Actor Tom Cruise was the undisputed star on the red carpet at the opening of the Dubai Film Festival, sharing the limelight with Bollywood stars and the widow of late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.

Cruise attended the screening of his latest release, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," which was filmed in Dubai and includes a dramatic scene where the U.S. actor climbs the sides of the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, which stands 828 meters high.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari suffered a "minor heart attack" and has undergone an operation in Dubai, but is in good health otherwise and will return to Islamabad Thursday, a minister told Agence France Presse.

Mustafa Khokhar, minister in charge of human rights, said that contrary to media reports there was "no question of any resignation" by Zardari, who is under pressure over a scandal that saw his ambassador to the U.S. step down.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi was chosen as “Man of the Year 2011″ in a ceremony held in Dubai on Tuesday.

Rifi was awarded a Gold Medal in the field of security leadership excellence at the event organized by the Arab Organization for Administrative Development of the Arab League and the Academy of Excellence and Quality.

An Italian military training aircraft heading home from the Dubai air show crashed into the sea on Friday off the Gulf emirate, but both crew ejected safely, officials said.

"The plane crashed off Dubai shortly after taking off en route for Italy after taking part in the air show," an aviation source told Agence France Presse without speculating on the cause of the accident.

The son of a top Iranian official whose body was found in a Dubai hotel last weekend died of an overdose of anti-depression and schizophrenia medicine, United Arab Emirates police said.

A forensic investigation "rules out any criminal suspicion" in the death of Ahmed Rezaei, 35, Dubai's police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, said late Wednesday, according to the state news agency WAM.

Boeing's top Middle East executives said Saturday their latest 787 Dreamliner and increased demand for defense capabilities would help the aerospace company's increase its market share in the region.

"From a global perspective our products and services are performing very well," Boeing's Middle East president Jeffrey Johnson told reporters ahead of the 12th Dubai Airshow which opens Sunday.

All eyes will be on the Gulf's booming airlines and how deeply they dig into their wallets when the Middle East's main airshow opens in Dubai next week, though few are expecting a flood of blockbuster deals.

That's because the region's heavyweights — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways — already boast long lists of planes on order designed to fatten their young fleets for years to come.

Embattled Australian carrier Qantas on Friday diverted one of its A380s to Dubai because of engine problems; a year to the day after a turbine blast in another of its superjumbos rocked the airline.

QF31 was four hours into the flight from Singapore to London, carrying 258 passengers and 25 crew, when the pilot decided that the oil pressure in one engine made it "absolutely important" to change course, a spokeswoman said.

Dubai's Emirates airline posted Thursday a 76 percent drop in net profits in the first half of its financial year, reaching 827 million dirhams ($225 million) as fuel cost surged, a statement said.

The state-owned carrier, which posted net profits of 3.4 billion dirhams ($925 million) in the corresponding period last year, said climbing fuel prices have inflicted an extra cost of one billion dollars.

The United Arab Emirates has awarded an Italian-led consortium a $900 million contract to build the first stage of the Gulf nation's railway network.

State-run railway company Etihad Rail says Italy's Saipem and Tecnimont will join Dubai-based Dodsal Engineering and Construction in building the first part of the network.