Oman’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai pays a fitting tribute to frankincense

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The Omani pavilion, located in the Mobility District, pays homage to the precious substance frankincense. (Supplied)
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Updated 26 November 2021
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Oman’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai pays a fitting tribute to frankincense

  • Oman produces the world’s finest variety of the spicy aroma that ancient Egyptians called the “Sweat of the Gods
  • The pavilion also highlights Sultanate’s commitment to sustainability of its natural flora and its youth

DUBAI: Frankincense, the aromatic resin harvested from trees that grow in a narrow climate belt from the Horn of Africa to India and parts of southern China, has been used for 6,000 years as both a perfume and panacea for a host of ailments.

Most of the world’s supply comes from Somalia, Eritrea and Yemen. But it is Oman that famously produces the world’s finest — and most expensive — frankincense, a rich and spicy aroma that ancient Egyptians called the “Sweat of the Gods.”

Trade in frankincense has flourished in this region for centuries, and was one of the most valued commodities of the ancient and medieval world.

Today, the resin, harvested from the Boswellia tree, is still highly prized, as Oman’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai shows. With sustainability experts warning that the tree variety globally is under threat, the pavilion provides a fitting tribute to frankincense and its rich history.




Lab50, an initiative involved in the pavilion’s design, engaged more than young 300 Omanis from sectors including government and SMEs to develop the narrative and content of the pavilion. (Supplied)

The word frankincense comes from the Old French “franc encens” (“noble” or “pure incense”), and is the English version of the Arabic Al-luban.

Today, the value of frankincense resin is still determined by its color, clump size and oil content. The most valuable grade, known as hojari, comes from a narrow, dry belt of the Dhofar Mountains in Oman. Boswellia trees studding this region are a feature of Oman’s UNESCO-appointed Land of Frankincense World Heritage site.

The Omani pavilion, located in the Mobility District, pays homage to the precious substance. Even the mandatory hand sanitizer is enhanced with the resin’s aroma and natural antiviral properties.

Given frankincense’s long history, stretching over millennia, one might expect Oman’s pavilion to be built on tradition or to be rooted in the past. In fact, the pavilion is a testament to Oman’s future generations, and has been created by Omani youth, the future of the country’s economy.

Lab50, an initiative involved in the pavilion’s design, engaged more than young 300 Omanis from sectors including government and SMEs to develop the narrative and content of the pavilion.

The result is a modern story-telling experience, with frankincense at its center. The pavilion’s design was led by recent graduates, and its technology designed and built by young Omanis. Multi-sensory and mixed-reality audiovisual content was written, shot and produced by local talent.

The exterior of the pavilion shows how a young eye can interpret tradition. The sweeping, intricately detailed exterior echoes and exploits the features of a frankincense tree.

Visitors entering the pavilion on the ground floor are greeted by a replica of the “Mother Tree,” and introduced to the resin extraction process and the uses of frankincense throughout history.

FASTFACTS

* For the past 6,000 years, frankincense has been used to raise spirits and encourage well-being.

* Pavilion’s five zones show how frankincense contributed to Omani progress in different fields.

* Exhibits offer interactive experiences using AR and mixed reality technology.

Displays highlight the role frankincense played in worship and medicine, from the mummification of ancient Egyptian rulers to its role in traditional Chinese medicine. On the first floor, visitors discover the Forest of Sustainability, a modern exhibit in which tree-shaped displays tell the story of Oman’s plans for sustainable innovation.

Through digital displays and QR codes, these stories come to life: There is a feature on Oman’s collaboration with the UAE to harvest wind power, and another on Oman’s “million date palm” project.

Many case studies are linked to Oman’s efforts in wildlife conservation, including birds of prey, the Arabian snow leopard and rare plants.




The Omani pavilion highlights the country’s commitment to sustainability, not only of its precious natural flora, but also its youth. (Supplied)

Despite its pervasive presence at the Omani pavilion, the Boswellia tree is under threat and may die out within 20 years, according to sustainability experts. Scientists who have studied the issue say many older trees have not produced a new sapling in half a century.

When the UNESCO site at Wadi Dawkah in the Dhofar governorate was established in 2000, only about 1,200 frankincense trees were growing there. Since then, thousands more have been planted, with the goal to reach 10,000 on the site.

An irrigation system has been installed to help nurture saplings, and there are also wild trees flourishing beyond the perimeter fence. Oman’s investment in sustainability and the future generations of frankincense trees appears to be paying off.

