World's second-tallest building under construction in Saudi

NEW YORK — The silver spire topping One World Trade Center has been fully installed on the building’s roof, bringing the iconic structure to its full, symbolic height of 1,776 feet. The spire’s installation was completed Friday morning, after pieces of it had been transported to the roof of the building last week. Construction workers below applauded the milestone. The 1,776 feet is symbolic of the year 1776, when the U.S. declared its independence.

The final sections of a 125-metre spire were hoisted to the top of One World Trade Centre on Thursday, signalling a close to the saga between the New York development team and a Quebec steel manufacturer that once threatened to bring the whole operation to a halt. The last two pieces of the spire, draped in the American flag, were hauled up more than 410 metres in what organizers called “a historic milestone.”

Plans to build the world’s biggest Ferris wheel as part of new major tourist complex have been approved in Dubai. The 201-metre Dubai Eye will surpass the 165-meter Singapore Flyer, currently the current world’s tallest Ferris wheel, and offer panoramic views of the Dubai coast and attractions including the Burj Al Arab, Palm Jumeirah and Burj Khalifa.

Once-bustling Dubai will open the world's tallest skyscraper on Monday, boasting new limits in design and construction, hopeful of polishing an image tarnished by the debt woes afflicting the Gulf emirate.Emaar, the giant property firm part-owned by the government and which developed the needle-shaped concrete, steel and glass structure, has declined to reveal Burj Dubai's exact height.Apparently wanting to maintain the suspense, the company will say only that the tower exceeds 800 metres (2,640 feet), putting it far higher than Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower (508 metres).

This morning, the spire went up at One World Trade Center in Manhattan.