Anti-aircraft missiles Iran was trying to ship to Yemeni proxy were made at factory of state-owned Chinese corp.

It has been confirmed that the anti-aircraft missiles that Iran, according to American and Yemeni officials, was trying to send to its proxy, Houthi, in northwestern Yemen, in January were made at a factory represented by a state-owned Chinese corporation. The Iranian shipment was seized in Jan. by the United States Navy and Yemen’s security forces. It should be noted here that Iran has been accused of supplying weapons to its Middle Eastern proxies several times before also, but has always denied the charges, saying the United States and its Western allies have been doing false propaganda against the country. This time, however, there has been no comment by Iran so far.
Iran is a Shiite-led theocracy and believed to be a strong supporter of the Shiite community-dominated Middle Eastern states, including Syria, where the Shiite minority has been ruling the Sunni majority for decades. In a number of other Muslim countries as well, Iran is considered supportive of the Shiite community and like-minded groups.

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Bangladesh deploys troops as protest toll hits 76

Bangladesh deployed troops in part of the country after fresh clashes erupted Sunday, taking the death toll to 76 in weeks of violence over the conviction of Islamist leaders for war crimes.
Twenty people were killed in the latest bout of violence as the largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami declared a nationwide strike to denounce the trials.
In the northern district of Bogra more than 10,000 Jamaat supporters armed with sticks and home-made bombs attacked 12 police stations, torching four of them and two government offices, police said.

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Syria rebels kill 34 regime forces in academy attack: NGO

Syrian rebels killed more than 34 government forces in an attack Sunday on a police academy in the northern province of Aleppo and seized large parts of the facility, a monitoring group said.

They "seized control at dawn of large parts of the police academy" in Khan al-Assal, after eight days of fierce fighting for one of the regime's last bastions in the west of Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"More than 34 regime forces were killed" inside the town's sprawling police academy, it said.

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French soldier killed in Mali, Belmokhtar fate unsure

(Reuters) - France said on Sunday a third French soldier had been killed in fierce fighting with Islamist rebels in northern Mali but could not confirm Chad's report that its troops had killed the al Qaeda commander behind January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria.
A whirlwind seven-week campaign has driven al Qaeda-linked fighters who took over northern Mali last April into mountain and desert redoubts, where they are being hunted by hundreds of French, Chadian and Malian troops.
France's defense ministry said 26-year-old Corporal Cedric Charenton was shot dead on Saturday during an assault on an Islamist hideout in the desolate Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near Algeria, the third French soldier killed in the campaign.

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Mexican Corvette Durango Class

Why Is the Navy Building a Shiny Drone Base in Sunny Malibu?

The Point Mugu base is technically just outside of Malibu—barely—but we're going to go with it because Malibu Drone Base has a ring to it like nothing else in the history of drones nor bases. Don't you think of red Corvettes, sunglasses, coconut oil, and Hellfire missiles? It's perfect, right? The Navy is inclined to agree, and just issued an "environmental impact" report for the proposed base, which would demolish and rebuild a large part of the existing military presence at Point Mugu, a popular surfing haunt.

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Kazakhstan's New Drones

Irkut Corp.

The Irkut-3 UAV

Kazakhstan is testing some new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, aka drones) from Russia, a military official has said. Kazakhstan had tried out UAVs from France and Israel but they didn't do well in the cold weather, said General-Major Almaz Dzhumakeev, commander of Kazakhstan's 36th Air Assault Brigade:

"It's necessary to strengthen the reconnaissance units. There will be a competition, a selection, we will see which is acceptable for us and our climate, taking into account the wind and the cold. There have been UAVs which took off, flew 20 meters and crashed because it was so cold..."
According to the general-major, in 2014 after the selection of the supplier country the UAVs will enter service in the armed reconnaissance units of the armed forces of Kazakhstan. "Most likely, next year they will enter service. Where there is reconnaissance, there will be UAVs," he noted.

Kazakhstan has plans to produce its own drones, and also apparently has plans to buy some small reconnaissance drones from the Russian Irkut Corporation.It's also been looking at Chinese UAVs. It's not clear from the recent news stories, but it seems likely that the Irkuts are what Maj-Gen Dzhumakeev was talking about. From the website Russian Aviation, last October:

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