World in brief: Developer halts work on skyscraper

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The developer of a skyscraper planned to be the world’s tallest said Wednesday it is halting work on the project for a year as the Middle East’s business and entertainment capital grapples with the financial crisis.

State-owned builder Nakheel’s decision to shelve the landmark development – which it unveiled only in October – came as a leading credit rating firm warned that falling real estate prices will likely hurt banks in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.

Home values in the emirate tumbled 8 percent in the last three months from the previous quarter, a report Tuesday said.

The halted skyscraper was planned to soar the length of more than 10 American football fields, and analysts had said its unveiling late last year showed a lot of confidence amid the souring global economy.

Havana

Castro stops issuing regular messages

A monthlong halt in Fidel Castro’s regular essays and recent comments by his friend and ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, are raising new concerns about the 82-year-old former president’s health.

His failure to send any message beyond a one-line salutation to the Cuban people on his revolution’s 50th anniversary Jan. 1 also has fueled speculation, prompting articles Wednesday in the Miami Herald and the New York Times blog The Lede.

Cuban officials have not commented on Castro’s current health, and his condition and exact ailment have been state secrets since July 2006, when he underwent intestinal surgery and ceded power to his younger brother Raul.

He has not appeared in public since, releasing occasional photographs and videos and penning essays several times a week. The last one was Dec. 15.

The current speculation evidently stems mostly from Chavez’s acknowledgment Sunday of what many people here have believed for some time: It is unlikely Fidel Castro will be seen in public again.