Yemen’s powerful Republican Guard forces opened fire with guns, tear gas and water cannons today at a march by more than 100,000 protesters demanding that the outgoing president be put on trial.

A DEAL on a transition of power in Yemen fell through at the last minute yesterday, even as Washington stepped up pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a Gulf-brokered agreement to ease him out of office.

A GULF Arab deal for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cede power could be finalised within a week, Gulf officials said, as Yemen struggles to end a political crisis that threatens to plunge it into chaos.