Kuwait’s Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion plots a course to a more sustainable future 

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Kuwait’s progress as a post-oil nation is reflected in its presence at the World Expo. (Supplied)
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Updated 16 December 2021
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Kuwait’s Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion plots a course to a more sustainable future 

  • Kuwait has risen, with flair and ambition, to the occasion of the first World Expo to be held in the Arab world
  • Designed by Italian architect Marco Pestalozza, the pavilion is a nod to Kuwait City’s urban development

DUBAI:  Since their inception in the mid-19th century, World Expos have provided countries of all sizes and degrees of wealth with a rare opportunity to curate their own national narrative, and tailor their preferred image — past, present and future — before a global audience.

Specific elements of a nation’s heritage, culture and economy are distilled, refined and placed on display in often exquisite and sprawling pavilions designed to reflect the country’s distinct national character and qualities. It is by communicating in this way, through their pavilions, that participating nations define themselves on the world stage.

Taken as a whole, a World Expo can therefore perhaps best be described as a rose-tinted mirror of civilization at a specific point in time. This “greatest show” is an amalgamation of nations in their idealized state; the world depicted as it would like to be seen, and everyone is invited.




Kuwait’s progress as a post-oil nation is reflected in its presence at the World Expo. (Supplied)

Kuwait has risen, with flair and ambition, to the occasion of the first World Expo to be held in the Arab world. It is clear from the grand scale of the small Gulf kingdom’s presence at Expo 2020 Dubai that a great deal of thought and attention went into its pavilion design, content and messaging.

Kuwait City has a history of telling its preferred story through its architecture. It has undergone a number of significant transformations since the advent of oil urbanization, often through ambitious, state-led development initiatives that have consistently sought to replace the old with the new.

After 1950, almost all pre-oil structures in Kuwait City’s historic urban center were transformed to make way for a new, modern metropolis. And since 2003, a renewed cycle of development has replaced that modernist landscape with something newer still. Kuwait’s ambition at Expo 2020 is in keeping with its past, present and future.




The funnel at the Kuwait pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai is a nod to its history of urban development. (AFP)

Designed by Italian architect Marco Pestalozza, the 5,600-square-meter Kuwaiti pavilion sits gracefully on a large central plot near Al-Wasl in the Sustainability District, distinguished by its irregular, roughly circular shape and gold exterior panels featuring geometric designs.

The architecture of the pavilion is a nod to Kuwait’s history of urban development. A funnel, modeled after the iconic towers built soon after Kuwait gained independence in 1961 to store desalinated water, occupies the center of the pavilion, extending from the roof to ground level.

During the day, the pavilion resembles a nugget of unprocessed gold, textured so as to echo Kuwait’s undulating desert terrain, complete with screens displaying the familiar image of camels loping across sand dunes.

At night, the pavilion is transformed. Gold no longer dominates; instead, a blue spotlight illuminates “the envelope” — the name for the wide, sloping funnel at the top of the pavilion.




The funnel at the Kuwait pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai is a nod to its history of urban development. (AFP)

The marked aesthetic transition of the building from day to night is an example of the simple yet effective ways in which the pavilion conveys its central themes of connectivity, sustainability and a diversification away from oil.

Oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Kuwait in 1938 and the industry was launched in 1946. In 1950, Kuwait’s ruler announced plans to use the country’s new, and exponentially increasing, oil wealth to make Kuwait City “the best planned and most socially progressive city in the Middle East,” unveiling a state-led modernization project hinging on the twin pillars of urban development and social welfare.

Upon entering the pavilion, visitors are greeted by a large, curved screen on which a film that explores Kuwaiti heritage, reveals the kingdom’s present and offers a glimpse into its future plays on a loop. The story is told from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl, which illustrates Kuwait’s emphasis on promoting the role of future generations of women as part of its commitment to social progress.




