SADAA, 27 Jul -- As the Yemeni riyal continued its downward plummet on Tuesday against the US dollar, a number of economists called on the Governor of the Central Bank, Muhammad Awad Bin Humam to “uncover the real secrets behind the plunge of the riyal or admit failure and resign,” al-Sahwa Net said.  In a statement to the state official Saba news agency, Bin Humam attributed the sharp decline of the riyal to rising demands of the dollar to import commodities for Ramadan but economist Saed Abdul-Moman said “the justifications offered by the governor on the tumble of the riyal are not satisfactory and everyone knows that imports shoot up to 100 percent in Ramadan but this does not explain the plunge of the riyal against the US dollar,” adding “the problem of Bin Humam is that he does not run the bank or determine the monetary policies.

interior minister SANAA, 12 Jul -- The United Nations is planning to open an office in Yemen to fight terrorism, crime, human trafficking and drugs, the government official daily, al-Thawra said on Monday.  Interior Minister Brig Gen Rashad al-Masri welcomed the move during a meeting with a UN delegation headed by the coordinator of the UN programs in the middle east and north Africa, Life Vilatson saying “the opening of the office will have positive results for Yemen and neighboring countries,” and voiced his ministry’s “willingness to provide all necessary facilitations to establish the office and facilitate its mission.”  The UN delegation hailed “the successes made by Yemen in combating terrorism and drugs,” and expressed gratitude for “Yemen’s complete cooperation and facilitations for the success of UN programmes in the field of battling crime and drugs.”

Senior Vice-President for Middle East operations at the French Total energy group Ladislas Paszkiewicz (R) with Prime Minister during a visit to Yemen SANAA, 06 Jul -- Member of the Transparency Alliance to Monitor Extractive Industries, Dr. Saed Abdul-Momen Tuesday criticized Nexen and Total oil companies for refusing to reveal details of their activities in Yemen and told al-Jazeera net: “The government pressured both companies not to unveil the details of oil production, cost, exports and revenues,” adding “the position of the government and oil companies about oil revenues remains vague,” but a source at the ministry of oil denied any government reservations about the process of oil production, marketing and exports saying “every month, the oil marketing committee headed by Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mojour reveals how much was produced and exported and revenues go to the central bank regularly,” adding “companies have the right to publish or not publish information about their activities.”

LAHJ, 30 May -- Two persons were killed and two others injured on Sunday when a speeding military water truck ran over a motorbike in the southern town of al-Malah in Lahj province, Marib Press said.  Local sources said dozens of families fled al-Malah district as tens of gunmen started arriving in the area.  Meanwhile, fierce clashes erupted on Sunday between military units and gunmen in the southern region of Radfan after the army arrested a security suspect amid reports of gunfight between the military and armed gunmen from the southern movement in al-Habileen city.  A presidential committee is trying broker a settlement in southern regions as the army re-opened the main highway between Aden and al-Dhala after it was blocked for two weeks.  Meanwhile, armed tribesmen Sunday attacked power transmission lines between the eastern region of Marib and Sanaa, Marib Press website said.  The attack, the third in a week caused major power disruptions and triggered blackouts in several provinces.  Last week, gunmen from al-Shabwani tribes in Marib bombed a number of towers at the power station in Marib following the death of Marib’s deputy governor, Jaber al-Shabwani who was killed in a missile strike.  Meanwhile, dozens of demonstrators who went out to the streets of the city of Aden to protest blackouts were arrested on Sunday, News Yemen website said.  Witnesses said “citizens came out from all over the city, burned tires and demanded immediate restoration of electricity.”  Similar protests were reported in Dar Sad area in Aden.

AL-JAWF, 04 May -- Local sources in the eastern oil-rich region of Marib warned on Tuesday against what they said “the concentration of the Houthis in the area of Majzer in Marib where the main supply road of the oil and gas trucks is passing through,” al-Jumhor pro-government website reported.  The sources said “the increasing number of Houthis arriving at Majzer, a Shiite rebel stronghold, represents a real danger to the oil and gas road especially that their concentration extends to the regions of Haleeb al-Qaramesh and Hobab in Marib.”  In neighboring al-Jawf province, local sources said “in their preparations for a seventh round of war, the goal of the Houthis at this period is to control al-Jawf.”

Yemen has been irked by al-Jazeera alleged biased coverage of news from the south SANAA, 11 March -- The Ministry of Information late Thursday confiscated two broadcasting transmitters owned by the offices of al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya TV channels in Sanaa because they were ‘unauthorized,’ the state official Saba news agency reported.  A number of officials have accused al-Jazeera of false coverage of news in Yemen and the governors of Lahj, al-Dhala and Abyan last week urged authorities to shut down the office of the channel saying “the al-Jazeera TV lacked credibility, neutrality and the professional ethics and rules on its coverage in the south.”

An elderly Yemeni refugee woman tends her sheep out side her tent at the Mazraq Refugee Camp SANAA, 02 March -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Tuesday said the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Yemen should not be sent home so soon due to lack of basic services in the region, News Yemen website reported.  Director of UNHCR’s Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa, Radhouane Nouicer said “there should be no rush in the return of the IDPs otherwise the problems will remain and the instability might resume,” adding “we have insisted that return must be voluntary, orderly, safe, dignified and sustainable,” and called for addressing the root causes of the war between the government and the Shiite rebels in north Yemen.  It is estimated that 250,000 people were displaced by the war and only 30,000 live in camps established by UNCHR and the UN official who recently visited Yemen described the country as a tinderbox ready to explode.  Meanwhile, Sadaa Governor, Taha Hajer Tuesday said “the number of IDPs is 300,000.  Of whom, 100,000 live at al-Mazraq camp, 90,000 in Sadaa, 48,000 in Amran, 12,000 in al-Jawf, 20,000 in Sanaa and 14,000 at Alb crossing,” adding “they need complete help including providing them with their needs and working to alleviate their sufferings.”

Islamist leader Tariq al-Fadhli (C) during a rally held in the southern city of Zonjubar last month

ABYAN, 24 Dec – Leading Afghan veteran, tribal leader and deputy head of the southern libration council, Sheik Tariq al-Fadhli Thursday vowed in a rally held in the southern city of Zonjubar in Abyan to take revenge for the killings of al-Qaeda militants.The rally was held to condemn today’s air raids on al-Qaeda hideout in Shabwa in which 30 al-Qaeda militants were killed according to security officials.  Al-Fadhli accused the government of “launching a war of obliteration against the Mujahadeen at the behest of American orders,” and told the protesters “if you allow the occupying forces of the north to continue killing the mujahedeen, then tomorrow it will be your turn and none of you or your families would be spared,”and declared he will start handing out weapons to people in the south “so that they can defend themselves and their religion.”

SANAA, 11 Dec -- Head of the Central Security Forces, Yahya Muhammad Abdullah Saleh Friday lambasted Iran for backing the Zaydi Shiite rebels in Yemen saying “the cowards are hiding behind Palestine, Jerusalem and pompous slogans so they can harm people,” stressing “the road to Jerusalem doesn’t go through Sadaa and Harf Sufian and the