Actually, Andrew, there is one more thing you can add to the story - a bird's eye view picture of these islands would be great for those who never had a chance to catch the national geographic special on the whole project.

Andrew,

this source did not get the facts right: Branson is not the developer! See details on the project here: http://www.nakheel.ae/

Cheers from Dubai

On second thoughts, Andrew, this story may just have been invented by/for the glamour press. Dubai never misses an occasion to market itself, however, there was nothing in the press here on the subject (I just did a search on the websites of the major local papers here) nor is Angelina Jolie listed in the celebrity section of Nakheel (the developer).

Just the inaccurate reporting that Richard Branson is the developer of "The World" (he only bought one island... but made a marketing exercise out of it) makes me wonder how real the rest of the story is. But it is a nice story, either way.

Cheers from Dubai

The World is this super luxurious island destination in Dubai. For those who dont know where Dubai is, I stopped over when serving in Iraq - its this rich ass Vegas in Arabia like city.

I found their website at www.theworld.ae

This kind of thing just fills me with rage and disgust!

I'm curious to know how Ms Jolie hopes her country to become a paradise for Africans trough fair trade. She's just bought a land locked country, which I'm sure isn't big enough for a proper airport, won't have a functioning railway and in an effort to overcome these barriers against trade prompt small arguments with it's neighbours. Someone should warn perspective buyers of her neighbouring countries.
It does appaet to have not truth behind it though.

Yeah Bert, if Ethiopia did putout in the century before last, she would've at least a long shore of the redsea to herself. I mean colonizers were gonna leave Africa alone sooner or later and Ethiopia would've been more like in the pre-1991 world map today.

Ethiopia's only sin that made her landlocked seems to be resisting; not that others didn't resist European colonization back then but the fact that Ethiopia unfortunately succeeded. I wonder why so many of Africa's nation's flags look like Ethiopia's flag. There could've been little countries along the shores of Indian ocean, the Redsea and the Atlantic have those African countries done what Ethiopia did in 1896.

Ms Jolie is not buying the real Ethiopia! Ethiopia is a sovereign nation remember? Africans haven't sold their souls to that extent yet. Get real people!

Abesha,

Africans have sold their souls twice over dear. It is just that the buyers are interested only in the milk and not in the cow, that you do not see people owning African countries. Actualy leaders borrow so much money from the world bank (much of it looted by the leaders themselves) that the country belongs to the people in name only.

It's hard to tell what is and isn't true on the internet, but keep a skeptical eye out for possible rumors. People Magazine claims the story is not true:
http://people.aol.com/people/articles/0,19736,1190561,00.html

Let's not even start on the debt subject please. Our leaders do not, fortunately or not, represent what the people aspire to Mamitu.