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
Lawyers for a detained Tufts student from Turkiye demand she be returned to Massachusetts
- Rumeysa Ozturk was taken into custody by federal agents in Boston on March 25 and next day and moved to an immigration center in Basile, Louisiana
- She is among several people with ties to US universities who publicly expressed support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza and who recently had visas revoked
BOSTON: Lawyers for a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkiye who was seized by immigration officials off a street near Boston argued in federal court Thursday that she should be returned to Massachusetts, while the US government insisted it did nothing wrong in moving her to a detention center in Louisiana.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken into custody as she walked along a suburban street March 25. After being transported to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Basile, Louisiana.
“She was grabbed by federal agents in front of her home and taken over the course of several hours to Vermont without any way to contact counsel or counsel to contact her and with her location for period 22 hours being undisclosed to the Department of Justice attorneys in this case,” Adriana Lafaille, one of her attorneys, told the court.
Ozturk’s lawyers asked US District Judge Denise Casper to order that she be immediately returned to Massachusetts and released from custody. If Ozturk isn’t returned to Massachusetts, Lafaille added, she should be taken to Vermont.
Mark Sauter, a Justice Department lawyer, argued that ICE had a plan for her transport before she was detained and only moved her to Louisiana because there was no bed space for female immigration detainees in New England.
“There was no attempt to manipulate the jurisdiction,” Sauter told the court.
The US attorneys have argued the case should go before an immigration judge.
Ozturk had been moved to Vermont by the time Casper in Boston had ordered authorities to keep her in Massachusetts, they said.
Ozturk’s lawyers said at the time they filed the petition, they had no way of knowing where she was. They have said her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
Casper issued no immediate decision on the matter after hearing arguments.
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities who attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza and who recently had visas revoked or been stopped from entering the US.
She was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists’ demands. The student activists were demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.
On Thursday, her lawyer released a letter from Ozturk in which she talked about her research and said she would continue to stand up against injustice.
“I believe the world is a more beautiful and peaceful place when we listen to each other and allow different perspectives to be in the room,” she wrote.
“Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children,” she added.
Outside court Thursday, about 50 protesters chanting “Rumeysa Ozturk Now” and ICE Out Of Boston” marched and held up signs like one reading: “No More Abductions.”
Recently, two dozen of Ozturk’s colleagues and Tufts University submitted letters to the court backing that request, describing her as a gentle, compassionate and cherished member of the Tufts community.
Reyyan Bilge, a close friend who collaborated with Ozturk on research, was present in court Thursday and described her as a “wonderful student, a wonderful human being.”
“It’s like a nightmare,” she said. “Who would have thought? She came here to do her job as a student, as an exceptional student ... Out of the blue, she was taken for doing nothing wrong, How would you feel if you were to be either your daughter, or your niece, or like someone that’s close to you?“
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the termination of Ozturk’s visa last week. The official said investigations found she had engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group, but provided no evidence.
Hamas militants invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing about 250 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Trump hopeful of ‘great’ PGA-LIV golf merger
- Trump: You’ve got the PGA Tour, you’ve got the LIV tour. And I think having them merge would be a great thing
- PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this month that Trump’s intervention in ongoing negotiations had “significantly bolstered” hopes of reunifying the sport
MIAMI: President Donald Trump said Thursday he is optimistic of an eventual merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf following a new report of a stalemate in negotiations to reunify the game.
Speaking on Air Force One as he traveled to Florida ahead of this weekend’s LIV Golf Miami event at Trump National Doral, the US leader said he believed a merger was inevitable.
“Ultimately, hopefully the two tours are going to merge,” Trump told reporters. “That’ll be good. I’m involved in that, too, but hopefully we’re going to get the two tours to merge.
“You’ve got the PGA Tour, you’ve got the LIV tour. And I think having them merge would be a great thing.”
Trump, a keen golfer, has hosted two rounds of recent talks at the White House between leaders of the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV as the sport attempts to move on after LIV’s entry in 2021.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier this month that Trump’s intervention in ongoing negotiations had “significantly bolstered” hopes of reunifying the sport.
However, a report in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper on Thursday said negotiations had reached an impasse after the PGA Tour failed to deliver “serious concessions” in exchange for a $1.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund which bankrolls LIV.
