Category World News

The Dumfries and Galloway News in Scotland welcomed the news with the headline “South West Scotland Hotelier Becomes President Of America For Second Time” when Donald Trump reclaimed the presidency in the previous year’s election.

The locals now appear to have taken a more amusing stand, suggesting that Trump, who owns expensive golf courses in Scotland, was amusing.

His arrival for a four-day visit this week was welcomed by the following headlines from the National, Scotland’s pro-independence newspaper.

What’s the purpose of Trump’s trip to Scotland, and why?

In Scotland, how has Trump been viewed?

His mother is the one who inherited Trump’s ties to Scotland.

While his father, Fred, was the son of German immigrants, Mary Anne MacLeod, the mother of Trump, was a Scottish immigrant to the US and was born in the Tong, Isle of Lewis, a Scottish immigrant.

Trump has made significant progress in making significant progress in this connection and his general adoration for Scotland, as well as making grand promises regarding the benefits of tourism to his golf courses.

Before meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks on trade on Monday, he arrived in the small Ayrshire village of Turnberry for a round of golf. The Ailsa, which has hosted the Open Championship twice, and King Robert the Bruce, which are Trump Turnberry’s two championship golf courses.

Turnberry, a tiny town with about 200 inhabitants, might have been a good place to escape bigger problems. Trump can’t stop speculation about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, from being dissuaded by many in his MAGA fan base.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly sent Epstein a birthday note with a naked woman and a text that read, “Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

According to the report, Bill Clinton and Trump both wrote letters to Epstein in a book that was given to him in 2003.

A Scottish reporter yelled at Trump on Friday, “Are you in Scotland to escape legal issues?” He didn’t respond.

On Friday, some people showed up to protest against his visit to Scotland. A protester in Turnberry was holding a sign that read, “Scotland hated Trump before it was fashionable.” The rest of the protest signs were less polite.

Because he would be “washing his hair,” Stephen Flynn, a member of the Scottish National Party who is notably bald, said he wouldn’t meet Trump.

Scotland doesn’t need to bowe to the White House in the same way that the Westminster bubble does, according to author and journalist Dominic Hinde of Glasgow. In a way that Keir Starmer cannot, we can afford to be rude. He harked back to his Scottish roots and hoped to be greeted with a regal welcome. His standing has only gotten worse and worse. We are not interested in his style of politics at all.

Turnberry temporarily became home to 5, 000 police officers, army trucks, and road checkpoints on Friday as a result of this apprehension and an attempted assassination during his election campaign last year. Since Queen Elizabeth II passed away, this security operation has been the largest and most expensive.

Trump also intends to take a four-day trip that is scheduled to end on July 29 to visit his golf course in Balmedie, close to Aberdeen, and a new course that will open in August.

Why does Trump annoy some Scots?

14 years ago, a dispute between Trump and locals began over a project to construct windmills on his golf course in Aberdeenshire. He demanded that they be stopped, calling them “monstrosities” that would only harm tourism. He continued to oppose both wind and solar power despite failing to stop wind farms.

Trump has requested Starmer to reduce wind and increase oil production in previous discussions. He claims that offshore wind farms “drive the whales crazy” However, wind generates about half of Scotland’s electricity.

Aberdeenshire Golf Course for Trump has also proved controversial. According to conservation organizations, the course has destroyed nearby dunes. Additionally, the course has struggled to generate as much money as it had hoped.

On Friday, the Stop Trump Scotland protest group made clear that it was against him. The Scottish people don’t want Donald Trump’s government to “roll out a welcome mat for him,” it said.

Trump and the UK’s prime minister will talk about what?

The focus of Keir Starmer’s discussions will be on improving a US-UK trade agreement that mandated a 10% tariff on imported British goods.

Additionally, it increased the UK market’s access to US goods and established tariffs of 10% on the first 100, 000 UK vehicles shipped to the US each year, compared to 25% for other nations.

According to car manufacturers and the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK exported about 106, 000 cars worth $9 billion ($12.1 billion) to the US in 2024, including premium brands like Jaguar, Rolls Royce, and Aston Martin.

Although the UK already hopes to see a 25% reduction in its steel and aluminum tariff, a 50% duty on the same goods would be applied to the rest of the world.

The UK is in a good position, according to Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec in London, given that Trump only imposes 10% of its car exports and that most other nations also have 25% of their exports. A tariff-free trade agreement would be beneficial, but it would be challenging to achieve in everyday circumstances, let alone right now.

At the Group of Seven (G7) summit in June, Trump claimed that the UK is “very well protected” and that the UK receives a better deal than other large economies. You understand the reason. because I enjoy them. Their greatest defense is that.

We were the first nation in the world to sign a trade deal, according to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Friday, adding that it is in Britain’s national interest to have strong relations with the US administration and as a result of both that long-term special relationship and, more importantly, the work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done to build those relationships with President Trump.

