In Dubai, the state of The World is in dispute

AFP/File – An aerial view shows a cluster of man-made islands known as "The World". The cluster of 300 …

by W.G. Dunlop W.g. Dunlop – Fri Jan 28, 6:23 am ET

DUBAI (AFP) – A cluster of 300 artificial islands off Dubai's coast in the shape of a global map is stable, its developer Nakheel insists, despite a court claim alleging that "The World" was neglected and eroding away.

"There is no issue with the stability of The World islands that are approximately 70 percent sold and handed over," a Nakheel spokesman said when asked about the allegations.

"The island purchasers (have) the responsibility to proceed with their developments in due course," he added.

The islands, many of which represent individual countries and which can only be accessed by boat or helicopter, were meant to be one of the Gulf city-state's crowning developments.

Builders have announced plans for a few of the islands, but development has yet to begin on most of them.

A company contracted to provide logistics support to the islands filed a claim with a tribunal that handles cases related to the emirate's troubled Dubai World conglomerate, alleging that third-party developers had not been encouraged to develop the islands, and said they were being hit by erosion.

Nakheel subsidiary The World LLC "did not develop the project as anticipated at the time of the agreement and the project has lain largely undeveloped," according to the claim filed by Penguin Marine Boats Services LLC.

Penguin is contracted to pay "a licence fee of 5 million dirhams ($1.36 million dollars) per annum" to conduct operations, but the lack of development on the islands means it has "been unable to develop its business opportunities," the claim said.

Additionally, "the navigation channels... are presently so ill-defined and the water depths have been so seriously eroded due to reclaimed sand silting up the navigation channels that major reclamation works will henceforth be required," it said.

A lawyer for Penguin Marine, Richard Wilmot-Smith, was quoted by local media as having told the tribunal that "the islands are gradually falling back into the sea."

Nakheel dismissed the allegations as "misleading and mischievous statements."

"The wholly incorrect and unsupported assertion relating to the state of The World islands was made in the context of a legal case brought against The World LLC by a logistics provider," the spokesman said.

"Nakheel will continue to protect the interests of its operations and stakeholders and take such action as is appropriate in the circumstances," he added.

The spokesman said that the case "was dismissed with costs awarded in favour of The World LLC. We are vindicated by the court's decision."

However, a final judgment with reasons for the decision has not yet been posted to the tribunal's website, where judgments appear after they have been issued.

Abu Dhabi-based English-language daily The National said that the tribunal ruled against Penguin but has not yet given its reasons for doing so.

Lawyers for Penguin Marine declined to comment, and the company's general manager Alex Labor said only that "Penguin's position is... what our lawyers said during the trial."

Nakheel, which developed Dubai's iconic palm-shaped islands and the Atlantis luxury hotel among other developments, was hard-hit by the global economic crisis, which led to a sharp fall in Dubai real estate prices.

Nakheel was to split from parent company Dubai World, which rocked global financial markets when it announced in November 2010 that it needed to freeze debt payments, under a debt restructuring plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110128/wl_mideast_afp/uaepropertylitigation_20110128112334

Budak 2 tahun seperti anak patung

ABBIE KING (kiri) yang memiliki tubuh seperti anak patung bergambar bersama ibunya.

KEPULAUAN SHEPPEY - Seorang budak perempuan berusia dua tahun di Britain, Abbie King kelihatan seperti anak patung dan bayi berusia enam bulan, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Abbie menghidap penyakit genetik dinamakan sindrom Russell-Silver yang menyerang seorang bagi setiap 100,000 bayi dan menyebabkan tumbesarannya terhenti.

Walaupun tingginya 0.6 meter dan beratnya tidak sampai 6.3 kilogram, Abbie boleh berjalan, ketawa, bermain dan meragam seperti kanak-kanak biasa.

"Apabila saya mengetahui bahawa tumbesaran Abbie terbantut, saya bimbang dia tidak akan dapat menjalani kehidupan normal," kata ibunya, Emma Smith, 29, seorang bekas pengasuh dari Kent dekat sini.

"Namun, saya kini lega selepas mendapati dia suka bergaul dan nakal seperti kanak-kanak lain," tambahnya. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0101&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_10.htm

Model paling tinggi jadi popular kerana majalah

AMAZON EYE (kanan) bergambar dengan seorang wanita yang mempunyai saiz normal.

NEW YORK - Model paling tinggi di dunia, Amazon Eye menjadi popular selepas sebuah majalah menyiarkan kisahnya pada November tahun lalu, lapor sebuah akhbarsemalam.