Visitors to the pavilion explore Kuwait’s cultural heritage and rich legacy. (Supplied)

From the ground floor, visitors ascend a curved staircase and are greeted by another video, this time offering a breathtaking vista of present-day Kuwait City, as viewed from the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway. In this film, Kuwait’s rich sea-life also features prominently, including shots of dolphins playing in the surf.

From the present, the story told by the pavilion shifts to the country’s past. Visitors are shepherded through a series of exhibits exploring Kuwait’s cultural heritage and rich legacy, reaching back about 7,000 years. Painstakingly recreated artifacts from Failaka Island, the name of which is thought to be derived from the ancient Greek word for “outpost,” are a particular highlight.

These images contrast with the story of Kuwait as a post-oil, progressive nation, outlining the substantial changes that the country has undergone. From port town to oil power, fledgling Arab democracy and a vibrant cultural society, to the Iraqi invasion and Kuwait’s economic crash, there is no question that the national story is as varied as it is rich.




Kuwait’s progress as a post-oil nation is reflected in its presence at the World Expo. (Supplied)

Besides Qatar, Kuwait is the only Gulf Cooperation Council country whose pavilion is situated in the expo’s Sustainability District — an unusual choice, perhaps, given the ostensible contradiction between its economic mainstay, the oil industry, and the necessity of moving on to other, more sustainable sources of energy.

However, Kuwait’s pavilion designers freely acknowledge this seeming dichotomy by underscoring the kingdom’s genuine desire to diversify away from oil. Perhaps more than most, this pavilion offers a snapshot of a nation ready and willing to embrace change in the present as well as the future.

Indeed, the future features prominently in the pavilion’s exhibits. To avoid overuse of touchscreens during the pandemic, the designers elected instead to use motion-detection technology to allow visitors to explore Kuwait’s Vision 2035 without any physical contact with the equipment used.

The seven pillars of Vision 2035 are designed to solidify Kuwait’s leadership in the region, from the diversification of its economy and development of infrastructure and healthcare, to a focus on the nation’s human capital and global positioning. Sustainability is woven into each of these pillars, just as it is into every facet of the pavilion’s exhibits.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Kuwaiti pavilion is its emphasis on connectivity, in line with the overall theme of Expo 2020 Dubai: “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.” Underlying the astonishing architecture and captivating narrative lies the fundamental goal of connecting people with one another, with the environment, and with the best aspects of humanity.




All generations are catered for at the pavilion, reflecting Kuwait’s youth and energy. (Supplied)

While this is, of course, a nod to the theme of the Expo of today, it also references Kuwait’s history as a connector of peoples and cultures. As an active and busy port, its capital has been a cosmopolitan, connecting city for centuries.

This continues to be the case. Kuwait’s Public Authority for Civil Information estimates the country’s population was about 4.4 million in 2019, with non-Kuwaitis accounting for nearly 70 percent of this total.

Kuwait’s dialect, food and music all contain evidence of rich influences from Iraq, Iran, Zanzibar, Oman and the other cultures the Kuwaiti people came into contact with during hundreds of years of trade, travel, immigration and acculturation.

The story Kuwait chooses to tell about itself through its pavilion at Expo 2020 is multifaceted, mirroring the diverse nature of its society, from its focus on sustainability to empowering its youth to lead the country and its people into the future.

Kuwait has a track record of cultural transformations. At Expo 2020, the nation shows it intends to push ahead with its Vision 2035 development program through the lens of sustainability.

A visit to the pavilion offers guests a more critical understanding of where Kuwait stands today — and, perhaps more importantly, where it is plans to be in the future.


