News archive: dated reports from Dubai and the wider UAE, 2008 to 2011

The set is general news, not travel writing, and it divides into a few recognisable strands. Hospitality and retail account for the openings: a hotel launch in Tripoli, a lounge opening at Festival City, a Ramadan menu at Festival City, a mall running a mini zoo for Earth Day. Each records what was announced on the day, including figures and names that have since moved on. Business and finance form their own strand: a US$347 million Islamic facility for the Al Ghurair City expansion, Dubai Financial Market's offer for NASDAQ Dubai, a takaful insurer's first family plans and a new chief financial officer at Dubai Islamic Bank.

Technology is the other large strand, consumer appliance launches at the Berlin trade fair, a monitor that drew no standby power, a hospital imaging suite shown at Arab Health, a Linux availability release and network security products aimed at corporate buyers. Art and education cover a contemporary fair announced for Abu Dhabi, an Iraqi painter exhibiting at DIFC, the closing figures of an art fair, a history of the federation appearing in German and a university certificate agreed with a Florida faculty. The remainder are conferences and awards, a twelve-lane crossing endorsed for Dubai Creek, a cricket stadium lit by a continuous ring of floodlights, a watch and a car sold at auction, an oil field in southern Libya, a school built in Cameroon by student volunteers, a school agreed for King Abdullah Economic City, a virtual learning system at an Abu Dhabi university, integrated building systems pitched at airports, a new Egyptian airline's first Airbus, cruise ships returning to Colombo, AC Milan's winter camp, two endurance-riding cups at Al Wathba, an open-air cinema at Media City, rare desert wildlife near Bab Al Shams, a Sharjah museums programme for children with disabilities, and one aviation incident on a flight into Kochi.