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Politics/headline news
A week of tricks
The political scene made its way to Cairo this week -- a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres resulted in confusion regarding the near future possibilities for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. An Egyptian-Jordanian initiative to stop the violence and recommence negotiations is on the table. In fact, according to EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solanas, who was in Cairo this week, it's the only document available.
Click here for link to the latest international news coverage on this issue, and more.
Sports/Triple Play
Kick boxers take title
An eight-member Egyptian kick-boxing team came away with the lion's share of medals at an international tournament held recently in Greece. Al-Ahram reports that the Egyptian athletes garnered 7 medals, including a gold and silver. 12 nations were participating in the event, which ended, at least for the Egyptian team, with a hero's farewell all the way to the airport.
Assiut: Global body-building capital?
Assiut is slated to host a major international body building championship in late May. The 23-29 May event is the first ever continents cup championship. Body-builders from more than 20 countries are expected to participate, with all eyes on teams from Poland and the Emirates, previous global leaders in the sport. The upcoming championship is getting some press on the sports pages of most papers, as well as an item or two in the entertainment section. Al-Wafd informs its readers that body builder and movie star El-Shahhat Mabrouk is going to kill two birds with one stone during the tourney, taking advantage of its timing to film himself in some vital scenes for his new flick-in-production, Zaki Adalat wa Dalaa Al-Banat (Mr Studly Smart and the Flirtatious Girls), the story of a country boy who wants to be a world champion bodybuilder.
Mabrouk, one of Egypt's best, should not only be able to get a lot of good footage at the event in the southern Egyptian city, but may also have a good shot at getting the gold, a color of medal the team's coach told Al-Ahram he thinks Egypt will see at least 2 of.
Air rally gets started
16 lightweight airplanes are taking part in the International Nile Rally, an air race whose contestants have just embarked from 6 October airport outside Cairo. 14 planes, with pilots ranging from France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary and Egypt, are steadily heading from 6 October to Luxor to Aswan to Abu Simbel to Sharm El-Sheikh-to Saint Katherine ending at Borg El-Arab outside Alexandria. A tour de force of a course which is both a pilot's a tourist's dream come true. Al-Ahram reports that Slovakian TV is covering the event extensively, and that preliminary events included air demos of the Pyramids and the Nile, and some sightseeing in Cairo before embarking on the journey.
Miscellaneous
Cheney's daughter in town
The Cairo Capital Club threw a party for Liz Cheney, US Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, who is currently on a ten-day sightseeing tour of Egypt, according to a tiny item on the back page of a recent Al-Ahram.
Crime
A pretty bad deal...
A gang that was ripping off telephone cables in Giza suburb Amraniya has been caught by police, reports Al-Akhbar and other papers. The crux of the story was that the hapless 4-member gang had managed to steal some LE30,000 worth of cables, which they then sold to a trader for LE900, police say. The gang's activities had disrupted phone service for local residents.
Events/exhibitions/Ad watch
Cairo gets a Hard Rock...
How long has Cairo been waiting to get its very own Hard Rock Cafe? The global institution began operating in London thirty years ago, and now, as it begins its fourth decade with branches all over the world, the Hard Rock franchise is finally gracing Cairo's socio-economic scene.
Was it strange that a big city like Cairo didn't have one till now? Beirut did, as did New York. Tokyo, Paris -- Hard Rocks are like modern landmarks everywhere around the globe, and the Hard Rock logo -- on t-shirts and caps everywhere -- a seemingly permanent part of the landscape.
The restaurant, bar, club, which operates on the premise of providing a nostalgic musical experience with your meal, already has a branch on Sharm El-Sheikh's Naama strip. How much of an impact will Cairo's getting a Hard Rock Cafe have on the millennia-old city? Now that Hard Rock is less emblematic of globalization than it used to be --in the cyber age, its guitar chic is a throwback to a more sedate, acoustic time -- it walks the fine line between being a touristy given, a favorite hangout, or a has-been, depending on the circumstances.
In any case, the grand opening of the Cairo branch, located in the Meridien downtown, is Friday night, May 4th, and the party is dubbed by the ad as "the event that will rock Cairo."
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