As reported by news.yahoo.com, the 70-story Trump tower opened in Panama City this week. The tallest building in Latin America, soaring 284 meters into the sky, is a resort and residential address that added to a real estate boom in Panama. The Trump Ocean Club reflects "the modern sensibility of the new generation of luxury travel," the company said in an invitation to the inauguration of the resort, where the cheapest room costs US$ 300 per night and homes sell for US$ 250 thousand to US$ 1 million. With an investment of US$ 430 million, the resort designed by Colombian architecture firm Arias Serna Saravia is home to 47 suites, 37 elevators, a spa, marina, casino and an island with a private beach. It also boasts a 900 square meter terrace with an oceanfront pool, personalized butler service and a convention center stretched across 4,200 square meters. The city's real estate boom has turned the capital of Panama into a "mini Dubai" of sorts, mirroring the wealthy Gulf city's skyscrapers and monumental buildings. With the Trump tower, Panama is now home to the three tallest buildings in Latin America. Both "The Point," which stands at 67 floors or 266 meters high, and "Ocean Two," which is just 20 meters shorter, opened this year.

Damac Properties, a leading real estate developer, has commenced main construction works at its US$ 138.3 million residential development at Dubai Marina. Leading construction company Arabtec, which was awarded the main construction contract, is now on site following the completion of enabling works by Zetas Foundation Technology. The 420 meters tall, 85-storey Damac Heights will comprise one, two and three bedroom apartments, as well as duplexes and penthouses, and have views of the Palm Jumeirah. The complex will incorporate five star amenities including a temperature controlled swimming pool, gymnasium, nursery, sauna, steam room and spa facilities, a statement said. "Damac Heights will be another shining jewel along the beachfront real estate band on Al Sufouh Road, Dubai Marina. This two kilometre stretch of land is home to some of the most exclusive and luxurious residential properties ever constructed, and of these real estate gems, Damac Heights will shine the brightest" said Niall Mc Loughlin, senior vice president, Damac Properties. "To impress in Dubai these days, developers are aware they need to go to the next level. It's not enough to build a nice apartment building in a mediocre location. You have to build a phenomenal building, in a prestigious location with every conceivable modern convenience included. That's what we are aiming to achieve with Damac Heights," Mc Loughlin added. Damac Heights will represent the second partnership between Arabtec and Damac Properties at Dubai Marina. It follows the completion of the award winning 84-storey residential tower 'Ocean Heights' last year. Damac Properties was established in 2002 and has already completed 28 buildings to date with 6045 units and spanning 986 580.9 square meters with projects in Dubai. Before the end of this year Damac Properties will complete a further 8 buildings comprising 1,329 units spanning 233 466.0 square meters.

Realty Capital has completed construction work on its i-Rise business tower project in Dubai. I-Rise tower is strategically located on a premium corner plot in Dubai's Tecom Site-C and offers a total built-up-area of more than 150 thousand square meters, making it among the region's largest office tower developments. Realty Capital has revealed that a number of high-profile tenants have already started fit-out works in their respective offices with the intention to move into the luxurious, 36-storey executive and corporate tower. But Dubai's latest eye-catching real estate project has sold only half of its units. Realty Capital worked with the main contractor AI Naboodah in order to complete the project on schedule. Realty Capital Middle East has also partnered with several of the world's top service providers for the design, development, execution and sales of the project, including, Khatib & Alami Consolidated Engineering Company, a leading architectural and engineering consultancy firm in the MENA region; Projacs International, one of the largest Pan-Arab project and construction management firms and so on. 36 storey tower offers prime commercial space with a gross area of 3 thousand square meters per floor. Offices at i-Rise are characterised as both modern and flexible ranging from 50 to 330 square meters. Individual offices come in two modules, executive and corporate. Executive offices have their own toilets, pantry and store rooms. i-Rise has also been designed to deliver generous daylight in all office spaces, creating substantial energy savings and enhancing the tower's environmental benefits. In addition to its location, convenient access from Sheikh Zayed Road and optimum visibility, i-Rise also offers panoramic views of the Arabian Gulf and the New Dubai skyline. Moreover, it is just a short distance away from the Dubai Metro Station.

Paris unveiled the latest giant to grace its famous skyline, with the formal inauguration of France's tallest skyscraper, known as the "First Tower". At 21,000 tonnes, the First is more than twice as heavy as the French capital's tallest and most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower, which nevertheless beats it for sheer height at 324 meters. The spire was born when developers stripped down and rebuilt the mighty Axa block in La Defense business quarter on the western edge of the city, adding 69 metres to send it soaring to 231 metres. Now, the tower tops the city's previous famously unloved tallest office block, the slab-like Tour de Montparnasse, which looms over the Left Bank at 210 metres tall. But, despite the triumph of its architecture, First has so far not proved a hit with tenants: Only half of its office space, 80,000 square metres spread over 52 floors, has so far been allocated. Building on the 300 million euro ($ 440 million) tower began in 2008. The first tenant, accountancy giant Ernst and Young, will move in during the second half of the year. But the highest tower title The First can lose in 2016. Government has issued a permit for construction of the Phare Tower (Lighthouse Tower) with 300 meters high also in region La Defense, which is scheduled to open in 2016.

After 20 years of thorough stabilization efforts the scaffolding has been removed from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, meaning that the throngs of tourists that flock to the bell tower every day can now appreciate the column in all its glory. The €27m project has lessened the tilt of the 14th century tower, which prior to reconstruction efforts was leaning an extra millimeter each year. Now 50cm straighter than it was, the famous column now sports a 3.99m lean, corrected from the 4.5m tilt it had several years previously. The tourist attraction and architectural masterpiece now stands at 56m tall at its highest point Over the last two decades, restoration experts have been hard at work painstakingly scrubbing the tower free of the graffiti and dirt that has accumulated over the past centuries and restoring numerous blocks of marble that have fallen from its crown. Gisella Capponi, an architect at the conservation and restoration institute of Italy's culture ministry explains: "Despite the monument's surface area (7,000 sq m), we worked across it centimeter by centimeter." Interest in engineering work to prevent the tower from toppling began in 1964 when the Italian government requested aid in reducing the tilt, however it was considered that a certain angle should be retained to preserve the characteristic feature of this classic monument. As a result, 800tonnes of lead counterweights were applied to the raised base in an effort to counteract the softer foundations on the column's lower side. After the Leaning Tower was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, serious stabilization plans were put in place and the area was closed to the public. The heavy bells were removed from the tower, cables roped around the third level and anchored to the ground, and 38 cub m of soil removed from the base of the raised edge to 'correct' the tilt to its 1838 position. Originally constructed over several centuries from 1173 to 1372, recent stabilization efforts are thought to have secured the lifetime of the bell tower by another 300 years.