Palestinian President Abbas accepts PM Fayyad's resignation – officials

Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad formally presented his resignation to President Mahmud Abbas on Saturday and the president accepted it, a Palestinian official said. "Fayyad met Abbas for half an hour in the president's headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank and officially handed him his written resignation," the official told AFP. Rumors that Fayyad would either resign or be told to step down by Abbas have been rife in recent weeks after longstanding differences between the two men came to a head over the finance portfolio.