Sports
6-1
(cairolive.com, May 20, 2002) Several days later, "the match" is still the biggest topic of discussion in town. Ahly's 6-1 pummeling of Zamalek last Thursday night was not just the biggest win in the decades-old rivalry between the two teams -- it landed with the magnitude of an earthquake, bringing with it aftershocks of commentary, jokes and much more... 
Sunday's papers -- mostly on their front pages -- announced that the Zamalek club's controversial assistant head, Mortada Mansour, has been stripped of his duties towards the club's soccer team after the loss, while Zamalek's twin stars, Ibrahim and Hossam Hassan, are awaiting a final ruling on the ramifications of their misconduct during the match. Ibrahim took off his shoe and waved it at the crowd while Hossam flicked the crowd off. They are expected to receive between 6 months and a year's suspension from club play since it's not their first ethics violation, reports Al-Wafd.
Said Sonbol in Al-Akhbar argues that it's all a matter of management, saying it's well known that Ahly's is a well oiled machine while Zamalek's is mired in internal struggles.
Even the political commentators can't resist stepping in with a few words. Al-Wafd editor Magdi Mehanna wants the same sort of upset to take place in the political arena, with his party competing better with the National Democratic.
Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi seemed to sum it up with an all red cover screaming out that "What hasn't happened in 45 years happened in 90 minutes."
Ahly meanwhile, is riding the momentum into its big match against Ismaili tonight, a contest to determine who will remain on top of club play for the year.

UPDATE (May 21, 2002): Ahly's 4-4 tie with Ismaili on Monday night means the remaining three matches of club play will continue to feature these two teams running head to head for the title...

Economy
Aiming to replace
(cairolive.com, May 20, 2002) Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali is trying to convince Scandinavian countries who are thinking seriously about banning the import of Israeli goods, to replace them with Egyptian ones, says Al-Wafd on its front page in a story reported by the Middle East News Agency. The wire service says the Israeli goods in question are mainly consumer-oriented, such as clothing, and in sectors Egyptian goods can easily compete in.
Whether or not the Europeans in question actually cut off their Israeli exports is another story.

Commentary
Online activism
(cairolive.com, May 19, 2002)  The press is starting to notice the power of the Internet... Al-Wafd dedicates a longish feature to the Internet propaganda related to the Palestinian conflict going back and forth electronically, and even includes some screen grabs of sample e-mails made for easy forwarding with the intention of providing information about Israeli brutality, and inspiring sympathy for the Palestinians. One of the dangers of these new forms of media, the paper reports, is that it opens a wider door to the possibility that some of the reporting is untrue. 
Meanwhile, in Al-Akhbar, a story about the growing calls for a boycott of Israeli and American products indicates that fast food restaurants have seen a major drop in revenues over the past few months, with some studies showing up to a 65 per cent downward trend. Again, there is a mention here of the power of the internet -- "McDonald's denied that any of their money goes towards donations to Israel, but the internet messages said that was a lie," screams the headline.

New developments
New malls, part x
(cairolive.com, May 19, 2002)  Malls are popping up all over the place...  recent ads have indicated that a new one called "Sun Mall" is being built in Mansoura, and will be that city's first multi use mall. Meanwhile, another recent ad indicated that Zanqa Mall is being built in Alexandria's famous Zanqat al-Sitat shopping district..... And, in Monday's Al-Ahram, a large ad appears for yet another mall in mall-saturated Nasr City -- the City Center on Makram Ebeid.

DON'T MISS...

Disclaimer and Terms of Use
© Copyright 1996-2005 cairolive.com. All Rights Reserved

Read Tarek Atia's web log
Find out how the world media sees Egypt...

UPDATED DAILY!

The ultimate
East-West
world-view

 
Instant Arabic headlines