Yemeni officials say gunmen have killed at least eight soldiers in southern Yemen. It's the latest in a series of attacks targeting soldiers and police
blamed on
al-Qaeda. Earlier this month, the local chief of intelligence in the province of Lahij was killed in a hail of bullets. Southern Yemen has seen rising
unrest
recently because of a
burgeoning
secessionist movement and a resurgent al-Qaeda.
The public audit office in Egypt has ordered a comprehensive survey of the security systems in museums and ancient temples across the country. The decision follows the theft last Saturday of a painting by Vincent van Gogh from a modern art museum in Cairo. Magdi Abdelhadi of our Middle East desk has the details.
Egyptian museums are home to some of the most prized antiquities in the world, but they also have outdated video surveillance systems which often do not work. That was clearly the case when thieves struck at a modern art gallery in Cairo last week. With the alarms out and only a few of the 43 cameras working, a van Gogh painting was cut out of its frame and the thieves walked out apparently unnoticed. But the problem is not only one of equipment. Poorly-paid guards are often seen snoozing or reading from the Quran or simply
too bored to
pay attention.
A big rescue operation has been mounted in Austria after 25 people fell from
inflatable
rafts into a fast-flowing Alpine river in the western province of Vorarlberg. Fifteen people were immediately plucked to safety. The other rafters were eventually located after scores of rescue workers supported by helicopters