The Guardian report citing unidentified sources said PIF had sought assurances from the PGA Tour that the LIV circuit would continue following any deal, and that the fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, would be appointed as co-chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises.
However, the PGA Tour rejected both of those requests in a response to LIV sent on Monday, according to The Guardian.
News of the deadlock comes ahead of the first major of the year at next week’s Masters at Augusta National, where 12 players from LIV Golf will tee off against top rivals from the PGA Tour.
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, one of the highest-profile players to defect to LIV Golf, admitted this week that he was disappointed that the Saudi-funded circuit had not progressed further in its four seasons.
“I think we all hoped it would have been a little bit further along, and that’s no secret,” he said. “But they’re making progress and it seems to be going in the right direction.”
Saudi crown prince, Iranian president discuss regional developments
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shared a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Saudi Press Agency reported early on Friday.
During the call, the leaders discussed recent developments in the region and reviewed several issues of mutual concern.
Oscar-winning Palestinian director speaks at UN on Israeli settlements
- Rights groups have said that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — a separate Palestinian territory — there has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank
- Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law
UNITED NATIONS, United States: Palestinian director Basel Adra, who won an Oscar this year for co-directing a documentary on Israeli violence in the West Bank, sounded the alarm at the UN on Thursday, saying the situation was worsening despite the film’s success.
Adra was invited to speak by the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at a screening of his film, “No Other Land.”
The documentary chronicles the forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta — an area Israel declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s.
“I wanted the world to know that we live in this land, that we exist, and to see what we face on daily basis, this brutal occupation,” Adra told the UN.
The film depicts events like bulldozers demolishing houses and a school, as well as the provocations by Israeli settlers on Palestinian residents — including those which escalate to violence.
After a prolonged legal battle, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2022 in favor of the Israeli army, allowing the expulsion of residents from eight villages in the region.
“Even after winning the Oscar, we went back to the same reality,” Adra said, adding that the situation was “only changing from worse to worse.”
“Almost every day, there is settlers attacks on Masafer Yatta and all over communities across the West Bank,” Adra continued.
Last week, Adra’s co-director and fellow Palestinian Hamdan Ballal reported he was attacked by Israeli settlers for winning the Oscar, saying he was detained by Israeli police for “hurling rocks” at which point he suffered a beating and “brutality.”
Rights groups have said that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — a separate Palestinian territory — there has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.
“No Other Land,” despite winning a prestigious Oscar, has struggled to find distribution in the United States, screening at only a handful of cinemas.
Pentagon watchdog to review Hegseth’s use of Signal app to convey plans for Houthi strike
- Hegseth and other members of the Trump administration are required by law to archive their official conversations
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced Thursday that he would review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.
The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defense Department’s secure communications network.
Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz. The chain included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.
“The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business,” the acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins, said in a notification letter to Hegseth.
The letter also said his office “will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements.”
Hegseth and other members of the Trump administration are required by law to archive their official conversations, and it is not clear if copies of the discussions were forwarded to an official email so they could be permanently captured for federal records keeping.
The Pentagon referred all questions to the inspector general’s office, citing the ongoing investigation.
President Donald Trump grew frustrated when asked about the review.
“You’re bringing that up again,” Trump scoffed at a reporter. “Don’t bring that up again. Your editors probably — that’s such a wasted story.”
In the chain, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.
The review was launched at the request of Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the committee’s top Democrat.
In congressional hearings, Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about the use of Signal and pressed military officers on whether they would find it appropriate to use the commercial app to discuss military operations.
Both current and former military officials have said the level of detail Hegseth shared on Signal most likely would have been classified. The Trump administration has insisted no classified information was shared.
Waltz is fighting back against calls for his ouster and, so far, Trump has said he stands by his national security adviser.
On Thursday, Trump fired several members of Waltz’s staff after far-right activist Laura Loomer urged the president to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently loyal to his “Make America Great Again” agenda, several people familiar with the matter said.
In his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Trump’s nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, would not say whether the officials should have used a more secure communications system to discuss the attack plans.
“What I will say is we should always preserve the element of surprise,” Caine told senators.
