What do Karachi, Shenzen, Lahore, Guangzhou and Lagos have in common? Each is a city of more than 10 million people. Each is ranked among the 16-most-populous cities in the world. And many North Americans know little or nothing about them.

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Lord help us, when guys with money meet new gadgets or souped-up vehicles or other unneeded things — well, yes, toys. And where better to stage a show dedicated to Toys for Big Boys than the UAE? OK, it probably should have been held in Dubai, which has a hard-earned reputation for wretched excess, but […]

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I had almost forgotten about this. Not like “I don’t remember” but in the sense of it “had been so long, I hadn’t thought about it in years”. The self-styled Symbionese Liberation Army and its shootout with Los Angeles police in 1974. But it came back to me, today, while watching, off and on, the […]

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It was a game that made UAE soccer supporters nervous, but the senior national team got out of Kuala Lumpur with an unimpressive, 2-1 victory, as reported in The National, over a Malaysia team the Emiratis beat 10-0 two months ago. It means the UAE “golden generation” — which makes up most of the current […]

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This was the big sports event of the weekend. UFC 193 and the knockout defeat of Ronda Rousey in Australia on Sunday by fellow American Holly Holm. In case you missed it, here are the dozen seconds or so that ended the fight — with Rousey on the canvas, bloodied and concussed.

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Often, after a terror attack, people and politicians make a point of saying “we are not afraid”. That seemed to be the case in Paris, certainly, over the weekend, after the attacks that killed at least 130 people. France’s president, Francois Hollande, said something like that in an address to the nation. Versions of that […]

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Friday, the 13th of November, 2015, will be remembered for a long time, in Paris. One of those “where were you when …?” events that everyone will be able to answer. The overwhelming majority of the people out and about not only weren’t victims of terrorists, they saw or heard nothing about them until after […]

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Six days ago we left the Paris of the 11th Arrondissement, which today again was the Paris of Terror. In the deadliest day in the city since World War II, seven decades ago, far more than 100 people were killed in six terror attacks, four of which occurred inside the 11th we stayed in for […]

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A characteristic of weather in the UAE, and this part of the world, is that it is relentlessly hot in the summer — as well as the four extra “shoulder” months, two before and two after summer, proper. It was every-single-day, uniformly hot from, let’s say, mid-April, until today, when it the high temperature did […]

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Like most individual sports, golf benefits from a rivalry at the top. Hogan versus Snead. Palmer versus Nicklaus. Woods versus Mickelson — which is not as lopsided as one might think. The next great rivalry? Looks like it will be between Jordan Spieth, the 22-year-old Texan, and Rory McIlroy, the 26-year-old Northern Irishman. And it […]

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