It is surprising how many people living in the UAE are eager to visit Las Vegas. No need to make that 20-hour trip. All the locals need do is check in to Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, and they can enjoy the whole of the mainstream Las Vegas experience — aside from the gambling, that […]

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Final score: Al Ahli 8, Fujairah 1. And there is your season-opening game of the Arabian Gulf League season. One of the richest clubs in the league against one of the smallest, and 8-1 is a bit of a statistical outlier, but it’s not like anyone who knows UAE football says: “What? That’s not possible!” […]

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A sort of steady one-upmanship here in the aviation world. Who has the longest commercial flight in the world? At the moment, it’s Dallas-Forth Worth to Sydney, at 16 hours and 55 minutes. By February 2016, it will be Dubai to Panama City, at 17 hours and 30 minutes. But not long after that … […]

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Air conditioning is a very serious concept, in the UAE. Without it, the country is close to uninhabitable over the six-plus months of summer. To make do without it for any length of time is to be reminded of how perilous is civilization’s grip on this land. Without AC, Abu Dhabi and Dubai would not […]

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Abandoned cars are the dumped mattresses of the UAE. An economic problem “solved” by property owners who simply walk away from their former investment … a solution that cannot be swept up in the morning. The National reported this week that Abu Dhabi Municipality has impounded 3,000 vehicles of some 4,300 abandoned on the streets […]

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A pundit on the BBC World network said, “It seems like 2005, not 2015.” It’s Dubai thinking big again. With a project to include the Dubai One residential tower, at 2,332 feet the world’s tallest; the world’s longest indoor ski slope, an 8,000-capacity arena and an enormous mall with a retractable roof. Also part of […]

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Everton Ribeiro. I know the player Everton Ribeiro. Left-footed midfielder. During the 2014/15 season he played for the Dubai club Al Ahli. He arrived with a reputation for being one of Brazil’s best players; in recent years he twice had been designated the best player in Brazil’s domestic top flight. Turns out, he wasn’t the […]

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If you have 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million) burning a hole in your pocket, this “villa” on the Palm Jumeirah may be for you. The photo gallery in The National begins under the title: Wake up to this view …

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Turns out, the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner has been docked in Dubai’s port since we arrived in the UAE, nearly six years ago. Turns out, I compiled more than a few news/travel briefs pertaining to the QE2 and its “final” voyage to Dubai while working at the International Herald Tribune’s Hong Kong bureau in […]

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The UAE has fingerprints on this story. Of course it does. This is the land of extremes, most of them on the outer end of biggest-fastest-tallest-most expensive. So why not a $2 million guitar?

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