The agreement to construct Disney's fourth park outside the U.S. in the world's most populous nation "marks a very significant milestone," Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Iger said in a statement. Disney and its Shanghai partners are now allowed to move toward a construction and operation agreement, the statement said.

Disney's foothold in mainland China comes after a decade of negotiations and will cost 24.5 billion yuan ($3.6 billion), according to Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po. The expansion targets the wealth of China’s middle class and the fastest growth of any major economy as Burbank, California-based Disney suffers from lower spending at its U.S. theme parks, tumbling ad sales and falling DVD revenue.

"It gives Disney an opportunity to monetize its brand without necessarily having to produce filmed content," said David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in New York. Expanding in China without facing the risk of regulatory hurdles is "the real key to making money in China for the media companies," he added.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450 km (280 miles) above the earth, traveling at 30,000 km per hour, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day and a half to reach the pod - which Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveler.

"When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for 3 days, rocket and capsule. With this we create in the tourist a confidence that he hasn't been abandoned. After 3 days the passenger returns to the transport rocket and returns to earth," he said.

More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.

Some 31 percent of bars outside the Dublin area don't expect their venue to continue as a licensed premises after the current owner retires, the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland said today in a report on its Web site. Ireland has about 7,000 bars outside the capital, DIGI said.

Pub sales are falling as unemployment soars, amplifying a trend toward drinking at home. Almost three-quarters of Irish bars said sales have fallen in the last five years, the report shows. Revenue has also been affected after Ireland banned smoking in public places in 2004 and more recently cracked down on drink-driving. "We're looking at a fairly significant decline in numbers," economist Anthony Foley, author of the report, said at a press conference in Dublin. "We're looking at over two thousand rural pubs disappearing in the next decade or decade and a half."

• The AquaDuck, a water coaster that sends guests racing above the upper decks of the ship.
• A sophisticated lounge where the sun sets over the skyline of a different world-famous city each night.
• Rooms contain a Virtual Porthole that provides guests with a real-time view outside the ship. High-definition cameras placed on the exterior of the ship feed live video to each Virtual Porthole.
• Disney's Oceaneer Lab lets children feel as though they are embarking on a great seafaring adventure in a room filled with maps, maritime instruments and swashbuckling artifacts
• The Edge Edge is a lounge for tweens (ages 11 to 13). The tween pad is filled with hi-tech entertainment including the ability to create and star in photo postcards and video karaoke using green-screen technology.
• Animator's Palate is a signature Disney Cruise Line restaurant that brings Disney animation into the dining room.
• Royal Palace is a restaurant inspired by the classic Disney films Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty.
• Enchanted Garden is a whimsical, casual restaurant inspired by the gardens of Versailles and featuring a dining environment that magically transforms from day to night.
• The ship will also have attractions just for adults including The District, a nighttime entertainment area, and the Senses Spa & Salon

"We have a lot of renovations and permitting and licenses we need to get, so it probably will be spring before we open," she said.

The restaurant will be a "steak and seafood restaurant" that will serve three meals a day, she said, adding that it will be family-friendly while selling alcohol.

The restaurant will be named Volterra after an Italian city that appears several times in the four-novel Twilight saga set in Forks.

Of course, the commute from his farm in Owasso, Oklahoma, to Vegas will be made a little faster with his new private jet -- an 11-seat Challenger, courtesy of Steve Wynn, the billionaire CEO of Wynn Hotels.

"I don't know anything about jets," Brooks downplayed with a shrug. "It's got a cool interior, cool paint job, I don't know. But it gets me here (to Vegas), and it gets me home to see my girls. And so in that case, it's fabulous."

• 37 percent of young professionals said they've adjusted their plans versus the affluent and general population (both 30 percent).
• Nineteen percent of the general population who travelled last year will be staying home in 2009.
• More than one in ten (11 percent) young professionals indicated they intend to drive as opposed to fly, compared to 7 percent of the general population and 6 percent of the affluent.
• Eight percent of young professionals intend to stay fewer days for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, compared to the affluent and general population (both three percent).
• Seven percent of the young professionals are using rewards points, miles and special offers to off-set the cost, versus four percent of the affluent and three percent of the general population.

The project started in 2003," said a spokesman. "Construction started the following year and we are nearly finished. We are just sealing the roof."

He added: "The design of the project was inspired by the appearance of the Pentagon. This building is not only impressive externally, but it is actually a very smart design. The logistics mean that people can circulate freely inside." The US Pentagon is said to have been designed so that employees can reach any office inside in under seven minutes on foot.

"We have signed thousands of tenants already, including a number of Western brands," said the spokesman, while declining to reveal the precise details of which clients had committed to floorspace.

President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of the resort, which is owned by local firms facing troubles with the government's financial oversight body. The resort, which is managed by Hilton Worldwide, has 280 rooms and 154 time-share suites, according to the presidential decree ordering the takeover.

Chavez recently held court at the hotel as he welcomed more than 30 leaders from South America and Africa for a summit. Among the visitors was Gadhafi, who set up his emblematic and heavily guarded tent at the hotel's private beach. Mugabe walked through the hotel's halls surrounded by a ring of bodyguards.

During the summit, Chavez joked that the government could nationalize the hotel. A few years ago, the government seized a Hilton in Caracas, which it rebranded Hotel Alba. Since then, the hotel has become a meeting point for Chavez sympathizers from around the globe.