Yemen Teeters on Brink as President Is Wounded by Shellfire
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Yemen's veteran president, Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded by shellfire, as his presidential palace came under attack amid the country's brewing civil war.


Mr Saleh, who has held office for nearly 33 years, was praying in a mosque inside the fortified palace compound when it was struck by at least two shells, killing seven guards.

The president escaped with light injuries, according to western diplomats and government officials, but the prime minister and speaker of parliament were more seriously hurt. Rashad al-Alami, the deputy prime minister and a leading pro-Western voice in the cabinet, was said to [be] in a critical condition.

In a brief speech after the attack Mr Saleh said it had been carried out by an "outlaw gang" of his tribal foes.

Speaking only via audio in a televised speech, he blamed the attack on the powerful Hashed tribe led by Sadeq al-Ahmar who has been battling Saleh loyalists in Sana'a.

"I salute our armed forces and the security forces for standing up firmly to confront this challenge by an outlaw gang that has nothing to do with the so-called youth revolution," he said. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Friday, June 03, 2011

THE GUARDIAN: 4 top Yemeni officials in Saudi for treatment » | AP foreign | Saturday, June 04, 2011

Yemen on the Brink of Civil War
Hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators speak out in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Al Jazeera's Gerald Tan reports

Armed Saleh Supporters Trap US, European Envoys
ARAB NEWS: SANAA, Yemen: The US, European and Gulf Arab ambassadors were trapped inside a diplomatic mission Sunday by an armed mob angry over a deal for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after 32 years in power.

Prospects that Saleh would sign the pact as promised were thrown into doubt.

Wielding knives, daggers and swords, hundreds of Saleh loyalists blocked the entrances to the United Arab Emirates Embassy, where at least five ambassadors were gathered in expectation the embattled leader would arrive to sign the deal.

“Everybody is worried. We can’t leave the embassy,” said a Saudi diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Pro-Saleh militiamen dressed in traditional Yemeni dress roamed the streets of the capital, especially outside embassies, and blocked the road to the presidential palace. » | Ahmed Al-Haj | AP | Sunday, May 22, 2011

Why Yemen Isn’t Egypt
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom reports on rising unrest in Yemen and what that could mean for the country's future

Justice, Islam-style!
MAIL Online: A barber has been publicly executed in Yemen after he was found guilty of raping and killing an 11-year-old boy who came to his shop for a haircut.

Pictures of the execution Monday in the capital of San'a showed hundreds of people gathered around as Yehya Hussein was killed.

The images showed the barber lying face down on a large piece of red cloth, his hands bound behind him, as Yemeni police official stood over him with what appeared to be a machine gun.

According to the news agency, SAB'A, the barber was arrested in December 2008 and confessed during a January trial to raping the boy inside his salon, killing him and cutting his body to pieces before dumping it outside San'a.

Elsewhere in the country, a court sentenced seven rebels from a Shia Muslim sect to be executed after convicting them of causing deaths in clashes with army in 2008.

Hundreds of people died in the conflict and thousands fled their homes in battles between government forces and the rebels in the north, which have raged on and off since 2004.

The state security court also jailed for terms of 12-15 years another five of the rebels accused of seeking to install Shi'ite Islamic rule in the country, which borders the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia. Justice Yemen-style: Paedophile who raped boy, 11, shot in the head in front of hundreds of spectators >>> | Monday, July 06, 2009