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Trump's In-Laws Celebrate his Election Win in Kfaraakka, Lebanon

From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
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Trump's In-Laws Celebrate his Election Win in Kfaraakka, Lebanon

From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)
From right to left: Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Sara Zuhair Fadoul and Massad Boulos. (Social media)

Mary-Therese, 75, Michael Boulos’ grandmother, couldn’t hold back her tears of joy at her home in Kfaraakka, northern Lebanon, when she heard the news of her grandson-in-law Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

Mary-Therese followed the election closely on TV and stayed in touch with her children in the US, who were actively involved in the campaign.

The Boulos family, some traveling from Kfaraakka, worked hard to support Trump’s victory. Michael’s father, Massad, played a key role in connecting with the Arab community, especially in Michigan, securing votes from Lebanese Americans.

Massad was joined in his efforts by his sister, Michael’s sibling, and his sister Viviane and her daughter. Michael’s fourth sibling, Philippe, couldn’t participate due to business commitments in Africa and Lebanon.

As family friend Dr. Lily Mleha Fayyad shared, it’s common for Trump to involve his family in his campaigns.

The residents of Koura celebrated Trump’s victory, feeling connected through Michael. Well-wishers filled the family’s home, and the phone never stopped ringing.

“We were so happy when Michael and Tiffany married,” said Marlene from Kfaraakka.

“We were proud to see his father, Massad, on TV, especially for his efforts in convincing the Arab community to support Trump. We hope to see him as a US envoy to Lebanon soon, helping bring peace, as promised.”

Few in Kfaraakka know Michael personally, as he was born in Lebanon, raised in Nigeria, and educated in the US, but always spent his vacations in Lebanon.

“We’d see him visit with his family, but we know Massad well,” Marlene added. “He grew up here, and everyone loves him for his kind and friendly personality.”

Fayyad praised Massad as “a devoted son” who took great care of his parents, especially his father before he passed away 12 years ago.

“He’s a great example of a dutiful son, which earned him the respect of everyone around him.”

In Kfaraakka, locals admire the Boulos family for their closeness. Massad and his wife, Sara Zuhair Fadoul, along with their children, Fares, Michael, Sophie and Oriane, continue to visit Lebanon despite living in Lagos.

“They’re a humble, kind family, not like the nouveau riche,” said Fayyad.

“Their doors are always open, and they have a special place in their neighbors’ hearts,” she added.

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Varieties

Researchers Document Huge Drop in African Elephants in a Half Century

Elephants walk at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo
Elephants walk at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo
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Researchers Document Huge Drop in African Elephants in a Half Century

Elephants walk at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo
Elephants walk at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo

African elephants are Earth's largest land animals, remarkable mammals that are very intelligent and highly social. They also are in peril. Fresh evidence of this comes in a study that documents alarming population declines at numerous sites across the continent over about a half century.

Researchers unveiled on Monday what they called the most comprehensive assessment of the status of the two African elephant species - the savanna elephant and forest elephant - using data on population surveys conducted at 475 sites in 37 countries from 1964 through 2016.

The savanna elephant populations fell by about 70% on average at the surveyed sites and the forest elephant populations dropped by about 90% on average at the surveyed sites, with poaching and habitat loss the main drivers. All told, there was a 77% population decrease on average at the various surveyed sites, spanning both species, Reuters reported.

Elephants vanished at some sites while their populations increased in other places thanks to conservation efforts.

"A lot of the lost populations won't come back, and many low-density populations face continued pressures. We likely will lose more populations going forward," said George Wittemyer, a Colorado State University professor of wildlife conservation and chair of the scientific board of the conservation group Save the Elephants, who helped lead the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Poaching typically involves people killing elephants for their tusks, which are sold illegally on an international black market driven mostly by ivory demand in China and other parts of Asia. Agricultural expansion is the top factor in habitat loss.

The forest elephant population is estimated to be about a third that of savanna elephants. Poaching has affected forest elephants disproportionately and has ravaged populations of both species in northern and eastern Africa.

"We have lost a number of elephant populations across many countries, but the northern Sahel region of Africa - for example in Mali, Chad and Nigeria - has been particularly hard hit. High pressure and limited protection have culminated in populations being extirpated," Wittemyer said.

But in southern Africa, elephant populations rose at 42% of the surveyed sites.

"We have seen real success in a number of places across Africa, but particularly in southern Africa, with strong growth in populations in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. For populations showing positive trends, we have had active stewardship and management by the governments or outside groups that have taken on a management role," Wittemyer said.

The study did not track a continent-wide population tally because the various surveys employed different methodologies over different time frames to estimate local elephant population density, making a unified head count impossible. Instead, it assessed population trends at each of the surveyed sites.

A population estimate by conservationists conducted separately from this study put the two species combined at between 415,000 and 540,000 elephants as of 2016, the last year of the study period. It remains the most recent comprehensive continent-wide estimate.

"The loss of large mammals is a significant ecological issue for Africa and the planet," said conservation ecologist and study co-author Dave Balfour, a research associate in the Centre for African Conservation Ecology at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

The world's third extant elephant species, the slightly smaller Asian elephant, faces its own population crisis, with similar factors at play as in Africa.

Of African elephants, Wittemyer said, "While the trends are not good, it is important to recognize the successes we have had and continue to have. Learning how and where we can be successful in conserving elephants is as important as recognizing the severity of the decline they have experienced."

Wittemyer added of these elephants: "Not only one of the most sentient and intelligent species we share the planet with, but also an incredibly important part of ecosystems in Africa that structures the balance between forest and grasslands, serves as a critical disperser of seeds, and is a species on which a multitude of other species depend on for survival."