The Rolling Stones are playing Abu Dhabi this weekend. Yes. Those Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger and the rest of the geriatric crew. Who landed on the island today and posed for this photo, posted on their Facebook page. And you would be amazed at the fuss.

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Most everyone who has followed Landon Donovan‘s soccer career, even when he was playing in his first World Cup, in 2002, did the math and came to a quick conclusion: If everything goes well … he would be able to play for the United States through the 2014 World Cup. He would be 32 that […]

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First class is a way of life, in the UAE. For the Emirati citizens, certainly, but also for a significant chunk of western expats who eagerly join in to the notion of “only the best”. Today, one of the business reporters at The National did a piece about flying first class with Emirates, the Dubai-based […]

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The guys who come to the UAE to wash and sweep and polish and clean have a sideline business, after hours, that no doubt makes them a fair amount of money. Washing cars.

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I took a break from the production of the sports section tonight to run an errand across the parking lot, behind the back of the newspaper. It was 8 p.m., and twilight had long since turned into night, and as I returned to the newspaper campus. I found myself walking parallel to the windows on […]

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With fairly regular access to the Sochi Games, on TV in the office, here in Abu Dhabi, or on the NBC website, at home … I find myself watching more than a little of this silliness. And watching it reminds me of the six Winter Olympics I covered, as a credentialed reporter. When you have […]

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When I was a child, Lincoln’s birthday was a legal holiday in the state of California, and it always made perfect sense to me. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, the man who led the country through the Civil War, which ended slavery. One of only two guys in competition for “greatest U.S. […]

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I know just enough about wind-powered sailing to have deep respect for those who do it. Those who cover great distances over blue water. Distances so great they eventually turn a lap of the planet. I find that mind-boggling. Around the world, however, is the idea behind the Volvo Ocean Race, originally known as the […]

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This brought back some memories, absolutely. A place not known for bicycles but interested in notions of healthy living and reducing carbon emissions, ready to be convinced that cycling is a good thing, somehow or other … bringing in a professional race over a series of days, and everyone sorta gawking at it, and some […]

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Live in Abu Dhabi long enough, and you lose the “sense of weather” that might serve you well in most of the rest of the world. Waking up, this morning, looking out the window … and it’s quite dark, even at 8 a.m. Let’s run down what that might mean, in Abu Dhabi.

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