WASHINGTON: Bare arms and a belted waist, a White House vegetable garden and parents in the residence: Melania Trump is borrowing pages from Michelle Obama’s playbook.
From public policy to high fashion to family ties, Mrs. Trump is keeping alive parts of the former first lady’s legacy even as President Donald Trump’s administration alters other aspects.
Mrs. Obama made it acceptable for first ladies to shun the confining, jewel-toned suits that her predecessors wore like uniforms, and her successor is embracing that same free-wheeling fashion sense.
During President Trump’s first overseas trip in late May, the current first lady stepped off of Air Force One in Saudi Arabia wearing a long-sleeved, black jumpsuit accented with a wide, gold belt. A former model, Mrs. Trump has worn a number of sleeveless and belted outfits since, almost always paired with towering heels.
She has kept Mrs. Obama’s vegetable garden, and shown interest in women’s empowerment, military families and children’s issues. Mrs. Obama championed all as first lady. But where Mrs. Obama frequently hosted public events in the garden to encourage healthy eating, Mrs. Trump has yet to hold an activity there.
Next month, Mrs. Trump will lead the US delegation to the Invictus Games, an Olympics-style competition for wounded military personnel. The Obama White House helped promote the games after Britain’s Prince Harry created them in 2014.
On the family front, the first lady’s parents — Viktor and Amalija Knavs — spent time at the White House after their daughter officially moved in in June. They spent Father’s Day weekend with the Trumps at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. The Knavs live in New York and aren’t expected to join their daughter in the White House. Mrs. Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, lived in the White House during the eight years that Barack Obama was president to help care for her granddaughters.
“She really did admire Michelle Obama very much,” Myra Gutin, a Rider University professor and author of “The President’s Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century, said of Mrs. Trump. “Maybe she’s following in those footsteps and is expressing her admiration by doing things that, if they aren’t the same, are similar.”
Admiration for Mrs. Obama’s legacy is a bit harder to find elsewhere in the administration.
In his first major act in office, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue partially rolled back federal rules the former first lady championed as part of her healthy eating initiative. Schools now will have more time to cut the amount of sodium in meals. The department will also continue to waive the requirement that all grains served must be 50 percent whole grain.
The Food and Drug Administration also has postponed introduction of a redesigned food label to help consumers quickly see how many calories and added sugars are in packaged foods and beverages. The agency also delayed a requirement for restaurants and grocery and convenience store chains to post calorie counts for prepared foods. Mrs. Obama had pushed for both changes.
Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s spokeswoman, said Mrs. Trump has “great respect” for her predecessors and, when possible, considers their issues or projects and makes “her best effort” to continue them.
“She is an individual with her own iconic style and has been staying true to herself in this new role,” Grisham said.
On the surface, the two first ladies wouldn’t appear to have much in common.
One is a Slovenia native and former fashion model who speaks several languages. She is the second first lady born outside of the US The other is a native of Chicago’s South Side, holds degrees from two Ivy League universities and was a lawyer and a hospital executive before she became the first black first lady of the United States.
But the first ladies share at least one common interest: not to cause political headaches for their spouses.
Jean Harris, who teaches political science and women’s studies at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, said Mrs. Trump knows she can follow in Mrs. Obama’s footsteps because “she’s not going to get criticized for that kind of stuff because it worked for Michelle, even though her husband’s administration is backtracking on some things.”
An early sign of Mrs. Trump’s admiration for her predecessor came during her speech at last year’s Republican National Convention, which included two passages that were similar to those in a speech Mrs. Obama had delivered at the 2008 Democratic convention.
A speechwriter for Donald Trump’s organization took the blame for the overlap, but said Melania Trump knew the material had come from Michelle Obama. “A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama,” the speechwriter, Meredith McIver, said at the time.
The current first lady’s feeling toward her predecessor was reinforced months later in a tweet from then-President-elect Donald Trump following his Oval Office meeting with President Barack Obama. The outgoing and incoming first ladies met separately at the White House that day.
Trump tweeted about the “really good meeting” and “great chemistry” he had with Obama and added: “Melania liked Mrs. O a lot!“
Mrs. Trump took on a “mom in chief” role of her own, a la Mrs. Obama, by living at Trump Tower in New York for the first six months of the administration so that son Barron could finish the school year.
