Abu Dhabi

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has agreed to jointly fund energy production and refining projects with Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co., the Westwood-based company said Monday. Ray Irani, chief executive of the nation's fourth-largest oil and gas company, said the deal was part of a move to broaden Occidental's operations in the Mideast and North Africa. The joint venture is the latest of several between Occidental and the government of Abu Dhabi. Occidental has partnered with the emirate in an exploration project in Libya an oil field development deal in Oman and the $5.7-billion Dolphin Energy project, which transports natural gas from offshore Qatar to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

LA JOLLA - For Tiger Woods, the memories rush back in memorable and monumental torrents … of knee pain. His 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines remains the last, heroic, gut-it-out, pre-scandal visage of Tiger before his name brand was irrevocably altered by tabloids and time. No matter what you thought of Woods five years ago, this coming June, you could not deny him his due over a five-day stretch. His accomplishment remains among the most extraordinary feats in sport.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. added to its Middle East portfolio Wednesday with an agreement to develop a pair of small oil and natural gas fields in Abu Dhabi, the largest of the United Arab Emirates. The company's preliminary pact with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. gives Occidental full ownership and operational control of development projects in Abu Dhabi fields called Jarn Yaphour and Ramhan.

Justin Rose extended his lead at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Saturday, shooting a four-under 68 to take a two-shot lead over Jamie Donaldson and Thorbjorn Olesen. A day after top-ranked Rory McIlroy and second-ranked Tiger Woods missed the cut at the United Arab Emirates tournament, the fifth-ranked Englishman made his third round look easy with seven birdies. :: David Frost shot a 65 to hold a two-stroke lead on John Cook after the second round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

France's storied Louvre museum, home to priceless art works such as the "Mona Lisa," said Tuesday it would open a new Louvre in the Persian Gulf boomtown of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, prompting outcries from some who accuse the museum of shilling France's patrimony for $1.3 billion in oil money. The 30-year agreement opens the way for the Louvre Abu Dhabi to display thousands of works from the Paris Louvre and other leading French museums.

Digital Domain, the award-winning visual effects company behind the blockbuster “Transformers” films and “Tron: Legacy,” is expanding into the Middle East with plans to open a 150,000-square-foot production studio in Abu Dhabi in 2015. Parent company Digital Domain Media Group, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., said Sunday night that it was partnering with Abu Dhabi government-backed media and entertainment company twofour54 to build a studio that would create English- and Arabic-language animated movies targeted at Middle Eastern audiences, as well as produce visual and 3-D effects.

Half a world away from the incomparable Louvre Museum in Paris , work soon will begin on another Louvre, with a price tag of about $650 million. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which arose out of a 2007 cultural partnership between France and the United Arab Emirates, won't look anything like the lavish 12th century building where Louis XIV once lived. The mushroom-shaped building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel is slated to be part of a cultural district planned for Saadiyat Island.

Tiger Woods has missed the cut in the Abu Dhabi Championship after he was penalized two strokes for moving his ball from vines. He'll join top-ranked Rory McIlroy on the sidelines this weekend -- the first time that both have missed a cut in the 41 tournaments they've played together -- because of the blunder. It happened at the fifth hole Friday when his drive sailed to the right of the fairway and landed in a thicket of vines. Woods called playing partner Martin Kaymer over to see if he could get relief, and Kaymer agreed the ball had become embedded in the vines.

The flashy spendthrift needs his prim, conservative neighbor to bail him out. Such is the situation between debt-ridden Dubai and flush Abu Dhabi, two Persian Gulf emirates with starkly different financial strategies and temperaments that may grudgingly need each other to prevent long-term investor panic from spreading beyond the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's $80-billion debt, nearly $60 billion of it held by the investment conglomerate Dubai World, is testament to the emirate's overextended reliance on a real estate market whose fortunes tumbled in the global downturn.

A member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family was found not guilty Sunday of the torture and rape of an Afghan in a case that has embarrassed the Gulf emirate and raised questions over human rights. The judge reading the verdict at a court in the United Arab Emirates did not give a reason why Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan was exonerated of responsibility for abuse shown in a video first made public by ABC television last year. ABC identified one of the abuse participants as Issa.

