130 migrants survive after ship sinks off Yemen

September 15th, 2009 UN: As many as 65 African boat migrants dieGENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says 16 African migrants have died and another 49 are missing and presumed dead after trying to cross the Gulf of Aden in three boats.

September 13th, 2009 54 US-bound migrants detained at Costa Rican coastSAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rican authorities detained 54 U.S.-bound migrants from Africa and Nepal after their boat arrived on the Central American country's coast, officials said Sunday. Authorities were treating some of the migrants for dehydration after several days at sea and took into custody three suspected Colombian smugglers who were traveling with them, said Sergio Lopez, a spokesman for Costa Rica's security ministry.

September 6th, 2009 El Salvador finds boat with Bangladeshi migrantsSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Salvadoran navy says it has found 76 migrants from as far away as Bangladesh, Nepal and Eritrea aboard a boat in the Pacific. Navy Capt. Maximiliano Corado says the boat was detected about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast, and "without doubt the final destination was to arrive in the United States." The migrants include 25 Bangladeshis, 25 Nepalese, 21 Eritreans and five Ecuadoreans.

August 20th, 2009 Underwater robots reach site of Indian Ocean crashPARIS — France says a ship carrying an underwater robot has arrived at the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros to retrieve the flight recorders from the Yemenia Airways plane crash. One girl survived the June 30 ocean crash and the other 152 people aboard the Comoros-bound flight were killed.

June 14th, 2009 SANAA - Yemeni police have detained a Saudi man suspected to be the main financier of Al Qaeda operations in Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the defence ministry said Sunday. It said in a statement posted on its website that the suspect, identified as Hassan Hussein bin Alwan, was "the financier of the operations carried out by members of Al Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia".

June 14th, 2009 Yemen arrests suspected al-Qaida financierSAN'A, Yemen — Yemeni security forces have arrested a Saudi man suspected of financing Al-Qaida cells in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. The official said that authorities captured "the biggest and the most influential" money provider for al-Qaida in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

April 23rd, 2009 SANA'A - At least 35 African migrants drowned after a rickety boat carrying 110 people capsized off Yemen's southeast coast Thursday, police said. Police officials told the DPA that 35 bodies, including of five women, washed up on the shore of Rada, some 660 km east of the southern port city of Aden.

April 9th, 2009 COLOMBO - A Turkish ship transporting sulphuric acid sank off Sri Lanka's north-eastern coast Thursday, three days after attempts to repair a leak in the vessel failed, a navy spokesman said. The ship had sailed from Tuticorin in India.

April 7th, 2009 GENEVA - Eight people drowned and 22 others were missing and presumed dead, after two boats heading from Somalia to Yemen encountered troubles at sea over the weekend, the UN said Tuesday. One boat carrying 40 Somalis capsized and only 20 passengers made it to shore in Yemen, the UN quoted survivors as saying.

March 29th, 2009 SANA'A - Yemen Saturday extradited to Saudi Arabia five Saudi suspects wanted in their country over links to terrorist activities, security sources said. The sources said the suspects included Abdullah Abdul-Rahman al-Harbi, a leading Al Qaeda suspect who was arrested in southern Yemen March 14.

March 22nd, 2009 SANA'A - A French Navy ship rescued around 100 African migrants, mostly Somalis, on a drifting boat in the Gulf of Aden Saturday, a Yemeni coastguard source said. The source told DPA that the boat was 65 miles from the southern Yemeni port of Aden when it drifted after an engine failure.

March 1st, 2009 SANA'A - Forty-five Africans drowned after a boat carrying them from Somalia across the Gulf of Aden capsized in deep waters off Yemen, the country's interior ministry said Saturday. The boat, carrying 46 would-be migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia, capsized Friday night about 95 km off the southeastern Yemeni port of Mukalla, the ministry said in a statement.

January 22nd, 2009 LONDON - The British government should relax visa regulations for highly skilled workers from India and other countries outside Europe, who face joblessness or cuts in salaries because of the credit crunch, a lobby group said Friday. The Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) Forum said in a statement that visa extension rules that require evidence of high salaries or incomes from doctors, engineers and other professionals were unrealistic in the current economic climate.

January 17th, 2009 SANAA - Hundreds of people were missing after three boats capsized in two separate incidents off the coast of Yemen Saturday, a UN official said here Sunday. In one incident, two boats, with around 300 African migrants on board, capsized on the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

January 17th, 2009 SANA'A - A ship with around 300 Somali and Ethiopian migrants aboard capsized in the Gulf of Aden Saturday, Yemen's interior ministry reported. The ministry said in a statement that coast guard authorities rushed rescue teams to search for survivors.