Yemeni president says US and Israel behind unrest

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s embattled U.S.-backed president accused Washington today of instigating protests against his regime, as hundreds of thousands marched in cities across Yemen in the largest rallies yet seeking the longtime ruler’s ouster. President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s allegations, unprecedented in their harshness, signaled a growing rift with the United States that could hurt a joint campaign against the al-Qaida terror network in Yemen. In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the protests are “not the product of external conspiracies” and that Saleh is aware of that.