It was a great honour and a pleasure, my dears, to meet distinguished academics and civil society leaders from Latin America at Al-Ahram headquarters this week. Among the Latin dignitaries were Venezuela's Margarita Lope, Argentina's Gladys Lechini, Mexico's Arturo Anguianoand Brazil's Nildo Ouriques. They are currently visiting Cairo to participate in a conference on Comparative Perspectives from Latin America and the Arab world 28-29 June organised by the Cairo-based Arab and African Research Centre. Last Monday, they paid a visit to Al-Ahram and met Al-Ahram Weekly 's Editor-in- Chief Hani Shukrallah; Emad Gad and Magdi Sobhiexperts at Al-Ahram's Centre for Political and Strategic Studies; and head of Al-Ahram's Diplomatic Desk Mohamed Abdel-Hadi. They were accompanied by the director of the Arab and African Research Centre, Helmy Shaarawy. The Latin guests were warmly received by the Weekly 's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Mona Anis; Diplomatic Editor Dina Ezzat;and Foreign Desk Editor Gamal Nkrumah.

And, on another happy note, the Weekly had a smashing time at the sobou of Malakand Farida, the new-born twins of Editor-in-Chief Hani Shukrallah and his delightful wife, Features and Life-style editor, Fatemah Farag. The twilight garden party was staged at the couple's home. Excitement reached the highest pitch when Sabah, the conductor of the sobou, sprang into action. She lighted a most fragrant aromatic incense, the whiff of which filled the air, and carrying her twins in the traditional sieve, the proud mum crossed seven times over the incense burner while candle-holding family and friends recited traditional songs. This was a most memorable gathering for the Weekly, one dominated by children of the staff who literally let go. The conductor of the sobou, was somewhat miffed by the childish behaviour of some of the staff members who squabbled over the delectable spread as they devoured the piles of food and especially the twins' giant cakes. Alas the twins, wrapped not in traditional pink, but in angelic white, were fast asleep throughout the duration of the festivities made in their honour. Busy with a video camera filming the entire affair was filmmaker Youssri Nasrallah. Looking on proudly were the twins' doting grandparents, AUC professors Shawki and Valerie Farag and so were Alaa Shukrallah, the twins' uncle and the amiable and most gracious Hala Shukrallah, their aunt. The twins' adoring older brother, Hossam,romping at a teen party, sent them his love and kisses over the phone.

A couple of days ago, Al-Tahrir Rotary Club, headed by the gorgeous Mayian Raslanorganised a charity concert at Farhaty Hall, Grand Hyatt Hotel. The splendid event featured popular Lebanese singer Wael Kafouri..

At the International Conference Centre, the American University in Cairo celebrated the 82nd annual commencement of its prestigious Bachelor's Degree. There were over 430 graduates from 24 different schools. Among them were Sara Marei, granddaughter of late president Anwar El-Sadat; Khaled Abdel-Hakim, the grandson of Gamal Abdel-Nasser; Sara Salmawy, daughter of Al-Ahram Hebdo 's Editor-in-Chief and newly named head of the Arab Writers Union Mohamed Salmawy; Tareq, son of former minister of Information Abdel-Qader Hatem; and Nora, daughter of Editor-in- Chief of Al-Ahram's Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya quarterly magazine Osama El-Ghazali Harb as well as Michel Kulhandjian, son of our very own photographer Khatchig Wanis. Congratulations!

Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/749/people.htm