Even if President Saleh decides it is time to go, his sons and nephews are still in key positions in Yemen, commanding important military units. They might not want to retire.
Against them is the next generation of the al-Ahmar family.
The late Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar, who died in 2007, effectively shared power with Mr Saleh. His four sons believe their time has come.
The contest for power in the elite has been going on at the same time as demonstrations by Yemenis who want real change, not just a dynastic reshuffle, in the Arab world's poorest country.
If there is a new face at the top, but no new system, they will not be satisfied.
Yemen has huge problems. There is a long running insurgency in the north, and a separatist movement in the south.
Prices are rising, and its growing population does not have enough to eat. Yemen has the third highest rate of malnutrition in the world.
It is running out of water and of its small deposits of oil. Sales of oil finance 90% of its imports of staple foods.
Al-Qaeda question
Presidential sources say Mr Saleh will be back from Riyadh in a matter of days
Yemen is also the base for an ambitious and violent al-Qaeda affiliate.
Even after the demonstrations started, President Saleh was still seen as the least bad option by the Saudis and by Western countries, led by the United States.
He was seen as the best ally they had against the group, which calls itself al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
But now that President Saleh's stubbornness shows every sign of precipitating a civil war, his allies have decided it is time for him to go.
His departure will not take away the questions about Yemen's future.
But it might stop the worst of the killing, for a while at least, and it will buy time to try to find a way to reconcile the claims of Yemen's powerful families, and the demands of the people who have been camping on the streets of the capital demanding a better life.
The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has appeared at a Manhattan court, charged with sexually assaulting a chamber maid at a luxury hotel last month.
The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Khan, has entered a plea of not guilty in a New York court to charges of attempted rape and sexual assault.
He stands accused of assaulting a maid at the Manhattan hotel where he was staying on 14 May.
The claims led to his arrest on a plane that was about to take off for Paris.
His next court date is set for 18 July. If found guilty, the 62-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison.
Mr Strauss-Kahn arrived at the New York Supreme Court on Monday with his wife, the French television journalist Anne Sinclair.
A group of hotel workers shouted, "Shame on you!" in a show of solidarity with the maid who accuses him of attacking her.
His formal plea before Judge Michael Obus sets the stage for a lengthy trial process. The full trial is likely to start in the autumn.
Police charged him on 15 May on seven counts, including attempted rape, criminal sexual assault, sex abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
Mr Strauss-Kahn spent four days behind bars in Rikers Island prison, before being bailed.
He has since been under house arrest and an armed guard, first in a Manhattan apartment and now in a deluxe townhouse.
The arrest made headline news around the world. It rocked the political establishment in France, where Mr Strauss-Kahn was considered a potential contender in next year's presidential elections.
Many in France believe that the Socialist party figure has been mistreated, but the case has also sparked a national debate about sexual harassment.
Mr Strauss-Kahn resigned his post at the IMF after his arrest. The organisation has yet to name a permanent replacement.
The prosecution says it is confident it has DNA samples which prove the woman's allegations against Mr Strauss-Kahn.
Mr Brafman has previously defended a string of high-profile clients, including Michael Jackson.
On 16 May, he insisted any forensic evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter", indicating the defence will admit a sexual encounter took place, but argue that it was consensual.
The bodies of some 150 migrants have been found off Tunisia's coast after a Europe-bound boat capsized, UN and Red Cross officials say.
An operation to rescue passengers began off the Tunisian Kerkennah islands on Wednesday.
More than 580 people were saved, but some 250 went missing as the boat capsized in the stampede to leave.
The migrants were on a boat bound from Libya for Italy.
Rescue operations by the Tunisian navy and coast guard are still continuing.
Seven people, including two pregnant women, are in intensive care in hospitals at Sfax on the Tunisian mainland.
Supplies ran out
"Up to now 150 bodies of refugees have been found off the shores of Kerkennah," Carole Laleve from the UN refugee agency told Reuters news agency.
The passengers - mostly from West Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh - had set sail from Libya's capital Tripoli on Saturday afternoon.
