For the sixth anniversary of The National, tomorrow, the newspaper at which I work, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, it was decided by the editor, Mohammed Al Otaiba, to do something different. Something very different. Our four standard news sections … with almost no words. The mission: Telling the news of the day through […]

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Outside the front door of an apartment here in my building in Abu Dhabi is a sort of welcome mat. One with a message. It reads: “OOOOH GOODIE! “YOU’VE ARRIVED! “(at last)” It strikes me as a bit of an unusual welcome mat.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to Abu Dhabi tonight, and it seemed to get plenty of attention. The du Arena on Yas Island appeared to be filled to capacity (about 6,000) to see an eight-bout card capped by the American heavyweight Roy “Big Country” Nelson knocking out Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira of Brazil. This was […]

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At times, driving in Abu Dhabi, a person could be excused for thinking he was in south Orange County. The green medians. The palm trees. The sun. The four-lane (in each direction) highways crowded with SUVs and recent makes of high-end cars. At other times, we are reminded some significant gulfs exist between ways of […]

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I’m trying to figure out how this happened. How Al Ahli of Dubai went from being one of the better teams in the UAE soccer league to being the unrivaled best team in the country. And, like many takeovers, it was incremental. I saw Ahli play last night, against Al Jazira, just down the street […]

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It’s nice being on the 10th floor of a building. With a balcony. Sometime, it lends itself to a view. Such as a really interesting sunset, above. A couple of points:

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Violent rainstorms are nearly unknown in Abu Dhabi. Violent duststorms? Sure. That happens a couple of dozen times a year. The wind blows, it picks up dirt from far away, and pretty soon the whole of the city is covered in grit. But violent rainstorms? With heavy winds? Stuff being knocked down? No. That doesn’t […]

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Clocks in Western Europe and Britain were moved ahead by an hour over the weekend — about three weeks behind the U.S. clock-tweaking. They have moved to Euro daylight savings time, and England is now three hours behind Abu Dhabi, sted the four hours during the winter, and the continent is two hours behind, sted […]

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A cool technology story today in The National. The Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team is preparing to wear one-piece suits which will adjust for the heat and cold of the upcoming round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race — so that to everyone on the boat it feels like 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius) at all times. That […]

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I should get some sort of award for this. Or, better, a reward. An extra 10 RBI the first week. An extra home run for each of the next 26 weeks. I could cite biorhythm studies here, but I most certainly was at a huge disadvantage when the Sun Baseball League conducted its 33rd draft […]

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