Cycles in Planar Graphs in O(n log log n) Time
  We present a deterministic O(n log log n) time algorithm for finding shortest cycles and minimum cuts in planar graphs. The algorithm improves the previously known fastest algorithm by Italiano et al. in STOC'11 by a factor of log n. This speedup is obtained through the use of dense distance graphs combined with a divide-and-conquer approach. 
Jakub \L\k{a}cki and Piotr Sankowski
cs.DS