BUSINESS & JOBS

Annabel Kantaria explains why she's not surprised the next James Bond book will be set in Dubai, plus Anna Nicholas on the mugging of Harry Redknapp in Spain. Indeed, just as Tom Cruise and the Mission Impossible 4 boys climb down from the Burj Khalifa, we hear about Dubai’s next starring role: our city is to be the backdrop for the 28th James Bond book, “Carte Blanche”, which is due to be released in May.

Emaar Malls Group has unveiled a colourful calendar of events and festive discounts for the 16th edition of DSF. In line with DSF's theme of "One World, One Family, One Festival," the mall will also host roaming entertainment, themed shows and colourful activities including special promotions by leading retailers. Dubai Marina Mall; Souk Al Bahar and the Gold and Diamond Park with 90 retail outlets dedicated to the gold and jewellery trade will also showcase a choice of entertainment events for visitors.

If 2010 was a tough 12 months for Arabtec shareholders, then 2011 has begun on a disconcertingly familiar note. On January 11 the Dubai-based construction giant - which worked on the world's tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa - announced that it was planning a rights issue as well as a $150m, five-year convertible bond. The news saw Arabtec stock drop almost 7% in the two days after the announcement, on fears of earnings-per-share and stock dilution.

Coming to the opening, the major attraction of the day was the scintillating pyrotechnics display at UAE’s iconic Burj Khalifa. Lending a burst of colour to the official opening ceremony, the fireworks lit up the Dubai sky in a most spectacular fashion to continued applause from the hundreds of spectators around. Similar firework displays, to enthrall visitors are planned for the duration of the festival.

One year ago when Burj Khalifa launched as the world’s tallest tower, at over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, it rose like a phoenix from among the ashes of a global economic burnout. While property prices around the world and in the UAE took a beating, the fountains in front of the iconic structure seemed to drench the imagination of visitors with strange ideas of who actually lived in the Burj Khalifa.

Lifestyle's corporate team considered a range of store sites within Dubai Mall. The store site was finally selected after careful studies on customer flow, number of entrances to the mall and proximity to mall attractions, such as the fountains and aquarium.

She went on, of course, to design some of the most iconic hotels in the world. Other projects on the board include the Conrad Haipang Bay Resort in Sanya, China, Park Hyatt Saadiyat Island, Shangri-La Hotel Mumbai, India, Armani Hotel via Manzoni in Milan, Italy, St Regis Doha, Qatar, Four Season Cairo, Egypt, Shangri-La Bangkok, Thailand, St. Regis Zhuhai and the Four Seasons Tianjin.

In particular, the mobile traffic volume in the Burj Khalifa area, which was busy with visitors who came to witness the fireworks, witnessed a jump of 205%.

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing. The People’s Daily Online quoted a senior official as saying that graphics and planning of the ‘seven-star’ hotel had already been completed.

The tallest building of the year is also the tallest building in the world. Soaring an impressive 828 meters into the sky (that’s 2,717 feet for Americans), the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest man-made structure built to date.