In brief
The weather
(cairolive.com, December 23, 2002) It's still cold in Cairo, but at least during the daytime the sun is out and the skies are relatively clear. 

Miscellaneous
Veteran actress passes away
(cairolive.com, December 23, 2002) Actress Sanaa Gamil passed away. Read more on zahma.com.

Lost at sea
(cairolive.com, December 23, 2002) The Egyptian ship that was forced to seek shelter at the Haifa port has continued on its way to Egypt, reports a tiny item on Al-Ahram's front page. 57 passengers and crew on their way from Beirut to Port Said had to spend three days at Haifa port until the weather improved. While Al-Ahram just says Haifa, Al-Akhbar says Haifa in Israel.

National unity
(cairolive.com, December 23, 2002)Sheikh El-Azhar is quoted on the Al-Ahram front page saying that Mubarak's decision to make January 7 -- Coptic Christmas -- a national holiday for Christians and Muslims is an affirmation of Egyptian national unity.

Third license
Both Al-Wafd and Al-Akhbar front page news about the new third mobile phone operator, Telecom Egypt, and the strategic partnership with a foreign investor which it will announce soon. Al-Wafd has another tiny item indicating that there are currently a total of 4.2 million mobile subscribers in Egypt.

Lost taxes
Another item on Al-Wafd's front page says a bicycle dealer in Mansoura owes the government some LE4.5 million in back taxes. A crime item in Al-Akhbar, meanwhile, describes and features a photo of a female street beggar who the article says makes LE500 a day. She was caught by police.

Devil in the details
Two devil mentions in today's papers: on Al-Akhbar's front page there's a tiny item about a cartoon in the Sunday Times portraying Tony Blair as a devil offering Christmas greetings to the British people by saying "We're headed for war." For plenty more headlines from the world press on the war on Iraq visit Shrinking Globe.
In another Iraq related tiny item, Al-Akhbar's front page says Iraq has decided to give all Arabs residing on its territory Iraqi citizenship. Palestinians residing in Iraq have to go through some extra paperwork, the item says, but they can get Iraqi citizenship too.
The other devil mention is in a feature story in Al-Wafd about an American high school student who has produced a website for the devil -- satan.com.

Miscellaneous
Al-Akhbar campaigners
(cairolive.com, December 13, 2002) Al-Akhbar continues to pursue its campaigns against things it sees as negatives in society. Recently, it has dedicated several full page investigative features to TV call-in phone contests, which the paper says go against "society's traditions and morals", used car markets that have spread across the city, which the paper calls haphazard and not governed by principles of supply and demand, and, perhaps most prominently, the sudden appearance of individuals offering use of their mobile phones for 50 pt a minute...
This last phenomenon has indeed become widespread, with individuals -- not licensed kiosks -- deciding to just set up shop on a busy street with a sign announcing that use of a mobile phone is available for 50 pt a minute. That's a 200 per cent markup that is certainly, if not illegal, unfair.
The paper, in most of these cases, follows up their large full page features with smaller stories a few days or weeks later, depending on the circumstances, announcing that some government body or another has taken them up on their campaign and begun to investigate the matter with a goal to solving it.

For links to these articles and much more from the world of Arabic media go to www.zahma.com!

Traffic
A confused cry
(cairolive.com, December 13, 2002) A recent photo feature in Al-Ahram also attempts to call attention to a negative phenomenon -- this one being people -- and especially young students -- walking alongside busy roads or otherwise dangerous places where they should not be walking.
The paper urges someone, anyone, to find a solution to this problem of people insisting on putting their own lives at risk -- but unfortunately offers nothing but a few pictures and a caption. 

Ad watch
Yet another leap
(cairolive.com, December 13, 2002) On the 17th of December Cairo's first Carrefour French hypermarket is set to open at the City Center on the Katamiya Road, according to an ad that recently ran in the papers. The hypermarket claims to be the biggest in Egypt -- with 400 Egyptian employees ready to serve customers, and a whopping 40 cashiers, as well as a huge parking lot... 
Will this be the harbinger of yet another leap in Egypt's consumer evolutionary process... Perhaps, if it catches on.

Looking to Dubai
(cairolive.com, December 13, 2002) The hyper market is already a popular facet of life in the Middle East, especially in places like Lebanon and Dubai. Interestingly, then, another recent ad in the papers encourages Egyptian companies to take part in the upcoming Dubai "global village" festival that is part of the annual Dubai shopping festival. There will be an Egyptian village there, and organizers want to it to be filled with the best Egypt has to offer, since the exhibit is expected to be seen by some 20 million visitors between 15 January and 15 February 2003.

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