Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Unavoidable Change on the Ground

See also Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 10,000s March Outside Manama

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2128 GMT: Yemen. At least eight people have been killed by a US drone strike on two vehicles in Radaa in the centre of the country.

"Five were killed and eight injured and we are still investigating who these men are and in what way they were linked to al Qaeda," one official said.

Three women were also killed in the strike, a local tribal chief claimed. He said that the strike had targeted Abdulraouf al-Dahab, a local al-Qaeda leader, but that it failed to kill him.

Some tribesmen and military officials said that no fighters had been killed in the air strike, in which 14 civilians, including three women and three children, died. The officials said Sunday's airstrikes were based on faulty intelligence that the passengers were al-Qaeda members.

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Bahrain Propaganda 101: The Countess of Wessex, a New PR Firm, and a Former British Ambassador (Whitaker)

Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward with King Hamad, 21 DecemberThis week, another PR company working for the Bahrain government emerged in Britain: Big Tent Communications, run by David Cracknell, former political editor of the Sunday Times.

Following the news that the Countess of Wessex had accepted lavish gifts of jewellery from Bahrain's royal family, The Guardian published an article on its website looking at the long and cosy relationship between Britain and the despotic regime in Bahrain. Cracknell then contacted The Guardian, describing himself as "an adviser" to the government of Bahrain and saying that it had asked him to request a right of reply.

Cracknell offered an article presenting "the counterview" of Bahrain. But the "counterview" he proposed would not come from some Bahraini spokesperson; it would come from Sir Harold "Hooky" Walker, a former British ambassador. This unwittingly reaffirmed the point made in the original article – that relations between Britain and the Bahrain regime are too close for comfort.

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