内容摘要：A teardrop rolls down the cheek of Kenneth Barthel, who was adopted from South Korea at the age of six, as he sits in a minivan in Busan, South Korea, May 17, 2024, after spending the day trying to uncover the details of his early life and find his birth family. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A teardrop rolls down the cheek of Kenneth Barthel, who was adopted from South Korea at the age of six, as he sits in a minivan in Busan, South Korea, May 17, 2024, after spending the day trying to uncover the details of his early life and find his birth family. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

It sounded like a case of keeping up with the Joneses, only in this case the Joneses are oil-rich leaders of Middle Eastern autocracies. For a former real estate developer with flamboyant tastes, Trump’s trip has been a tantalizing peek into the lives of his more opulent counterparts.“The job you’ve done is second to none,” Trump told Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, gazing up at his surroundings in the palace known as the Amiri Diwan. “You look at this, it’s so beautiful. As a construction person, I’m seeing perfect marble. This is what they call perfecto.”

President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sign documents during a signing ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sign documents during a signing ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)There have been other

, which will wind up with a stop in the United Arab Emirates. Air Force One received fighter jet escorts, honor guards stood by with golden swords in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the presidential limousine was welcomed by riders on camelback in Doha, Qatar.“We appreciate those camels,” Trump told Al Thani. “I haven’t seen camels like that in a long time. That was some greeting.”

He continued to praise Qatar at a state dinner, where he mused that there “wasn’t a tree out of place” in the landscaping. Trump was astounded by the accommodations in Lusail, a new city outside of Doha that was

“This is not your normal house. This is a palace,” he said after signing the guest book.First test flights are planned next year, but the grueling round-the-world trip is set for 2028. Made with lightweight composites, the plane is dependent on several untested innovations and is far from a sure bet.

Piccard says a major airplane manufacturer wouldn’t take on the risk of producing a prototype such as Climate Impulse in case it fails.”It’s my job to be a pioneer,” he said in an interview. “We have to show it’s possible, then it’s a big incentive for the others to continue.”

Even if the project is successful, experts say green hydrogen-powered flight on a commercial scale would be decades away at best. The project has lured tens of millions of euros of investment, and the team of dozens of staffers is growing.The solar-powered plane was a technological feat in 2015, but wasn’t scalable, said Climate Impulse engineer and co-pilot Raphael Dinelli. Limited in range, that plane had to make more than a dozen stops on its trip around the world.