Apparently, it is Dubai’s great good fortune to have vacuous celebrities drop by fairly regularly. Last month, it was Paris Hilton. In this case, it is Kim Kardashian, who may rank No. 1 in world history in the dubious category of “famous for being famous”. Which, apparently, qualifies her as the “world’s hottest dinner date”. […]

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It often turns out this way, in the news biz. Weeks of making something out of nothing. And then a stretch of time where you have big events colliding on the calendar. This is one of those “colliding big events” weeks, here in the UAE. Four events that pretty safely fall into our top 10 […]

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Beach soccer is a fairly big thing in the UAE. Makes sense. Lots of beaches here. All the major cities, save Al Ain, are on the water. So, a couple of times a year some major tournaments are held here, generally in Dubai. The beach soccer heavyweights are invited. Brazil, Russia, Portugal, Iran … but […]

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Been here five years, and this is as specific a warning as I can remember getting, from the U.S. embassy. We have gotten generic warnings about avoiding travel to Syria or Egypt or Libya or … well, fill in the blank of a regional country that has issues with stability since 2009. But this is […]

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We get this sort of story fairly often, in the UAE. Dubai has one of the world’s primary transit airports. People going from Europe or even Africa to Asia or Australia. The traveller stops and changes planes. And Abu Dhabi, a 90-minute drive south of Dubai’s airport, is not far behind in the transit race. […]

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Remember when Paris Hilton seemed to be on the cover of every U.S. magazine, while also getting a mention in every episode of Entertainment Tonight? But we haven’t heard much about her of late, have we? (Or maybe it’s just those of us on the other side of the world.) Well, whatever happened to …? […]

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A story in The National today told of a student in Dubai who, with some accomplices, stole two baboons and four marmosets from a farm in Dubai. What should be done with a guy like that? Laugh at him. Or maybe call a paramedic.

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An obscene gesture can get a person in trouble in most places. I’m fairly confident that more than a few murders in the U.S. hinged on that moment. I think many of us tend to think obscene gestures don’t necessarily travel. Across borders. Around the world. That what is an obscene gesture in, say, Italy, […]

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These words came out of my mouth tonight: “Mahmoud Khamis is with Nasr! That’s where he went!” Which is revealing, in this sense: I know way too much about the Arabian Gulf League, which began play in the 2014-15 season tonight. Good times!

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This week, The National celebrated the five-year anniversary of the Dubai Metro with a package of stories on the history and development of the system. In retrospect, it is hard to imagine what road traffic in that city would be like, without the rail lines that run parallel to major highways. Dubai already is nightmarish […]

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