CAIRO: In a packed cafe in Cairo, all eyes were glued to a flickering flat-screen TV, waiting for Omar Marmoush, now donning Manchester City’s sky-blue jersey, to step onto the pitch.
In the 84th minute, the Egyptian forward finally jogged to the sideline, ready to make his UEFA Champions League debut against Real Madrid.
The cafe erupted with cheers and hands banging on tables, and even longtime Madrid fans joined in to celebrate one of their own.
The Spanish side ended up winning 3-2, but at the Cairo cafe, the result did not diminish the love for Marmoush.
“I came today just to see him,” said Abdel Rahman Tarek, a 25-year-old fan.
“Marmoush playing in Manchester City. That is huge,” he told AFP, his face beaming with pride.
While his appearance ended up being just minutes-long, Marmoush’s high-profile move to City has sparked nationwide buzz.
From heated debates in cafes to trending discussions on social media, his name is being celebrated alongside Mohamed Salah’s, Egypt’s football megastar.
Manchester City, battling even to qualify for next season’s Champions League, is banking on 26-year-old Marmoush to inject fresh energy.
Marmoush joined from Eintracht Frankfurt on a four-and-a-half-year deal worth around £59 million ($73 million).
His arrival comes at a testing time for City, who are trailing league leaders Liverpool by 15 points.
Coach Pep Guardiola said following his debut in a 3-1 victory over Chelsea that he was “really pleased” with Marmoush’s performance so far, but the player will need time to settle in.
“His real impact could come next season once he fully integrates into the squad and Guardiola refines his role within the team,” Egyptian sports analyst Khaled Talaat told AFP.
Born to an Egyptian-Canadian couple, Marmoush started out at Cairo’s Wadi Degla club.
Ahmed Hossam, popularly known as “Mido,” a former Egypt and Tottenham Hotspur striker who coached Degla’s first team in 2016, saw the potential.
“Marmoush will be the surprise of Egyptian football,” Mido said in 2016.
The forward moved to Germany at a young age, playing for VfL Wolfsburg and developing his skills in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt before earning his big break with Manchester City.
His blockbuster move has inevitably drawn comparisons to Salah, who is enjoying another stellar season at Liverpool, netting 21 goals in 23 league appearances.
His journey from Nagrig, a village in Egypt’s Nile Delta area of Gharbiya, to global stardom at Anfield has inspired millions.
His rise is a classic underdog story — he started at Egypt’s El Mokawloon before moving to Switzerland’s Basel.
A tough spell at Chelsea followed before he found his form at Italy’s AS Roma, ultimately becoming one of the greatest players in Premier League history with Liverpool.
Pundits said it would be “unfair to compare” Marmoush to Salah just yet, though he has already shown great promise.
“Salah had to fight for playing time with Chelsea when he first arrived in England whereas Marmoush has already started matches with City, showing that Guardiola sees potential in him,” said Talaat.
But even Salah has urged caution, warning last year that such comparisons could create unnecessary pressure.
“Let him live his own experience and enjoy it,” Salah said at a November book fair in the UAE.
Marmoush agrees.
“Salah is the best player in Egypt’s history,” he said on a TV show last month.
“But I don’t want to be the next Mo Salah. I want to be Omar Marmoush and create my own story.”
Beyond their career trajectories, their playing styles also set them apart.
Salah is renowned for his blistering pace, lethal finishing and ability to turn matches around.
Marmoush is more versatile — comfortable playing across the forward line and adept at linking up play in midfield.
“The two players are fundamentally different on the pitch,” said Ahmed Owais, a football pundit.
“Salah is a fighter with incredible speed and finishing... Marmoush, on the other hand, is more skilful in tight spaces, has quick feet, and excels in dead-ball situations.”
Salah has set a nearly impossible standard, and pundits believe that once City regains its rhythm, Marmoush could be in a stronger position to shine.