Eve yang berusia 31 tahun setinggi 2.07 meter tidak dikenali sebelum November tahun lalu.

Namun, apabila sebuah majalah menyiarkan gambarnya memakai bikini di muka depan, dia kemudian menjadi sensasi di dunia.

Dia menyatakan, darah campurannya dari Jerman dan Belanda menyebabkan tubuhnya menjadi amat tinggi.

Eve kini menjadi aktres dan model dan dia turut bergusti dengan lelaki dengan bayaran AS$400 (RM1,232) sejam. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0101&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_09.htm

Jabatan terpanjang dunia siap dibina

JAMBATAN Qingdao Haiwan di China yang terpanjang di dunia siap pada Isnin lalu.

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QINGDAO - Jambatan terpanjang di dunia sepanjang 41.5 kilometer (km) akhirnya siap dibina di China pada Isnin lalu, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Ia yang dinamakan Jambatan Qingdao Haiwan, memakan masa empat tahun untuk dibina dan menghubungkan bandar raya ini, di wilayah Shandong, timur China dengan daerah Huangdao.

Kerja-kerja pembinaan jambatan itu dimulakan oleh dua kumpulan pembinaan masing-masing di Qingdao dan Huangdao, sejak 2006.

"Model komputer dan semua pengiraan berjalan lancar tetapi kami hanya berasa lega selepas kedua-dua sisinya dicantumkan," kata seorang jurutera projek itu.

Selepas siap pada Isnin lepas, struktur berkenaan menghubungkan tiga bandar pesisir di wilayah Shandong.

Sebelum ini, gelaran jambatan terpanjang di dunia dipegang oleh Laluan Tasik Pontchartrain sepanjang 38.42km di selatan negeri Louisiana, Amerika Syarikat (AS). - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0101&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_01.htm

Pecah kayu dengan payu dara

GAMBAR menunjukkan Susan Sykes memecahkan kepingan kayu dengan menggunakan payu daranya dalam satu program bakat televisyen di Jerman baru-baru ini.

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BERLIN - Seorang wanita, Susan Sykes menunjukkan kekuatan ototnya yang luar biasa apabila dia memecahkan kepingan kayu dengan menggunakan payu daranya, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Dia yang berumur 49 tahun bukan sahaja memecahkan kayu itu tetapi juga buah tembikai dan meleperkan tin minuman bir dalam satu program bakat televisyen di Jerman.

Aksi Sykes yang memiliki payu dara besar dengan saiz 46H itu mengagumkan penonton televisyen baru-baru ini.

Sebelum ini dia pernah dilabelkan sebagai satu ancaman ke atas Amerika Syarikat kerana seorang penonton mati kerana serangan jantung apabila melihat aksinya di televisyen.

"Dia (Sykes) memang amat mengagumkan tetapi anda tidak akan mahu berada di belakangnya apabila dia berlari untuk menaiki bas," kata seorang penonton televisyen. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2010&dt=1001&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_09.htm

Kanak-kanak dua tahun setinggi 1.34 meter

GAMBAR menunjukkan Karan Singh (kiri) berdiri bersama rakan-rakan sebaya.

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NEW DELHI - Seorang budak lelaki berumur dua tahun enam bulan dari Meerut, India, Karan Singh mempunyai ketinggian 1.34 meter dan dia dipercayai kanak-kanak paling tinggi di dunia, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Ibunya, Goliath Svetlana Singh merupakan wanita paling tinggi di Asia dengan ketinggian 2.17 meter.

Menurut ibu Karan, dia berharap anaknya itu akan mengatasi ketinggiannya.

Ibu budak itu akan mewakili skuad bola keranjang India dalam Sukan Komanwel 2010 di New Delhi yang bermula pada 3 Oktober dan berakhir 14 Oktober depan.

Menurut ibu Karan, anaknya yang berat 44.45 kilogram itu akan bertanya mengenai makanan apabila dia bangun daripada tidur pada setiap pagi.

"Apabila dia melihat ada orang sedang makan, dia akan meminta makanan. Dia tidak akan berhenti makan jika saya tidak memaksanya supaya berhenti," kata ibunya.

Karan boleh makan lima biji epal sekali gus dan sepuluh sudu teh madu sehari.

Ibunya menjelaskan, pada mulanya guru-guru di tadika enggan membenarkan anaknya belajar tetapi mengubah fikiran selepas mereka melihat surat beranaknya. - Agensi

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2010&dt=1001&pub=Kosmo&sec=Dunia&pg=du_06.htm

Record-breaking buildings, towers and other sights

Paul Stasi January 12, 2009


LAUNCH SLIDESHOW


The Tower of Babel, whose top was meant to reach unto heaven, was destroyed by an angry God, who wished to punish human hubris and reserve the best views for himself.

