Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Visitors will have to wait until early next year for the opening of the world's tallest building in Dubai. The media office of the city-state's ruler said Wednesday the hulking Burj Dubai will now debut on Jan. 4, a month later than expected. The new opening date is timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's appointment as ruler of Dubai. Excavation work on the silvery Burj Dubai, Arabic for "Dubai Tower," began more than five years ago. It has continued rapidly since. By January 2007, some 3,000 laborers — mostly imported from India — had completed 100 ... Read Full Story

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan was re-elected president of the United Arab Emirates for a second five-year term on Tuesday, the official news agency WAM announced. The Supreme Federal Council, made up of the rulers of the seven emirates in the UAE, selected Sheikh Khalifa, 61. He first rose to the presidency as oil-rich Abu Dhabi's ruler in 2004 on the death of his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, who founded the Gulf state in 1971. The council designates both the president and vice president. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who is also the country's prime minister, defence minister and ruler of Dubai, ... Read Full Story

The ruler of Dubai has taken part in a high-level meeting to discuss the Gulf emirate's possible bid for the 2020 Olympics. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his son, Crown Prince Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, led a working group meeting Monday to push the joint effort for the 2020 Olympics and 2020 World Expo. The committee says Sheik Mohammed described Dubai's "rich Arab history and sublime record of achievement" that will win favor with "countries and companies." Dubai is the second Gulf state trying for the Olympics. Doha, the capital of Qatar, failed to make the list of ... Read Full Story

There was a time when Dubai's annual property fair was a gilded stage for the ruling sheik to unveil his latest, anything-goes dreams: the world's tallest towers, canals in the desert and artificial islands in the sea. As this year's fair begins Monday, the global recession has sharply downsized those visions and taken much of the boomtown bravado from the city-state's CEO-style ruler. The Cityscape expo is expected to be far more subdued than in years past. The shift reflects Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's passage from big-ticket visionary to more cautious steward of the Gulf emirate's sand-to-skyscraper transformation. "Nobody is talking about ... Read Full Story

There was a time when Dubai's annual property fair was a gilded stage for the ruling sheik to unveil his latest, anything-goes dreams: the world's tallest towers, canals in the desert and artificial islands in the sea. As this year's fair begins Monday, the global recession has sharply downsized those visions and taken much of the boomtown bravado from the city-state's CEO-style ruler. The Cityscape expo is expected to be far more subdued than in years past. The shift reflects Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's passage from big-ticket visionary to more cautious steward of the Gulf emirate's sand-to-skyscraper transformation. "Nobody is talking about ... Read Full Story