Yemen's President May Appear on TV

As Islamist gangs increasingly consolidate power in southern Yemen, the country’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will appear on television for the first time since he fled to Saudi Arabia after an attack that severely burned him, says an aide. "The president will appear within the next 48 hours despite our fear that the burns on his features and on different parts of his body will be an obstacle," a senior aide said Sunday. "His appearance will not be as the media expects it." Saleh has not been seen the June 3 attack. Many people suspect, meanwhile, that Saleh intentionally allowed Islamist violence in the south, as a scare tactic.