Yemen’s embattled president offers to oversee talks

YEMEN’S embattled president yesterday sought a way out of the political crisis gripping his impoverished Arab nation, offering to oversee a dialogue between his ruling party and the opposition to defuse the ongoing standoff with protesters demanding his ouster.

The offer by the US-backed Ali Abdullah Saleh came as protests demanding that he step down continued for the 11th straight day, with 3,000 university students demonstrating yesterday at Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

The protests pose the most serious challenge to Saleh’s rule to date.