The United Arab Emirates spent eight years and billions of dollars turning 1,080 acres of Dubai desert into the site of Expo 2020, the first World Fair in the Middle East. Dubai opened Expo 2020 on Friday, a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, showing off "a buzzing futuristic landscape with robots, a new metro station, multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like 'sustainability' and 'opportunity,'" The Associated Press reports.
The Dubai organizers say 192 nations are represented at the World Fair, including the U.S., which has a replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket at its pavilion. The opening ceremony was held in a central dome that Dubai says is the world's largest 360-degree projection screen, built, AP notes, with 8.5 miles of steel.
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