As we humans have, inevitably, built our way back into the heavens, we have also continuously competed over the record for the world’s tallest building. That record is currently held by the Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan. Built in 2004, the Taipei 101 rises to 1,671 feet easily beating out the Ancient Babylonian Ziggurat scholars name as a possible source for the Biblical tower (which stood around 300 feet tall). But Taiwan has little time to gloat. The Burj Dubai Tower is scheduled for completion in 2009, and its height—a closely guarded secret—is rumored to be over 2,200 feet.

See our slideshow of World's 20 Biggest and Tallest.

Complicating matters is the definition of “tallest building” itself. Until 1998, the Sears Tower in Chicago (1,730 feet) was considered the tallest building in the world. Then along came Malaysia’s Petronas Towers, whose antennae, in a direct slap at Midwestern supremacy, extended 30 feet higher than that of the Sears Tower. (The Patronas Towers building without the antennae is, in fact, smaller than the Sears). Finally two organizations—Emporis, a real estate data company headquartered in Germany, and the imaginatively named Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat located in Illinois—stepped in to clarify matters.

The term "building" is now defined as a “continuously inhabited structure,” thus creating the new category of “tallest free-standing structure,” a title currently held by the CN Tower in Toronto. Architectural height is now measured in four separate categories: Height to Architectural Tip (including spires but excluding antennae); Height to Top of Roof (excluding spires); Height to Tip (including everything) and Highest Occupied Floor (a measure of the tallest building with continuously occupied floors). Currently the Petronas Towers has been superseded in all four categories.

Problem would seem to be solved, though the dispute rages on in cyberspace, where the CN Tower, for instance, still proudly refers to itself as the “tallest building in the world.” Of course Worrell’s Seafood Restaurant in Wilson, North Carolina, also claims to have the “World Tallest Replica of the World’s Tallest Lighthouse” in its parking lot, so clearly you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. Nevertheless, here are 20 interesting record-holding places to visit throughout the world.

http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-13.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Largest Snow Castle

© www.snowcastle.net


The most unusual item on our list is the LumiLinna snow castle and it is just what its name suggests: a huge castle constructed entirely out of snow. Located in Kemi, Finland, the castle is rebuilt every year—after melting in April—over a period of two months. Temperatures in the castle’s 18 guest rooms average 23 degrees Fahrenheit, but the hotel provides sleeping bags that not only “guarantee the survival” of its guests, but also promise a comfortable night’s sleep.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-7.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest Church

© Izim M. Gulcuk/Shutterstock


Located in Ulm, Germany, the Ulm Cathedral is a Lutheran church that measures 530 feet and contains 768 steps leading visitors to spectacular panoramic views of both the surrounding countryside and, in the right weather, the Alps. The church is also one of Europe’s finest surviving examples of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-8.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest Walkway

© David Ball / Alamy



The Grand Canyon Skywalk stands at 4,000-feet-high, making it over twice as tall as the Taipei 101 Towers. Of course the skywalk has an unfair advantage: It doesn’t rise from the canyon floor, but merely extends 65 feet from the canyon’s edge. Since March of 2007, tourists free of vertigo have been able to gaze straight down through 4-inch thick glass to the canyon floor below.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-9.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest 90-Degree Twisted Building

© Pixonnet.com/Alamy


Designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2005, the Turning Torso in Malmo, Sweden, stands at 623 feet, easily beating out Frank Gehry’s Dancing House (in Prague) and the Marina Mandarin Hotel in Singapore.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-10.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest Hotel Not in Dubai

© Henry Westheim Photography / Alamy


Though eclipsed both by Dubai’s Rose Tower and Jumeirah Emirates Tower, the Baiyoke Tower II in Bangkok, Thailand, nevertheless boasts 88 floors and 673 guest rooms. The 997-foot Tower is located in Bangkok’s Ratchathewi district known for its shopping and its 1.5 mile long artificial lake.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-13.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Largest Man-Made Islands

© Al-Nakheel/dpa/Corbis



Perhaps no structure on this list more embodies the original impulse behind the tall building—pure human hubris—than Dubai’s Palm Islands. Composed of three separate islands, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, the entire construction will add nearly 330 miles of beach front to the city of Dubai. Parts of Palm Jumeirah are currently open for development, with the remaining islands to be completed in the next 10-15 years. When finished, the three islands will contain over 100 luxury hotels while Palm Deira itself will be almost as large as Paris.


