Emaar Hospitality Group (EHG) has announced plans to open the “highest restaurant” in the world in January 2011 in Dubai.

The restaurant will be called Atmosphere and will be located on the 122nd floor of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

According to a report on Hotelier.com, Atmosphere will be grill style restaurant.

Italian fashion brand Armani has announced the opening of its first hotel in Dubai for March 18.

The luxe label has chosen the just opened Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai), the world’s largest tower,  to host its first venture into hospitality.

More hotels are planned for Milan, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai and London, although no dates have been specified at this point.

The financially troubled Gulf emirate of Dubai on Monday opened the world’s tallest building, a glistening concrete, glass and steel pinnacle rising 828 metres (2,717 feet) out of the desert sands.

Blazing fireworks rippled up and down the massive structure after it was officially opened by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum.

He renamed the building, previously known as Burj Dubai, Burj Khalifa in honour of United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

Once-bustling Dubai will open the world’s tallest skyscraper on Monday, boasting new limits in design and construction, hopeful of polishing an image tarnished by the debt woes afflicting the Gulf emirate.

Emaar, the giant property firm which developed the needle-shaped concrete, steel and glass structure, has declined to reveal Burj Dubai’s exact height.

Apparently wanting to maintain the suspense, the company will say only that the tower exceeds 800 metres (2,640 feet), putting it far higher than Taiwan’s Taipei 101 tower (508 metres).

The world’s new tallest building, the 818-meter-high Burj Dubai tower is set to open a new visitors’ area on January 4, featuring a panoramic view platform on its 124th floor.

Even though the economy is grim, big malls are opening around the world. We recently mentioned the opening of the Westfield Mall in London and now the Dubai Mall has officially opened boasting the largest number of retailers in the world.

As we mentioned earlier this year, the mall boasts a gold souk, a 10-million litre (2.2 million gallon) aquarium and an Olympic-size ice rink in addition to rows and rows of stores.

The mall is situated at the foot of Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower), already the tallest building on earth at around 700 meters (2,300 feet) and still under construction.
The mall is scheduled to house branches of some of the world’s best known retail chains, such as Marks and Spencer, Galeries Lafayette and even Bloomingdales, which has never before had stores outside the United States.