Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The official news agency of the United Arab Emirates says that Dubai is considering whether to make a bid for the 2020 Olympic Games and also World Expo that year.
The state-run WAM agency says the ruler of the glitzy city-state in the Persian Gulf issued a decree to set up a committee that would be "tasked with exploring the potential" for hosting the two world mega events 11 years from now.
Dubai has been Mideast's fastest developing metropolis in a past decade of debt-fueled growth.
The ambitious emirate is known for building the world's tallest tower and a string of artificial islands. But it has been hammered by the global economic crisis and has been struggling since 2009 to pull itself out of debt.
- AP