Yemen's US-Backed President Resigns

Yemeni officials say the president has resigned under pressure from Shiite rebels who seized the capital in September and have confined the embattled leader to his home for the past two days. Presidential officials said Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi resigned after being pressured to make concessions to the rebels, known as Houthis. He had earlier pledged political concessions in return for the rebels withdrawing from his house and the nearby presidential palace, but Houthi fighters remained deployed around both buildings throughout the day. His government had been viewed as a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Earlier, Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and his government resigned as well. Bahah's technocratic government was formed in November as part of a UN-brokered peace deal after the Houthis overran the capital in September. Bahah, a political independent, posted his resignation on his official Facebook page, saying he had held office in "very complicated circumstances." He says he resigned to "avoid being dragged into an abyss of unconstructive policies based on no law." (More Yemen stories.)