Residential lease rates in Dubai during the second quarter of this year showed short-term stability compared to the previous quarter, according to the CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Dubai MarketView Q2 2010. However, the year on year figures registered an overall drop of 33 per cent.

The significant new supply of smaller units coupled with the overall improvement in affordability has given the tenants an opportunity to rent larger properties at lower rates, states the report.

Consumers are having a good year. A Gulf News reader survey and analysis by an expert shows that the prices of essential food items in the country have remained stable in 2010. In some cases, they have dropped.

Simon Williams, a UAE-based economist, told the newspaper that he believes "there is no pressure to increase prices" because inflation is under control. There is not enough demand for the prices to go up, he said.

"I do not expect prices to increase more than one per cent this year," Williams added.

The United Arab Emirates outlined plans Sunday to block BlackBerry e-mail, messaging and Web browsing services in a crackdown that could jeopardize efforts to establish the country as an international business hub.

The government cited a potential security threat because encrypted data sent on the devices is moved abroad, where it cannot be monitored for illegal activity. But the decision — quickly followed by a similar move in Saudi Arabia — raises questions about whether the conservative Gulf nations are trying to further control content they deem politically or morally objectionable.

Residential lease rates in Dubai during the second quarter of the year showed minimal movement over the previous quarter but eased by as much as 33 per cent over the same period in 2009, property consultants CB Richard Ellis said.

Areas such as Barsha, Bur Dubai, Shaikh Zayed Road, Marina, Greens and Jumeirah Lakes Towers saw rents ease as new supply came into the market.

Under an unforgiving sun, South Asian workers stir giant pots of rice, their only food, in a barren patch of desert 80 km from a gleaming Dubai skyline built over decades by migrant labor.

Abandoned by employers who left the United Arab Emirates after the Dubai economy soured, the men cannot afford to stay, but they also cannot leave. They have not been paid for months and their passports were confiscated long ago.