Dubai - Tommy Lee is planning to buy an island on The World development in Dubai for his ex-wife Pamela Anderson. The Mötley Crüe drummer, who was in the emirate last month as part of Dubai Bike Week, wants to buy ‘Greece’ in the luxury Nakheel project - a manmade archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of the world currently being built off the coast.

Lee is hoping he and Baywatch star Anderson - who have been divorced for nine years - can spend time here together with their two sons away from the prying eyes and ears of the US’s notorious paparazzi. The 44-year-old rocker told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper: “I’ve been doing a lot of research on Dubai property and The World project. We’re going to buy Greece because I’m Greek originally. Pammie actually turned me on to the whole thing. Life is good now because I’m seeing my boys again.”

Pammie married Tommy in 1995. The couple divorced in February 1998, after Tommy was convicted of domestic abuse. The former ‘Baywatch’ star later claimed she had contracted hepatitis C from a needle she had shared with Tommy – a renowned drug user in his past.

The pair have recently healed their long-term rift for the sake of their sons, Brandon, ten, and Dylan, nine. And Lee’s latest plans have sparked rumours that a reunion could be on the cards. Dubai has become a hotspot for the rich and famous - with David and Victoria Beckham reportedly owning a home on The Palm and rock star Rod Stewart rumoured to be keen to buy the UK on The World.

Ibrahim Sharaf, founder of Dubai-based Sharaf Group, will be the first UAE national, and possibly the first Arab, to make the voyage into outer space.

The new space tourist will be catching the ride with Virgin Galactic, the commercial space tourism branch of the Virgin Group, which made the announcement at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM-2007) in Dubai.

The first manned flight of Virgin Galactic is set to launch in late 2009, likely from a site in the southwestern United States. The US$200,000 trip features three hours in space, a deal that Virgin is reportedly offering to its first 100 customers.

Sharaf will be accompanied on his trip to the stars by Superman Returns director Bryan Singer, actress Victoria Principal, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and his children.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who owns Darley at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, is hailed as the architect of Dubai's transformation into a booming tourist hub of ultra-luxurious resorts and skyscrapers. He said the foundation would create research centers, support university research and provide scholarships.

"It is not enough to look over the development indicators each year and to exclaim in surprise at the region's situation and the fact that it ranks among the lowest positions at the international level," Sheikh Mohammed said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.

Sheikh Mohammed said 18 percent of people under 15 in the Mideast are illiterate, and that number jumps to 43 percent for women. He also said the Arab world spends 0.02 percent of its gross domestic product on scientific research, while developed countries spend between 2.5 percent and 5 percent.

"It is the ultimate form of negligence, to know why we lag behind and the dangers of doing so, and not to act," he said.

Sheikh Mohammed, who provided the money for the foundation, also serves as the prime minister of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. His own city-state has no significant oil reserves, which has forced it to diversify and become a center for luxury tourism and investment banking.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum Foundation will be based in Emirates and plans to begin handing out scholarships to students next year.