The man, believed to be in his twenties and of South Asian background, jumped from the 147th floor of the 828-metre (2,717 feet) skyscraper and landed on a terrace on the 108th floor, local daily The National reported, but those details were not confirmed by Emaar the building’s developer.

“The concerned authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide and we are awaiting the final report,” the Emaar statement said. It gave no further details on the incident.

The man may have worked at a company inside the 160-storey building, the paper said, adding that police said statements showed a holiday he had requested was turned down.

Telegraph

The statement by Julian Assange in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, proves what the Dubai Police have been saying all along, police chief Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim told Gulf News Thursday.

“The documents will surely prove to those who doubted us,” Lt Gen Dahi said, “but I still believe that some people will still deny the fact, despite the leaked documents.”

Assange said his website is due to release 3,700 more files related to Israel particularly dealing with the Al Mabhouh assassination in Dubai and the second Lebanon war.

“He [Julian Assange] is a victim and shouldn’t be pursued in such a manner. The person responsible for leaking the information in the first place is responsible. Releasing the truth is not a crime,” Lt Gen Dahi said.

Lt Gen Dahi said the news regarding Mossad’s involvement in the Al Mabhouh assassination is not new information to him.

“This is not new information for me; I have been questioned and doubted not just by Israeli media, but by the Arab media as well. The leaked document will prove the truth about Mossad’s involvement, but there are certain people that will still deny it even with the leaked documents,” Lt Gen Dahi said.

Al Mabhouh was found dead in room 230 of the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel on January 20.

Assange earlier said that western papers have been reluctant to publish diplomatic cables containing information about Israel.

“There are 3,700 files related to Israel and the source of 2,700 files is Israel,” Assange said. “The Guardian, El Pais and Le Monde have published only two per cent of the files related to Israel due to the sensitive relations between Germany, France and Israel. Even the New York Times could not publish more due to the sensitivities related to the Jewish community in the US.”

However, Assange said that WikiLeaks will release the files related to Israel. Gulf News

Residential values may fall as much as 20 percent more by the end of 2012 if new homes are built as planned, according to broker Landmark Advisory in Dubai. Cluttons LLP, a London-based property consultant, and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., the second- largest publicly traded commercial property broker, also forecast further declines.

About 48,000 homes will come on to the market in the next two years, or about 12 percent of existing supply, according to Jesse Downs, director of research at Landmark. An influx of foreign buyers sparked a construction boom as prices rose by 79 percent to mid-2008 from 2007 before the financial crisis caused lenders to tighten credit and speculators left the market.

“There is still no parity between supply and demand,” said Paul Richard, associate director at Cluttons in Dubai, which estimates that 35,000 homes will be completed through 2012. “You’re looking at a good two years” for Dubai’s market to reach bottom, he said.

Craig Plumb, head of Middle East research at Jones Lang, said prices are still falling and the rate and duration of the decline will depend on the type of property. Hotels will recover first and commercial properties last, he said in a telephone interview.

Developers Slump

Emaar Properties PJSC, Dubai’s biggest developer and the builder of the world’s tallest tower, reported a 7 percent drop in third-quarter profit, missing analyst estimates, as costs and writedowns increased. Construction firm Arabtec Holding PJSC saw earnings slump 96 percent, while apartment and office builder Deyaar Development PJSC reported a loss. Home prices fell 6 percent in the quarter from the previous three months, Colliers International said on Nov. 7.

Almost half of Dubai’s planned real estate projects, from offices to villas, were canceled as buyers defaulted and access to funding became harder. Residents who lost their jobs had to leave the country within 30 days, causing many to abandon their cars and mortgages.

Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar said last month that Dubai’s market has bottomed out “without a doubt,” and “not much” new housing supply is coming on the market.

Predictions of an end to the slump have proven overly optimistic in the past. In May 2009, Markus Giebel, then the chief executive officer of Deyaar, said the property market would bottom out that year. In the same month, Landmark Advisory said home values may stop sliding in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Foreigners Wanted

“Without an influx of demand from outside the country, forget about it,” Cluttons’s Richard said. He estimates that home prices will drop 5 percent to 10 percent by next summer.

Attracting foreigners became more challenging after the government changed residency rules last year. From 2002, property ownership qualified the buyer for a five-year residency visa that was easily renewed. That changed in May 2009, when new United Arab Emirates regulations cut the length of residency visas to six months and required holders to leave the country and return for renewals, paying 2,000 dirhams ($546) per visa each time.

