SANAA, 11 Jul -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh Sunday said the ruling General Peoples Congress (GPC) “is a national and political institution that enjoys popular support among the people of Yemen,” and slammed reports the GPC would disintegrate if he left it as “lies and fraud,” adding “the President is the President of all of the country but he gave up the management of the GPC to its secretary general and retained his supervisory role of the party.”

Claire Bourgeois, the representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Yemen SANAA, 10 Jul -- Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Yemen, Dr. Claire Bourgeois Saturday said in a press conference that 30 percent of the Sadaa-war internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their homes since the announcement of the end of the sixth round of war between the Houthi rebels and government forces mid February 2009, al-Masder Online reported.  She said the IDPs who returned to their homes “did so voluntarily with their own will,” and ruled out IDPs in refugee camps would be encouraged to go back saying “the circumstances are not encouraging.”  She said the Yemeni government in partnership with UNHCR is working on a draft law about refugees after President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an executive order allowing cooperation between the two sides last February and talked about funding difficulties that impede the agency’s programs saying the agency had to cut the budget of al-Mazraq refugee camp in Harad region into half.

SANAA, 04 Jul -- The government on Sunday accused the Shiite rebels in the north of not fulfilling the cease-fire agreement signed with them in February, the state official Saba news agency said.  An official at the nation’s top security committee said “the Houthi elements violated the cease-fire on Sunday morning by cutting the Sadaa, Sufian main road and attacking citizens,” adding “the rebels are responsible for this violation and its implications.”

TAIZ, 22 May -- One day after he announced a pardon of Shiite rebels and southern separatists, President Ali Abdullah Saleh granted on Saturday amnesty to journalists, News Yemen website said.  The President who was attending a public celebration in the southern city of Taiz to mark the 20th anniversary of the unity asked the Governor of Taiz, Hamoud al-Soufi to announce the amnesty of journalists and called on them to “devote their pens to the service of the nation, and its unity and instill values of love, and harmony in the community.”  I

SADAA, 19 Dec -- Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs, Brig General Muhammad Abdullah al-Qawsi Saturday said Thursday’s attacks on al-Qaeda sites in Yemen were coordinated with Saudi authorities and other neighboring countries.  Al-Qawsi who was speaking to the Saudi Akad newspaper from his office in Sadaa said “the security operation against al-Qaeda was the result of security and information exchange between Yemen and neighboring countries including Saudi Arabia,”

SANAA, 15 Dec -- Several members of Parliament Tuesday voiced concern over the insistence of the Sharia law committee at the assembly on amending the penal law, the pro-government Alwatan news website said.  Head of the ruling party bloc,