According to survivors interviewed by UNHCR, the boat was manned by people with little or no maritime experience.
It ran into difficulty soon after departure and experienced problems with its steering and power.
By the third day of the journey the passengers ran out of food and water and the boat then ran aground near the Kerkennah islands, some 300km (about 185 miles) north-west of Tripoli.
It capsized as the passengers rushed to one side to reach the Tunisian coast guard and fishing boats that had approached the vessel.
On Wednesday, 195 survivors were transferred to a camp run by the International Federation of the Red Cross near Ras Adjir, close to Tunisia's border with Libya.
Another 383 are scheduled to be transported to the same or nearby camps on Thursday, the UN refugee agency said.
Italy has faced a massive influx of refugees since the fall of the regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia in January and the outbreak of war in neighbouring Libya.
The Italian island of Lampedusa lies only about 130km (80 miles) off the Tunisian coast.
Italy has complained it is not getting enough help from its EU partners to deal with the influx, which has prompted some European countries to warn they may reimpose border controls.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been slightly hurt in an attack on a mosque in his compound in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and is in hospital, officials say, as fighting continues between the government and armed tribes.
Earlier, officials told TV he was well and would address the nation shortly.
The PM and parliament speaker were hurt and an imam and three guards killed.
Earlier troops shelled the home of the brother of the tribal leader whose supporters they are fighting.
However, the office of the tribal leader, Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, denied responsibility for the attack on the palace. This contradicted an earlier claim made by Sheikh Ahmar's spokesman that the attack had been retaliatory.
Thousands meanwhile attended a funeral for 50 people killed in the violence.
The United States has sent an envoy to the Gulf to discuss ways of stopping the violence, which has brought Yemen to the brink of civil war.
More than 350 people have been killed since the uprising started in January, but least 135 of them have died in the past 10 days.
This is the first attack on the presidential palace since the clashes started.
His forces were intending to crush Hamid al-Ahmar's forces. They have moved the fight from the north of the city in Hassaba to the south in Hadda, a residential upper-class area occupied by diplomats, top officials and businessmen. Sheikh Ahmar's house is there and has been heavily targeted.
But the president's army is not as powerful as it was. Its first division, led by Gen Ali Mohsen, has defected to the opposition and has not been involved in the fighting yet. But if it did become involved, it would mean a declaration of war.
The retaliation against President Saleh's compound could expand into further clashes in the capital. It is also being seen as a sign that the end is near for him.
Western and regional powers have been urging Mr Saleh to sign a Gulf Co-operation Council-brokered deal that would see him hand over to his deputy in return for an amnesty from prosecution.
He has agreed to sign on several occasions, but then backed out.
GCC Secretary-General Abdulattif al-Zayani called for an end to the fighting and said the council was ready to do all it could to help, Reuters news agency reported.
'Red lines'
There has been heavy fighting in the northern Sanaa district of Hassaba since last week between Mr Saleh's forces and tribesman loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribal confederation.
Explosions were heard in the south of the capital for the first time. Witnesses said the army had shelled the home of Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a leader of the opposition Islah party, in the Hadda district.
Later, a spokesman for the ruling General People's Congress party said at least two shells had hit a mosque in the presidential palace compound.
The BBC's Lina Sinjab said the situation in Sanaa was tense as people were worried it could turn into civil war
Tariq al-Shami told the AFP news agency that Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar, speaker of parliament Yahya al-Rai and several other officials were wounded in the attack, which he blamed on the tribesmen.
"The Ahmar [tribe] have crossed all the red lines," he added.
Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar is the overall leader of the Hashid tribal confederation, one of the two main tribal groupings in Yemen
His father Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmar - who died in 2007 - founded the Islamist Islah opposition party
Sheikh Sadeq's brother Hamid al-Ahmar is a prominent businessman and leading member of Islah. He has repeatedly called for Mr Saleh's resignation
Another brother, Sheikh Hussein Bin Abdullah al-Ahmar, resigned from President Saleh's Governing People's Council on 28 February over the shootings of protesters
Al-Arabiya TV reported that Mr Rai was in a critical condition.
