Sun starting to shine through for Dubai World

When the definitive history of the global financial crisis is written, there should be an honourable mention of the role played by the Japanese shabu-shabu restaurant.

These places, where diners are expected to cook their own food in small boiling pots on their table, figured in the build-up to the crisis when the Japanese financial authorities uncovered a lurid scandal that became known as the “no pan shabu-shabu” affair. Now, shabu-shabu could be a straw in the wind for the recovery of Dubai Inc after the ravages of the past year.

Dubai World, the Government conglomerate that I have described before as the litmus test for Dubai’s recovery, yesterday announced some good news from one of its troubled US projects. The CityCentre development in Las Vegas, a joint venture between MGM Mirage of the US and Dubai World’s Infinity World Development Corporation, is to hire 12,000 employees to staff up the development, due to open in December.