Yemen's Saleh to sign deal to step down

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh went to Saudi Arabia Wednesday to sign a deal to immediately transfer his powers to his vice president, officials said. The agreement would allow Saleh to keep his position until new elections in three months and would grant him immunity from prosecution, The New York Times reported. Pro-democracy demonstrators for months have called for Saleh's resignation. In the past he has indicated a willingness to do so only to back out of signing similar agreements. Opposition leaders and Yemen's allies, including the United States, have pressed Saleh to sign a deal, warning that the country was near collapse because of continued protests and bloody fighting among factions. Saleh's surprise trip to Riyadh, subject of recent speculation, came after several days of negotiations between opposition leaders and the president's representatives brokered by a U.N. envoy, the Times said. Yemeni opposition leaders were to go to Riyadh later Wednesday for the signing. Under the agreement, members of the opposition would join members of Saleh's party in a new unity government. Yassin Saeed Noman, a socialist and leader of Yemen's opposition coalition, said the agreement, if signed, won't pull the country from its doldrums quickly, but he remained optimistic. "If there is a willingness from the government, it will end the crisis," Noman said. Previous agreements have been upended by violence in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa between government forces and defecting army units and tribal fighters loyal to Saleh's rivals. The Times said there were reports Wednesday of sporadic shelling in Hasaba, a district in northern Sanaa.