A developer near Dubai is building a supervillain lair straight out of the funnybooks — a collection of private islands arranged to look like a map of the world, with African game preserves, luxury hotels, McMansions, condos, etc etc etc. Also, a fleet of (heavily armed?) water-borne private coppers patrolling the islands for crooks, and, I'm guessing, hidden missile silos, or possibly a labroatory for breeding a race of superbeings.
The World will consist of between 250 to 300 smaller private artifical islands divided into four categories – private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of water between each island. The development is to cover an area of 9 kilometers in length and 6 kilometers in width, surrounded by an oval shaped breakwater. The only means of transportation between the islands will be by marine transport.
(Thanks, Jake!)
Update: Pablo sez, "here is the official page. At that website you may download a PDF file of every island (country). E.g., United Kingdom."
Update 2: Sam sez, "My friend in Dubai told me that Rod Stewart had purchased the island representing Britain in the 'World' development."
Update 3: Chris DiBona points out that this version of "The World" has no Israel
