July 16, 2004. The image shows this man-made island that lies off the coast of Dubai in the Persian Gulf. The island will host a resort that will have approximately 1,200 single-family and 600 multi-family residences, an aquatic theme park, shopping centers, cinemas and more. Photo credit \"Space Imaging Middle East\"

Jointly given the name of \"Pentapolis of M`Zab\", the desert cities of Ghardaia, El Atteuf, Bounoura, Melinka, Beni Isguen are the main cultural and tourist attraction poles in Algeria, enlisted on the UNESCO World Heritage.
The way in which this rocky plateau (Hamada) has been turned into a totally man-made green oasis surrounded by splendid cities is an outstanding example of how even the Saharan desert can be rendered habitable by the management of urban development and water resource

Coimbra, Portugal. The high-resolution satellite image shows how the current forest fires threaten the city of Coimbra and how near the fires already are. The image was collected on 24-August-2005 by IKONOS.
size: 3000x3000. Credits: Geoeye.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon caused an oil spill when Israel struck the Jiyyeh Power Station in mid-July. GeoEye`s IKONOS satellite took this image August 5, 2006 clearly showing oil washed up along the tourist-drawing Mediterranean Sea shoreline near Beirut, Lebanon.

Credit: GeoEye/Space Imaging Middle East