Yemen

Yemen seeks French help to build nuclear power plant

De France CompanySana'a, Yemen  - A Yemeni minister began on Thursday negotiations with France's state-owned nuclear power producer Electricity de France on plans to build a nuclear power generation plant in the Arab state, the official Saba news agency reported.

The agency said Electricity and Energy Minister Mustafa Bahran held talks with officials from the company on "Yemen's attitudes towards using nuclear power to generate electricity."

The talks touched on "steps for initiating an active cooperation between the two countries in nuclear power generation," Saba said.

Four soldiers injured in clash with tribesmen in northern Yemen

yemen mapSana'a, Yemen  - Four soldiers were wounded in a clash with armed tribesmen in the north-western Yemeni province of Amran on Thursday, local sources said.

The sources said the shootout broke out after security forces tried to capture gunmen besieging a local government building in the Harf Sufian district of Amran.

Harf Sufian, about 150 kilometres north-west of the capital Sana'a, is on the main road linking Sana'a with the restive Saada province where skirmishes between the army and Shiite rebels have been raging on and off since 2004.

It was not immediately clear whether the gunmen were members of the Shiite rebel group.

Two Japanese women freed after brief abduction in Yemen

Sana'a, Yemen - A group of armed tribesmen freed two Japanese tourists after holding the women captive for several hours in the north-central Yemeni city of Marib, local officials said.

Two Japanese women tourists kidnapped in Yemen

Sana'a, Yemen  - Unknown armed men kidnapped two Japanese women tourists in the north-central province of Marib on Wednesday, security sources said.

UNHCR, Somali migration to Yemen doubled amid continuing conflict

UNHCR, Somali migration to Yemen doubled amid continuing conflictSana'a, Yemen  - The number of refuge-seekers arriving on the Yemeni coasts on smugglers' boats from Somalia increased massively in the past four months as conflict continues to plague the Horn of Africa country, a UN refugee agency said Tuesday

By April 20, more than 15,300 people arrived in Yemen on 324 boats, and 361 people were killed or missing during those hazardous voyages, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

Frenchman appears in Yemen court over alleged antiquities smuggling

Antiquti SmugglingSana'a, Yemen  - A French engineer appeared in a court in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Monday to face the charge of attempting to smuggle ancient artefacts.

The 58-year-old Frenchman, whose name was withheld pending the verdict, was arrested at Sana'a international airport on Thursday after customs officers discovered 31 antiquities in his luggage as he was departing for Paris, prosecutors said.

The seized artefacts included eight bronze statuettes, five fake stone statuettes, 15 ancient coins and three stone stamps, they said.

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