‘What wrong did he do?’ Gaza family mourn three-year-old shot dead

Updated 59 min 28 sec ago
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‘What wrong did he do?’ Gaza family mourn three-year-old shot dead

  • In Gaza, “There’s no hope or peace”

KHAN YUNIS, Palestinian Territories: Gazan mother Amal Abu Shalouf ran her hand over her son’s face and hair, a brief farewell before a man abruptly sealed the body bag carrying the three-year-old who was killed just hours earlier on Tuesday.
“Amir, my love, my dear!” cried his mother, struggling to cross the crowded courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, where several bodies lay in white plastic shrouds.
According to the civil defense agency, at least nine people were killed on Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip as Israeli forces carried out military operations, more than 20 months into the war triggered by Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel.
Contacted by AFP, the military did not respond to a request for comment about Amir Abu Shalouf’s death.
At the hospital, a man carried the boy’s body in his arms through a crowd of dozens of mourners.
“I swear, I can’t take it,” his teenage brother, Ahmad Abu Shalouf, said, his face covered in tears.
“What wrong did he do?” said another brother, Mohammad Abu Shalouf. “An innocent little boy, sitting inside his tent, and a bullet struck him in the back.”
Mohammad said he had “found him shot in the back” as he returned to the tent that has become the family’s home in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Yunis that is now a massive encampment for displaced Palestinians.
The devastating war has created dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned that the entire population is at risk of famine.
The grieving mother, comforted by relatives, said her young son had been begging for food in recent days and dreaming of a piece of meat.
“There is no food, no water, no clothing,” said Amal, who has eight children to take care of.
Amal said she too was injured in the pre-dawn incident that killed her son.
“I heard something fall next to my foot while I was sitting and baking, and suddenly felt something hit me. I started screaming,” she said.
Outside the tent at the time, she said she tried crawling and reaching for other family members.
“Then I heard my daughter screaming from inside the tent...  found them holding my son, his abdomen and back covered in blood.”
A group of men formed lines to recite a prayer for the dead, their words almost drowned out by the noise of Israeli drones flying overhead.
In the second row, Ahmad Abu Shalouf held his hands over his stomach in prayer, unable to hold back a stream of tears.
Similar scenes played out at the hospital courtyard again and again over several hours, as the day’s dead were mourned.
At one point, an emaciated man collapsed in front of the shrouded bodies.
One mourner pressed his head against one of the bodies, carried on a stretcher at the start of a funeral procession, before being helped up by others.
At a distance, a group of women supported Umm Mohammad Shahwan, a grieving mother, with all of them in tears.
“We need the war to end,” said Amal Abu Shalouf.
In Gaza, she lamented, “there’s no hope or peace.”


Syria rescuers say two killed in drone strikes on northwest

Updated 11 June 2025
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Syria rescuers say two killed in drone strikes on northwest

  • During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh

DAMASCUS: Two people were killed in separate drone strikes Tuesday on a car and a motorcycle in the northwestern bastion of the Islamist former rebels who now head the Syrian government, rescuers said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin drone strikes in the Idlib region but a US-led coalition in Syria has carried out past strikes on terrorists in the area.
Earlier this year, the United States said it killed several commanders of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate Hurras Al-Din in the area.
The group had recently announced it was breaking up on the orders of the interim government set up by the rebels after their overthrow of Bashar Assad in December.
US troops are deployed in Syria as part of a US-led coalition to fight the Daesh group.
When contacted by AFP, a US defense official said they were aware of the reports but had “nothing to provide” at the time.
During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh.
 

 


Gaza-bound activist convoy enters Libya from Tunisia

Updated 11 June 2025
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Gaza-bound activist convoy enters Libya from Tunisia

  • Convoy members were heard chanting “Resistance, resistance” and “To Gaza we go by the millions” in a video posted on the organizing group’s official Facebook page

