At least 40 al-Qaida prisoners escaped from jail in Yemen today.

YEMEN’S president has warned his country would descend into civil war if he were forced to quit and the US voiced concern about instability in the Arabian state that has become an al-Qaida stronghold.

Yemeni security forces fired live bullets and tear gas on two pro-democracy demonstrations today, killing two people – including a 15-year-old student – as the government clamps down on a growing protest movement, witnesses said.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators, some chanting “down, down with the regime,” today marched in several towns and cities in Yemen against the country’s autocratic president, a key US ally in the fight against Islamic militants.

SOMALI pirates have hijacked a Yemeni ship loaded with steel in the Gulf of Aden, in the Arabian Sea, officials said yesterday, a day after local sources said the gang holding a Saudi supertanker demanded a $15 million (€11.5m) ransom.

YEMEN and France launched a probe yesterday into a blast which gutted a French-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Aden amid speculation by the owners and French diplomats that the vessel was targeted by terrorists.

AN explosion set a French oil supertanker ablaze off the coast of Yemen yesterday, triggering conflicting explanations of an internal blast and a bomb attack from a small boat.