Do you think they even have April Fool's Day, America's beloved annual post-materialist exercise in being fucking annoying to everyone just for the sake of it, in a country such asJordan? Fine, we'll Wikipedia... hmm. It's mostly a Western thing of the last few centuries, and there's no mention of Jordan, but apparently IRAN INVENTED IT 2,500 YEARS AGO, HUH? So perhaps all the muslins do celebrate it, since they are all the same. This potential foreknowledge of upcoming wackiness would not, however, prevent Jordanians from losing their shit and rioting over alien invasions last week, thanks to the local newspaper.

Just as with American newspapers, Jordanian ones have an odd belief that they are allowed to participate in April Fool's Day pranks, and that people might somehow appreciate them or find them funny.

AMMAN, JORDAN — A Jordanian newspaper’s April Fool’s Day report chronicling a late-night visit by 10-foot-tall aliens in flying saucers sparked public panic and almost led to the town’s emergency evacuation, officials said Monday.

The Al Ghad newspaper published a front-page article April 1 about the fake UFO landing near the desert town of Jafr, some 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital, Amman. The report said the UFOs lit up the whole town, interrupted communications and sent fearful residents streaming into the streets.

Jafr’s mayor, Mohammed Mleihan, got caught up in the paper’s prank and said he sent security authorities in search of the aliens.

“Students didn’t go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town’s 13,000 residents,” Mleihan told The Associated Press. “People were scared that aliens would attack them.”

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss security issues, said an emergency plan was almost enacted in Jafr.

Eh, we don't buy this "prank" excuse just yet. Reporters probably spotted a few U.S. Predator drones buzzing in the distance, wrote it up as "aliens" because there certainly could never be U.S. drones in Jordanian airspace, and only later said "Ha ha it was just a funny" after Obama personally called them to say, "Uh, look," his African catchphrase.

[AP]