The oxymoron of Islamic fashion  

In early March, the “Practical Hejab Products” fashion exhibition debuted on Beheshti Street in northern Tehran. Among the outfits being showcased were the latest works by designers selected for the 2015 Fajr Fashion and Clothing Festival.

Although the term “practical” is cited across all the exhibition’s banners and posters, the stalls are, in reality, bursting with unconventional and impractical chadors  —chadors with floral and colorful patterns, chadors with sleeves, and chadors with pockets. What’s more, they all have strange and unusual names, including Pearl, Reporter, Lebanese, and Tulip.

Source: Iran Wire 

Fatal triangle: Saudi, Iran, US tensions spike over continued Yemen airstrikes

The attention span of US television news is so short that it is difficult for it to cover ongoing wars in which there isn’t dramatic news every day. Not to mention that getting a camera crew into some conflict zones is highly dangerous or just impossible (television news needs footage). Yemen’s war doesn’t appear to be on the front burner of the news rooms this morning, but Thursday saw dramatic developments.

Source: Informed Comment

On a quest to save Algeria's Saharan architecture  

Timimoun, also known as the Red Oasis, is located 1,300 km southwest of Algiers in the middle of the Gourara region, and holds architectural and cultural treasures accumulated over the centuries. As part of the Grand Erg Occidental, little is known about the history of the Gourara of the Algerian Sahara.

In 1987 the region was home to over 60,000 Zenete, Bedouin, and Sudanese peoples in a string of oasis settlements. Whereas these ethnic groups retain distinct cultural identities, their musical styles share mutual influences, such as the use of polyphonic rhythms and religious subject matter.

Source: Your Middle East