Mrs. Obama had declared herself “mom in chief” after moving to the White House in 2009, saying her top priority was helping daughters Malia and Sasha, then 10 and 7, adjust to the move.
First lady appears to borrow from Michelle Obama’s playbook
First lady appears to borrow from Michelle Obama’s playbook
What to know about the Grand Canyon as wildfires burn, claiming a historic lodge
Nearly 5 million people visited the Grand Canyon last year, from day trippers and campers to people sleeping overnight in historic lodges and cabins.
This year will be different, at least for one portion of the park. A wildfire has torn through a historic lodge and ended the season for the canyon’s North Rim, a place where visitors could find less bustle in one of the country’s most iconic national parks.
As firefighters continue to fight the blaze, here’s what to know about Grand Canyon National Park.
Bigger than Rhode Island
The Colorado River cuts through Grand Canyon National Park for about 278 miles , pushing across northwestern Arizona. The eastern boundary is near the state’s northern border with Utah, while the western edge is near Nevada.
Grand Canyon National Park is about 1,900 square miles, according to the National Park Service, which makes it bigger than Rhode Island.
The park is unique because of its canyon walls, which boast horizontal layers of red, orange and purple rock. The average depth of the iconic formation is about a mile , while the average width is about 10 miles .
“Four Empire State Buildings stacked one atop the other would not reach the rim,” Lance Newman wrote in the introduction to the 2011 book, “The Grand Canyon Reader.”
The north and south rims
Within the park are the north and south rims, which are the primary travel destinations because of their accessibility.
The North Rim receives 10 percent of park visitors and is known for more quiet and solitude, according to the park service. It’s open from mid-May to mid-October because of the snow. But the wildfires have closed it for the rest of the season, destroying a historic lodge and dozens of cabins.
The South Rim is open all year. It’s more bustling and boasts a historic district, which dates to when the first steam-powered train arrived in 1901.
A car trip between the rims takes five hours, according to the park service. That’s because there’s only one way across the Colorado River by vehicle, and its 137 miles from the South Rim Village.
Hiking between rims is a shorter distance, 21 miles , though by no means easy. It includes crossing the river on a narrow foot bridge 70 feet above the water.
Unexplored by Europeans for 235 years
The Grand Canyon was formed with the shifting of tectonic plates, which lifted layers of rock into a high and relatively flat plateau, according to the park service. About 5 million to 6 million years ago, the Colorado River began to carve its way downward, slowly deepening and widening the gorge.
The oldest human artifacts in the area date to about 12,000 years ago, when small bands of people hunted bison, the park service said. There were gradual shifts to agriculture, the building of pueblos and the development of trade routes. Today, 11 tribes have historic connections to the canyon, including the Hopi and the Diné .
The Spanish were the first Europeans to the see the Grand Canyon in 1540, according to the park service. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Spanish army were searching for fabled cities of gold.
“The Hopi were able to fool the Spaniards into thinking that the area was an impenetrable wasteland and was not navigable anyway,” the park service wrote on its website, adding that the canyon “was left unexplored by Europeans for 235 years.”
In the late 1850s, an Army lieutenant explored the Grand Canyon in search of a viable trade route, the park service said. Joseph Christmas Ives described it as “altogether valueless” and predicted it “shall be forever unvisited.”
The Grand Canyon began to draw much more interest after expeditions in 1869 and 1871 by geologist John Wesley Powell.
Powell described rock layers in the canyon’s towering walls: “creamy orange above, then bright vermilion, and below, purple and chocolate beds, with green and yellow sands.”
‘You cannot improve on it’
As the years went on, more explorers arrived by boat, on foot and on horseback, often with the help of Native American guides. Wealthy travelers came by stagecoach from Flagstaff to the South Rim in the 1880s. After the arrival of trains, the automobile became the more popular mode of travel in the 1930s.
Early entrepreneurs charged $1 to hike down the Bright Angel Trail used by the Havasupai people whose current-day reservation lies in the depths of the Grand Canyon.
President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the park in 1919 but Teddy Roosevelt is credited for its early preservation as a game reserve and a national monument.