http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-12.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest Dam

© David Trilling/Corbis

Construction began on the Nurek Dam (984 feet) in 1961 while the central Asian nation of Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union, and was completed an efficient 19 years later. The dam provides 98 percent of Tajikistan’s electrical needs and was one of the first to be constructed with an asphalt central core of cement forming an impermeable barrier along the Vakhsh River.

http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/record-breaking-countries-2009-slide-11.html?partner=playlist&thisSpeed=25000

The World's Tallest and Biggest

By Paul StasiDubai's Palm Islands
Photo: Corbis

The World's Largest Man-Made Islands

Perhaps no structure on this list more embodies the original impulse behind the tall building — pure human hubris — than Dubai’s Palm Islands. Composed of three separate islands, Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, the entire construction will add nearly 330 miles of beach front to the city of Dubai. Parts of Palm Jumeirah are currently open for development, with the remaining islands to be completed in the next 10-15 years. When finished, the three islands will contain over 100 luxury hotels while Palm Deira itself will be almost as large as Paris.

The World's Tallest Dam

Construction began on the Nurek Dam (984 feet) in 1961 while the central Asian nation of Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union, and was completed an efficient 19 years later. The dam provides 98 percent of Tajikistan’s electrical needs and was one of the first to be constructed with an asphalt central core of cement forming an impermeable barrier along the Vakhsh River.



The World's Tallest Hotel Not in Dubai

Though eclipsed both by Dubai’s Rose Tower and Jumeirah Emirates Tower, the Baiyoke Tower II in Bangkok, Thailand, nevertheless boasts 88 floors and 673 guest rooms. The 997-foot Tower is located in Bangkok’s Ratchathewi district known for its shopping and its 1.5 mile long artificial lake.



The World's Tallest Monument

Commonly known as the “Gateway to the West” the St. Louis Arch, designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen, marks the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The arch is surrounded by a 91-acre national park along the Mississippi River and stands 630-feet-tall. Visitors can take a four-minute tram ride up one of the “legs” of the arch to the observation deck at its center for spectacular views of St. Louis.



The World's Tallest Hotel Never Actually Completed

Destined for greatness, the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, stands at 1,083 feet, was supposed to boast 105 floors and 3.9 million-square-feet of floor space, and was meant to have seven revolving restaurants. Not surprisingly this towering pyramid’s construction was put on hold in 1992 when North Korea confronted more pressing matters. What remains is the pyramid itself, but it lacks windows and fixtures and has been deemed unsafe for human occupancy.



The World's Tallest Casino (sort of)

Unsurprisingly located in Las Vegas, the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino boasts a 1,149-foot-tall observation tower and restaurant, making it the tallest free-standing tower in the United States. While you can be shot straight up 160 feet in the air, or ride a mechanical arm over the Tower’s edge, there are no actual games in the tower itself.



The World's Tallest Bar

On the 87th floor of Shanghai’s Jin Mao Tower–literally “Golden Prosperity Building”–is the appropriately titled Cloud Nine. In February 2001, cocktail-sipping patrons observed Han Qizhi, a 31-year-old shoe salesman, climb the 1,214 foot tower barehanded.



The World's Largest House

Indisputably, the Sultan of Brunei’s Istana Nurul Iman is the world’s largest residence. Really more of a palace, this structure boasts an impressive 2,152,782-square-feet of space, comprised of 1,788 rooms (including 257 bathrooms), and is home to the Sultan's car collection, including 165 Rolls Royces. (It easily dwarfs Buckingham Palace's 828,818 square feet). Unfortunately for non-royals, the Sultan’s palace is only open three days a year for the Islamic festival of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, marking the end of Ramadan. However, in 2009, Indian multi-billionaire Mukesh Ambani is scheduled to complete construction on the world's largest house.



The World's Largest Ancient City

Built in the mid-15th century, Machu Picchu is located 7,875 feet above sea level in the Urubamba Valley in Peru. A gorgeous collection of 150 structures, including temples and residences, the city was abandoned approximately 100 years after its founding and not re-discovered until the early 1900s. Machu Picchu was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.



The World's Tallest Memorial

Erected in 1940 by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, the Benedictine Abbey of the Valley of the Fallen boasts the largest Memorial Cross in the world. Located 28 miles northwest of Madrid, the 492-foot structure towers above a basilica and crypt carved out of a granite ridge, and boasts spectacular views of both the surrounding valley and the outskirts of Madrid.

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