World Bulletin / News Desk 

Saudi Arabia, which is leading an air campaign against rebels in Yemen, has pledged to provide exactly the amount of emergency aid to the country as called for in a UN appeal on Friday.

The official Saudi news agency said it has promised $274m (£183m; €255m) in humanitarian aid. The UN says 150,000 people have been displaced by fighting. It also says 12 million are short of food.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud announced the aid late on Friday, saying his country would "stand fully by the brotherly people of Yemen".

The UN said 731 people had been killed and 2,754 injured - many of them civilians - in three weeks between March and April. The numbers were likely to be an underestimate, it warned.

Even before the current conflict, 15.9 million people - 61% of the population - were estimated to require some kind of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.