BBC: A glitzy hotel in Abu Dhabi has put on show a jewel-encrusted Christmas tree which it says is worth over $11m (£7m).
Items of jewellery studded with scores of precious stones are draped on the tree's branches, along with more traditional baubles and lights.
While the tree alone is worth a mere $10,000, the jewellery adds more than $11m to the value, said the hotel's general manager Hans Olbertz.
He admitted the idea for the tree was hatched by the hotel's marketing team.
The hotel has a tree every year, Mr Olbertz said.
But this year, "we said we have to do something different", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The vast majority of the population of the oil-rich UAE are Muslim.
But Mr Olbertz said he did not think the tree would offend local sensibilities.
"It's a very liberal country," he said, according to AFP. >>> | Thursday, December 16, 2010
