Rocky Ras Al Khaimah has always been the most fascinating of the seven emirates, and now it's being branded a rogue state:

RAK is a strategically important part of the UAE, 50 miles from Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil are shipped each day. Sheikh Khalid, 66, was ousted by his father and brother as de ( Read more... )

It is impossible to know whether this post at Al-Emirati.com on the victims of the recent Air India disaster is intended to be some appalling attempt at humour or satire, but by every single measure it is absolutely beyond the pale:
Not really. Not only do I not care if the victims "rest in peace" but it seems to me that they are, rather, resting ( Read more... )

It was October 2003; the setting was the recently opened Madinat Jumeirah, its lobby strewn with even more rose-petals and incense-bearers than usual. For the weary Dubai hack pack, lured there by the anticipation of free Jumeirah International catering and yet another laser-etched paperweight or pleather business folder, it was clear that ( Read more... )

Here's a lucrative career suggestion for anyone struggling in the Dubai recession, and you don't even have to get out of bed:

"STUNNING star student Paige Ashley turned her back on a lawyer's career to make £1million as a real life Belle de Jour ( Read more... )

I'm forever blowing bubbles
Property bubbles in the sand
They grow so fast, obviously can't last
But why do I care, I still own the land
People keep on buying
I take all their cash
Oh, I'm forever blowing bubbles
And bubbles always crash

"Nowadays, ten months after the financial crisis came crashing in on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), nearly ( Read more... )

Another lucky expat gets a free stay at the Al Wathba government hotel:

A BRITISH businesswoman faces a year inside a squalid Arab prison for having an affair - after her fuming husband shopped her to police ( Read more... )

This is an unpleasantly graphic story to quote extensively from, but the response of UAE authorities is relevant and disturbing:

In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed ( Read more... )

Probably the best article ever written on Dubai, by Johann Hari in the Independent. It covers everything from wexpats:

Daniel [a brain tumour patient] was arrested and taken away on the day of their eviction. It was six days before she could talk to him. "He told me he was put in a cell with another debtor, a Sri Lankan guy who was only 27, who ( Read more... )

Forget the Airbus A380s, Dubai's national airline has a much more exciting way to fly:

Camel flies high over DubaiWed 1 Apr, 2009 1:23 AM GMT ( Read more... )

Bad luck to single women as well as married women: you now have no control over your fertility. According to the medical clinic at a major Dubai company, the UAE recently stripped away any rights to contraception without a husband's consent:

"[Dubai Company] Clinic have advised that due to a change in UAE federal law, there is now a requirement ( Read more... )