[ti:Attention Turns to Yemen in Anti-Terror Fight ] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:IN THE NEWS] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS [00:05.08]in VOA Special English. [00:08.34]Yemen is the poorest [00:10.50]Arab nation. [00:11.54]Poverty can help [00:13.59]breed extremism [00:15.26]-- al-Qaida is a growing [00:17.60]concern for the Yemenis. [00:19.80]But the government [00:21.10]also faces [00:22.16]an armed rebellion [00:23.95]in the north and [00:25.52]a separatist movement [00:27.12]in the south. [00:28.58]In Sanaa, [00:29.73]fears of an al-Qaida [00:31.60]attack led to [00:33.04]temporary closures [00:34.60]this week of the American, [00:36.94]British and French embassies. [00:39.88]Yemeni officials say [00:42.02]they have increased protection [00:44.36]of foreign interests [00:46.28]in the capital. [00:47.63]They have also sent [00:49.35]thousands of troops [00:50.95]to Arhab and other areas [00:53.58]to battle the local [00:55.41]al-Qaida group. [00:57.40]Yemen also plays a part [01:00.08]in the case of Umar [01:01.97]Farouk Abdulmutallab. [01:04.06]He is the man accused [01:06.37]of trying to bomb [01:07.57]an American plane [01:08.97]with explosives [01:10.46]in his underwear. [01:12.22]A Yemeni deputy [01:14.48]prime minister said [01:15.87]Thursday that the [01:17.57]twenty-three year old Nigerian [01:20.12]met last year in Yemen [01:22.58]with Anwar al-Awlaki. [01:25.32]The American-born Muslim [01:27.81]clergyman is accused [01:29.55]of supporting al-Qaida. [01:31.50]But the deputy [01:33.41]prime minister said [01:34.81]al-Qaida first recruited [01:37.55]the young man in Britain [01:39.39]when he was a student in London. [01:41.98]The official also warned [01:44.97]against foreign military [01:47.46]intervention in Yemen, [01:49.26]saying that could [01:50.97]strengthen al-Qaida. [01:52.92]Britain is organizing [01:55.29]an international conference later [01:57.83]this month to discuss [01:59.62]the security problems. [02:01.64]And the United States [02:03.63]is expected to nearly [02:05.44]double its seventy [02:07.30]million dollars [02:08.82]in security [02:11.46]assistance to Yemen. [02:13.41]Earlier this week, [02:15.85]President Obama said [02:17.44]no additional prisoners [02:19.97]from Guantanamo Bay [02:21.79]will be released to Yemen. [02:24.26]The president wanted [02:26.41]to close the American prison [02:28.67]in Cuba this month. [02:30.55]But the recent developments [02:32.86]seem to have only made [02:34.76]the issue more difficult. [02:36.93]The failed attack [02:39.13]on the plane happened [02:40.67]December twenty-fifth, [02:42.47]Christmas Day. [02:43.79]Almost three hundred people [02:46.25]were on the flight [02:47.60]from Amsterdam. [02:48.90]It was preparing to land [02:51.02]in Detroit, Michigan. [02:53.23]Passengers and crew [02:55.44]restrained the man [02:56.71]and put out the fire caused [02:59.28]by a mixture of explosives. [03:02.15]He could face life in prison. [03:05.31]He appeared in federal court [03:07.87]in Detroit for the [03:09.31]first time Friday. [03:10.72]He did not answer the [03:12.86]charges himself [03:14.41]but his lawyers [03:15.80]entered a plea of not guilty. [03:18.72]Some people say [03:20.36]the case should have been [03:22.33]handled in the military [03:24.43]justice system. [03:25.99]On Thursday President Obama [03:28.93]blamed the incident on [03:30.98]what he called a [03:32.34]"systemic failure [03:34.11]across organizations and agencies." [03:38.31]"Rather than a failure [03:40.26]to collect or share intelligence," [03:43.62]he said, "this was a failure [03:45.88]to connect and understand [03:48.48]the intelligence [03:50.15]that we already had." [03:51.94]He is ordering steps [03:54.41]to improve airport security [03:56.81]and the handling of [03:58.65]intelligence information. [04:00.84]But he admitted there [04:03.55]is no perfect solution. [04:05.80]"As we develop new screening [04:08.63]technologies and procedures," [04:11.19] he said, "our adversaries [04:13.70]will seek new ways to evade them." [04:17.25]Last week, the Central [04:19.59]Intelligence Agency [04:21.24]suffered a setback [04:22.96]in its efforts against al-Qaida. [04:25.70]A suicide bombing [04:28.11]at a C.I.A. base [04:30.10]in Afghanistan killed [04:32.37]seven Americans [04:34.10]and a Jordanian intelligence officer. [04:37.40]The bomber was identified [04:39.89]as a Jordanian doctor [04:41.93]who was supposed to be [04:43.95]informing on the terrorist group. [04:46.68]And that's IN THE NEWS [04:48.83]in VOA Special English, [04:51.62]written by Brianna Blake. [04:53.82]I'm Steve Ember.