Yemen

Scrambling to plug holes in cargo security revealed by the bomb plot in Yemen, the Transportation Security Administration announced Tuesday it was planning an overhaul of its passenger and cargo screening methods. Top Homeland Security Department officials met all through the weekend to decide what long-term steps to take to address the vulnerability of cargo and to identify remaining gaps in security. TSA director John Pistole, in a speech in Germany, said he would like to see more advanced screening technology, better information sharing, more flexible search procedures that might change based on a particular threat, and less emphasis on "cookie cutter" approaches like the system-wide ban on containers that hold more than 3 ounces of liquid in carry-on luggage.

SANA, Yemen - A suicide bomber targeted soldiers rehearsing Monday for a military parade here, killing as many as 112 people and signaling that Islamic extremists may be shifting their focus to Yemen's capital after weeks of intense battles in outlying provinces with U.S.-backed government forces. Al Qaeda affiliate Ansar al Sharia claimed responsibility for the bombing in retaliation for American-assisted government offensives against its strongholds in southern Yemen. Unnerved by increasedU.S.

CHICAGO - When the White House sent a last-minute invitation for Asif Ali Zardari to attend the two-day NATO summit, they were taking a highly public gamble. Would sharing the spotlight with President Obama and other global leaders induce the Pakistani president to allow vital supplies to reach alliance troops fighting in Afghanistan? But long before the summit ended Monday, the answer was clear: No deal. Zardari's refusal to reopen the supply routes left a diplomatic blot on a summit that NATO sought to cast as the beginning of the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

As the United States finally begins to wind down its military presence in Afghanistan, is the Obama administration poised to replicate that intervention in Yemen? The administration insists it has no such plans, but it has been evident for months that it regards the Yemen-based group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as the most dangerous incubator of terrorist plots directed at America. And it is acting on that conviction. This week The Times reported that U.S. special operations troops, which were withdrawn from Yemen last year amid political turmoil in that country, have returned and are providing technical assistance to Yemeni forces.

Seventy boys in khaki uniforms cram shoulder to shoulder into chemistry class, where there are no chemicals or test tubes, only the squeak of the teacher's magic marker drawing diagrams and equations in the minutes before recess. If there is a genius among the rows of teenage faces, his gift may never be known. The boys are poor and many are undernourished, leaving class every afternoon to sell water and newspapers in the streets. The teacher earns about $200 a month, not enough to support his family, so he looks for odd jobs in the neighborhoods at the city's edge.

Across the countryside of this nation on the heel of the Arabian Peninsula, the pumps and drills roar. Wildcatters bore as much as 1,000 feet into the earth and draw out the valuable liquid. They pump it into tankers and haul it away to sell to the highest bidder. But soon the reservoirs will run dry.

'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and violence, and brief language Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Playing: In limited release

Aisha Sufi, a woman with tired eyes and nine children, waits for a water truck in a nation of drought. She is one of an estimated 150,000 Yemenis who have left their villages this year bound for Sana, Yemen's capital, in search of basic needs. Water and jobs, for example, are increasingly scarce in rural regions where many populations have quadrupled since the 1980s. "It's not good here or there, but it's better to be here," said Sufi, who lives in the Hoshaishiya neighborhood of Sana.

President Obama says he has no intention of sending American troops to Yemen or Somalia. Obama told People magazine in an interview to be published Friday that he still believes the center of Al Qaeda activity is along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "I never rule out any possibility in a world that is this complex," Obama said. However, he said, "in countries like Yemen, in countries like Somalia, I think working with international partners is most effective at this point."

Regarding your recent articles concerning life in Yemen: I served two years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Yemen in the capital of Sana (1985-1987); I offer a few cultural observations based on my experiences at that time. While it was not easy for me to adapt to life in Yemen, I was not afraid for my safety. Furthermore, several of our social ills were simply nonexistent in Yemen. There was zero drug and gang violence. There was very little street crime. Families were close.

Those sultans of style at Al Qaeda have released their line of lingerie for spring and it's a blast. Tucked away in their secret atelier in Yemen, the fanatics of fashion have come up with an updated version of the exploding underwear that caused such a stir on Christmas Day 2009 when a hapless African lad tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit and only managed to severely singe his private parts. Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan Asiri is reputed to be the designer of the new nasty knickers.

WASHINGTON — The CIA takedown of an Al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner involved an international sting operation with a double agent tricking terrorists into handing over a prized possession: a new bomb purportedly designed to slip through airport security. U.S. officials Tuesday described an operation in which Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, working closely with the CIA, used an informant to pose as a would-be suicide bomber. His job was to persuade Al Qaeda bomb makers in Yemen to give him the bomb.

WASHINGTON - President Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor Monday defended using drones to launch missiles against militants in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, saying the growing use of armed unmanned aircraft had saved American lives and caused few civilian casualties. The comments by John Brennan, coming shortly before the first anniversary of the U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, marks the first time a senior White House official has spoken at length in public about widely reported but officially secret drone operations.

WASHINGTON — A surveillance aircraft operated by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command flew over southeastern Yemen on the evening of March 9, tracking a mid-level Al Qaeda commander as he drove to his mountain hideout. American missiles soon rained down. The Al Qaeda commander was killed, along with 22 other suspected militants, most of them believed to be young recruits receiving military training, U.S. officials said. The attack is an example of how the U.S. is escalating its largely secret campaign in Yemen, taking advantage of improved intelligence and of changes in Yemen's leadership now that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has stepped down.

'Salmon Fishing' catches on "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" reeled in a healthy number of moviegoers at the box office this last weekend. The drama about a scientist and a consultant on a mission to bring fly-fishing to the Middle East opened in 18 theaters and collected $240,000 domestically, according to an estimate from distributor CBS Films. That amounted to a respectable per-theater average of $13,333. The film, starring Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor, attracted an older female audience— 71% of the crowd was over 50 and 61% were women.

'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and violence, and brief language Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Playing: In limited release

'Salmon Fishing' catches on "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" reeled in a healthy number of moviegoers at the box office this last weekend. The drama about a scientist and a consultant on a mission to bring fly-fishing to the Middle East opened in 18 theaters and collected $240,000 domestically, according to an estimate from distributor CBS Films. That amounted to a respectable per-theater average of $13,333. The film, starring Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor, attracted an older female audience— 71% of the crowd was over 50 and 61% were women.

Osama bin Laden's death was cheered, I suspect, by 99.99% of Americans. But there was that 0.01% — and a slightly higher number abroad — who doubted the legality of simply pumping two bullets into the Al Qaeda leader rather than trying to arrest and Mirandize him. Likewise, amid the general rejoicing over the death of Anwar Awlaki, one of the leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a few civil libertarians are raising questions about whether...