Lofty deeds

AT A RECENT meeting of the executive committee of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society presided over by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, who heads the society, a decision was taken to build 42 apartment buildings to house 504 families in the Zeinhom area. The move is part of efforts to develop the shanty towns of Zeinhom in cooperation with the Cairo governorate, and with the help of private donors.

This is the second phase of the Egyptian Red Crescent's drive to develop Zeinhom. The two phases are expected to cost more than LE60 million, LE10 million of which have been shouldered by the Cairo governorate.

Meanwhile, as part of an initiative by Mrs Mubarak in conjunction with the International Red Cross, the Palestinian Red Crescent and the UN Relief Commission, a sum of LE5 million in the form of cash handouts are to be distributed to the most needy of Palestinian families. In addition, more than 500 tonnes of food -- sugar, flour and rice -- are to be sent to Palestinian families in the coming two weeks.

Mixed signals

CAIRO is urging the international community to refrain from passing judgment on the Iraqi arms declaration before carefully scrutinising its contents, reports Soha Abdelaty . "No one should rush to conclusions before studying the report carefully," Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters on Monday, since "we don't know what it contains," and thus can't reasonably make correct assessments.

On Saturday Iraq delivered its report to the UN Security Council and UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in New York, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, detailing all its nuclear, chemical and biological programmes. By submitting the report, the Baghdad regime thereby met the 8 December deadline dictated by Security Council resolution 1441.

Egyptian officials said they will continue to advise Iraq to live up to its UN commitments. "We hope that this report contains an answer to the Security Council's requirements," Maher said.

The foreign minister also told reporters that Kuwaiti State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Al-Sabah had called him on Monday to discuss the Iraq issue. Al-Sabah, according to Maher, expressed his country's concern over a statement made by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Saturday apologising to the Kuwaiti people and blaming the Kuwaiti and American governments for instigating the 1990 invasion. Maher refrained from issuing his take on the Iraqi statement, saying only that "there are various interpretations of this statement." The foreign minister also expressed his hopes that the Iraqi statement does not enflame an already tense situation, especially in light of what he called recent positive initiatives on Iraq's part.

Tape scare

SECURITY personnel working for the Israeli El-Al airlines were on high alert last Friday just before a flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv took off, after suspicions arose that a US passenger's video cassette may have contained a bomb.

The tape -- which contained suspicious-looking black material -- was discovered in the passenger's baggage after he had arrived on a connecting flight from Ethiopia. Explosives experts were summoned and later confirmed that there was no bomb.

Israel has been on heightened alert since the two-pronged attack on Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya on 28 November, involving a car bomb which killed 13 people, including three Israelis, and missiles narrowly missing an Israeli jetliner.

Feuds continue

UPPER Egyptian blood feuds continue to simmer, and occasionally, turn extremely deadly. Last week, a man was decapitated with a cleaver in front of a crowd of people in Sohag. Ali Mohamed Khalifa, 25, was attacked soon after his 3 December arrival in Sohag, some 460 kilometers south of Cairo, to spend the three-day Eid El-Fitr holiday with his family.

The three attackers, who are on the run, are believed to be members of Sohag's Al-Gama'a clan. Three months ago, Harby Ali Khalifa -- one of Khalifa's relatives -- allegedly killed a member of the Al-Gama'a family. He is currently on trial for murder.

Compiled by Shaden Shehab