The US on Tuesday urged Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels to stop their offensive on the government-held city of Marib and take part in international efforts to find a political solution.
"The United States urges the Houthis to halt their advance on Marib and cease all military operations and turn to negotiations," the State Department said.
"The Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen."
The offensive on Marib city, a stronghold of the internationally recognised government, threatens to complicate a renewed diplomatic push to end the war.
Marib has been a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence during Yemen's six-year war.
US special envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking said the US was "aggressively" using back channels to communicate with the group.
"We do have ways of getting messages to the Houthis and we are using those channels very aggressively as we're engaging ... in person with the leadership of the key countries involved," Mr Lenderking told a State Department briefing on Tuesday.
The recent push towards Marib by Houthi forces comes alongside intensified drone attacks into Saudi Arabia by the group.
The UN and the new Biden administration have sought to start talks to end the war.
The conflict has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, the UN has said.
Mr Biden took the first step towards diplomacy by revoking the previous Trump administration's terrorist designation of the Houthis.
Despite removing the terrorist designation from the Houthis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that rebel leaders remained under US sanctions.
Mr Blinken said the Biden administration was “actively identifying additional targets for designation, especially those responsible for explosive boat attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea” and drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has said the resumption of Houthi hostilities near Marib was extremely concerning at a time of renewed diplomatic momentum.
Yemen's front lines have largely been in stalemate for years but a major Houthi gain in Marib would leave the group in control of what historically was known as North Yemen.
Marib city is also the last line of defence before Yemen's biggest gas and oilfields, which are in government hands.
The UN's International Organisation for Migration says 106,449 people have been displaced by fighting along the Marib front lines over a year.
It said another 385,000 people could be displaced with a major front-line shift. There are 125 displacement sites around Marib, the UN agency says.
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
More coverage from the Future Forum
RESULT
Australia 3 (0) Honduras 1 (0)
Australia: Jedinak (53', 72' pen, 85' pen)
Honduras: Elis (90 4)
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
