Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group, the real estate and hospitality business, has posted a loss of $6.4bn for the last financial year against a net profit of $4.74bn the year before, due to a slump in the local property market plus a series of impairments.

Dubai World, the state-owned conglomerate whose debt problems sparked last year’s financial crisis in the emirate, has said it has reached an agreement “in principal” to repay its creditors. It has proposed repaying 30 percent of its $23.5 billion debt within five years and the remainder three years later.

Dubai World is to ask its creditors for up to eight more years to pay back a $22 billion debt. The troubled investment fund, which owns the QE2 cruise liner and Cirque du Soleil, will promise creditors that it will be able to repay the entire debt if granted the extension.

Two members of cabin crew from the Emirates Airline have been jailed for three months in Dubai, following the exchange of a series of sexually explicit text messages. The case is the second to emerge from Dubai in as many weeks, as international visitors grapple with the emirate’s strict decency laws.

Dubai is set to further tighten entry criteria for Israeli citizens looking to visit the country; with those holding dual nationality likely to be added to the list of those barred from entry.

Creditors to Dubai World could be offered 60 per cent of the money they are owed, under the latest proposal to restructure the company’s $22 billion of outstanding debts. The deal would ensure repayment after seven years following a 40 per cent “hair cut”, with the agreement backed by the Dubai government.