UK says it, US agree to fund Yemen police unit
The United States and Britain have agreed to fund a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen as part of stepped-up efforts to fight terrorism in Yemen and Somalia after an attack on a US-bound plane, Britain said on Sunday.
Civil war and lawlessness have turned Yemen, the Arab world's poorest state, into a base for al-Qaeda, US officials say, while the al-Qaeda-inspired militant group al Shabaab has taken control of large areas of south and central Somalia. The United States and Britain agreed to intensify joint work to tackle the "emerging terrorist threat" from both countries, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said. (Reuters)