He famously said: “Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”
Thomas Massie, GOP congressman who broke with Trump, reports strong fundraising
WASHINGTON: US Rep. Thomas Massie has stockpiled more than $1.7 million for his re-election bid as the Kentucky Republican gears up to face President Donald Trump’s vaunted political operation, Massie’s campaign announced Monday.
Massie was one of two House Republicans to vote against Trump’s massive tax bill and he said Trump lacked authority to bomb nuclear sites in Iran without congressional approval.
Trump aides launched a super PAC devoted to defeating Massie in his 2026 primary, the first concerted effort by the president’s team to unseat a sitting member of Congress.
Trump’s challenge to Massie sent a clear signal to other Republicans that they cross the president at their peril. But Massie’s formidable fundraising will help him fight back. His sprawling district covers three television markets, making it an expensive place to campaign.
Massie raised just over $584,000 between April and June, bringing his total fundraising since the last election above $1 million, his campaign reported. The $1.7 million in his campaign bank account includes money left over from his successful 2024 re-election campaign.
The new PAC, Kentucky MAGA, will be run by two of Trump’s top political lieutenants, his former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio. They have not yet announced a challenger they will support but hope to unify Massie’s Republican critics behind one person to avoid splitting the anti-Massie vote.
Elon Musk, a billionaire and one-time Trump ally, suggested he’ll support Massie.
How protracted conflicts from Gaza to DRC are leaving deep scars on children’s lives
- The UN verified 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024 — a 25 percent rise and the highest number ever recorded
- Gaza alone saw 4,856 verified violations — more than any other region — with thousands of children killed or injured
LONDON: For children trapped in the world’s conflict zones, 2024 was a year of unprecedented suffering. The UN verified 41,370 grave violations against children — a record-shattering 25 percent increase over the previous year — devastating countless young lives.
From Gaza to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, children are among the most vulnerable victims of war. The consequences go far beyond immediate physical danger, shaping the course of their lives for years to come.
According to the UN Security Council’s June 17 report on children and armed conflict, at least 22,495 were maimed, killed, recruited, or denied life-saving aid — robbed of the safety and innocence that should define childhood.
“The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball, but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings, should keep all of us awake at night,” Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said in the report.
“This must serve as a wake-up call. We are at the point of no return.”
The report, the most damning since the UN began collecting data in 1996, also noted a surge in children suffering multiple violations. In 2024, some 3,137 children were subjected to overlapping abuses such as abduction, forced recruitment, and sexual violence — up from 2,684 the year before.
Months before the report’s release, the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, warned of a crisis beyond precedent. In December, the agency declared 2024 the worst year in its history for children caught in war.
“By almost every measure, 2024 has been one of the worst years on record for children in conflict in UNICEF’s history — both in terms of the number of children affected and the level of impact on their lives,” Catherine Russell, the agency’s executive director, said in a statement.
These children are more likely to be malnourished, displaced, or out of school than those in peaceful regions — a reality she insisted “must not be the new normal.”
“We cannot allow a generation of children to become collateral damage to the world’s unchecked wars,” Russell added.
Beyond the physical toll of conflict, psychological wounds are also profound and enduring, often outlasting conflicts themselves.
“What the recent UN report shows is that children caught in conflict zones are facing unimaginable levels of harm,” Dr. Jeeda Alhakim, a specialist counseling psychologist at City St George’s, University of London, told Arab News.
“This kind of violence doesn’t end when the event is over. It stays with them.”
Alhakim explained that prolonged exposure to danger alters a child’s perception of safety and can even reshape their biology. “When the body is constantly in survival mode, it becomes harder to sleep, concentrate, or feel calm,” she said.
Over time, this toxic stress can disrupt brain development, especially in neural regions responsible for memory, decision making, and emotional regulation. “Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind,” Alhakim said. “It becomes embedded in the nervous system.”
INNUMBERS
- 41,370 Violations against children.
- 11,967 Children maimed or killed.
(Source: UN, 2024)
There are “disruptions in the brain’s stress regulation systems,” she added, “especially in areas like the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, which are central to managing emotions, remembering things, and making sense of what’s happening around them.”
