Dubai Dreams

Gulf News photographer Paul Velasco is new to the Arab world and has to get used to reporting in a country that, despite appearing very western, exercises strict control of the press. When getting David Beckham on the newspaper's front page is classed as a major victory his disillusionment with the place begins to grow.

The kingdom is one of the world's property hotspots - from the amazing Palm development built out to sea to the hundreds of apartment blocks, it seems investors just can't get enough. With money to be made property agent Paul McCutcheon is there to cash in by buying a villa for a fellow Geordie who's never even visited Dubai.

Billionaire Mohamed Ali Alabbar heads the largest real estate group in the world and is also a government minister. In a rare glimpse into his world he's closing multi million dollar deals with Georgio Armani, promoting Dubai to the West and trying not to upset the ruling sheikh.

The rapid development and glittering skyscrapers of Dubai mask its many social problems. American Sharla Musabih is on a mission to put things right. She's spent twenty years rescuing people, from the women who find themselves in crisis to the young boys who are brought to Dubai as camel jockeys. Now she's fighting for government recognition so she can expand her refuge.

For the first time the country's equivalent of Hello magazine, Ahlan, is holding a party to celebrate the hottest one hundred people in Dubai. To make it onto the guest list it helps to be a party animal, socialite or friend of the publisher.

Dubai is the world's largest building site, creating a demand for hundreds of thousands of workers. Partners Younis Amiri and Mr Chacko run a recruitment agency trawling the world for the right people, yet unlike other agencies they do not charge a fee which can take more than a year to pay off in a country where there are no unions, no minimum wage and few workers rights.