Dubai Informer

The defense apparatus in the United Arab Emirates arrested 45 suspects, most of them Palestinian and Lebanese, after the plot to blow up Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) was uncovered. Dubai Tower, currently under construction, is the tallest building in the world. The current wave of arrests adds to the eight other suspects detained immediately after the [...]

Herve Jaubert, a French spy who left espionage to make leisure submarines for the wealthy, was riding high. bankrolled by Dubai World, a government-owned conglomerate, he built a submarine workshop on the Persian Gulf, lived rent-free in a villa with a pool and tooled around town in a red Lamborghini. He had two Hummers. He vacationed [...]

Commuters sweltering in frustration while they make their way on public transportation between Dubai and Ajman should find relief in a new water taxi service. Ajman Municipality said yesterday it would launch the first inter-emirate water taxi service, in conjunction with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, by June next year. With an initial budget of [...]

Shortly after the first cases of H1N1 flu was confirmed in the Persian Gulf among US soldiers in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates has reported its first swine flu case. UAE Health Minister, Hanif Hassan, told the official WAM news agency on Sunday that a man who had recently returned from Canada was tested positive for [...]

The second phase of a Dh4.5 billion light rail project for some of Dubai’s most congested areas has been postponed, according to a senior official. Abdul Redha abu al Hassan, director of planning and development at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said yesterday that the second phase of the Al Sufouh tram system had been [...]

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has announced he will be holding an online question and answer session with residents and the media in a week’s time. The online ‘town hall’ meeting, as the event is being dubbed, will take place on Sheikh Mohammed’s official [...]

The UAE government is thinking about (or has already put in place?) a law that will prohibit private companies from firing UAE nationals from their jobs. Of course this does not count if the employee does something wrong and that’s the reason for him being sacked. But what in an economic downturn? You cant fire people [...]

Dubai’s population is continuing to grow, a government official said yesterday, despite reports that the economic downturn has resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs. The emirate issued 1,000 more visas a day than it cancelled last month, Raed Safadi, the chief economist for the Government of Dubai, said yesterday at a conference. “They’re still positive,” [...]

Work has begun on Dubai’s first tram project on Al Sufouh Road, said a senior official at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). “Work on the first phase of the Al Sufouh Tram project is progressing according to the schedule and the consortium of the French Alstom, the Belgian Besix, the American Parsons and the [...]

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has finished its ‘complete journey planner’ to encourage people to use the Dubai Metro. “Since many residents believe that people will not use the metro during the summer months when the average temperature is recorded at above 40C the complete journey planner is the answer to their doubts,” said [...]

Nakheel, a Dubai World company and one of the world’s largest and most innovative real estate developers, today announced that 2008 sales to date are showing a threefold increase on 2007′s full-year figures. Nakheel’s portfolio, conservatively valued at US$80 billion. Till date, more than 6,100 Nakheel units in Dubai have been sold (97%) or reserved [...]

Fears over the health of Dubai’s real estate sector are overblown and a stronger dollar would help rid the market of speculative buyers, Al Mal Capital’s head of equity research said on Thursday. Prices are likely to ease in 2010 after rising another 10-15 percent in the coming year, but developers like Emaar will still [...]

Property prices in Dubai are likely to fall 10 per cent by 2010 as supply outpaces demand, but they are expected to rise in Abu Dhabi’s undersupplied market, Morgan Stanley said in its latest report on Tuesday. “For 2009, we expect prices to start coming under pressure as oversupply becomes evident [in Dubai]. We forecast [...]

Faith in Dubai’s real estate sector could be shaken if the plethora of developments coming on to the market next year outstrips demand and if the government goes back on its promise to issue residency visas. published in Gulfnews “I think a bigger worry would be if the government withdrew its promise to grant residency [...]

When speaking about Dubai and the so-called “real estate bubble”, conversations tend to focus on the short term. “What will happen in 2009-10 when projects are completed and handed over – will prices level off or even worse, fall?” I can remember back in 2004 when people were asking those very same questions. The truth [...]

This Gulf desert nation, one of the world’s most environmentally unfriendly with its ubiquitous air conditioning, swimming pools and SUVs, may be looking to redeem itself. It has begun building what it calls the world’s first zero-carbon city. Environmentalists say Masdar City – powered mainly by solar energy and recycling waste and water – is [...]

More than two-thirds of Dubai’s population are spending up to half their salaries on house rents and children’s education, according to a cost-of-living survey released yesterday. The DSL Exhibitions survey of more than 400 Dubai residents earning more than Dh200,000 annually, analysed the increase in the cost of living to gauge the impact of the [...]

du captures 10% of UAE population ahead of schedule du, the new national telecom operator in the UAE, today announced that it reached the half a million mark of customers, ten days ago.Emphasizing the factors that resulted in this achievement, Osman Sultan, CEO du, said: “We have launched in the UAE with a very carefully [...]

New figures released today show that Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) retains its leading position in the region’s event industry. DWTC-managed venues are set to host a total of 106 major events in 2007, and the group has already secured a number of new exhibitions that will push the total to an all-time high in [...]

Construction of the largest proposed light rapid transit system in the world is on track and on time, delegates heard at a regional railway conference in Dubai on Wednesday. The first phase of the Dh15.5-billion Dubai Metro will be completed by September 2009, contrary to some predictions abroad that the Roads and Transport Authority’s deadline [...]