However, Kathleen Brooks, research director at UK investment firm XTB, stated that while the UK was “blessed” by an early trade agreement, it has not yet improved its economic situation.

It’s interesting that Trump has visited Scotland while the EU is still awaiting confirmation of its tariffs on US goods. Trump’s visit to Scotland may serve as a rebuttal to the EU because he also owns golf courses in Ireland. The Epstein scandal might also help to deflect some of the controversy.

Some Trump supporters have expressed disapproval of the UK as a whole, claiming that it lacks freedom of speech and that London has “no-go” zones. Starmer’s trade negotiations are thought to be unrelated, and it’s unlikely that he will raise these issues.

What other possibilities exist?

Trump will also have the opportunity to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has praised the country’s “strong friendship” with the US, which dates back a long way. Through economic, cultural, and ancestral ties, the partnership endures unwaveringly, including, of course, with the president himself.

He has also pledged to bring up issues involving conflict in countries like Israel and Gaza.

Fatima Kandeel, 43, and her two sons moved into a new rented apartment in the southern Beirut suburbs in March.

They had been staying with her sister Aida nearby for four months after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon had stopped the worst, but not all, of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and it felt good to have their own place.

With only two armchairs and a shisha pipe in between them, the family stands in their hardly decorated living room in Laylake, Dahiyeh.

A Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jnoub in October hangs next to a martyr’s portrait of Fatima’s 21-year-old nephew.

In the rubble, scraps of home

Hezbollah declared its support for Palestine on October 7, 2023, and the conflict lasted for about a year before Israel invaded and started a full-fledged conflict.

Because it is widely known as a Hezbollah stronghold, the suburbs of Dahiyeh have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli strikes.

The family’s previous home in Dahiyeh’s Hay el-Selom, a 10-minute walk from Laylake, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in October.

Fatima recounted the suffering of loss, displacement, and hardship while keeping her hazel eyes on her hijab in good health and optimism in early June.

She spoke with her hands as though she were on stage, and she was energetic and confident.

Like many Lebanese hosts, she offered drinks and an invitation for lunch while chatting about what it was like to feel under attack in Dahiyeh and whether that changed her relationship with her neighbourhood.

Her sons, 24-year-old Hassan and 20-year-old Hussein, managed to salvage two wardrobes and a bed from the rubble after their family fled to Aida’s, according to Fatima.

Fatima proudly flung open the bedroom doors, showcasing the two wardrobes that had been completely rebuilt, making it impossible to tell if they had been bombed. The rescued bed is used by one of her sons after getting new slats and a new lease on life.

She gently ran her hand over one of the damaged surfaces, saying, “These are the most important pieces of furniture in the house.”

They are historical because they endured. We got them back, I was so happy.

Hassan and Hussein found more in the rubble of their home: a stuffed toy that Hassan used to play with and a few of the books from their mother’s library.

Fatima smiled and looked at the stuffed toy as she spoke. As his mother shared her thoughts, Hussein was quietly observing his mother.

“He used to sleep with it beside him every night”, Fatima recalled. After my divorce, I was unable to save much from my children’s childhood, but I did, and it has now survived the war.

A collection of books about history, religion, and culture are a few feet away from what she once owned on a small table in her bedroom.

Scars, visible and invisible

The remnants of war can be seen from the living room balcony. A daily reminder of what was lost, with the lower floors of a neighboring building still standing and the top floors destroyed.

Yet Fatima holds Dahiyeh dear and is determined to stay.

She said, “I love the people here.” Everyone behaves kindly. … Dahiyeh is home”.

Hussein agreed that Dahiyeh’s strong sense of community, friends, and neighbors make him feel most at home there.

He had emotional issues throughout the war, battling with stress and verbal abuse. He has seen two therapists but hasn’t felt much improvement.

Hussein is open to leaving Dahiyeh, contrary to his mother, but he acknowledged that practicalities would be greater if they could find a place to rent. For example, rents and the overall cost of living in other countries are much higher.

And he claimed that if they relocate, they might experience sectarian discrimination.

The family had to leave Dahiyeh briefly during Israel’s war on Lebanon and sought shelter in the nearby coastal Beirut suburb of Jnah. A painful memory of that time is still present in Fatima.

As he watched newly arrived families wearing the slippers and pyjamas they fled in, a Jnah grocery store owner snidely observed, “Look at those trashy Shia people.”

The comment left a scar, and she refuses to leave Dahiyeh again.

What do you impart to the next generation if war breaks out? she inquired. “That it’s OK to give up your home? or that you defend your position”?

“I would stay if it were just me.”

Iman, her 55-year-old sister, wants to leave while Fatima chooses to remain in Dahiyeh.