BEN GUERDANE, Tunisia: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists taking part in a convoy crossed the Tunisian border on Tuesday into Libya, aiming to keep heading eastwards until they break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory, organizers said.
This comes after Israel intercepted an aid ship attempting to breach its blockade on Gaza, which was carrying 12 people, including campaigner Greta Thunberg and European parliament member Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan.
The “Soumoud” convoy, meaning “steadfastness” in Arabic, set off from Tunis on Monday morning, spokesman Ghassen Henchiri told Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM.
He said it includes 14 buses and around 100 other vehicles, carrying hundreds of people.
Convoy members were heard chanting “Resistance, resistance” and “To Gaza we go by the millions” in a video posted on the organizing group’s official Facebook page.
Henchiri also told Jawhara FM radio channel the convoy plans to remain in Libya for “three or four days at most” before crossing into Egypt and continuing on to Rafah.
Organizers have said Egyptian authorities have not yet provided passage to enter the country, but Henchiri said the convoy received “reassuring” information.
Organizers said the convoy was not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aimed at carrying out a “symbolic act” by breaking the blockade on the territory described by the United Nations as “the hungriest place on Earth.”
Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists were also among the group, which is set to travel along the Libyan coast.
After 21 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.
The Madleen aid boat, which set sail for Gaza from Italy on June 1, was halted by Israeli forces on Monday and towed to the port of Ashdod.
The 12 people on board were then transferred to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, adding that Thunberg had been deported.
Five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily.
 

 


Algeria man’s self-immolation investigated as ‘terrorism’

A general view shows the Justice Ministry in the Algerian capital, Algiers. (AFP file photo)
Updated 11 June 2025
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Algeria man’s self-immolation investigated as ‘terrorism’

  • The charges include “endangering the lives and physical safety of others” and “publishing and promoting false and malicious news”

ALGIERS: Algerian authorities have launched a counterterrorism investigation after a man had set himself on fire, an act investigators suspect was part of coordinated plot with links abroad, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Faouzi Zegout was injured as a result of the self-immolation on June 1 outside the justice ministry to protest a case he was involved in.
A video of the incident in the capital Algiers circulated on social media, showing Zegout saying he had done it “because of a judge... who arbitrarily threatened me with a 10-year prison sentence.”
At an Algiers court on Tuesday, a prosecutor said that five people had been detained in the case, without specifying whether Zegout was one of them.
One of the five has been released under judicial supervision, and the case has been transferred to a counterterrorism division, the court heard.
According to the prosecutor, investigators had found that the act was orchestrated by an “organized criminal group” with suspected ties abroad.
The prosecutor said the group had allegedly plotted the act and assigned roles, including filming and publishing the self-immolation online, to “disturb public order and disrupt institutions.”
The charges include “endangering the lives and physical safety of others” and “publishing and promoting false and malicious news.”
The person who filmed the incident had “communicated with people abroad,” had “multiple bank accounts” and “received money transfers from people,” the prosecutor said, without specifying when the alleged transfers had occurred or who made them.
Zegout has said that he recently appeared in court for launching a fundraiser without official authorization to help cover medical costs for sick people.
A court in Frenda, his hometown about 340 kilometers (200 miles) west of Algiers, was scheduled to deliver its decision the same day he set himself on fire.
 


Israel cancels waiver allowing Israeli and Palestinian banks to work together

Updated 10 June 2025
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Israel cancels waiver allowing Israeli and Palestinian banks to work together

JERUSALEM: Israel canceled a waiver on Tuesday that had allowed Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, threatening to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions, Israel’s finance ministry said in a statement.
“Against the backdrop of the Palestinian Authority’s delegitimization campaign against the State of Israel internationally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has instructed Accountant General CPA Yahli Rotenberg to cancel the indemnity provided to correspondent banks dealing with banks operating in Palestinian Authority territories,” the ministry said.
Smotrich had threatened in May 2024 to cut the vital connection between Israel and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for the recognition of the State of Palestine by three European countries.
The Palestinian financial and banking system is dependent on the regular renewal of the Israeli waiver.
It protects Israeli banks from potential legal action relating to transactions with their Palestinian counterparts, for instance in relation to financing terror.
In July, G7 countries urged Israel to “take necessary action” to ensure the continuity of Palestinian financial systems.
It came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “to cut Palestinian banks from Israeli counterparts would create a humanitarian crisis.”
The overwhelming majority of exchanges in the West Bank are in shekels, Israel’s national currency, because the Palestinian Authority does not have a central bank that would allow it to print its own currency.