DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In his old life in Cairo, Rami Galal knew his place and his fate: to become a maintenance man in a hotel, just like his father. But here, in glittering, manic Dubai, he is confronting the unsettling freedom to make his own choices.
Here Mr. Galal, 24, drinks beer almost every [...]

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Dubai recently announced its partnership with China in the creation of a billion dollar investment fund. Saudi commitment to double oil exports to China by 2010. These two announcements exemplify China’s Middle East energy strategy: to entrench itself economically in the region, even at a loss, so as to obtain the political leverage required to [...]

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A sleepy stretch of sand visited mainly by the odd camel caravan over the centuries, Qatar is in the midst of a massive spending spree, financing museums, skyscrapers and rapid modernization - like much of the Gulf region. But unlike Dubai, which wants to dominate in tourism, Qatar has more modest targets for its seemingly [...]

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Without much oil under its sands, Dubai is no petro powerhouse. But you can’t beat it for being the most colorful sheikdom in the Middle East–or the most ambitious. What other desert land can claim one of the world’s largest indoor ski slopes, featuring fresh powder year round? While flying in on the stylish, state-owned [...]

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Most expatriate residents of Dubai end up speaking Dinglish, the peculiar mix of broken English, Arabic and Hindi, writes Annabel Kantaria.
‘You must come over Friday night - we’re having a party in my backside,” said my new friend.
I’d only been in Dubai a couple of weeks and was over the moon to have got talking [...]

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As the economic mood darkens, Britain’s wealth generators are moving abroad. So where exactly is everybody heading, asks Terry Kirby
The exodus is accelerating faster than house prices are falling. Refusing to risk their livelihoods on our spluttering financial situation, or have their spirits crushed by fear of rising crime, a new swath of high-flyers, [...]

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A building frenzy is raging in Asia, Russia and on the Persian Gulf. And cities like London and New York don’t have the money to compete. Will Western urban landscapes soon look outdated? By Ulrike Knöfel, Frank Hornig and Bernhard Zand more…

Photo Gallery: The East’s New Skylines
The Rise of Dubai: A Queue in the Sand
Unveiling [...]

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Thirty years ago, Dubai wasn’t on the international art map. Today, Art Dubai 2008 serves up a cocktail of private equity firms and expensive art, where Land Rovers and seven-star hotels swaddle international art buyers in a simulated Arabian paradise. By R. Jay Magill, Jr. in Dubai more…

Photo Gallery: Art Dubai 2008
Global Village Dubai: Cultures [...]

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SIX years ago, Dion Mavath, an Australian D.J., flew to Dubai to take up residency at an upstart local nightclub. Dubai, a fledgling metropolis, was still mostly known as an airport hub and a shipping port, and the local night-life scene, he quickly found, was nearly as sterile and undistinguished as the flat Middle Eastern [...]

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Some of Dubai’s districts are known as “Little Tehran.” Iranians have their own clubs and Iranian restaurants do a thriving business throughout the Emirates. Little understood among those advocating tighter economic sanctions against Iran is that the United Arab Emirates is Iran’s first trading partner. Iran imports more than $10 billion from the United Arab [...]

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An unprecedented boom is changing the region—and echoing far past its borders.
Aug. 6, 2007 issue - We all know the headlines by now: the Middle East is burning, right? So it seems, as Palestinians and Iraqis wage civil war, Lebanon seethes, Syria and Israel trade barbs and Iran spits defiance. Yet beyond the smoke a [...]

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