She emphasized that trauma is not always visible. “Some children appear fine on the outside but are struggling internally. Others show signs of distress more openly. It depends on their experiences, the support they have, and what they’ve lost.
“When children struggle with focus, learning, or emotional outbursts, it’s not simply behavioral — it’s a sign that their brains are adapting to survive.”
Regardless of how it manifests, the consequences are deeply human. “Many children carry a profound sense of loss — of a parent, a home, or a future they once believed in,” she added.
Among the hardest-hit regions, the Palestinian territories ranked highest in the UN’s report, with 8,554 verified violations. More than 4,856 occurred in the Gaza Strip alone.
The UN confirmed the deaths of 1,259 Palestinian children in Gaza, while it continues to verify reports of another 4,470 killed in 2024. The report also documented 22 cases of Palestinian boys used as human shields in Gaza and five more in the West Bank.
Since Israel’s military operation in Gaza began in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, children in the Palestinian enclave have faced bombardment, deprivation, and the collapse of essential services.
Conditions further deteriorated in March when Israeli forces resumed bombing raids and tightened their blockade, triggering catastrophic levels of displacement and the near-total breakdown of healthcare and education.
“Under our watch, Gaza has become the graveyard of children (and) starving people,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, posted on X on July 11.
“Their choice is between two deaths: starvation or being shot at. The most cruel (and) machiavellian scheme to kill, in total impunity.”
His remarks followed the killing of 15 people, including nine children and four women, who were waiting in line for nutritional supplements in Deir Al-Balah on July 10. The Israel Defense Forces have consistently denied targeting civilians.
The UN has nevertheless kept Israel on its blacklist of parties committing grave violations against children for a second consecutive year. Gaza’s ruling Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also remain on the list.
Outside the Palestinian territories, other regions also witnessed surging violence. In 2024, the UN recorded more than 4,000 violations in the DRC, some 2,500 in Somalia, nearly 2,500 in Nigeria, and more than 2,200 in Haiti.
Among the most alarming trends was a sharp rise in sexual violence. The UN documented a 35 percent increase in such cases last year, with a notable spike in gang rapes, underscoring the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
“Sexual violence is especially devastating,” Alhakim said. “It harms children physically, but also emotionally and socially. It can leave them feeling ashamed, isolated, and deeply confused, especially when used deliberately as a weapon of war.”
While the UN verified more than 2,000 cases in 2024, the real number is likely far higher. The report stressed that sexual violence remains vastly underreported due to stigma, fear of retaliation, social norms, lack of access to services, and impunity.
“Children are often too afraid or unable to speak out,” said Alhakim. “In some communities, the stigma surrounding sexual violence adds an extra layer of suffering and silence.”
Save the Children revealed in a June report that at least 1,938 children were subjected to catastrophic sexual violence in 2024 — the highest number of verified cases since records began. The figure marks a staggering 50 percent increase since 2020.
“To normalize this level of violence against children is to accept the dismantling of our collective humanity,” Helen Pattinson, CEO of War Child UK, said in a statement. “The level of alarm is unprecedented. Governments must act immediately to turn the tide of grief, trauma and loss borne by children.”
For millions of children growing up under siege, survival alone is no longer enough. What they need is safety, justice, and a chance to dream again.
“No child should have to carry the weight of mass violence,” said Alhakim. “And yet far too many are.”
Bangladesh’s child marriage rate soars to highest in South Asia
- 51 percent of Bangladeshi girls marry before age 18, according to UN
- Rate is significantly lower in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan
DHAKA: The child marriage rate continues to rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, experts warn, as the latest UN data shows that more than half of Bangladeshi women are married before reaching adulthood — the highest percentage in the whole South Asia.
Bangladesh has long had one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage and, unlike other countries in the region, for the past few years has seen the situation worsening.
According to the annual report of the UN Population Fund released last month, 51 percent of Bangladeshi girls are found to have been married before turning 18 — the legal age for marriage.
The rate was significantly lower, at 29 percent in nearby Afghanistan, 23 percent in India, and 18 percent in Pakistan.
“Among South Asian countries, we are in a poor position when it comes to child marriage rates, even though we perform better on some other gender-related indicators set by the UN,” Rasheda K. Chowdhury, social activist and executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education, told Arab News.
