Yemen Terror Summit

“Western governments have convened a top-level meeting for this month to discuss strategies to counter Yemen’s growing role as a recruitment base for terrorists, in the wake of last’s week failed attack on a US-bound airliner. The decision to hold the meeting, called on the initiative of Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, came amid urgent efforts by the Obama administration to try to close holes in its intelligence system. Mr Brown will host the talks in parallel with the conference on Afghanistan being held in London on January 28. The Yemen summit has ‘strong support’ from the US and European Union, and the UK hopes to secure the backing of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, the premier’s office said on Friday. British and American security services believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who boarded a Christmas day flight to Detroit with 80 grams of explosive in his undergarments, was recruited by al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK in 2008.”