State news agency Saba said an imam who was leading Friday prayers at the time and three presidential guards were killed.
Earlier, troops set fire to the headquarters of Suhail TV, while state TV showed pictures of the burning offices of national airline Yemenia, blaming it on the tribesmen.
The defence ministry said special forces personnel led by Mr Saleh's son, Ahmed, had been deployed for the first time.
It said they would help "liberate" more than a dozen ministries and other government buildings occupied by the tribesmen.
Tribal sources meanwhile said several thousand tribesmen were heading to the capital from surrounding areas to join the fighting.
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More than 200 migrants are missing in the Mediterranean Sea after a boat trying to reach Europe broke down, Tunisia's Tap state news agency says.
The Tunisian coast guard and army rescued 570 but up to 270 went missing in the stampede to get off the fishing vessel, the report says.
An operation to rescue the would-be migrants began off the Tunisian Kerkennah islands on Wednesday.
The mainly African migrants were on a boat bound for Italy from Libya.
Search operations were continuing, a Tunisian security official told Reuters news agency.
Tap said two people were confirmed dead during the rescue. Seven were injured and taken to hospital in the port of Sfax, while two pregnant women were taken to the maternity unit.
On Wednesday night, 193 survivors were transferred to the Shusha camp near the Libya-Tunisia border, Tap said.
It said another 385 would be sent to the same camp on Thursday morning.
Italy has faced a massive influx of refugees since the fall of the regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia in January and the outbreak of war in neighbouring Libya.
The Italian island of Lampedusa lies only about 130km (80 miles) off the Tunisian coast.
Italy has complained it is not getting enough help from its EU partners to deal with the influx, which has prompted some European countries to warn they may reimpose border controls.
Burundian soldiers serving with the African Union peace force in Somalia have told us at the BBC they have not been paid since January.
The five months of arrears total an estimated $20m (£12m) for the nearly 4,000 Burundian peacekeepers.
Burundi's army spokesman Col Gaspard Baratuza said the African Union had paid the money into the Bank of the Republic of Burundi.
But he said the central bank had not disbursed the salaries to the soldiers.
'Serving our nation'
The African Union pays the Burundian soldiers, who make up the 9,000-strong Amisom peace force battling Islamist militants in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, slightly more than $1,000 each every month.
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in the Burundian capital Bujumbura says the salaries are not paid in Somalia, but directly into their accounts through Burundi's central bank so the soldiers' families can access the money more easily.
Now our families think we get the money and hide it from them”
End Quote Burundian soldier
Two soldiers, requesting anonymity as they are not allowed to discuss army issues publicly, also told us at the BBC the situation was not sustainable.
"The Amisom force commander from Uganda has told us that the money is being paid on a monthly basis. But in Burundi we do not know where the money is going," one of them told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"Now our families think we get the money and hide it from them."
They said some soldiers believe the money has been diverted by the government to serve other purposes before being paid to them.
"In short we do not want to be used as commercial objects. We are serving the name of our nation; let it serve ours by paying us on a monthly basis as this has to be," he said.
Col Baratuza, who in an interview with the BBC's Great Lakes Service in April had promised the arrears would be paid that month, said on Wednesday evening the problem would be sorted out soon.
The AU force in Somalia deployed to Mogadishu in 2007 to back the weak interim government.
Somalia has been racked by constant war for more than 20 years - its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991.
China has rejected allegations of involvement in a cyber-spying campaign targeting the Google e-mail accounts of top US officials, military personnel and journalists.
A foreign ministry spokesman said it was "unacceptable" to blame China.
Google has not blamed the Chinese government directly, but says the hacking campaign originated in Jinan.
The US company said its security was not breached but indicated individuals' passwords were obtained through fraud.
Google said Chinese political activists and officials in other Asian countries were also targeted from the Shandong city, which is 400 km (250 miles) south of Beijing.
The White House said it was investigating the reports but did not believe official US government e-mail accounts had been breached.
