Sana'a, Dec. 25, 2008 -- A convoy of trucks carrying 115 tons of relief assistance, including food items, winter cloths, blankets and other essential items, has arrived in this Yemeni town of Seyun as part of a humanitarian programme launched by the UAE Red Crescent Authority to help alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the flood that hit Wadi Hadramaut in recent time.

The RCA delegation accompanying the convoy distributed the relief assitance to the affected families in the town of Shubam.

Sana'a, Yemen - Talks aimed at freeing three German hostages held by tribesmen in western Yemen continued Thursday as authorities added a new member to its negotiating team, one of the abductors said.

"We met representatives of the government today, and discussed our demands with them," the abductor, who requested anonymity, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He was speaking from Naba'ah, a remote mountainous area in Khawlan district, some 60 kilometres south-east of the capital Sana'a.

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni coast guard authorities on Wednesday received 23 suspected pirates, including 11 Yemenis, arrested by the Indian Navy in an anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week, Yemeni officials said.

The officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that an Indian warship handed over the suspects to Yemeni officials off the southern Yemeni port of Aden.

Yemen on Monday had asked India to hand over the 11 Yemenis who were arrested, along with 12 Somali suspects, by the Indian warship INS Mysore warship on December 13.

The ship foiled an attack on an Ethiopian merchant vessel and arrested the pirates about 160 nautical miles east of the Aden port.

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni official assigned by the government to negotiate with kidnappers of three German hostages in western Yemen met the abductors and their hostages on Wednesday, a mediator said.

Abdul-Qawi Obad, the undersecretary of Dhalea'a province, and tribal mediators met the kidnappers at their hideout east of the capital Sana'a and negotiated the release of the three hostages, said Sheikh Nasser Ahmed Sharif, who is talking part in the talks.

Sana'a, Yemen - Armed tribesmen kidnapped three Germans in western Yemen on Monday to press for the release of relatives detained by police, senior government officials said.

Sana'a, Yemen  - At least 88 people were killed and 582 others injured in traffic accidents in Yemen over the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, police said on Saturday.

The traffic police said in a statement the Arab country's roads witnessed 360 accidents during the period from December 4 to 12.

The figure is nearly double the number of fatalities during the Eid al-Fitr festivities two months ago, when 48 people died in road accidents nationwide.

Excessive speed, recklessness and chewing the mild stimulant drug of qat by drivers, were to blame for those accidents, the statement said.

Traffic accidents claim the lives of around 3,000 people in Yemen every year, according to official figures.