In the Cairo cafe, some fans were ready to anoint Marmoush as Egypt’s next great footballing export, while others insisted there was only one king.
For Yassin Ahmed, 19, support, not comparisons, is what matters now.
“He deserves our backing,” he said. “He is one of us, a special talent and we need to give him time.”
Marmoush’s Man City move sparks excitement in Egypt
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Marmoush’s Man City move sparks excitement in Egypt
Police investigate possible arson as Rome fire destroys 17 Teslas
- Tesla cars have become targets for vandalism across several countries, in response to the right-wing activism of company owner Elon Musk
- Tech billionaire, who also owns X, has joined Donald Trump’s administration and has come out in support of far-right parties in Europe
ROME: Italian police are investigating possible arson at a Tesla dealership in Rome overnight that destroyed 17 cars, a security source said on Monday.
Italy’s anti-terrorism police unit Digos is leading the investigation and is looking into the possibility that anarchists set fire to the cars on the eastern outskirts of Rome, the source said.
Drone images of the Rome fire showed the burnt-out remains of cars lined up in a parking lot, with two rows of vehicles back-to-back and a third row some distance away.
Tesla cars have become targets for vandalism across several countries, in response to the right-wing activism of company owner Elon Musk.
The tech billionaire, who also owns X, has joined US President Donald Trump’s administration and has come out in support of far-right parties in Europe.
The fire brigade said in a statement that the blaze broke out at around 04.30 a.m. (0230 GMT). The dealership was partially damaged, but nobody was injured.
Russian authorities move to lift the terrorist designation for the Taliban
- Afghanistan’s Taliban were outlawed by Russia two decades ago as a terrorist group
MOSCOW: Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday said it received a petition from the prosecutor general’s office to lift the ban on Afghanistan’s Taliban, who were outlawed two decades ago as a terrorist group.
The court said in a statement that it would hold a hearing on the petition, submitted by Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, on April 17. Russia last year adopted a law stipulating that the official terrorist designation of an organization could be suspended by a court.
The Taliban were put on Russia’s list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Any contact with such groups is punishable under Russian law.
At the same time, Taliban delegations have attended various forums hosted by Moscow. Russian officials have shrugged off questions about the seeming contradiction by emphasizing the need to engage the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan.
The former Soviet Union fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Moscow withdrawing its troops in 1989. Since then, Moscow has made a diplomatic comeback as a power broker, hosting talks on Afghanistan involving senior representatives of the Taliban and neighboring nations.
There is a deepening divide in the international community on how to deal with the Taliban, who have been in power for three years and face no real opposition. Afghanistan’s rulers have pursued bilateral ties with major regional powers.
UAE court sentences killers of Israeli-Moldovan to death
- Three defendants sentenced to death, fourth jailed for life
- Zvi Kogan’s body was found a few days after he disappeared in Dubai in November
LONDON: A court in the UAE has sentenced three people to death for the kidnap and murder of the Israeli-Moldovan man Zvi Kogan.
A fourth defendant was given a life sentence for being an accomplice to the killing in November, the UAE state news agency WAM reported on Monday.
The four defendants were “unanimously convicted” by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber for the “premeditated murder with terrorist intention” of Kogan.
The body of Kogan, 28, was found a few days after he went missing in Dubai. Within days, the UAE said it had arrested three Uzbek men as the main suspects and thanked Turkiye for helping to detain them.
Attorney General Hamad Saif Al-Shamsi said the verdict reflected the UAE’s “unwavering commitment to combating terrorism.”
He said the UAE judiciary confronts “any attempts to undermine national security and stability” and added that the Emirates is a global model of “coexistence and tolerance, where its laws protect all residents, regardless of religion or ethnicity, ensuring their safety and security.”
During their investigation, prosecutors found that the defendants had tracked and murdered Kogan.
The defendants gave detailed confessions and were also linked to the crime with forensic reports, the post-mortem examination, instruments used in the crime, and witness testimonies.
