Queen Elizabeth II when she was three years old

 

 










Princess Elizabeth aged 3, 1929

Conservative Mr Cameron British Election Win... Labour Miliband Steps Down

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http://www.economist.com/

US airstrike in Syria reportedly caused the most civilian casualties since raids started

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - The death toll from an air strike by U.S.-led forces on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo has risen to 52 including seven children, a group monitoring the conflict said on Saturday.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Observatory for Human Rights, said the death toll from Friday's strike was the highest civilian loss in a single attack by U.S. and Arab forces since they started air raids against hardline Islamist militant groups in Syria such as Islamic State.

U.S.-led forces are also targeting the group in Iraq.

The Britain-based Observatory said the raid had mistakenly struck civilians in a village on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River in Aleppo province, killing members of at least six families.

U.S.-led strikes had killed at least 66 civilians in Syria from the start of the raids on September 23 until Friday's strike, which brought the total to at least 118. The campaign has also killed nearly 2,000 Islamic State fighters, the Observatory said.

The group said at least 13 people were still missing from Friday's raid.

The United States has said it takes reports of civilian casualties from the U.S.-led strikes seriously and investigates each allegation.

The U.S.-led air strikes have had little impact on the hardline Islamic State group, slowing its advances but failing to weaken it in areas it controls. The group has built its own government in Syria's city of Raqqa, where it is most powerful.

Washington and its allies say their aim is to support what they call moderate rebels fighting against both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State.

But four years into Syria's civil war, no side is close to victory. A third of the population has been made homeless and more than 220,000 people have been killed.

Bigger container vessels will rule the seas

Bigger vessels will rule the seas

The largest container ships today are just over 18,000 TEU, but enormous 24,000 TEU vessels are coming. While bigger ships translate to economies of scale, they also mean higher risk: the insured value of cargo aboard a 24,000 TEU ship would top $2 billion.

https://www.ihs.com/

The WAR Conflict and the Miltary Sales Trade and Profits Yemen

The $18bn arms race helping to fuel Middle East conflict

Vladimir Putin’s decision last week to allow the controversial delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran

That will see agreed arms sales to the top five purchasers in the region - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt and Iraq – surge this year to more than $18bn, up from $12bn last year. Among the systems being purchased are jet fighters, missiles, armoured vehicles, drones and helicopters.

Last week France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, disclosed progress in talks to sell Rafale fighter jets to the UAE, one of the Middle East’s biggest and most aggressive arms buyers.

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Saudi Arabia Replaces India as Largest Defence Market for US, IHS Study Says

Highlights from the IHS Global Defence Trade Report:

• Saudi Arabia topped India to become the largest defence market for US;
• The US supplied one-third of all exports and was the main beneficiary of growth;
• Saudi Arabia and UAE imported more than all of Western Europe;
• China is now the third largest importer of defence equipment, up from fifth;
• South Korea is the rising star of Asia Pacific exports;
• Despite a record 2014, Russian defence exports are set to drop;
• Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Sweden and Nigeria are the UK’s top trading partners.

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/aerospace-defense-terrorism/saudi-arabia-replaces-india-largest-defence-market-us-ihs-

War Conflicts Yemen April-2015 Yemen

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Saudi Arabia, spearheading a coalition of nine Arab states, began carrying out airstrikes in neighbouring Yemen on 25 March 2015, heralding the start of a military intervention codenamed OperationDecisive Storm (Arabic: عملية عاصفة الحزم). The intervention began in response to requests for assistance from the internationally recognized but domestically contested Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The request was due to a Houthi offensive aimed at its provisional capital of Aden. President Hadi fled Aden,left the country and went to Saudi Arabia as Saudi Arabia and its allies launched airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was deposed in the 2011Arab Spring uprisings
Warplanes from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain are also taking part in the operation. Somalia has made its airspace, territorial waters, and military bases available for the coalition to use. The United Stateshas provided intelligence and logistical support, including search-and-rescue for downed coalition pilots,^[10] and accelerated the sale of weapons to coalition states.^[39] Pakistan was also called on by Saudi Arabia to join the coalition, but its parliament voted to maintain neutrality.^[40] Despite this, Pakistan agreed to provide warships to help the coalition enforce an arms embargo against the Houthis.

300,000 people have been displaced by the fighting as of 28 April.^[41]Many countries, such as China, Pakistan, Somalia,^[42] and India^[43]have evacuated or plan to evacuate foreign citizens.^[44] Many groups have begun to flee Yemen for northern Somalia and Djibouti.^[45] The air-campaign claimed the lives of at least 311 civilians by mid-April

Yemen Result Ongoing Saudi-led coalition claims to have achieved its military goals[17] Saudi failure to destroy the Houthi rebels[18] and halt their advance[19] Saudi failure to restore the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi[20] Saudi-led naval blockade continues for an unspecified period of time[21] Saudi-led coalition announced an end to the airstrike campaign and the beginning of an operation aimed at a political solution,[22] however, air-strikes continue[

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IT WAS a short-lived ceasefire. On April 21st Saudi Arabia declared the end of “Operation Decisive Storm”, a three-week long campaign of air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which had supposedly achieved its objectives. But a few hours later Houthi fighters claimed control of a Yemeni army compound in Taiz, Yemen’s third city, and the Saudis resumed air strikes. The conflict in Yemen has quickly become one of the region’s proxy wars between a Sunni coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which backs the government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and Iran, which backs the Houthis, who are Shias (though of the Zaydi branch, rather than Iran's so-called “Twelver” branch).


http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/04/daily-chart-11?zid=312&ah=da4ed4425e74339883d473adf5773841

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Saudi Arabia: 3 Saudi troops and dozens of Yemeni rebels killed in border clashes

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http://beforeitsnews.com/war-and-conflict/2015

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The violence of the latest war to engulf the Arab world’s poorest country is a far cry from those hopeful days. A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Yemen for 12 days in an attempt to fight off an advance by Houthi rebels who took control of Sana’a and advanced on the southern port city of Aden, exiling the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and threatening to plunge the country into all-out civil war.

http://www.theguardian.com/

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-led_intervention_in_Yemen_(2015%E2%80%93present)

World April-2015 Bhaktapur, Nepal, avalanche flattened parts of Everest

Victims of the earthquake search for belongings in the debris on April 29 in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
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 Rescuers use a makeshift stretcher to carry an injured person after an avalanche flattened parts of Everest Base Camp on April 25. At least 17 people died on the world's highest peak after a powerful earthquake set off a massive avalanche. At least 61 people were injured.

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 A starlit volcano fumes, wild horses escape capture, avalanche engulfs, cats take over an island and more.
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