From the Forest of Sustainability, visitors enter the Frankincense Crystal Hall, where precious frankincense crystals in hanging lights add a modern touch to the journey. Exiting the hall, visitors enter the “trade tunnel and trade shore,” which tells the story of Oman’s history as a trading hub, with more than 200 sea lanes and 86 global ports within two weeks’ journey by sea.

On the third floor, visitors are invited to “step into the future.” Ancient traditions are reframed through a modern, scientific lens, with a focus on technology and the future of frankincense.

Modern uses of frankincense extend from personal to religious, spiritual and medical. According to Oman pavilion information, “frankincense is scientifically proven to fight cancer, depression and asthma” and “is still used as a disinfectant when burnt.”

Visitors to the pavilion also have an opportunity to take the sweet aroma of frankincense home. Gifts on offer range from traditional weaving to Omani silver and products based on frankincense.

The Omani pavilion highlights the country’s commitment to sustainability, not only of its precious natural flora, but also its youth.

Innovation created by and for young Omani talent will provide inspiration and opportunity for future generations of Omanis.


This is what could happen next after an Israel-Iran ceasefire

Updated 3 sec ago
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This is what could happen next after an Israel-Iran ceasefire

  • Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, who has been nominated to lead forces in the Middle East, told lawmakers Tuesday that Iran still possesses “significant tactical capability” despite the American strikes
  • In response to a question about whether the Iranians still pose a threat to US troops and Americans worldwide, Cooper replied, “They do”

WASHINGTON: The whipsaw chain of events involving Iran, Israel and the United States that culminated in a surprise ceasefire has raised many questions about how the Trump administration will approach the Middle East going forward.
Yet, the answer to the bottom line question — “what’s next?” — remains unknowable and unpredictable. That is because President Donald Trump has essentially sidelined the traditional US national security apparatus and confined advice and decision-making to a very small group of top aides operating from the White House.
While there is uncertainty about whether the ceasefire between Iran and Israel will hold, it opens the possibility of renewed talks with Tehran over its nuclear program and reinvigorating stalled negotiations in other conflicts.
Watching for next steps on Trump’s social media
Outside experts, long consulted by presidential administrations on policy, have been forced like the general public to follow Trump’s social media musings and pronouncements for insights on his thinking or the latest turn of events.
Even Congress does not appear to be in the loop as top members were provided only cursory notifications of Trump’s weekend decision to hit three Israeli nuclear facilities and briefings on their impact scheduled for Tuesday were abruptly postponed.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, whose agency has played a key role in formulating Iran policy for decades, repeatedly on Tuesday deferred questions to the White House and Trump’s posts.
“The secretary of state was in a dynamic with the president that is a private dynamic as that team was addressing a war and the nature of how to stop it,” she told reporters. “I can’t speak to how that transpired or the decisions that were made.”
Trump’s announcement Monday that Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire took many in the administration by surprise — as did his post Tuesday that China is now free to import Iranian oil.
It’s an apparent 180-degree shift from Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” on Iran since he withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement during his first term. US officials were left wondering if that meant wide-ranging sanctions aimed at cutting off Iran’s energy revenue were being eased or reversed.
Assessing the damage to Iran’s nuclear program
While the extent of the damage from 11 days of Israeli attacks and Saturday’s strikes by US bunker-buster bombs is not yet fully known, a preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency said the nuclear program had been set back only a few months and was not “completely and fully obliterated” as Trump has said.
According to people familiar with the report, it found that while the strikes at the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites did significant damage, they were not totally destroyed.
Still, most experts believe the facilities will require months or longer to repair or reconstruct if Iran chooses to try to maintain its program at previous levels.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, who has been nominated to lead forces in the Middle East, told lawmakers Tuesday that Iran still possesses “significant tactical capability” despite the American strikes. He pointed to Iran’s attempt to retaliate with missile launches at a US base in Qatar.
In response to a question about whether the Iranians still pose a threat to US troops and Americans worldwide, Cooper replied, “They do.”
Trump, after announcing the ceasefire, boasted that Iran will never again have a nuclear program.
However, there are serious questions about whether Iran’s leadership, which has placed a high premium on maintaining its nuclear capabilities, will be willing to negotiate them away.
Restarting US-Iran nuclear talks is possible
Another major question is what happens with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. It is not entirely clear who in Iran has the authority to make a deal or even agree to reenter talks with the US or others.
Ray Takeyh, a former State Department official and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Iranian leadership is at a moment of disarray — making it difficult to return to the table.
“The country’s leadership and the regime is not cohesive enough to be able to come to some sort of negotiations at this point, especially negotiations from the American perspective, whose conclusion is predetermined, namely, zero enrichment,” he said.
Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agreed, saying that “the biggest challenge right now is who is in charge in Tehran.”
“Is there an Iranian negotiation team empowered to make consequential decisions?” he said. “The issue is that (Trump) is dealing with an Iranian government whose longtime identity has been based on hostility toward the the United States.”
Still, a US official said Tuesday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is ready to resume negotiations if Trump tells him to and Iran is willing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters.
Witkoff has maintained an open line of direct communication via text messages with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
In the aftermath of the US strikes, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both stressed that diplomacy is still Trump’s preferred method for ending the conflict permanently.
“We didn’t blow up the diplomacy,” Vance told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “The diplomacy never was given a real chance by the Iranians. And our hope … is that this maybe can reset here. The Iranians have a choice. They can go down the path of peace or they can go down the path of this ridiculous brinksmanship.”
Rubio echoed those comments.
“We’re prepared right now, if they call right now and say we want to meet, let’s talk about this, we’re prepared to do that,” he said. “The president’s made that clear from the very beginning: His preference is to deal with this issue diplomatically.”
The Israel-Iran ceasefire could affect Trump’s approach to other conflicts
If it holds, the ceasefire could offer insight to the Trump administration as it tries to broker peace in several other significant conflicts with ties to Iran.
An end — even a temporary one — to the Iran-Israel hostilities may allow the administration to return to talks with mediators like Egypt and Qatar to seek an end to the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas.
In Syria, a further shift away from now-weakened Iranian influence — pervasive during ousted leader Bashar Assad’s reign — could open new doors for US-Syria cooperation. Trump already has met the leader of the new Syrian government and eased US sanctions.
Similarly, tense US relations with Lebanon also could benefit from a reduced Iranian role in supporting the Hezbollah militant group, which has been a force of its own — rivaling if not outperforming the Lebanese Armed Forces, particularly near the Israeli border.
If an Iran-Israel ceasefire holds, it also could allow Trump the time and space to return to stalled efforts to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia and Iran have substantial economic and military cooperation, including Tehran providing Moscow with drones that the Russian military has relied on heavily in its war against Ukraine.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine in recent days as Israel attacked sites in Iran, perhaps expecting the world’s attention to shift away from its three-year-old invasion.

