Yemen’s new president has been inaugurated, saying the impoverished Arab state faced a "complex and difficult phase" ahead.

Violence has marred Yemen’s presidential election, which ended three decades of rule by the US’s key ally in the region, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen has gone to the polls with the sole candidate to succeed ousted President Saleh looking for a strong mandate from voters to rebuild the country.

Yemen’s Cabinet has approved a law granting President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and anyone who has worked under him, immunity from prosecution.

After backing down three times from a deal to step down, Yemen’s embattled President Saleh is in Saudi Arabia to sign a deal to transfer power.

At least 19 Yemeni civilians, state troops and dissident soldiers have died in the wake of President Saleh’s latest pledge to resign.

UN Security Council members are battling to come up with a way to address the growing death toll in Yemen from protests against President Saleh.

Yemeni President Abdullah Ali Saleh has called for early elections in his first speech since returning to Yemen.