Kylie Minogue picks up £1.5m for playing at Atlantis hotel in Dubai

There was little evidence of a global financial crisis as tycoons and celebrities, among them Robert De Niro and Sir Richard Branson, flew into Dubai last night for the opening of the £1bn Atlantis hotel. The Australian singer Kylie Minogue (left) provided the entertainment, for which she was paid as much as £1.5m, and the guests were treated to a firework display seven times greater than this year's Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.

The party, which cost £13.5m, was thrown by Sol Kerzner, the South African billionaire behind the man-made Palm Island, who said that if he had do it all over again he might make a bit more allowance for the fact "we're living through a bit of a tough economic environment".

Other guests included the Duchess of York, Lily Allen, Denzel Washington, Lindsay Lohan, Charlize Theron and her partner Stuart Townsend (pictured together right).