Trouble in Paradise

The dreamland of Dubai, as its developers portray it

Two stories this week help illustrate the growing pains behind Dubai's successful effort to market itself as a 21st Century paradise:

From time.com:

Last July 14, Alexandre Robert, a 15-year-old French-Swiss youth living in Dubai with his hotel-manager father, was offered a ride home by an Emirati acquaintance from a beach club, where he was with a French friend. In the car were two local men. According to Alexandre, he was placed in the middle backseat, while the men drove the teenagers beyond the neon-soaked skyline and into the desert, where the three local men took turns raping him at knifepoint in the dark. His French friend was ordered to wait outside the car, and has told police he was not attacked. When the men finally deposited the distraught boys back in the city, they threatened to attack Alexandre's family if he dared report them to the police... The police doctor who examined Alexandre declared that there was no physical sign of rape, and suggested that Alexandre was instead concealing his homosexuality. Homosexual sex is a criminal act in Dubai, punishable with one year in jail.

From Reuters:

At least seven people were killed and about 15 injured on Thursday when a bridge under construction in Dubai collapsed near luxury hotels and high-rises in the Gulf trading and tourism hub. A transport official said the incident in the new part of the city, where thousands of upscale homes are being built along the Gulf coast and on man-made islands, appeared to be the result of human error during construction.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo