Former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson is the latest celeb to attach her name to an eco-friendly hotel in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. In June, Ms. Anderson visited Abu Dhabi with the Make a Wish Foundation and reportedly "fell in love" with the emirate, prompting her to partner with the royal family on what she described as an "environmentally friendly" hotel.

Whether the PETA spokeswoman will be as vocal about workers' rights as she has been about animals' in the past is still unclear, but so far none of the celebs who've done licensing deals in the Gulf have been vocal about the chronic mistreatment of construction workers there.  read more »

Developers like Donald Trump and chocolatiers like Alison Nelson aren't the only ones eyeballing real estate in Dubai.

New York magazine reports that at least two Manhattan nightlife impressarios, Pink Elephant owner Josh Kaiser and Star Lounge proprietor Charles Ferri, are both planning to open new posh boites in the emirate.

In fact, I spoke with Mr. Ferri back in May about his Middle Eastern aspirations:

"Dubai is super important right now," he said. "We're looking to do a big, big club out there. They're basically flying me out there for a month."

The new venue would be located in a hotel, he added -- one of the few types of places the emirate permits booze.

On Monday night, the Trump Organization threw a lavish party in Midtown to celebrate the launch of its new Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai.

I wanted to know: How does the booming hotel market in Dubai compare to that of New York?

The dapper Donald Trump Jr. replied, "The high-end suites over there would be very comparable to the best you have in New York, and vice versa."

Fair enough. But what about bedbugs? Is the high-end Arab lodging scene just as prone to the nasty blood-sucking insects as the inns of Manhattan?

"Not that I’m aware of," the younger Trump said.  read more »

As the world’s best-known celebrity/activist power couple, Brangelina has forced paparazzi lenses to capture humanitarian crises worldwide, raising public awareness about issues like the plight of Iraqi refugees and AIDS in Africa.

Now that Mr. Pitt is working as a design consultant on an 800-room, “American-themed,” green hotel in Dubai, the 44-year-old actor may put the spotlight on the chronic exploitation of the estimated 700,000 workers powering the construction boom in the most real-estate-crazy of the United Arab Emirates.  read more »

Investors, their pockets bulging with foreign capital, will set down in Manhattan this September to eye local real estate investment opportunities, rub shoulders, and draw American investment overseas.

Cityscape -- the firm that put on a popular Dubai convention last year -- will host the the Cityscape USA exhibition on Sept. 10 and 11 at the Jacob Javits Center.  read more »

The first spinning skyscraper with individually rotating floors will soon rise on the increasingly crowded shores of Dubai, alongside the world's tallest building "the Burj" (tower in Arabic), the only full-sized indoor ski-slope, and countless other man-made construction marvels or monstrosities, depending on your perspective.

The neighboring, rival emirate, Abu Dhabi, announced plans for two rotating buildings before Dubai unveiled plans for the Dynamic Architecture building, but this is the first tower whose floors will twist separately (unnoticed by occupants), changing its appearance every five minutes. More importantly, the Dynamic Architecture building is also the first luxury building to be produced almost entirely in a factory, apart from the concrete core, according to the Web site. (An idea for New York, perhaps?)  read more »