Not that you need me to tell you not to go to Yemen, but on December 26, the American Embassy in Sana’a advised US citizens of a possible threat against the Aden Hotel, located quite near where the USS Cole was bombed in 2000. Most heeded the call and left the hotel or cancelled reservations. The Aden Hotel, upset at the lost of business, responded in the American language: a lawsuit, claiming $500,000 in damages. “The warning period ended and nothing bad occurred, so this indicates that such rumors have no place of truth,” General Manager Fadhl Al-Hilali said. The Yemen Times takes a break from cartoons calling for the murder of hook-nosed cannibal Jews (paging Charles Johnson) to cover the story superficially. (Ridhwan Al-Saqqaf, “Aden Hotel files suit against US Embassy”, Yemen Times, Jan. 6-9; “UK embassy to remain closed until Tuesday”, Yemen Times, Jan. 10-12; Incessant Rant blog).

More seriously, elsewhere in Yemen, the Southeast Sana’a Court sentenced journalist Abdul-Karim Sabra to two years in prison; Sabra, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Hurriah (“Freedom”), had had the newspaper’s license revoked when he changed the logo to mark the paper’s 25th anniversary without permission. (“Police pursue publisher of banned newspaper”, Yemen Observer, Jan. 8; IFEX press release, Oct. 28). Remember that next time Bill Maher complains that he’s being censored because he’s only making a million dollars a year hosting a cable tv show.