“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the child marriage rate in the country was around 33 percent. At that time, we were not the worst in South Asia in this regard. However, the pandemic disrupted everything.”
Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows a steady increase in child marriage rates of several percent a year since 2020 — coinciding with coronavirus lockdowns, which exacerbated poverty, disrupted education, and increased household stress.
“Our research found that COVID-19 increased poverty, interrupted education for both boys and girls, and worsened malnutrition. In this context, many guardians from underprivileged communities chose to marry off their daughters in hopes of reducing the financial burden on their families,” Chowdhury said.
“Poverty is the primary driver of early marriages, as many guardians are unable to cope with household expenses. As a result, they often choose to marry off their daughters at a young age.”
Lack of women’s access to education is usually seen as the main reason behind high child marriage rates, but Bangladesh has the highest enrollment of girls in secondary school in the whole region.
“Bangladesh has invested much in infrastructure development rather than human development,” Chowdhury said.
“To prevent early marriages, society must play a crucial role. The government alone cannot act as a watchdog in every household. Local communities need to take initiative and actively work to stop child marriages.”
Azizul Haque, project manager at World Vision Bangladesh, also saw the problem as related to social awareness.
“In the villages and remotest parts of the country, girls are mostly considered a burden for the family, so the parents prefer to marry off the girls as soon as possible ... In many of the remotest areas, there are schools that provide education only up to class eight, so after the completion of their eighth grade in school, many of the girls have nothing to do at home. This situation also triggers the increase in child marriages,” he said.
“There is a huge lack of social awareness. At the national level, we need to strengthen the mass campaign conveying the demerits of early marriages, so that everyone becomes aware of the negative impacts.”
Saudi-funded university township opens in Sri Lanka’s rural northwest
- New university buildings and infrastructure in North Western Province to benefit 5,000 Sri Lankan students
- Saudi Arabia was the only country that did not suspend developmental projects during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, envoy says
COLOMBO: The Wayamba University township, financed by the Saudi Fund for Development, was opened to the public on Monday, marking the latest development initiative completed in Sri Lanka with Saudi assistance.
The $28 million project in Sri Lanka’s North Western Province covers new buildings, renovation of existing classrooms, and new equipment.
The ceremonial opening was attended by SFD CEO Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, Sri Lankan Parliament Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih, and Saudi Ambassador Khalid Hamoud Al-Qahtani.
“We believe that building universities is not limited to constructing buildings only, but is the foundation for a brighter future and the building of bridges of understanding and knowledge between peoples,” Al-Qahtani told Arab News.
“This project represents a model of what sincere developmental partnerships can achieve, based on respect and mutual cooperation, away from any agendas or conditions.”
Ameer Ajwad, Sri Lanka’s envoy to Saudi Arabia, said the project includes significant infrastructure development at the Kuliyapitiya and Makandura campuses of the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, benefiting over 5,000 students of both campuses.
“The project is expected to boost the university’s capacity to provide quality education and contribute to the long-term economic and social development of the surrounding communities living in the region,” he told Arab News.
The SFD has been a long-term partner of Sri Lanka, completing crucial developments such as the Colombo Water Supply and Sewerage Project, which improved the capital city’s urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure and benefitted tens of thousands of households, as well as the Kinniya Bridge — Sri Lanka’s longest bridge — connecting Trincomalee and Kinniya across the Koddiyar Bay.
Among the SFD-financed initiatives are also the Neuro‑Trauma Unit of the Colombo National Hospital and the Epilepsy Hospital and Health Centre — a specialized 242-bed epilepsy facility, also in the capital.
“The Wayamba University township development project is Saudi Arabia’s 11th development project in Sri Lanka. There are three more ongoing projects. One of them is also an educational development project; the Saudi Fund for Development provided $50 million for the construction of a medical faculty at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka,” Ajwad said.
“The Saudi Fund for Development continues to play a crucial role in advancing key development projects in Sri Lanka, especially educational, health and infrastructure projects. Saudi Arabia was the only country that did not suspend disbursement of its funds to Sri Lanka and continued to fund despite Sri Lanka’s recent economic downturn.”
