Everton Ribeiro. I know the player Everton Ribeiro. Left-footed midfielder. During the 2014/15 season he played for the Dubai club Al Ahli. He arrived with a reputation for being one of Brazil’s best players; in recent years he twice had been designated the best player in Brazil’s domestic top flight. Turns out, he wasn’t the […]

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This has been one of the most closely followed stories of the past several months, certainly among expatriates and as measured by The National’s website: The murder of an American woman in the toilet of a mall on Reem Island, here in Abu Dhabi, on December 1. Today, the Emirati woman who carried out the […]

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Ahmed Rizvi is the tennis guy of The National staff, and in doing a meaty story on Serena Williams ahead of the start of Wimbledon tomorrow he illuminated some trends I had not noticed. She goes to the All England Club having won the past three major championships, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and […]

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If you have 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million) burning a hole in your pocket, this “villa” on the Palm Jumeirah may be for you. The photo gallery in The National begins under the title: Wake up to this view …

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You have either failed horribly — or succeeded sensationally — when your new mascot is described as the physical embodiment of nightmares. Granted, it’s the slow time of year in sports, particularly in Europe/Britain/Scotland, which could explain why what seems rather like an amateurish, slapdash effort at mascotry spawned a dozen think pieces throughout Britain. […]

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You know how, sometimes, you don’t make obvious connections? And then it hits you and you slap yourself on the forehead and say, “Well, of course!” I was sitting in a pew in the chapel at St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi, moments before a wedding, when the light bulb went on. “Hey, this is […]

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* Besides looking at the DOB stats on your driver’s license. You rise shortly after dawn, drag your suitcases (thank God wheels are now attached) down to the docks, take a heaving two-hour ferry ride, followed by a one-hour taxi ride through ugly traffic to the airport, followed by three hours waiting in the lounge, […]

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I seldom have been around people with lots of money. Athletes, I suppose, but I’ve always assumed they will blow it all, and before they were 40; most of their predecessors have. So athletes’ money has never impressed me. I’m talking about an older person with money. Perhaps enough money that they feel no need […]

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I am impressed by people who live in hilly cities. How do they get around? How annoying/challenging is it to be going uphill or downhill at all times? If you drop a ball … it’s going to roll a long way before it comes to a stop, probably in a nearby body of water. Hydra, […]

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Walking towards a pre-wedding reception on the southern edge of Hydra port, on the Greek island of the same name, we saw the monstrous yacht. It was not just any monstrous yacht. It was one of the biggest private yachts in the world. “Biggest” is a hazy designation, and seems to be sure to be […]

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