Iman lives with her husband, Ali, a plastering foreman, and their four children: Hassan, 25, a programmer, Fatima, 19, a university student, and 16-year-old twins Mariam and Marwa, both in school.

In their modest but cheerful home, the children still have a single bedroom.

As Mariam and Hassan sat down with Iman, passing chocolate and juice to each other, while cousins chatted in the background, there was a lot of laughter in the living room.

There was teasing as they shared memories of fear, displacement and resilience.

Dahiyeh has never been completely secure. The Lebanese Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, and Israeli offensives, including the devastation of the 2006 war, have shaped its history.

It’s a cycle, Iman said – another war, another wave of fear and displacement. The family fled several times during Israel’s most recent conflict with Lebanon.

In late September, they first visited Kayfoun village in the Mount Lebanon governorate, but there were high levels of conflict there and a local man allegedly spread rumors of Israeli-imminent strikes in an effort to frighten displaced families.

They left Kayfoun after a week and fled to Tripoli in the north, where life was quieter and the presence of nearby relatives offered some comfort, but mistrust lingered.

Iman’s hijab frequently reflected how well-versed she was in those who attributed Hezbollah’s attacks to Lebanon.

Hassan recalled that “we all developed into introverts.” “We stayed home most of the time, but we had relatives nearby and met some good friends. We would play cards while playing cards together. It was helpful.

In early October, they followed friends to Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, where they were welcomed warmly – more warmly, they said, than in parts of Lebanon.

They came back after the ceasefire. Iman argued that “there is no place better than our country,” but Dahiyeh is still searching for a new home despite her strong ties to the neighborhood.

“If it were just me, I’d stay”, she said. However, I have children. They must be protected by me.

‘ They don’t rent to Shia families ‘

Hassan, Iman’s son, recalls the first Israeli bombing to go near their apartment on April 1 in violation of the November ceasefire.

He responded, “I merely wanted to leave.” “I don’t care where we go. simply somewhere that isn’t a target.

Finding a new place to rent is not always simple, though.

They thought about relocating to Hazmieh. It is close to Dahiyeh but not part of it, making it relatively safer. Additionally, it would be closer to Mariam, Iman’s sister, who resides there.

However, Iman asserted that the majority of Hazmieh don’t rent to Shia families because they would charge double the rent.

Despite the mounting fear, the family does not want to leave Lebanon, and Hassan has turned down a job offer abroad. They claimed they are exhausted but not ready to leave their country.

Hassan claimed that his parents did not want to leave Dahiyeh despite the fact that the conflict was still ongoing. He had to work on convincing them to go first to Kayfoun, then eventually Iraq.

After the ceasefire, there were protracted discussions about whether to leave, and his mother eventually decided to do the same because of her fear for her children.

The need for cooling is quickly increasing, putting strain on both the planet’s electricity grids and the global heatwaves, which are getting longer and more intense. With 2024 the hottest year on record and 2025 not far behind, air conditioning is no longer a luxury for many – it’s a lifeline.

Al Jazeera explores the mechanisms of air conditioning, examines cooling history, and offers practical advice on how to protect your AC and lower energy costs.

How does cooling work?

Air conditioners cool indoor spaces by moving heat from inside your home to the outside using a chemical fluid called a refrigerant. The process begins with the indoor unit heating up the room with cold, low-pressure liquid refrigerant and moving the warm air in. The refrigerant absorbs the heat as the air travels across the coils and evaporates into a gas, cooling the air in the process. A fan then blows the cooled air back into the room.

A compressor raises the pressure and temperature of the now-warm refrigerant before moving to the outdoor unit. The refrigerant transforms into a liquid in the condenser coils by releasing heat into the outside air. The cycle then repeats.

How long have air conditioners been in use?

In 1820, British scientist Michael Faraday discovered that compressing and evaporating ammonia could chill air. The foundation for contemporary refrigeration and cooling systems was made with this early breakthrough.

American physician John Gorrie approached the subject in a practical way in the 1830s. He built a machine in Florida which created ice and used it to cool hospital rooms, aiming to treat patients suffering from tropical diseases.

At a New York printing press, Willis Carrier, an American engineer, created a system to regulate humidity and temperature in the early years of air conditioning. Carrier’s invention is regarded as the first true air conditioner despite its claims to combat humidity, which causes paper to contract, expand, and change in color.

By 1914, the first residential air conditioner was installed in a Minneapolis mansion. It was large, roughly the size of a room, and not very affordable for a typical household.

The first window-mounted cooling unit was created in 1931 by engineers HH Schultz and JQ Sherman to make it easier for each room. This innovation paved the way for household adoption in urban areas.

The 1940s and 1950s saw a rapid expansion in air conditioning use. AC entered homes and offices after World War II thanks to economic growth, mass production, and booms in suburban housing. In this context, toxic refrigerants like ammonia and propane were replaced with Freon (a chlorofluorocarbon, or CFC), making systems safer, smaller, and installation-friendly.

