Omar Abdulrahman … the best player nearly no one outside the UAE knows about. He is really good, if he is allowed to play, and he has become the leader of the UAE national team, which plays host Saudi Arabia in the semifinals of the Gulf Cup of Nations tomorrow. He dominated the final Group […]

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This actually is a handy compilation of information, if you are planning to visit the United Arab Emirates sometime soon. And you probably are not planning any such thing, if you live in the States. It’s just too far. But this should be required reading for Europeans and, in particular, for Britons and Russians, who […]

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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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The more I think about this … The most important soccer competition in the region is not really the World Cup. It is not the European Championship (which is followed closely in much of the world). Nor even the Asian Cup, the continental championship. The most important soccer competition in these parts … is the […]

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The sixth Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be held two Sundays hence. It will be the second time the Formula One drivers’ champion will be decided in the UAE capital. Which is the aim of any track that winds up with the final date on the F1 calendar. “All we want is the championship up […]

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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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Amateur photography and the UAE can be a volatile mix. A 70-year-old American named Robert Black could tell you about it, once he gets out of prison. Black appeared at a Creative Thinkers conference in Abu Dhabi last month, and before leaving the country apparently decided to take some photos in the city. The problem […]

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Have I mentioned I love the Volvo Ocean Race? Oh, yes. I have. The first leg, from Alicante, Spain, to Cape Town, South Africa, ended yesterday, with the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat, Azzam, the first across the finish line. Azzam needed 25 days to cover the 6,500 nautical miles from the Mediterranean to the […]

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That was perhaps the inevitable headline to a story that ran in The National over the weekend concerning a group of people dedicated to researching paranormal activity in the UAE. This was known as the Ghostbusters story, in the newsroom, harking back to the wonderful 1984 movie with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. The theme […]

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Probably just about anyone not a fan of the Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal, had to be pleased with this result: Western Sydney Wanderers 1, Al Hilal 0, aggregate, in the Asian Champions League final. A great victory for Western Sydney, a club formed only two years ago, and the first ACL title for an […]

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