How Dubai's dream sank in a sea of debt

The emirate’s debt-fuelled spree has been exposed by the recession. Will UK banks and contractors get back their money?

Debt-laden Dubai owes British builders £250m

British contractors have sought help from Lord Mandelson to recoup more than £250m in unpaid bills from Dubai

Sheikh Mohammed: the driving force of Dubai

In Dubai, nobody commands respect like Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who has ruled the Gulf state since 2006

Women lead Swiss in vote to ban minarets

Radical feminists are boosting a right-wing campaign to outlaw minarets on mosques in a referendum being held in Switzerland today

alMegrahi linked to Libya’s chemical weapons

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is implicated in the purchase and development of chemical weapons by Libya

Swedes hit on nail beds as cutting-edge cure-all

Health-conscious consumers in Sweden are convinced that lying on rubber pads embedded with sharp, plastic pins is good for them

World news in brief

Pandas settle in Australia | Knox inquiry | Pothole grave

Dial V for violence: gory news films are mobile hit

A new service that sends gory and often graphic crime reconstructions to mobile phones is proving a bit hit with Chinese consumers

Navy releases pirates caught red-handed

More than 340 suspected Somalian pirates have been captured in operations over the past year and subsequently released

Crouching Tiger, hidden hydrant

A bizarre late-night car crash has sparked questions over the state of the golfer’s marriage

Golden payoff for EU chiefs

Thirteen outgoing European commissioners are to receive golden goodbyes amounting to £4.5m, an average of nearly £350,000 each

Paris does the can’t-can’t as noise laws kill nightlife

Paris risks becoming the Capital of Sleep unless something is done to perk up its nightlife, according to the latest French protest movement

Mafia wife urges others to turn in husbands too

The wife of a Sicilian gangster, who has been praised for betraying him, has appealed to other mob women to leave their men

Tiger Woods: Mr Clean strays off course

The golfer's brief drive in the early hours of Friday morning was on the bizarre side of erratic

Tiger ‘was fleeing his angry wife’

The golfer is facing police questioning after a car accident outside his home left him bleeding and unconscious in the street

Cuts ground special forces’ helicopters

Helicopters used by UK troops to mentor Afghan counterparts on anti-drugs operations have been grounded to save £2m a year

Dubai: Just deserts

The country is paying the price for embarking on the world’s biggest spending spree – with other people’s money. Can it ever...