The law also says a property must be worth at least one million dirhams and be large enough to accommodate the number of people granted residency as a result. In addition, it requires the buyer to have monthly income of no less than 10,000 dirhams as well as medical insurance.

No Security

“The visa rules have been highly damaging and definitely shattered people’s confidence,” said Ludmila Yamalova, a partner at law firm HPL Yamalova & Plewka JLT. “Many bought property just because that would enable them to live here. They had their five-year residency and built their lives around it. Now they don’t have that security.”

Service fees charged by developers for maintenance of common areas such as pools and gyms have discouraged potential buyers interested in generating rental income, Cluttons’s Richard said. The fees can cut a landlord’s return by almost half.

Landmark Advisory’s Downs said new properties will drive down rents, pushing values lower.

“Rents are very important because occupier demand leads investor demand,” she said in an interview.

Downs predicts home prices will drop 15 percent to 20 percent by 2012 if the most residential buildings currently under construction go onto the market as scheduled.

“If the pipeline is delayed, that will only prolong the cycle,” she said. Properties won’t see renewed demand “until prices come down further and buyers have greater certainty over long-term rent yields.”
Bloomberg

The company said it expected to “close the restructuring in the coming weeks.”

The remaining 1 percent of creditors opposing the deal could push Dubai World to seek recourse in a tribunal, but barring that, the only step left is to officially sign the documents.

In November, the Dubai government set off a global wave of investor panic after it told its creditors that it would delay interest payments on the debt that Dubai World owed.

In May, Dubai World struck a preliminary deal with the majority of its lenders to repay $14.4 billion in debt within eight years, while the government of Dubai agreed to convert almost $9 billion of loans into equity.

At the time, the company reached a tentative agreement on the broad outline of the restructuring with a coordinating committee representing more than 90 lenders, and since then it has finalized the details in negotiations that have taken a relatively brief time, given the size of the debt.

Dubai World’s liabilities of $24.9 billion have risen from the $23.5 billion announced in May, and now include accrued interest and additional, contingent claims, the government said.

While Dubai World may sell assets to meets its new obligations, the longer debt maturities could also give the company time to stabilize as its assets’ values recover.

The restructuring leaves Dubai World with $14.4 billion in debt divided into an A tranche of $4.4 billion maturing in five years, and a B tranche of $10 billion maturing in eight — the latter covered by a so-called “shortfall guarantee” if the company cannot meet its payments.

Dubai World’s holdings fall into two broad categories — strategic assets like the global port operator DP World, and a private equity portfolio of investments like hotels and amusement parks.

When Dubai World does begin to realize value on its assets, it is likely to sell the latter category, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Citing an internal document, Reuters reported that the company thought it could obtain $19.4 billion from the sales though the assets’ current value was estimated at $10.4 billion.

The company’s major lenders are RBS, HSBC, Lloyds, Standard Chartered, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

The agreement leaves unresolved the problems of Dubai World’s real estate development arm, Nakheel, which is in negotiations to restructure its debt. The Dubai government announced in March a bailout worth $10.7 billion, but much of the funds were dependent on Nakheel, the company behind the emirate’s iconic islands, winning creditors’ agreement to new debt terms. NYT

According to a United Arab Emirates official who appeared on local television station al-Arabiya, the plane was attempting to land at Dubai International Airport when it crashed due to technical problems. Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft setting fire to vehicles as it crashed and going up in a fireball. Some witnesses told Al-Jazeera that they had seen a fire on the aircraft before it crashed.

UPS spokeswoman Kristen Petrella said the Boeing 747-400 went down at about 8pm and was en route to the UPS hub in Cologne, Germany. Although the company has not officially confirmed casualties, it said two crew members were on board. “This incident is very unfortunate and we will do everything we can to find the cause. Our thoughts go out to the crew members involved in the incident and their families,” UPS said in a statement.

Although local reports said the plane had come down near a busy highway intersection south-east of the airport, posters on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network (PPRN) suggest the aircraft went down near an area known as Silicon Oasis. The state news agency, Wam, reported the crash in an unpopulated desert area.

One poster on the PPRN said: “Just five minutes ago. I heard and saw an aircraft, possibly an airliner going down in Dubai near Silicon Oasis. It has just over-flown my house and [there was] a big fireball.”UPS, a courier company based in US city of Atlanta, confirmed in a statement that one of its cargo planes had been involved in an accident in Dubai and said it was working to obtain more details.MrMachfivepointfive wrote on PPRN: “UPS. Declared Mayday. Was on approach 30L and then veered off course. Last radar hit showed descending through 500′ doing 250kts.”