Tiger Woods has missed the cut in the Abu Dhabi Championship after he was penalized two strokes for moving his ball from vines. He'll join top-ranked Rory McIlroy on the sidelines this weekend -- the first time that both have missed a cut in the 41 tournaments they've played together -- because of the blunder. It happened at the fifth hole Friday when his drive sailed to the right of the fairway and landed in a thicket of vines. Woods called playing partner Martin Kaymer over to see if he could get relief, and Kaymer agreed the ball had become embedded in the vines.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, a woeful start to the season for the world's top two golfers. Woods missed it after he was penalized two shots for wrongly taking a free drop, while top-ranked McIlroy was frustrated trying to adjust to his new Nike clubs, even though he used his old Titleist putter in the second round. Both finished with three-over 75s. "When you don't hit fairways on this golf course, you can't score," McIlroy said.

Half a world away from the incomparable Louvre Museum in Paris , work soon will begin on another Louvre, with a price tag of about $650 million. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which arose out of a 2007 cultural partnership between France and the United Arab Emirates, won't look anything like the lavish 12th century building where Louis XIV once lived. The mushroom-shaped building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel is slated to be part of a cultural district planned for Saadiyat Island.

MANCHESTER, England -- Mulligans, hidden on a dark one-way street in the center of England's third-largest metropolis, is typical of many British pubs in that it serves warm beer, hot food and proudly discriminates based on color. In a city fiercely divided between its two soccer teams, Mulligans is a Manchester United bar, all the way down to the large red-and-yellow logo pasted on the door to the bathroom stall. So when two visitors shuffle toward the entrance with the sky blue of rival Manchester City peeking out from beneath heavy winter coats, two beefy bouncers block their way. "No colors, mate!"

Golf fans in San Diego, start buying your tickets. Tiger Woods is returning to Torrey Pines this year. After skipping last year's PGA tournament there to play in Abu Dhabi, Woods announced late Wednesday that he will play in this year's Farmers Insurance Open, which is set to take place Jan. 24-27. Woods has won seven times at Torrey Pines, including the U.S. Open in 2008. Why is he returning? The organizers in Abu Dhabi moved their tournament up a week this year, allowing Woods time to play in both contests.

Rafael Nadal just can't buy a break. After sitting out seven months of the tennis season because of a knee injury, his long-awaited return has been delayed because of a stomach virus. Nadal was scheduled to play in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday, but he withdrew on Tuesday because he has a fever and his doctor advised him to rest. "I am very disappointed that I will not be able to compete this year in Abu Dhabi," Nadal said. "I was really excited about returning to play and I always have a wonderful experience at the event and this is the first time I will miss the tournament.

Abu Dhabi rescued debt-ridden Dubai on Monday with a $10-billion bailout package that lifted world financial markets but left unclear how the glittering emirate by the sea would recover from investors' jitters and a troubled real estate market. The plan provides $4.1 billion to repay a bond that matured Monday for developer Nakheel, which is controlled by state-owned Dubai World. The intervention by oil-rich Abu Dhabi, the most influential state in the United Arab Emirates, was an attempt to save its fellow emirate and to prevent a prolonged financial crisis from rippling across the region.

Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, said it plans an international film festival aimed at coupling movie projects with banks, hedge funds and other financial companies investing in cinema. The announcement comes months after the emirate set out its designs for an island art complex that will include the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi art museum. Organizers of the Middle East International Film Festival, to be held Oct.

The theme park industry will take a deep breath in 2013 after the launch of several landmark attractions and with more groundbreaking projects on the horizon. The last few years have seen several theme park additions that have altered the industry landscape and set attendance records -- from Cars Land at Disney California Adventure to Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure. The future promises even more theme park innovation in the form of Shanghai Disneyland in China and Avatar Land at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Rafael Nadal's return to competitive tennis has been delayed by a stomach virus. The Spaniard was scheduled to play in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday after missing seven months because of tendinitis in his left knee. But he said on his Facebook page Tuesday that his doctors ordered him to pull out when he was running a fever, telling him his body needed rest. "My rehab has gone well, my knee feels good and I was looking forward to competing," he said.