Yemen army says seizes Qaeda bastion in major advance

Source: Reuters (Read full story)

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At least 23 Islamist fighters were killed during overnight clashes near gas facilities in Belhaf in Shabwa province, one military source said.

Military planes bombed a convoy of vehicles carrying militants fleeing Shaqra, killing about 30 Islamists, said a second.

Tribal sources said a number of chiefs from Shabwa were attempting to persuade the Islamist militants to surrender without a struggle.

Many of the al Qaeda militants and leaders belong to major tribes in Abyan and Shabwa provinces, the sources said.

Yemeni officials said many al Qaeda fighters had fled Shaqra to a mountainous region to the west of it or went to Azzan.

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We urgently need to tackle malnutrition in Yemen, says Unicef

Source: The Guardian (Read full story)

With 58% of children under the age of five stunted by malnutrition,Yemen has the second highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world, behind Afghanistan. Acute malnutrition affects as many as 30% of children in some parts of the country, close to the levels in south Somalia, and twice as high as the internationally recognised emergency threshold.

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Kuwait MPs quit over House ‘reinstatement’

Source: Gulf Times (Read full story)

More than half of Kuwait’s members of parliament have resigned in protest at a court’s decision to annul an election that had given the Islamist-led opposition a majority.
The resignations deepen the political crisis in the major oil exporter which has so far avoided the widespread dissent that has ousted heads of state in some other Arab countries.
Wednesday’s ruling effectively dissolved the parliament elected in February and reinstated its predecessor, but the resignations by many lawmakers who were in the previous parliament deprives the 50-seat assembly of more than half its members, making it difficult to function.

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