Where wedding shots once meant something else entirely

The tradition of firing off automatic weapons at weddings has succumbed to a relatively new concept for Yemen: public safety.

By Haley Sweetland Edwards
Published: November 16, 2009 06:53 ET
Updated: November 17, 2009 07:05 ET

SANAA, Yemen — It's wedding season in Yemen and traditionally, that's meant three things: music, dancing and joyously firing an array of pistols, assault rifles, rocket-launchers, anti-aircraft mortars and grenade launchers into the air to celebrate the occasion.

But in the past few years, that last part has been nixed from the program.

In 2007, the Yemeni government...

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