Britain sent the decommissioned QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2) to the Gulf as a floating hotel. Now Dubai is to return the favour, building the world’s biggest yacht to be anchored beside the Thames as a floating hotel.

The Aquiva is expected to be the world’s largest pleasure boat.

It will enable hotel guests to obtain a flavour of the mega-yacht lifestyle when it is moored amid what today is a semi-derelict London landscape of warehouses and building sites.

Burj Al Arab, one of the most luxurious hotels, has received four new bespoke model Phantom Rolls-Royce’s into its already extensive luxury vehicle range.

The iconic hotel has enlarged the fleet of Phantoms to ten - all of which have custom-made features specifically crafted to reflect the unique opulence of the hotel.

The four Special Edition Phantoms are hand built with custom-made wood with Gold Inlays matching the Burj Al Arab logo and unique Greek inlays harmonizing with the hotel’s rooms.

With news of the forthcoming opening of the Dubai Metro Red Line in September 2009, the bustling gulf metropolis is in the final phase of completing its transformation into one of the leading global cities of the modern era.

Connecting the central business district with both sides of the Dubai Creek, the new metro (with a further Green Line extension planned for 2010) will ease commuter traffic, and undoubtedly benefit property owners who are currently jammed on roads on their daily commutes.

In the long term, it is forecasted that potential Dubai investment will also have to reconsider their policies in view of this new “green factor”.

Have you ever seen a gold Bugatti Veyron?

These pictures of the exclusive model come from Dubai and shows its stunning design with the opulence of the gold colour in three various tonalities.

Luxury goods company Cartier on Thursday braved the deepening global recession to launch its biggest boutique so far in the Middle East.

The 700 square-meter showroom in the upscale Dubai Mall testifies to the Cartier’s confidence that chilly economic winds will not deter well-heeled residents and visitors to Dubai from buying its jewelry, watches, handbags and other high-end merchandise.

The opening event was attended by actress Monica Bellucci and Bollywood stars including Anil Kapoor.

With her length of 162 metres, Dubai is the largest yacht in the world. She was originally commissioned by a Prince from Brunei and she was to be built at Blohm & Voss in co-operation with Lürssen.

When a large part of the hull and superstructure of Project Panhandle/Golden Star was completed, the construction stopped and the unfinished yacht was sold to the ruler of Dubai.

Following the sale, the project was renamed Platinum and transported from Germany to Dubai for completion at the newly formed shipyard, Platinum Yachts.