The UAE is mad about “Guinness World Records.” The National reports on one or two per week, it seems. Many of them silly. I remember when the “Guinness Book”, as it was known decades ago, was fun to read. “Tallest man.” “Fastest train.” “World’s Biggest Waterfall. Things like that. Fairly common things. Now, we’ve got […]

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A business story. Ugh. But the business of the UAE is business. Commodities and services and tourism and all the rest of it. The National has a 12-page business section, broadsheet, and the biz crew has no trouble filling it. Something is always going on. The big biz news story for months now has been […]

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Not long ago, Abu Dhabi was a very horizontal city. The typical downtown building was about six stories high. The typical building away from downtown and the beach was about three stories. The tallest building in the city, when it was completed in 2006, was the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Tower, on the Corniche, at […]

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This may have been the highest-profile sports event in the history of the UAE. No, really. Perhaps the most famous soccer team in the world, Real Madrid, led by one of the two most famous players in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, against an Italian club, AC Milan, that has won more European championshps (seven) than […]

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The UAE is a star-struck place. Are you a celebrity? A sorta celebrity? Drop on by, especially in Dubai, and we will make a fuss over you. Kim Kardashian could tell you about it. Thus, it was not difficult to imagine how big a stir the Real Madrid soccer team would make. Real Madrid is […]

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The Federal National Council is looking at the UAE national budget for 2015, and raising some questions. –Why does nearly every federal department spend more than 80 percent of its money on salaries? –Why are Abu Dhabi and Dubai the only contributers to the federal budget, from a country with seven emirates? Short answers?

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Al Jazira is an Abu Dhabi club that has been pretty good for most of a decade but hasn’t been particularly good at sealing deals at the end of the UAE soccer season. In 40 years, the club has one league title (2011), two President Cup championships (2011, 2012) and one Arabian Gulf Cup (2010). […]

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A reporter for The National had a look at the food for sale in the cafeterias at three of the biggest government hospitals in Abu Dhabi … And few, if any, healthy choices were available. Eating at the hospital was enough to make people sick. The story started with the findings of our reporter: Prominent […]

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Tennis fans in Asia have been hearing a lot about a bold, innovative, breakthrough approach to presenting tennis. Which has been done before. Nothing new under the sun, indeed. But not if you listen to the people around the International Premier Tennis League. In fact, it is nothing more than a revival (and tweak) of […]

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Not many people know who Cheyenne Woods is. But she had a better time on the golf course last weekend than did her famous uncle, Tiger Woods. While Tiger was finishing last for the first time in his career, at his annual charity tournament, Cheyenne was securing her first LPGA Tour card at qualifying school […]

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