An island shaped like a palm tree was built for hotels, homes and entertainment.

VOA: special.2009.12.04

News of the financial meltdown of Dubai World, a quasi-sovereign global concern that owns 77% of the international port manager DP World and the single largest real estate developer in Dubai known for its palm-tree shaped luxury residential developments, has raced from the business pages to the headlines of the front pages in a matter of days.

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Italian collaboratives, like Archizoom and Superstudio, made witty one-liners that verged on pranks (the palm-tree-shaped floor lamp) alongside more refined riffs on modernism.

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Sunday's fire broke out amid a group of apartment blocks on the 2km-long Trunk of the island, which is shaped like a date palm tree.

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