Safety tips
It is extremely difficult for analysts to determine whether governments or individuals are responsible for such attacks, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington.
But the fact that the victims were people with access to sensitive - even secret - information raises the possibility that this was cyber-espionage rather than cyber-crime, adds our correspondent.
Maggie ShielsTechnology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley
Security experts say they are seeing an increase in these so-called spear phishing incidents in which attackers go after specific information or assets and aim at "high value individuals".
One consultant described it as an "epidemic", while another said such attacks are all too easy to perpetrate given the amount of information that lives on the internet about people - from their Twitter stream to their Facebook pages to sites that trace your family tree.
A smart attacker can assemble enough information to "influence and convince" a target that they are receiving a genuine email from someone they know.
However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news briefing: "Blaming these misdeeds on China is unacceptable.
"Hacking is an international problem and China is also a victim. The claims of so-called support for hacking are completely unfounded and have ulterior motives."
On Wednesday, Google said it had "detected and has disrupted" a campaign to take users' passwords and monitor their emails.
"We have notified victims and secured their accounts," said the company. "In addition, we have notified relevant government authorities."
The e-mail scam uses a practice known as "spear phishing" in which specific e-mail users are tricked into divulging their login credentials to a web page that resembles Google's Gmail web service (or which appears related to the target's work) but is in fact run by hackers.
Having obtained the user's e-mail login and password, the hackers then tell Gmail's service to forward incoming e-mail to another account set up by the hacker.
In an advisory message released on Wednesday, Google recommends several steps for users to take to improve the security of Google products:
Enable two-step verification, such as using a mobile phone to which Google sends a second password to enter on sign-in
Use a strong password (mix of letters and numbers, avoiding family names, birth dates etc) for Google that you do not use elsewhere. Here's a video to help.
Enter your password only into a proper sign-in prompt on a https://www.google.com domain.
Check your Gmail settings for suspicious forwarding addresses or delegated accounts
Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has told us at the BBC it carried out the series of bombings after President Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration on Sunday.
The worst incident was at an army barracks in the northern city of Bauchi in which at least 14 people died.
A sect spokesman said it was also responsible for killing the brother of the Shehu of Borno, one of Nigeria's most important Islamic leaders.
The sect has been behind numerous recent assassinations in Borno state.
It is opposed to Western education and accuses Nigeria's government of being corrupted by Western ideas.
Clashes in Borno's state capital, Maiduguri, between the Boko Haram and the police in July 2009 left hundreds of people dead, mainly members of the sect.
For the past eight months, sect members have been fighting a guerrilla war in Borno, killing policemen and people they believe were helping the security services in the fight against them.
Sect spokesman Abu Zayd told the BBC's Hausa Service that the group was behind the bombings on Sunday.
''We are [also] the ones responsible for the killing of the junior brother of the Shehu of Borno," he said.
Abba Anas Ibn Umar Garbai was killed by gunmen outside his home in Maiduguri on Monday evening.
The Shehu of Borno is one of Nigeria's most prominent religious figures - second only to the Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims.
"As we always say, these traditional institutions are being used to track and hunt us, that is why we attack them," Mr Zayd said.
"We are doing what we are doing to fight injustice, if they stop there satanic ways of doing things and the injustices, we would stop what we are doing.''
Officials say 16 people died in the explosions in Bauchi, Zuba, Zaria, hometown of Vice-President Namadi Sambo, and Maiduguri.
The first attack came only hours after President Jonathan was sworn in for his first full four-year term of office in the capital, Abuja.
Mr Jonathan was promoted from vice-president after northerner Umaru Yar'Adua died in office in 2010.
April's election was largely considered free and fair, but hundreds of people were killed in three days of rioting and reprisal killings in northern towns following the announcement of the result.
Mr Jonathan, a southerner, secured nearly 60% of the vote in the election. His main challenger, northern Muslim and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, came a distant second with almost 32%.
Nigeria is divided by rivalry between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south, which also have cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences.