In October 2009, a Sudanese Boeing 707 cargo plane crashed in the desert outside Dubai, killing six crew members. Emirati regulators have since banned Azza Transport, the plane’s Sudanese owner, from operating in the country.Guardian

“The plan for the airline is ready. However, we will have to wait for the Lebanese Government to open up the skies for competition,” Mousa, who owns Dubai-based Planet Group, told Gulf News.

The name of the airline is yet to be decided.

His company operates a travel agency and provides various travel services.

Planet Group is investing Dh1 billion in hotel development in the UAE.

Two other unnamed Gulf partners will join Mousa’s airline venture.

“Together, we have enough resources to fund the start-up airline and run it successfully,” he said.

The Lebanese Government is expected to open its sky to competition in 2012. Until then its flag carrier Middle East Airline (MEA) will continue to enjoy a monopoly, Fadi Aboud, Minister of Tourism, told Gulf News.

Mousa’s attempt will be the second airline venture in Lebanon by Gulf-based investors. Gulf News“>Gulf News

A retrial has begun for an Egyptian real estate mogul accused of hiring a hit man to murder a Lebanese pop star in her Dubai apartment.

In his first trial, Hisham Talaat Moustafa was convicted of paying a former policeman $2 million to kill his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old singer Suzanne Tamim, in July 2008. The two men were sentenced to death, but an appeals court ordered a new trial, citing incorrect legal procedures and insufficient evidence.

On Monday, both men pleaded not guilty.

Mustafa has close ties to the centers of power. He is a member of parliament and a senior ruling party figure. The allegations against him shocked Egyptians unused to seeing powerful politicians taken to court.

He had a relationship with Ms Tamim, who had found fame as the winner of an Arabic television talent show.

Prosecutors at the murder trial last May said that when Ms Tamim spurned Mr Moustafa’s offer of marriage, he plotted to kill her.

Mr Sukkari, a security guard at a hotel owned by Mr Moustafa, was said to have travelled to Dubai, where he stabbed Ms Tamim to death at her flat.

The next hearing is Wednesday.Washington Post, Ya Libnan

The foreign office has declined to comment on media reports but says foreign secretary David Miliband will make a statement imminently.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the January killing of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a military commander from the Palestinian organisation Hamas, in a Dubai hotel room.

Four Australians – Nicole McCabe, Joshua Bruce, Adam Korman and Joshua Krycer – had their identities stolen and used in fake passports held by suspects of the assassination.

Dubai says the team of assassins also used British, Irish, French and German passports to enter and depart from the state.
Britain’s Sky News says it does not know the level of seniority of the Israeli diplomat who faces expulsion, while the Israeli foreign ministry says it has no immediate comment on the report.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has previously criticised the Israeli embassy’s explanation of how Australian passports were used in the murder plot, and the issue has threatened to muddy the relationship between the two countries.

Australian Federal Police travelled to Israel as part of the investigation into the situation.

A former Mossad officer has also alleged the Israeli spy agency has its own “passport factory” to create or doctor passports for use in intelligence operations. ABC

The police chief said Mossad had “insulted” Dubai and Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by suspects in the assassination.

Investigation expanding

And a UAE newspaper reported that Dubai had also asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into prepaid credit cardsissued by the Meta Financial Group’s MetaBank which the suspects used.

Citing an FBI source, The National newspaper said the investigation would look into any Israeli involvement in the killing.

Quoting Dubai police, the newspaper said: “Thirteen of the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards issued by MetaBank, a regional American bank, to purchase plane tickets and book hotel rooms.”

MetaBank said it followed proper procedures when it issued the cards.

Authorities told the bank that the suspects appeared to have used stolen passports to get employment with US companies, MetaBank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Dubai police have published details of 26 suspects together with passport photographs, and claim to have DNA evidence of the identity of at least one of the killers.

As a consequence of the assassination, UAE officials say they will prevent Israeli citizens travelling on foreign passports from entering the country.

Dubai police last Sunday issued a statement saying the “killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate al-Mabhouh before they suffocated him” and that “assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural”.

Al-Mabhouh’s killing has led investigators to Britain, Ireland, Australia and Germany – countries whose passports the assassins allegedly used. Aljazeera