Jobless Flee Dubai

Dubai used to be a boomtown for ambitious young people from the region—90 percent of the population was foreign workers. That was before the economy imploded. Now, "more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners," the New York Times reports. "Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield." Part of the mass exodus is because of Dubai's strict rules: "jobless people here lose their work visas and then must leave the country within a month" and debts can lead to imprisonment, according to the Times. The "ghost town" is in "free fall," the paper claims, with housing prices dropping and new rules against local media reporting on negative news for the country.