Analysts say that Mr Jonathan will have to tackle this north-south rivalry and also the simmering tension in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
To win at the first round, a candidate not only needs the majority of votes cast, but at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states. Goodluck Jonathan, of the PDP, reached that threshold in 31 states; runner-up Muhammadu Buhari of the CPC only did so in 16 states.
Nigeria's 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community.
Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty in the north is in stark contrast to the more developed southern states. While in the oil-rich south-east, the residents of Delta and Akwa Ibom complain that all the wealth they generate flows up the pipeline to Abuja and Lagos.
Southern residents tend to have better access to healthcare, as reflected by the greater uptake of vaccines for polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. Some northern groups have in the past boycotted immunisation programmes, saying they are a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. This led to a recurrence of polio, but the vaccinations have now resumed.
Female literacy is seen as the key to raising living standards for the next generation. For example, a newborn child is far likelier to survive if its mother is well-educated. In Nigeria we see a stark contrast between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In some northern states less than 5% of women can read and write, whereas in some Igbo areas more than 90% are literate.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and among the biggest in the world but most of its people subsist on less than $2 a day. The oil is produced in the south-east and some militant groups there want to keep a greater share of the wealth which comes from under their feet. Attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in Nigeria's output during the last decade. But in 2010, a government amnesty led thousands of fighters to lay down their weapons.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should face trial at a UN court over the "brutal" treatment of his people, Australia's foreign minister says.
Kevin Rudd said incidents such as the alleged torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy by security forces had robbed Mr Assad of any legitimacy.
President Assad invited the boy's family to meet him and promised an inquiry, state television said.
Activists say more than 1,000 people have died in weeks of protests.
The 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khatib, has become an icon of the anti-government uprising in Syria, says the BBC's Jim Muir.
Activists say he was detained by security forces and tortured to death, while the authorities insist he was shot dead during a demonstration.
Mr Rudd called it a "brutal act" and accused Mr Assad of taking "large-scale directed action" against his own people.
"I believe it is high time that the Security Council now consider a formal referral of President Assad to the International Criminal Court," said Mr Rudd.
Martyr to both sides
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the boy's death showed the regime was deaf to the voice of its people.
Clinton: "I hope this child did not die in vain but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin a transition to real democracy"
"I can only hope that this child did not die in vain but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin a transition to real democracy," she said.
Hamza Khatib is being hailed as a martyr, and his picture is now held aloft at demonstrations around the country and abroad.
He is being compared to the Tunisian market-seller Mohamed Bouazizi and Iranian pro-democracy protester Neda Agha Soltan whose deaths galvanised anti-government campaigns.
Hamza is also being called a martyr by the Syrian authorities.
State TV said the teenager's father and family were invited to meet President Assad, and they were quoted as saying he "engulfed us with his kindness and graciousness".
A man who identified himself as Hamza's father said: "The president considered Hamza his own son and was deeply affected."
'Mutilated body'
The boy went missing after a demonstration at an army barracks near Deraa in the south at the end of April.
Activists say he was captured and tortured to death, and that his mutilated body was handed back to his family four weeks later.
The government says he received three fatal gunshot wounds during the protest and died on the spot, but there was a delay in handing over his body because he was not identified.
Syrian state TV aired a programme about the teenager on Tuesday night in which a judge said death was due to "a number of bullet wounds without any indication of torture or beating on the body".
Coroner Akram al-Shaar blamed the state of the body on decomposition, adding: "There are no marks on the surface of the body that show violence, resistance or torture."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on Wednesday that said "systematic killings and torture by Syrian security forces" in Deraa could qualify as crimes against humanity.
"For more than two months now, Syrian security forces have been killing and torturing their own people with complete impunity," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW Middle East director.
"They need to stop - and if they don't, it is the Security Council's responsibility to make sure that the people responsible face justice."
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled into northern Lebanon bringing with them tales of brutality by Syrian security forces in the town of Tal Kalakh, the BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones reports.
Middle East 
There have been near daily protests against President Saleh since February 
Presidential sources say Mr Saleh will be back from Riyadh in a matter of days 
Key players 
Mapping the divides
Refugees' tales of brutality
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