Yahya Arhab / EPA

Yemeni men push a car in a flooded street on April 9 following two days of heavy rains in Sanaa, Yemen.

Yemeni authorities warned citizens on April 9 to take precautions to avoid surprising torrents and rockslides, especially in the mountainous areas, due to possible flash floods after a second day of heavy rains in the country.

Mohammed Huwais / AFP - Getty Images

Boys attempt to rescue a dog swimming in a canal following heavy rains in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, on April 9. Authorities warned citizens residing in mountainous areas to take necessary precautions against expected flash floods

Mohammed Huwais / AFP - Getty Images

A man rides his bicycle through a flooded street on April 9 following heavy rains in Sanaa, Yemen.

Related story: 25 killed in southern Yemen clash

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Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

This one made me pause as I edited this afteroon: Supporters of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh sit with posters of Saleh attached to their belts attend a rally marking Saleh's 70th birthday anniversary in Sanaa March 23, 2011. Saleh stepped down in February after a year of massive protests against his 33-year rule.

More news from Yemen

Reuters

People inspect the scene of a suicide car bomb outside the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla, Feb. 25. A suicide car bomb claimed by al-Qaida killed at least 26 people outside a presidential palace in southern Yemen on Saturday, hours after Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn as Yemen's new president with the job of bringing stability to an increasingly chaotic nation.

Hani Mohammed / AP

Yemen's newly elected President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi waves as he arrives to the Parliament in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 25.

A suicide car bomb claimed by al-Qaida killed at least 26 people outside a presidential palace in southern Yemen Saturday, hours after Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn as Yemen's new president with the job of bringing stability to an increasingly chaotic nation. 

The car was driven at a palace in the port city of Mukalla, Yemen's fourth-largest city, far from the capital Sanaa where Hadi was sworn in. Dozens were injured, and the governor of Hadramout province said most of the dead were members of the national army, the Republican Guard.

PhotoBlog: Posts from Yemen 

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

A man casts his vote during the presidential elections at a polling station in Aden, Yemen, on Feb. 21, 2012.

Hani Mohammed / AP

Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi gestures as he enters a polling center to cast his vote in Sanaa on Feb. 21, 2012. Yemenis are voting to rubber-stamp Hadi as the new head of state.

SANAA, Yemen — Yemenis voted Tuesday to instate their U.S.-backed vice president as the new head of state tasked with steering the country out of a crisis created by an anti-government uprising that has raged for a year.

The vote can hardly be called an election as Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is the only candidate. It is, however, a turning point for the impoverished Arab state, ending President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year authoritarian rule.

• Slideshow: Political unrest in Yemen, 2011

At stake is an economy left in a shambles, where 42 percent of the population of 24 million lives on less than $2 per day and rampant inflation is driving up food and fuel prices.

Long lines formed early in the morning outside polling stations in the capital Sanaa amid tight security, after an explosion ripped through a voting centre in the southern port city of Aden on the eve of the vote.

Southerners, who accuse the north of usurping their resources and discriminating against them, said they would boycott the election because it confers legitimacy on a political process that excluded them. Read more.

— The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Men queue outside a polling station in the Al Hasaba neighborhood of Sanaa on Feb. 21, 2012.

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

A man walks past tires set on fire by followers of a southern separatist group, calling for a boycott of the presidential elections, to block a road in the southern port city of Aden on Feb. 21, 2012.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A defected soldier, supporting anti-regime protesters, stands guard as women queue at a polling station in the Al Hasaba neighborhood in Sanaa on Feb. 21, 2012.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Sanaa is an UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

A craftsman works outside his shop at the Souq al-Melh market in Sanaa's Old City district in Sanaa on Feb. 15.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

A man reads a Koran inside an old mosque in Sanaa's Old City district on Feb. 14.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Men chew qat, a mild stimulant, inside a shop in Sanaa's Old City district on Feb. 15.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

A shoe salesman sits inside his shop at the Souq al-Melh market in Sanaa's Old City district in Sanaa.

Mohamed al-Sayaghi / Reuters

A vendor selling donkeys waits for customers in his shop at the Souq al-Melh market in Sanaa's Old City district.

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Samuel Aranda for The New York Times via Reuters

A woman holding a wounded relative during protests in Sanaa, Yemen, on October 15, 2011.

The international jury of the 55th annual World Press Photo Contest announced Friday that it had selected a picture by Samuel Aranda as the World Press Photo of the Year 2011.

Samuel Aranda / EPA, file

An undated self portrait by photographer Samuel Aranda.

Jurors said the photo of a veiled woman holding a wounded relative in her arms after a demonstration in Yemen captured multiple facets of the "Arab Spring" uprisings across the Middle East last year. It was taken at a field hospital inside a mosque in Sanaa on October 15.

The winning photo was selected from 101,254 images submitted by 5,247 photographers from 124 countries.

Aranda, a freelance photographer from Spain, traveled to Yemen on assignment for The New York Times. In December he gave an interview to the newspaper about the difficulties of working in Yemen—and the warmth of its people.

"What I would really like is for this photo to help the people of Yemen," he told The British Journal of Photography after learning of the award. "I think it's a country that is often forgotten."

Jury chair Aidan Sullivan said: "The winning photo shows a poignant, compassionate moment, the human consequence of an enormous event, an event that is still going on. We might never know who this woman is, cradling an injured relative, but together they become a living image of the courage of ordinary people that helped create an important chapter in the history of the Middle East."

Slideshow: World Press Photo 2012 award winners gallery

Vincent Boisot / AP

View the award winning images selected by World Press Photo.

Launch slideshow

Yahya Arhab / EPA

Yemeni protesters shout while marching to demand the trial of outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'a, Yemen, on Thursday, Jan. 19. Thousands of Yemeni protesters marched in Sana'a to denounce a deal of immunity from prosecution to be granted next week by the Yemeni Parliament to outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in return for stepping down from power.

It's been nearly a year since the beginning of widespread calls for the ouster of Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Today, a Yemeni draft law granting immunity to the outgoing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, from prosecution over the killing of protesters was amended on Thursday to limit the protection his aides would enjoy, a minister told Reuters.

Slideshow: Political unrest in Yemen

Suhaib Salem / Reuters

Pressure grows on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

Launch slideshow

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

An unexploded mortar shell, left from recent fighting between security forces and tribal militants loyal to the powerful al-Ahmar family, is seen on a road in the vicinity of government buildings in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Jan. 17.

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Military deminers dig to remove an unexploded mortar shell left from recent clashes between security forces and tribal militants loyal to the powerful al-Ahmar family in the Yemeni capital Sanaa January 17.

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