Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni court of appeals on Monday upheld a death sentence for a Shiite rebel and jail terms for 12 others for plotting attacks in support of rebels who fought army forces in northern Yemen for more than four years.

The court confirmed the initial death sentence against the main defendant, Ja'afar al-Merhebi, who was convicted of killing two police officers when they raided his house in the capital Sana'a in 2007.

Presiding judge Muhammad Said al-Hakimi said the court also upheld prison sentences of 10 years for four men and terms of eight years for two others.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Yemen announced on Thursday a new initiative calling on the disputing Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to resume dialogue and form a national unity government.

Based on a previous Yemeni initiative, the plan calls for the resumption of dialogue between all Palestinian groups, mainly the two main rivals.

The new plan, published by the state media, proposes that the dialogue be sponsored by Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Yemen is setting up a centre where more than 100 Yemenis are to undergo rehabilitation after their expected release from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a state newspaper reported Thursday.

The centre is being built with US government assistance, the Defence Ministry mouthpiece publication 26 September said, citing well-informed official sources.

Sana'a, Yemen  - The governor of Yemen's south-eastern province of Shabwa has vowed to pursue tribesmen who abducted a German oil expert and two Yemeni engineers, the official Saba news agency reported on Wednesday.

"Security apparatuses are determined to pursue all those involved in the crime of kidnapping the German engineer and to arrest them at the earliest," the agency quoted the governor, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi, as saying during a meeting with the freed hostage.

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemen has agreed to host Somalia's former President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed who resigned last month amid an internal power struggle, but no asylum has been granted to him yet, a senior Yemeni government official said on Wednesday.

The official said the ex-head of state, who arrived in Sana'a on Tuesday, has not applied for political asylum in Yemen.

"He expressed his wish to live in Yemen, but no permanent asylum has been discussed yet," the official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Somalia's former Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who resigned last month amid an internal power struggle, arrived in the Yemeni capital Sana'a Tuesday seeking political asylum, Yemeni officials and a Somali diplomat said.

Yemeni officials said Yusuf had expressed his wish to receive political asylum in Yemen until he decides a permanent residence.

A Somali diplomat said Yusuf was accompanied by his wife and 17 other family members and security guards upon his arrival in Sana'a.