Dubai's ruler writes poetry, rides horses across the desert in long-distance endurance races and hobnobs with royals like the Queen of England. Mixing extravagance with boundless ambition, he commanded the desert city-state's meteoric rise — and helped sow the seeds, some observers say, of its debt crisis.

An Israeli flag was displayed for the first time in the United Arab Emirates this week when a delegation from the Jewish state attended an international meeting, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.