Abu Dhabi and Dubai Blog

Federal prosecutors are disinclined to allow the actor to travel overseas again for work after learning that, the last time he was allowed to do so, Snipes took a sojourn to the United Arab Emirates for the gala opening of the $1.5 billion Atlantis the Palm hotel in Dubai.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b106127_wesley_snipes_feeling_heat_from_party.html

Three reasons why Dubai’s doom is greatly exaggerated:

First, the very fact that almost all of the emirate’s labour is foreign is a boon. Simply put, there will be no long lines at the unemployment office. There will be no public or parliamentary debate over how to help those who are now out of work. If you lose your job and you’re a foreigner, you’ll be on the next plane to wherever you came from in the first place. If you happen to be one of the 250,000 working Emiratis (not even half of whom are in Dubai), then you won’t lose your job to begin with, or you’ll be re-assigned or given some government post. For Dubai, just like the other small Gulf sheikhdoms, the economic crisis does not automatically translate into a social issue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/17/credit-crunch-dubai

“Holding hands in public, dancing, kissing, nudity and playing loud music in public are now considered inappropriate behaviour in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.”

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25191521-5012895,00.html

While almost everything in the media now is heralding Dubai’s economic downfall, maybe that means its luxury hotels like the Atlantis will opp for recession deals. That room in the arch between the two sections of the building is still going for $25,000 a night, but perhaps its dorm-room days are coming soon. For now here’s a nice introduction to this icon of opulence.

It’s expected that the Palm Jumeirah will one day support 30 hotels, several marinas and shopping centers and tens of thousands of residents. Two things about the Atlantis are immediately obvious as you drive up the “trunk” of the palm. The hotel is huge and very, very pink. It’s just like its sister hotel in the Bahamas, Atlantis, Paradise Island, both of which are owned by South African property magnate Sol Kerzner.

[Show as slideshow]

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-dubai8-2009mar08?page=1