Yemenis take to the streets calling for President Saleh to step down

• Thousands of people took to the streets of Sana'a today, calling for an end to the reign of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in some of the biggest anti-government rallies Yemen has seen for a decade.
• Spurred on by events in Tunisia and Egypt, students and opposition activists assembled across the capital chanting for Saleh to quit after 32 years in power.
• Protesters are demanding improvements in living conditions as well as political reform. One banner read simply: "Look at the gap between the rich and poor."
• Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is struggling with rising unemployment and dwindling oil and water reserves. Almost half its 23 million people live on $2 or less a day, while one-third suffer from chronic hunger.
• Earlier this month, Yemen's parliament gave preliminary approval to a constitutional amendment ending limits to the president's term of office, a measure that would allow Saleh to stay in power past his mandate, which ends in 2013.
• Saleh's ruling General People's Congress staged counter marches across the capital today, attended by hundreds of government supporters.
• In a bid to defuse tensions Saleh has raised army and civil servant salaries, and denied claims he plans to install his son, Ahmed, as his successor. Saleh has also ordered income taxes to be halved, and has told ministers to control prices.
• Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and is rocked by regional divisions and active al-Qaeda elements throughout the country.