... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...said he has undergone surgery in Sanaa by Russian doctors after a rare suspension of a Saudi-led coalition air blockade.
A front man for the Arab coalition did not respond to requests Thursday for comment on the lifting of the blockade for the Russian medical team.
Saleh, 75, said the coalition had authorized the entry of the Russian team for cataract surgery, for which he had waited "more than a year", in an interview broadcast on Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
Today television.
He said the operation was "a success" and that a medical examination had confirmed he was "in very good health."
The coalition enforced the closure of Sanaa airport after its intervention in Yemen's war on the government side against a rebel alliance of Shiite Huthis and forces loyal to Saleh.
Only select U.N. flights are authorized to land by the coalition, which controls Yemen's airspace as well as a string of ports on the country's coastline.
A high-ranking source in the government told AFP that the United States, an ally of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, had facilitated the entry of the Russian medical team because it wanted Saleh to be "in good health.".