President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Emir of Qatar State Hamad Bin Khalifah Al Thani will sign today 8 agreements and protocols including the encouragement of the mutual investment between Yemen and Qatar, giving job opportunities to the Yemeni workforce in Qatar, establishing a Supreme Council for both Yemeni and Qatari businessmen as well as agreements in the fields of heath and culture.
The Emir of Qatar arrived in Sana'a on Saturday, August 5 on an official visit to end today. During his visit, the Emir of Qatar visited the old city of Sana'a. He also visited with President Saleh the Aden Free Zone. The Emir was briefed on the future development and expansion plan, which targeted the industrial area and the shipping village. It is expected that the zone will receive 300 containers by the end of this year. The plan also includes the development of the industrial area, which is established on a piece of land estimated at 74 hector on which the work will commence in the beginning of September. The President and the Emir of Qatar also visited the cisterns of Aden.
Foreign political sources said that Yemen requested Qatar to recommend its request of having the membership of the Gulf Cooperation Council, particularly after the signing of the border agreement between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Saleh Moosa Al-Azzani, vice governor of Sana'a province was assassinated last Friday when an armed group attacked him as he was leaving his house in Sana'a.
Mr Al-Azzani's 18-year son was seriously injured in the incident and also his wife. The deceased Azzani was escorted to final resting place last Saturday.
Sources close to the assassinated official said that the assassins came from Al-Baidha Province and disguised as workers in a building next to Mr. Azzani's residence. The same sources anticipated the killers might be members of an Islamic group known as Islamic Group for Immigration & Preaching, which is a large group in Al-Baidha Province.
Other sources attributed the assassination to a tribal feud which virtually took place in Azzan area Ñ birthplace of Mr. Azzani.

The South West Court of Sanaa, headed by Judge Ali Al-Marfad issued its verdict against Al-Shumou newspaper yesterday. The verdict stated that the chief editor of the newspaper, Mr. Saif Al-Haderi will be suspended from his work for ten months. He is also to pay YR 2,000,000 as a damage composition for the Minister and Vice Minister of Education.
The newspaper will also pay YR 100,000, and he personally will pay YR 70,000 for branding the minister in his newspaper with financial corruption.
The verdict is considered to be the first of its kind in Yemen. Mr. Al-Haderi told Yemen Times that he was very surprised that four sentences were issued simultaneously against him and his newspaper.
Al-Haderi added that he would definitely appeal the verdict, which he sees as a clear violation of press freedom in Yemen.
More details about Newspaper Trials on Local News Page.

Aydah Abdulhamid, "Sayidati magazine" correspondent in Yemen, has come under telephone threats against her life, she said.
In a report submitted to chairman of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, Mahboob Ali, she noted that she had been subjected to these threats since she started reporting about the crimes of Adam's Medical Faculty morgue.
As she did not adhere to those threats, she received other ones in the past two days ordering her to give up reporting about the case especially about the German final report otherwise she would be finished, she added.
She urged all the journalists to stand by her in her current circumstances so as to fulfill her mission as efficiently as possible.

Sheikh Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani, chairman of the supreme council of Islah party and president of Al-Eiman University called upon the judiciary to implement lashing verdict passed by the Supreme Court against late Abdullah Saad Mohammed, ex-chief editor of Al-Shoura newspaper and his brother Abdul Jabbar for publishing an article that he said to contain insulting words against him.
Heated media campaign had erupted more than a year ago between Zindani and Al-Shoura newspaper in connection with the disappearance and murder of Lina Abdul Khaleq. The article accused Zindani of being involved. After raising a case, a court ordered to slash the brothers 80 lashes each.
Zindani's demand comes more than a year after the death of Abdullah following a head injury. The verdict has not been executed since its issuance and it seemed as if Zindani had forgotten all about the matter. It is expected that the court would make moves to carry out its verdict.

The National Democratic Institute's (NDI) pre-election delegation visiting Yemen during July 31 - August 6, 2000, held a press conference in the Yemen Times headquarters, Sanaa, to brief the media people in Yemen about their visit to the country.
The members of the delegation are: Martha Walker, State Senator from West Virginia, Dr. Omar Kader, a Palestinian-American political activist and business leader, Thomas Melia, NDI Vice President for Programs, Nick Green, NDI Senior Field Representative in Yemen and Andreas Katsouris, NDI Senior Program Officer for the Middle East and North Africa.
The report issued by the delegation commented on several issues like voters registration, women's political participation, local government elections, political party relations and media access.
The report also contained some recommendations. Mr. Andreas told the press that one of the recommendations  is the postponement of local council elections. Martha Walker said that the most impressive thing is the willingness of women to politically participate in the life of the society. However, she regretted that no political party in Yemen made a woman represent it in the meeting with the NDI delegation. Other recommendations of the NDI are:  re-considering the New Election Law, greater coordination between the Supreme Election Committee and political and civic leaders, expanding media access, a new voter registration system and others.
After reading the report, the delegation members answered the questions of the media people.

Judge Abdul Rahman Abu Taleb, member of the civil unit in the Capital Court of Appeal was kidnapped by a group of Khawlan tribesmen last Saturday from in front of the court last Saturday.
It is said that kidnapping was made to press the Justice to side with them in a case related to them.

Mr. Mou Shuling Vice President of Sinopec, a Chinese giant petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group, left Yemen last Tuesday after a short visit at the invitation of Yemeni Oil & Gas Corporation and the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources. During his stay, he met with a number of Yemeni officials and discussed ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation between Yemen and China. The Yemen Times met with him in the Sheraton Hotel and talked about the history of Sinopec, its activities in Yemen and its future plans here