Thirteen die in Yemen riots over fuel price rises. (Yemen has oil!)

[barbaraann]

By Mohammed Sudam 19 minutes ago

SANAA (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed in clashes with police in Yemen on Wednesday after rioters smashed government offices and set fires in response to a sharp rise in fuel prices.

The clashes were the heaviest death toll in Yemen protests since 1998 when 34 people died in two weeks of demonstrations and violent clashes over price hikes.

Thousands of protesters in the capital, Sanaa, smashed furniture in government offices, blocked roads with flaming tires, and knocked out electricity transformers in some areas.
...
Yemenis were protesting against a government announcement on Tuesday to cut fuel subsidies as part of a 1995 reform program backed by the
International Monetary Fund and
World Bank. The government says the economy could collapse without reforms.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/yemen_protests_dc

Is this a peek into our future? Yemen, by the way, is an oil producer.

[krkaufman]

1. Ahhh, the World Bank and IMF, yet again

Well, you can expect the World Bank and IMF's contributions here to further fuel terrorist recruitment.

Short-sighted, megalomaniacal *stards.

[barbaraann]

2. Yup.

And without the internet I wouldn't have known.

[krkaufman]

4. Exactly. There's a reason the people remain uninformed...

... beyond a love of WWF.

[Ripley]

3. Coming Soon to a Gas Station Near You!

What is the tipping point here?

[Up2Late]

5. HELLO! They are rioting over 33 Cents per Liter Gasoline!

That's $1.25 per Gallon Gasoline! I WISH we had Gas prices like that again.:crazy:

(From the figure below, I calculate a "Rial" as being worth about 53 Cents U.S.)

"...A liter of diesel rose to 45 rials (24 U.S. cents) from 17 rials; a liter of petrol was priced at 65 rials, up from 35 rials, and a liter of kerosene rose to 45 rials from 16 rials. Gas cylinders rose to 400 rials from 250 rials...."

[RaRa]

7. So? That's irrelevant until you factor how much the average person

earns per year. I don't know what it is. I'm guessing alot less than the average American.

[barbaraann]

8. It's about $800 per year.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

So the price increase is very significant.

[barbaraann]

6. Some info on Yemen.

According to World Bank figures, more than 42 percent of its 19 million people live below the poverty line, illiteracy is estimated at 50 percent and unemployment is over 20 percent.