US first lady Jill Biden has been enjoying a tour of the Middle East over the past week, visiting Jordan, Egypt and Morocco – and looking characteristically stylish.
Her trip began in Amman, where she was accompanied by her daughter, Ashley, to attend the wedding of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa last week. For the occasion, Biden turned to a regional designer, opting for a light purple gown by Lebanese designer Reem Acra. It was not the first time she had sported the look. She previously wore the dress in April during a state dinner at the White House.
For the reception, she changed into a lilac Oscar de la Renta floral crystal embroidered gown, featuring blossoming wisteria beading. She paired the look with a sheer shall in a lighter shade of purple, which she tied around her shoulders.
From Amman, she jetted into Egypt, arriving in a navy blue Oscar de la Renta dress, that has become one of her go-to looks for engagements. The A-line dress, which falls just below the knee, features a pleated skirt, belted waist and floral pattern in cool autumnal tones. She has previously sported the look for several other engagements, including in June last year, when she wore it to meet Ukrainian refugees in Madrid.
After joining Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi and his wife Entissar Amer at the capital's Ittihadiya palace, in the leafy eastern suburb of Heliopolis, Biden visited a technical school in Cairo and met young Egyptians at Al Azhar Mosque, for which she changed into a long-sleeved blue patterned dress by Derek Lam 10 Crosby, which she paired with a blue sheer head scarf to cover her hair in respect of local customs.
The following day, Biden was accompanied by Egypt's Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Essa and Mostafa Waziri, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, to visit the pyramids of Giza.
The first lady once again turned to Oscar de la Renta for the occasion, opting for another mid-length A-line patterned dress in teal, this time decorated with orange tress. Biden has been seen wearing the same dress in a lighter shade of blue on previous engagements.
The following day, Biden touched down in Morocco, where she was greeted by King Mohammed VI and Princess Lalla Hasna. Once again, she dipped into the fashion archives for her arrival, rewearing the custom rich purple satin belted coat dress by Reem Acra she wore for this year’s State of the Union address.
Following her arrival, she embarked on a tour of several different locations in Marrakesh, including the famous Ben Youssef Madrassa Islamic school, founded in the 14th century. For the tour, she opted for comfort, pairing a knee-length red lacework dress by Swiss brand Akris, with casual white trainers by On.
For the final day of her Middle East tour, she once again rewore a floral Oscar de la Renta dress. She sported the navy dress, featuring a pink geranium print, which she previously wore for the 2023 Teachers of the Year at the White House last month, to visit the Ibin Al Arif Middle School, where she met with students and visited the robotics lab.
Morocco is the final stop on her tour of Mena. Biden will fly to Lisbon, Portugal on Monday evening.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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