rth America; fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by
France's SNCF TGV-Atlantique line
Ports:
Mina al Ahmadi (Kuwait), Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, New
Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama
Merchant marine:
23,943 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 397,225,000 GRT/652,025,000 DWT;
includes 347 passenger-cargo, 12,581 freighters, 5,473 bulk carriers, and
5,542 tankers (January 1992)

*World, Defense Forces

Branches:
ground, maritime, and air forces at all levels of technology
Defense expenditures:
$1.0 trillion, 4% of total world output; decline of 5-10% (1991 est.)

*Yemen, Geography

Location:
Middle East, along the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, south of Saudi Arabia
Map references:
Africa, Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area:
527,970 km2
land area:
527,970 km2
comparative area:
slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming
note:
includes Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North
Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South
Yemen)
Land boundaries:
total 1,746 km, Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km
Coastline:
1,906 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone:
18 nm in the North
24 nm in the South
continental shelf:
200 m depth in the North
200 nm in the South or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
12 nm
International disputes:
undefined section of boundary with Saudi Arabia; Administrative Line with
Oman; a treaty with Oman to settle the Yemeni-Omani boundary was ratified in
December 1992
Climate:
mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western
mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh
desert in east
Terrain:
narrow coastal plain backed by flat-topped hills and rugged mountains;
dissected upland desert plains in center slope into the desert interior of
the Arabian Peninsula
Natural resources:
petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead,
nickel, and copper, fertile soil in west
Land use:
arable land:
6%
permanent crops:
0%
meadows and pastures:
30%
forest and woodland:
7%
other:
57%
Irrigated land:
3,100 km2 (1989 est.)

*Yemen, Geography

Environment:
subject to sand and dust storms in summer; scarcity of natural freshwater
resources; overgrazing; soil e