Abu Dhabi

On one hand, there is the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, flush with oil money and eager to associate itself with the iconic brands of the world's culture, from the Louvre to Ferrari. On the other hand, there is Johns Hopkins Medicine, seeking to expand its worldwide reach to fulfill its sense of mission, add to its luster and to generate revenue. Their interests intersected this week - not for the first time, but in the biggest way yet - with the announcement that Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates, was making a "transformational" gift.

Iraq is awash in blood. Egypt is a restless, teeming warren. Lebanon is a battleground of religion and politics. Saudi Arabia is a veiled kingdom beholden to oil and Islam. Jordan, the smaller kingdom, is a country of refugees. And then you have the United Arab Emirates. It's been 36 years since the British left that cluster of tiny oil sheikdoms on the Persian Gulf, whose tribal leaders then united under the banner of the UAE. In that time, the founder and first president, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, invested petrol dollars and transformed a corner of the Arabian peninsula into a union of seven modern states.

Being stranded in an airport because of bad weather or some other reason can be a most annoying experience. The only bright side of it is the opportunity to browse through the magazines in the bookstores (except those sealed in plastic) and quickly learn about what the rest of the world is doing. Because honestly, how many of us would otherwise pick up a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review and read, or even look at, important articles like "In Praise of the Incomplete Leader." I, for one, always take advantage of this freebie of instant learning.

GEOGRAPHY QUIZ-- The city of Abu Dhabi is located on a small island that is part of what country? (Answer below) Quiz answer (FROM ABOVE) United Arab Emirates. Source: National Geographic Bee

Extending the Hopkins brand, Johns Hopkins Medicine International announced yesterday it would for the first time run a foreign hospital - in this case in Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates. Yesterday also marked the opening of a Hopkins International-affiliated hospital in Beirut, Lebanon: the Clemenceau Medical Center. Hopkins International has been working since 2002 to plan and open the new facility. Other Hopkins International programs include continuing medical education in India, an outpatient "health village" in Turkey, a hospital in Panama, medical training in Portugal, and obstetric units in China.

At least three foreign journalists were killed and several others wounded by two American strikes in Baghdad yesterday. While U.S. officials said soldiers were returning enemy fire in each case, the deaths sparked bitter accusations that the United States was targeting the news media. Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters news service, and Jose Couso, 37, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco, died after a U.S. tank fired a shell that struck Reuters' room on the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - At last, the American grand strategy for the Middle East is crystallizing. The focus is on foes like Saddam Hussein, but only in the short term. In the long run, some Americans, particularly among political conservatives, are looking to undo and transform the region in its entirety - from Iraq to Iran, Saudi Arabia to Syria, Lebanon to the Palestinians. Speaking at a conference in Prague recently, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the "biggest piece of unfinished business is the Middle East."

Early yesterday afternoon, Reuters reported a Middle Eastern television station's story that seven U.S. soldiers had been killed, 14 had been injured, and several others taken hostage during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan. A few minutes later, CNN reported the same information, citing Reuters. It would have been the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan. But U.S. military officials say the incident never happened. And CNN and Reuters spent much of the afternoon backtracking.

Adnan Obaid Mohamed Al Zaabi thinks his country has a car theft problem. But the United Arab Emirates only has a handful every few months.While Zaabi believes homicide is a troubling issue, his tiny desert nation averages only one a year.So when the 33-year-old police captain from Abu Dhabi went for a ride with Baltimore police this week, he got a lesson in big-city crime.In four hours Wednesday, he accompanied police responding to a mugging and to a family squabble, went on a drug raid and watched an officer fight a bureaucracy that couldn't tell him whether his department had towed a 1986 Toyota.

12 BCCI executives sentencedTwelve former top executives of the collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International were convicted of fraud and mismanagement yesterday in an Abu Dhabi court and sentenced to as long as 14 years in prison.They were also ordered to pay $9.13 billion to the Abu Dhabi government, the bank's major shareholder. Most of the defendants said they would be unable to pay because they are broke.BCCI's elderly Pakistani founder, Agha Hasan Abedi, failed to appear at the trial but was sentenced in absentia to an eight-year jail term.