Dubai's civil defence department initially confirmed a crack, but mall owner Emaar Properties later played it down.

Chairman Mohammad Alabbar said: "There was a technical fault in the operating device. A leakage was noticed at one of the panel joints...and was immediately fixed by the aquarium's maintenance team.

"The leakage did not impact the aquarium environment or the safety of the aquatic animals."

Begin your vertical ascent to the observation deck in a high-speed elevator, travelling at 10 metres per second. As the doors open, floor-to-ceiling glass walls provide a breath-taking unobstructed 360-degree view of the city, desert and ocean. By night, sparkling lights and stars compete for your attention.

Special telescopes provide virtual time-travel visions of the scenes beyond and below. You'll see close-up real-time views as well as the past and the future, by day and by night. You can also walk the entire perimeter for the most comprehensive views. If you wish, adventure outside onto the open-air terrace to enjoy another perspective of the sweeping views below.

"This was a total collaboration, but there is nothing in the stores, from a creative point of view, that Bloomingdale's did not approve," said Michael Gould, chairman and chief executive officer. "What Bloomingdale's stands for is going to be embraced by Dubai." Gould and his team will be keeping close tabs on the Dubai stores, located in The Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest shopping centers. "We envision a monthly communication -- at least," he said.

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"The stores are inspired by 59th Street, with Arabian influences tenderly cushioned throughout. There is a modern, contemporary feel to these stores," said Shireen El Khatib, ceo of Al Tayer Insignia, the luxury arm of the Al Tayer Group. "We have insured that the Dubai Bloomingdale's stores will encapsulate a world-class retail experience including the best international brands, a contemporary store ambience and excellence in customer service."

It has been designed so that those who wish to do so will never have to leave, or even descend below the 108th floor, at about 1,300 feet.

That is the height up to which there will be residential apartments. For work, you can nip to the offices upstairs - anywhere up to the 160th floor, in fact. To eat, you can visit the restaurant on the 122nd, and to exercise you can use the gym on the 123rd, about 1,440 feet off the ground.

The gym has both an indoor and, unnervingly, an outdoor swimming pool.

Tiger Woods Dubai, part of Dubai Properties Group, said it is committed to completing its Al Ruwaya golf course and continues to make progress on the first course created by Woods’s design firm.

"The Tiger Woods Dubai does not comment on the personal lives of our valued partners," Tiger Woods Dubai said today in an e-mailed statement.

"Sometimes in our industry there is a tendency to follow your ego and sometimes open stores where you don't have the market, or stores too big for your potential -- we never do that," Carcelle said. "When we open a big store, we know that there is a market, we know the financials. So we never have to close a store for economic reasons."

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The company has opened three stores in Dubai since 1997, and plans to double the size of its outlet in the city's Mall of the Emirates, Carcelle said. Its global store is in Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping centre, which opened last year. "Dubai is a very dynamic city," he said. "At the end of the day, when it comes to the crisis, the client finds the situation of retail in Dubai very good."

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Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, will start a visit to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow.

Candylicious, which initially opens in one of the world's largest shopping centers, The Dubai Mall, is also planning a second store in Singapore early next year, Sunaina Gill, director of Retail Is Detail, a Singaporean family business in Dubai told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are planning 10-15 stores in the Gulf Arab region over the next 3-5 years, with additional stores to open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the next 12 months," said Gill.

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In addition to its sweets, the 10,000 square foot store features a huge 10-meter singing chocolate tree decorated with lollipops. Customers will not need to necessarily have venture into the store to taste the candy. The store will also employ "Candylicious Junior," a car that will circle the mall.

Mile after mile of breakwater built from boulders brought hundreds of miles by ship has been laid, but inside its man-made lagoon, work has completely stopped. The expected map of the world of 300 islands is instead a disjointed and desolate collection of sandy blots - a monumental folly just out of sight of Dubai's shore.

Those who bought into what was the world’s most ambitious building project were not celebrities. Many were more ordinary investors who put down 70 per cent deposits, some of them Anglo-Indians. John O'Dolan, who fronted a consortium that bought Ireland in 2007 for $38 million (£27 million), committed suicide earlier this year. The others have little prospect of seeing a return. Now The World has stopped they can't get off.

"The World has been cancelled. It doesn’t even look like the world. Basically there is one island that is maintained that is said to be owned by the Sheikh [Dubai's ruler] and the rest looks like a pile of muck," said one local property agent.

Now Barneys is moving to further ease the financial pressure, tackling a 500-pound gorilla. On Tuesday, Perella Weinberg Partners, an asset management company, was hired to help restructure the retailer's debt. On the books, there is about $500 million in long-term debt, including a $270 million term loan maturing in 2014 and a mezzanine loan of about $230 million maturing in mid-2016. There also is revolving credit debt, which, based on available working capital, varies from month to month and matures in 2012. The balance is currently $80 million. Barneys' lead banks are Citibank, Wells Fargo and HSBC.

Interest costs, depreciation and sales declines put Barneys in the red last year on a net basis, though the chain made money on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis. As for 2009, the company, with seven flagships, two regional stores, 19 Co-ops, 13 outlets and three warehouse sale locations, is projected to reach sales of about $675 million, down from $750 million last year, but generate a small operating profit.

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Like other retailers, particularly those purveying luxury, Barneys has been deeply impacted by the recession. However, the store's current management structure — without a chairman, ceo or chief operating officer — makes it unique. Instead, a senior operating committee, comprising the chain's seven executive vice presidents, is running the show. They represent the top tier inside the chain and are all veterans of the organization, with anywhere from 13 to 30 years' tenure. The committee meets weekly, usually Tuesday mornings, in the 11th-floor conference room at Barneys headquarters at 575 Fifth Avenue in New York, to tackle anything from cost cutting, sales trends and merchandise receipts to advertising or when to break into sale mode. A formal agenda for each meeting is prepared by the chief financial officer with input from the other executives. After going through the agenda, each executive vice president can bring up any significant matter pertaining to his or her area of responsibility.

Hilton is on her first visit to the Middle East as she targets the region as a new market for her brand. Dubai, one of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, has become the region's most cosmopolitan city as it built offices and hotels to attract global companies such as Goldman Sachs and Halliburton Co.

She was given five Sony Ericsson handsets, Hilton said.

"One is even like a watch with a phone on it and it's so cool," she said. "So I'm switching my BlackBerry to Sony Ericcson today. Sorry BlackBerry, I'm now a Sony Ericcson user and very excited."

Following an infamous appearance in a sex tape posted on the Internet, Hilton's career as a celebrity has included acting, singing, clothing lines and a perfume.