In a step that is expected to spark row, Egypt Free Shops Company (EFSCO) received instructions from the finance ministry to refrain from selling liquor and cigarettes in its branches outside airports. The step coincides with the major breakthrough achieved by Islamists in the first and second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections. An informed source said the decision, which falls a few days before the Christmas and New Year celebrations, also included decrease in customs exemptions on only one bottle of alcohol instead of four and only one packet of cigarettes instead of four. [Hishām Yassa and Yūsuf al-'Ūmī, al-Misrī al-Yawm, Dec. 26, p. 4] Read the original text in Arabic