"I urge everyone to resolve this matter as soon as possible to avoid any consequence of the matter," Moussa told reporters after a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.

   Barnier arrived here early Monday for contacts with Egyptian officials over the hostage crisis.

   Cairo is the first leg of Barnier's Middle East mission to negotiate the release of the two journalists held by the so-called "Islamic Army in Iraq". The subsequent legs of his tour have yet to be disclosed.

   On Sunday, French President Jacques Chirac delivered a televised address to the nation, demanding the release of Radio France correspondent Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot of Parisdaily Le Figaro who went missing on Aug. 20 in Najaf, Iraq.

   Chirac said that "everything has been done and will be done in the following hours and days" to ensure the newsmen's release, and he had "no additional information" about the fate of the two since Aug.20.

   The Islamic militants demanded Paris end its ban on headscarves in state schools by late Monday.

   In Paris, government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said the controversial ban would come into effect as planned at the start of the academic year on Thursday.

   "The law will be applied," Cope said, rejecting the linkage between the hostage-taking and the ban.  Enditem