In Japan, the mini-split system was first developed in the late 1950s as a more effective alternative to cumbersome window treatments and central HVAC systems. Its key innovation was a ductless design, which delivers air directly from an outdoor compressor to an indoor air handler – minimising energy loss typically caused by ductwork.

By the 1970s and 1980s, mini-splits had become common in both North America and Asia. Their flexible installation and energy efficiency made them ideal for older buildings where retrofitting ducts was costly or impractical, as well as for homeowners seeking precise, room-by-room climate control. This is when inverter technology, which increases the compressor’s efficiency, was developed.

Governments adopted energy efficiency standards for cooling systems in the 1990s as a result of rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns. In response, manufacturers introduced more efficient compressors, thermostats and system designs to reduce electricity consumption. The Clean Air Act of the United States was amended during this time to eliminate ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), like R-134a, are now more common. But while HFCs don’t harm the ozone layer, they are potent greenhouse gases which contribute significantly to global warming.

Air conditioners began to incorporate digital controls, motion sensors, and smart thermostats in the 2000s, bringing a new wave of innovation. Automated systems made systems more adaptable and effective, while Wi-Fi connectivity made it possible for users to change temperature settings remotely.

By the 2010s, concerns over global warming and the environmental effects of refrigerants triggered a transition away from hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In parts of Asia and Europe, new refrigerants like R-32 and R-290 (propane) are already being used, indicating a shift toward low-emission, climate-friendly cooling.

How to select the ideal air conditioner

Choosing the best-sized air conditioner is essential for keeping your home comfortable and your energy bills under control. Having the right size can save you both money and trouble because an AC is a long-term investment.

A small fan will not work as well as a large room because it won’t be able to cool it at all. On the other hand, an oversized AC may cool the space too quickly without removing enough humidity, leaving the room uncomfortably cold and damp.

Other factors to think about:

• Higher tonnage may be required for sun-exposed rooms.
• Ceiling height: Higher ceilings mean more air to cool.
• More people occupy the building, and more heat is produced.
• Appliances may require additional cooling in rooms with computers, microwaves, or TVs.

How to protect your air conditioner

Air conditioners work extremely hard in the hottest months, and proper maintenance can help reduce energy usage, extend the system’s life, and prevent breakdowns.

How can you ensure that yours runs smoothly:

• Don’t set the thermostat too low
• Keep the air filters clean.
• Give it a break
• Don’t keep turning it on and off
• Keep the shade for the outer unit.

How to cut down on energy used by air conditioners

• Install and set a programmable thermostat
• The thermostat can be raised by about 4 degrees using a ceiling fan.
• Seal any gaps and openings to prevent warm air from entering the room.
• Avoid using heat appliances
• To reduce the heat produced by the sun, open the curtains.
• When using kitchen appliances or taking warm baths, use exhaust fans to expel heat.

How much do air conditioners contribute to global warming?

While air conditioners offer much-needed cooling from the sun, they also significantly contribute to global warming, the issue they’re attempting to solve.

Around 2,100 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity were used globally in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which includes air conditioners and electric fans. That’s about 7 percent of total global electricity use, which was roughly 29, 000 TWh. Cooling accounts for nearly 20% of electricity consumption, specifically in buildings.

A cost is associated with this enormous energy demand. The IEA estimates that space cooling was responsible for about 1 billion tonnes of CO₂ emissions in 2022 from electricity use alone – about 2.7 percent of global CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and industry.

And that’s only the start. Refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases used in many AC units, are not included in these figures, which add to the cooling’s impact by increasing the climate footprint.

While air conditioning helps us to be comfortable in a world of rising heat each year, it also risks deepening the climate crisis unless cleaner energy and climate-friendly technologies are adopted.

A cooling system experience a global surge

Air conditioner use is rising due to global warming and the rapid urbanization.

Demand for cooling is rising fastest in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in urban areas.

Because of the “urban heat island effect,” which is caused by heat being trapped in cities by asphalt and concrete, they heat up more quickly than their neighboring countryside.

By 2018, a country like Japan, the US, and South Korea had almost universal air conditioning, according to the IEA. In contrast, ownership remained low in heat-exposed but lower-income nations such as India and South Africa, where access is limited despite intensifying heatwaves.

Countries with higher incomes and hot climates, such as South Korea and Saudi Arabia, where 63 percent of households have AC units, are more prevalent. In addition, as cooling transitions from a luxury to a basic need, AC ownership is rapidly increasing in emerging economies like Indonesia (20%) and India (13).

How to build a homemade air cooler

Here are some construction instructions for a DIY cooler made of styrofoam, ice, and a fan if you don’t have an air conditioner or are trying to cut energy costs.

Although this won’t help with humidity, it can provide temporary cooling when the day is hot.