ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Fixr.com's map of the world with the most-Googled things The cost of flying a MiG fighter in Russia, buying kidneys in Iran, prostitutes in Ukraine and rhinoplasty in S. Korea are just a few of the most popular Google requests worldwide, a new map shows. It does give some weird insights into the countries. Fixr.com, a cost-estimating website has put together a map of the world with the most-Googled things in each country, using the autocomplete formula of “How much does * cost in [x country]." The search results turned out to be hilarious and informative, and gave a peek into humanity’s cost obsessions per country. “Looking at some of the most popular Google searches throughout the World reveals some cultural differences, but also many key similarities. It also provides insights into the sometimes strange things people think about when they are alone,”says fixr.com website . Russians are most interested in “How much does it cost to fly a MiG [military aircraft] in Russia?”

. Smoke billows as supporters of exiled Yemeni leader Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi continue to clash with Shiite Huthi rebels in the Khor Maksar neighbourhood of Aden, on May 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Saleh Al-Obeidi) Washington (AFP) - The United States defended its supplies of cluster munitions Sunday, pointing to restrictions on the transfers, after Human Rights Watch said the bombs had been used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. HRW said it had gathered photographs, video and other evidence indicating that cluster munitions had been used in coalition air strikes against the Huthi rebel stronghold of Saada province in Yemen's northern mountains in recent weeks. It said that analysis of satellite imagery suggested that the weapons had landed on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters (yards) of populated areas. "We take all accounts of civilian deaths due to the ongoing hostilities in Yemen very seriously," a US Defense Department official told AFP. "We call upon all side

By Dan Froomkin Most people realize that emails and other digital communications they once considered private can now become part of their permanent record. But even as they increasingly use apps that understand what they say, most people don’t realize that the words they speak are not so private anymore, either. Top-secret documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency can now automatically recognize the content within phone calls by creating rough transcripts and phonetic representations that can be easily searched and stored. The documents show NSA analysts celebrating the development of what they called “Google for Voice” nearly a decade ago . Though perfect transcription of natural conversation apparently remains the Intelligence Community’s “ holy grail ,” the Snowden documents describe extensive use of keyword searching as well as computer programs designed to analyze and “extract” the content of voice conversations, and eve

DAMASCUS, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Sunday wrested back control over an important town in eastern countryside of capital Damascus, cutting a key rebel supply route, according to the official SANA news agency. The government forces captured town of Maidaa' and its surrounding orchards in east of Damascus, said SANA, adding that the town served as a supply route for rebels between the hotbed towns of Douma and Dumair. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian troops were advancing in the outskirts of Eastern Ghouta near Dumair. It said the troops captured large swathes of Maidaa' after clashes with jihadist groups in the area amid reports of losses on both sides. The UK-based watchdog group said the battles were coupled with shelling from both sides. Clashes also went on in the surrounding of Zabdin, another town in Eastern Ghouta. Eastern Ghouta, an agricultural region in east of Damascus, has emerged as a threat to the capital due to the larg

An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. (image from http://www.hrw.org) Download video  (40.24 MB) The Saudi Arabia-led coalition is using US-supplied cluster munitions in its airstrikes on Houthi forces in Yemen, Human Rights Watch reported. Targets include those close to villages, posing a threat from undetonated submunitions to civilians. In recent weeks the coalition has used cluster bombs in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate, a region bordering Saudi Ararbia, which is historically controlled by the rebels, HRW said. “These weapons should never be used under any circumstances. Saudi Arabia and other coalition members – and the supplier, the US – are flouting the global standard that rejects cluster munitions because of their long-term threat to civilians,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. A BLU-108 canister with four submunitions still

By Robert Fisk  Let me try to get this right. The Saudis are bombing Yemen because they fear the Shia Houthis are working for the Iranians. The Saudis are also bombing Isis in Iraq and the Isis in Syria. So are the United Arab Emirates. The Syrian government is bombing its enemies in Syria and the Iraqi government is also bombing its enemies in Iraq. America, France, Britain, Denmark, Holland, Australia and – believe it or not – Canada are bombing Isis in Syria and Isis in Iraq, partly on behalf of the Iraqi government (for which read Shia militias) but absolutely not on behalf of the Syrian government. The Jordanians and Saudis and Bahrainis are also bombing Isis in Syria and Iraq because they don’t like them, but the Jordanians are bombing Isis even more than the Saudis after their pilot-prisoner was burned to death in a cage . The Egyptians are bombing parts of Libya because a group of Christian Egyptians had their heads chopped off by what might – notionally – be the same so-ca

Vietnam has celebrated the 40th anniversary of what it calls Reunification Day in Ho Chi Minh City [Reuters] Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - Pham Quoc Hung felt calm when the end finally came. It was the morning of April 30, 1975, and North Vietnamese tanks were rumbling towards their final military objective: Saigon. Those tanks were a sign that the war in Vietnam was finally over, said Hung, recounting the last hours, 40 years ago today, of the country once known as the Republic of Vietnam, and the fall of its former capital, Saigon, to North Vietnamese forces. "I felt calm because I could expect the result," said the 75-year-old Hung, who was a battlefield photographer with the defeated South Vietnamese army at that time. After years covering the war that brought so much death and destruction on his country, Hung said he wasn't filled with dread at the prospect of a Communist victory. He was just relieved that peace would finally arrive. "I wasn't afraid because I

Houthi militants gesture in the yard of the residence of the military commander of the Houthi militant group, Abdullah Yahya al Hakim, after it was hit by an airstrike, in Sanaa April 28, 2015. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah) Download video (36.7 MB) In order to break the stalemate in the ongoing conflict in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has reportedly started training hundreds of Yemeni tribesmen to fight the Houthis on the ground, while Riyadh continues its bombardment campaign. “You cannot win a war against the Houthis from the air – you need to send ground forces in, but now there's a program to train tribal fighters on the border,” a Doha-based military source familiar with the matter told Reuters. According to another Yemeni official source, some 300 fighters have already managed to return to Yemen after getting Saudi training. They were allegedly send the Sirwah district in the central Marib province to battle Houthis in the area. According to the source the newly trained unit managed to p