In Brief [Archives:2006/924/Local News]
– The Yemeni Government last Thursday intended to halt French poultry imports after France announced two duck deaths from bird flu.
General Manager of the General Authority for Livestock said his authority is discussing halting licenses for Yemen trade firms as a measure preventing bird flu virus entry into Yemen. The preventive measure also is intended to help companies avoid loss in case the virus spreads.
The Cabinet earlier ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation to suspend poultry imports from any country where the virus exists.
– Sixteen homes were damaged, five completely destroyed, Saturday morning in Lahj city north of Aden due to heavy rains between 5:30 a.m. and noon. No human casualties have been reported.
Rainwater overwhelming city streets blocked sewage pipes and forced locals to evacuate their homes for fear they might collapse.
– Sa'ada governor Yahya Al-Shami last Friday stated to Al-Mutamar Net that Yemeni authorities will begin procedures in the restive province to release hundreds of Al-Houthi followers but he did not specify a date.
Al-Shami, head of the mediation committee, said the committee is stepping up efforts to settle the issue. He pointed out that religious scholars, sheikhs and members of the local authority and civil community organizations are involved in the mediation committee.
He added that mediation efforts achieved fruitful results and the committee still is working to uproot the issue.
– According to the army-affiliated September Net, Yemen's government will return light arms and ammunition quantities to countries from which they were imported by arms traffickers.
An official source in the Ministry of Defense Military Equipment Purchase Department said the ministry returned the imported quantities to their country of origin, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union). Such military equipment was imported several years ago.
A military source did not explain why the government kept silent for so long before returning the purchased military equipment to its country of origin.
– Dozens of Yemeni students in Syria staged a sit-in last Tuesday in front of the Yemeni Embassy to protest against withholding salaries of 33 students. Protestors said Yemen's Ministry of Higher Education and its embassy in Syria ceased giving the student salaries without legal justification, saying they did not know the reason or justification for such stoppage.
Affected students appealed to Minister of Higher Education Dr. Saleh Ba Surrah to appreciate their miserable situation and find a solution to their problem, complaining that they have no money to pay rent for the houses in which they live.
– A scientific study revealed that 95 percent of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan following the fall of the Taliban, have no Al-Qaeda links. According to the study, only five percent of detainees were involved in military operations launched by Al-Qaeda's network.
The study said most Yemenis arrested were working as Qur'anic and Arabic language teachers in Afghanistan at a monthly salary of $100 for married teachers and half that for singles.
Through information obtained from Yemeni families and testimonies of Yemeni Guantanamo detainees, most detainees were arrested in Pakistan due to the $5,000 award offered by U.S. authorities to anyone reporting about those escaping into Pakistan from Afghanistan. This encouraged Pakistanis to inform U.S. authorities of any Arab national they discovered.
According to the study's findings, U.S. authorities have no evidence to convict at least 95 percent of Yemenis detained at Guantanamo in connection with military operations. It added that most detainees were captured during military operations in Afghanistan.
– The new generation of Suzuki cars was introduced by Sabeha Trading Company in Yemen. The cars were on display at the movenpick hotel on the 23rd of this month in the presence of the Japanese ambassador and minister of industry and a number of distinguished business men.
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