Yemen leader readies for talks after 'coup' warnings

Yemen's President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi won the support of Gulf neighbours today and readied for talks with Shiite militia who had attacked his residence, raising fears of a coup.
The powerful militia, known as Huthis, seized almost full control of the capital Sanaa in September and have fought pitched battles with government forces this week as they press for more political power.
On Tuesday, the militia seized Hadi's offices at the presidential palace and attacked his residence, in what officials said was an attempt to overthrow the government.
There were no signs of fresh violence today, but medical and security sources said at least 35 people had been killed and 94 wounded in the two previous days.

The unrest has raised deep international concern, with the UN Security Council condemning the attacks and backing Hadi as Yemen's "legitimate authority".
After an emergency meeting in Riyadh, foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council today accused the Huthis of an attempted "coup" and expressed support for Hadi.

The Sunni-dominated GCC warned it "would take all measures necessary to protect their security, stability and vital interests in Yemen."
A presidential source said Hadi was ready to bring together the country's political factions, including the Huthis, and a UN special envoy in a bid to defuse the crisis.
The envoy, Moroccan diplomat Jamal Benomar, was in Qatar and due to travel to Sanaa.

"The meeting will take place, but we are still waiting for Jamal Benomar to arrive," the source told AFP.
A UN official said Benomar was not expected to travel to Yemen's capital today and could not give a date for his arrival.
Hadi earlier today received Huthi representative Saleh al-Sammad at his Sanaa residence, the source said.
The escalation has raised fears of a collapse of Hadi's government, a key ally in America's fight against Al-Qaeda, and of the country descending into chaos.
US President Barack Obama "is being updated by his national security team," on the unrest, a senior administration official told AFP.

The rising unrest has fuelled longtime divisions in Yemen, where the government, Huthis, southern separatists, powerful Sunni tribes and the local Al-Qaeda branch are all vying for influence.
The Huthis raised the stakes on Saturday by kidnapping of Hadi's chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution.
Mubarak is leading efforts to reform how Yemen is governed under a "national dialogue" set up after autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced from power in February 2012 following a year of bloody protests.
Saleh's party released a letter today it said the former strongman sent to Hadi a month earlier urging him to "hold early presidential and parliamentary elections to resolve the country's crisis".