Kremlin official says Russia sees efforts to end Ukraine war as a drawn-out process
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is 'working to implement some ideas in connection with the Ukrainian settlement'
- Donald Trump expressed frustration with the two countries’ leaders as he tries to bring about a truce
Russia views efforts to end its three-year war with Ukraine as “a drawn-out process,” a Kremlin spokesman said Monday, after US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with the two countries’ leaders as he tries to bring about a truce.
“We are working to implement some ideas in connection with the Ukrainian settlement. This work is ongoing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
“There is nothing concrete yet that we could and should announce. This is a drawn-out process because of the difficulty of its substance,” he said when asked about Trump’s anger at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments dismissing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy to negotiate a deal.
Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for a full and immediate 30-day halt in the fighting. The feasibility of a partial ceasefire on the Black Sea, used by both countries to transport shipments of grain and other cargo, was cast into doubt after Kremlin negotiators imposed far-reaching conditions.
Trump promised during last year’s US election campaign that he would bring Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II to a swift conclusion.
Peskov didn’t directly address Trump’s criticism of Putin on Sunday when he said he was “angry, pissed off” that Putin had questioned Zelensky’s credibility as leader.
But he said that Putin “remains absolutely open to contacts” with the US president and was ready to speak to him.
Both countries are preparing for a spring-summer campaign on the battlefield, analysts and Ukrainian and Western officials say.
Zelensky said late Sunday that there has been no letup in Russia’s attacks as it drives on with its invasion of its neighbor that began in February 2022. He said the attacks demonstrated Russia’s unwillingness to forge a settlement.
“The geography and brutality of Russian strikes, not just occasionally, but literally every day and night, show that Putin couldn’t care less about diplomacy,” Zelensky said in his daily address.
“And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling, and ballistic strikes,” he said.
He urged further international pressure on Moscow to compel Russia to negotiate, including new sanctions.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas picked up on that theme at a meeting of some of the bloc’s top diplomats in Madrid on Monday.
“Russia is playing games and not really wanting peace,” Kallas told reporters ahead of the meeting, which was due to discuss the war. “So our question is, how can we put more pressure on Russia.”
Trump said he would consider adding further sanctions on Russia, which already faces steep financial penalties, and using tariffs to undermine its oil exports.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, came under another Russian drone attack overnight, injuring three people, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said Monday.
Russia also fired two ballistic missiles and 131 Shahed and decoy drones, the Ukrainian air force said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 66 Ukrainian drones early Monday over three Russian regions.
“The continuing attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on Russia’s energy facilities show the complete lack of respect for any obligations related to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said in a statement.
Trump says confident of TikTok deal before deadline
- Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the popular short video app by April 5 or see it banned in the US
- US in talks with four groups interested in acquiring the platform, Trump said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Sunday he was confident of reaching a deal on TikTok ahead of the April 5 deadline for its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the popular short video app or see it banned in the United States.
“We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.
“We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok. We’re dealing with China also on it, because they may have something to do with it,” he said, adding “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”
China on Thursday had rebuffed a suggestion from Trump that he might offer to reduce tariffs to get Beijing’s approval for the sale of TikTok to a non-Chinese firm.
Trump said this month the United States was in talks with four groups interested in acquiring the platform, which has 170 million American users.
A US law has ordered TikTok to divest from ByteDance or be banned in the United States, enacted over concerns that Beijing could exploit the app to spy on Americans or covertly influence US public opinion.
The law took effect on January 19, a day before Trump’s inauguration, but he quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate.
That delay is set to expire on April 5.
“There’ll be a deal with TikTok, I’m pretty certain,” Trump said when asked if he would extend the deadline if there was no deal.
Trump attempted to ban TikTok in the United States because of national security concerns during his first stint in the White House but has warmed up to it.
“Selfishly speaking, I won the young vote by 36 points. Republicans generally don’t do very well with the young crowd, and I think a lot of it could have been TikTok,” he said.
