Exiled Yemeni president steps down

Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has transferred his powers over to a new presidential council. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Exiled Yemeni president steps down [Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrives at Tunis-Carthage international airport to attend the Arab Summit, in Tunis, Tunisia, March 30, 2019.] Credit: Hussein Malla/AP/File photo Yemen Exiled Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has handed over his powers to a [new presidential council]( in a watershed moment of the war in Yemen. He also transferred the vice president’s powers to the council and removed him from office. The move comes as the two sides in the conflict have agreed to a two-month ceasefire. Hadi said that the council will work toward negotiating a permanent truce with Houthi rebels. A Saudi-led coalition has backed Hadi’s government and spent the past seven years fighting the Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have welcomed Hadi’s decision with a pledge of [$3 billion in aid](. The ongoing war has left more than 100,000 people dead and has displaced around 4 million others. Millions of Yemenis are also at risk of starvation. Israel Israel’s government faces a crisis after Idit Silman — the chairwoman of the governing coalition and effectively its chief whip — quit the coalition on Wednesday. The move left the government without a majority in parliament. She said in a letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that coalition colleagues had failed to compromise and that it was time to form a new [“national, Jewish, Zionist” coalition]( with right-wing lawmakers. Bennett said that Silman [had been threatened]( by supporters of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Religious Zionist head Betzalel Smotrich, which pushed her to make her decision. Idit Silman is a member of the Yamina party. Burkina Faso The former president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, was [sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment](. He was accused of complicity in the murder of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, who he had been friends with, in a 1987 coup. Sankara was killed four years after taking power. The tribunal found Compaore guilty of an attack on state security, complicity in murder and concealment of a corpse. The prosecution stated that Sankara was [lured to his death]( at a National Revolutionary Council meeting. Two of Compaore's former top associates were also given the same sentence. Compaore ruled the country for 27 years before being ousted in another coup in 2014, when he fled to Ivory Coast. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Ukraine is now urging people to evacuate the Donbas. This Ukrainain American pastor is risking his life to help.]( [A view of the building damaged by the shelling in Donetsk, on the territory which is under the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic control, eastern Ukraine, March 30, 2022.]( Credit: Alexei Alexandrov/AP Alex Zaytsev has been driving dozens of his parishioners out of Avdiivka, a city that's been on the front line with Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. Over 10 million people — about a quarter of Ukraine’s population — have been [displaced by the war](, and more than 4 million of them have fled the country. [Body armor factories in the Americas are sending gear to war-torn Ukraine]( [Bulletproof gear made by the MC Armor company in Colombia, which is ready to be shipped to Ukraine.]( Credit: Manuel Rueda/The World Over the past three decades, MC Armor has made [various types of protective equipment](, including bulletproof shirts and pants, for dozens of heads of state in the Americas. It has also supplied body armor to the military forces of many countries. Now, it's sending gear to protect people in Ukraine. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot As refugees flee the war in Ukraine, some are finding a new home in the [Catalan farm town of Guissona]( in Spain. Locals call it “Little Ukraine,” because 1 out of 7 residents hails from there, from even before the latest Russian invasion. They came to Guissona years ago to work in the local meat plant. Now hundreds more are being welcomed to the town, drawn by family and the town’s fame. [A Catalan-language class is in session with Ukrainian refugees in Guissona, in Spain's Catalonia region.] Credit: Gerry Hadden/The World --------------------------------------------------------------- [In case you missed it from The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.