Two signs of status in the UAE: 1. A license plate with three digits or fewer. 2. A mobile phone with a “distinctive” number. Like, say, 052 222 2222. One Emirati liked that number so much that he won a bidding war for it tonight and is handing over to a local telecom 8,010,000 dirhams […]

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The National regularly writes about the results of the annual Arab Youth Survey. A variety of questions are posed to people in the 18-to-24 age group across North Africa and the Middle East, the Arab homeland, and the results are collated. The total number of youths surveyed was 3,500, including 300 from the UAE. One […]

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For the past few years, The National newspaper, in the United Arab Emirates, has been paying fairly close attention to the National Hot Rod Association, back in the United States. It wasn’t just because we like to watch people driving 300 miles per hour. (We can see that on the UAE’s freeways. Just kidding. Not.) […]

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A Qatar-based business web portal known as bqdoha has published what it purports to be fairly accurate statistics on the population breakdown, by nationalities, of the UAE. This is a fascinating batch of numbers to look at, for those of us who live here. To see some assumptions validated, but also to find numbers we […]

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The world is covered by soccer clubs. Nearly every country on the face of the planet has a league. Most of those leagues play from the late summer into mid-May. Why, then, did I have almost no live soccer to watch for two days in April?

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Dust storms are never fun. They are never good. But this one was alarming. Weird. Check out the video from The National’s website. It was that reddish-brown cast to it that made a person think of the “end of times”.

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If you are planning to coach or play in the Arabian Gulf League, the top level of UAE soccer, you may want to get this written into your contact: The club will pay any fines assessed on you.

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Sports in North America tend to be insular. Baseball is not played in many places, and is widely derided by non-Americans as arrogant for staging the World Series. Hockey is played in North America but not many other places, other than the colder parts of Europe. American football is known as American football in the […]

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That is the name of the new “refreshment” store in the active neighborhood across the street from the offices of The National. I walked out late the other night, and was hit in the face by the brilliant lighting of the new place (next to the barber shop), and the remarkable name. “Vitamin Palace”. Don’t […]

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A professional soccer team usually can accommodate no more than one big, strong, slow player in its lineup. And he nearly always is a striker known for being good in the air. He doesn’t have to win the ball. He doesn’t have to carry the ball. He doesn’t have to pass the ball. He doesn’t […]

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