 


France warns Iran sanctions still possible if no nuclear deal

Updated 48 sec ago
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France warns Iran sanctions still possible if no nuclear deal

  • “France and its E3 partners (Germany and the United Kingdom) remain ready to use the leverage established by Resolution 2231, that of a ‘snapback’ (of sanctions), if a satisfactory agreement is not reached by summer,” he warned

UNITED NATIONS, United States: France and its European partners are still prepared to reactivate sanctions on Iran if an agreement is not reached soon on its nuclear program, the French ambassador to the UN warned Tuesday.
“Time is running out,” said Jerome Bonnnafont at a UN Security Council meeting, in reference to the October expiration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“We expect Iran to return to talks without delay in order to achieve a robust, verifiable and lasting diplomatic solution,” he added.
Bonnafont said negotiations were the only way to “guarantee the impossibility of an Iranian military nuclear program,” days after the United States conducted strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“France and its E3 partners (Germany and the United Kingdom) remain ready to use the leverage established by Resolution 2231, that of a ‘snapback’ (of sanctions), if a satisfactory agreement is not reached by summer,” he warned.
UK ambassador Barbara Wood concurred, saying: “We will use all diplomatic levers at our disposal to support a negotiated outcome, and ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.”
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 endorsed the 2015 agreement Iran reached with the E3 countries, as well as China, Russia and the United States, to regulate its nuclear program in return for eased sanctions.
President Donald Trump removed the United States from the agreement in 2018.

 


Trump administration authorizes $30 million for Israeli-backed group distributing food in Gaza

Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 23, 2025. (REUTERS)
Updated 59 min 24 sec ago
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Trump administration authorizes $30 million for Israeli-backed group distributing food in Gaza

  • Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading to the sites for desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has authorized providing $30 million to a US- and Israeli-backed group that is distributing food in Gaza, a US official said Tuesday, an operation that has drawn criticism from other humanitarian organizations.
The request is the first known US government funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution efforts amid the Israel-Hamas war. The American-led group had applied for the money to the US Agency for International Development, which has been dismantled and will soon be absorbed into the State Department as part of the Trump administration’s deep cuts of foreign aid.
The application is part of a controversial development: private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world’s deadliest conflict zones in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue involving a controversial aid program, said the decision to directly fund GHF was made “to provide effective and accessible humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
The announcement comes as violence and chaos have plagued areas near the new food distribution sites since opening last month. GHF says no one has been killed at the aid sites themselves and that it has delivered some 44 million meals to Palestinians in need.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading to the sites for desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner while going to the sites.
Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as crowds tried to reach a GHF site on Tuesday in southern Gaza. At least 19 were killed and 50 others wounded, according to Nasser hospital and Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence. The United Nations, its affiliated aid agencies and private humanitarian groups that work in Gaza have denied that there has been any significant theft of their supplies by Hamas.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that the American-led group had asked the Trump administration for the initial funding so it can continue its aid operation, which has been criticized by the UN, humanitarian groups and others. They accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel’s objectives in the 21-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters earlier Tuesday that she had no information to provide on funding for the foundation.

 


Grok shows ‘flaws’ in fact-checking Israel-Iran war: study

Updated 10 min 40 sec ago
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Grok shows ‘flaws’ in fact-checking Israel-Iran war: study

  • “Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims”

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok produced inaccurate and contradictory responses when users sought to fact-check the Israel-Iran conflict, a study said Tuesday, raising fresh doubts about its reliability as a debunking tool.
With tech platforms reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers, users are increasingly utilizing AI-powered chatbots — including xAI’s Grok — in search of reliable information, but their responses are often themselves prone to misinformation.
“The investigation into Grok’s performance during the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict exposes significant flaws and limitations in the AI chatbot’s ability to provide accurate, reliable, and consistent information during times of crisis,” said the study from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank.
“Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims.”
The DFRLab analyzed around 130,000 posts in various languages on the platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, to find that Grok was “struggling to authenticate AI-generated media.”
Following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Grok offered vastly different responses to similar prompts about an AI-generated video of a destroyed airport that amassed millions of views on X, the study found.
It oscillated — sometimes within the same minute — between denying the airport’s destruction and confirming it had been damaged by strikes, the study said.
In some responses, Grok cited the a missile launched by Yemeni rebels as the source of the damage. In others, it wrongly identified the AI-generated airport as one in Beirut, Gaza, or Tehran.
When users shared another AI-generated video depicting buildings collapsing after an alleged Iranian strike on Tel Aviv, Grok responded that it appeared to be real, the study said.
The Israel-Iran conflict, which led to US air strikes against Tehran’s nuclear program over the weekend, has churned out an avalanche of online misinformation including AI-generated videos and war visuals recycled from other conflicts.
AI chatbots also amplified falsehoods.
As the Israel-Iran war intensified, false claims spread across social media that China had dispatched military cargo planes to Tehran to offer its support.
When users asked the AI-operated X accounts of AI companies Perplexity and Grok about its validity, both wrongly responded that the claims were true, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Researchers say Grok has previously made errors verifying information related to crises such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles.
Last month, Grok was under renewed scrutiny for inserting “white genocide” in South Africa, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries.
Musk’s startup xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for the unsolicited response.
Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa’s leaders were “openly pushing for genocide” of white people.
Musk himself blasted Grok after it cited Media Matters — a liberal media watchdog he has targeted in multiple lawsuits — as a source in some of its responses about misinformation.
“Shame on you, Grok,” Musk wrote on X. “Your sourcing is terrible.”


Meeting Trump, Turkiye’s Erdogan hails Iran-Israel truce

Updated 33 min 26 sec ago
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Meeting Trump, Turkiye’s Erdogan hails Iran-Israel truce

  • The Turkish president “expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire achieved between Israel and Iran through President Trump’s efforts
  • Erdogan stressed the need for Ankara and Washington to work closely to end the war in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict

THE HAGUE: Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the Iran-Israel ceasefire and urged “close dialogue” to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as he held talks with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a NATO summit late Tuesday.
The Turkish president “expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire achieved between Israel and Iran through President Trump’s efforts, hoping it would be permanent,” his office said.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire that would bring about an “official end” to their 11 day conflict.
The move came after the US joined Israel’s campaign on Sunday, striking key nuclear sites, prompting a carefully-coordinated Iranian retaliation against a US base in Qatar late Monday — which appeared to bring the confrontation to a close.
Erdogan also stressed the need for Ankara and Washington to work closely to end the war in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Turkish president “emphasized the importance of close dialogue in ending the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza as soon as possible and in peacefully resolving the Russia-Ukraine war,” it said.
Erdogan also called for increased defense industry cooperation with the United States, which he said could significantly boost trade between them.
“Advancing cooperation in the defense industry would facilitate achieving the goal of a $100 billion trade volume,” he said.