Meteorologists say that only in southern Aegean will blow northern 4-5 Force winds, while temperature in the mainland will reach 39-40 degrees.

The responsible Health Ministry agencies are in a state of alert to deal with the heatwave. They warn that the elderly, infants, children and those with health problems belong to the so-called sensitive population categories and will be mostly affected b y the extreme temperatures. People are warned to leave home only if it is absolutely necessary. It is suggested that in order to deal with the extreme heat people should take many lukewarm showers during the day and drink a lot of water.

Greece and other southern European countries react strongly to the proposals made by the European Commission which, among others, include a 3% annual subsidies cut, maintaining that the farmers' income will be affected negatively. In reaction to the prop osals, the European farmers' confederations are ready for mobilizations.

Meanwhile, the Farm Policy National Committee will meet in Athens next Friday and Minister of Agriculture Giorgos Dris will brief the political parties on the developments.

The program with the three ropes and the two balls performed by the Greek women team was almost flawless and gathered a total of 24.450 points. Bulgaria came second with 23.600 points and Belarus third with 23.500 points.

The Greek national gymnastics team also won the bronze medal in the final with the five ribbons in which it got 22.650 points. Ukraine came first with 23.325 points and Russia was second with 22.950 points.

On Greece, the report makes a special reference to the government plans to accelerate procedures. It points out that scheduled for privatization in 2002 is the Greek Postal Service, while share packages of the Agricultural Bank of Greece, the Hellenic Pe troleum and the Tourist Real Estate Company will also be sold.

During his visit, he will meet with his Russian counterpart to discuss issues of bilateral military and defense-technical cooperation between the armed forces of Greece and Russia.

General Antonakopoulos will also visit military installations and military material industry plants.

According to the newspaper "Patrida", about 3.000 Greeks live in Libya today. Their Church belongs to the Metropolis of Cartagena. Also, in the region live many Orthodox Christians from countries other than Greece and the total number of Orthodox Christi ans is estimated at about 6.000 people.

In Morocco, which too belongs to the same Metropolis, live about 80 Orthodox Greeks, while in Tunisia the Greeks are about 100. The Greek immigration to Tunisia took place around 1500AD when the Ottoman Empire dominated in the region. In 1645AD, the Patr iarch of Alexandria recognized the existence of a significant Greek community. Also, the Greeks had built the church of Saint George in Tunis in 1845AD, according to an inscription written in Greek.

His doctors have stated that his post-surgery condition develops smoothly but they do not rule out the likelihood of a second operation on his left eye, which was injured in the June 29 explosion that led to his arrest. For the record, a time bomb had ex ploded in the hands of Savvas Xiros at the Port of Piraeus in the evening of June 29.

Meanwhile, press reports mention that fingerprints of Dimitris Koufodinas were found in the "17 November" terrorist organization hideout in Damareos Street in Pangrati, Athens. Police authorities continue the efforts to locate and arrest Koufodinas, who is regarded as a key-person in their investigation aimed at the break up of "17 November".

Based on data provided by the Bank of Greece, the debts to banks due to housing loans were 14.023 billion Euro in April, while the debts to special credit organizations are estimated at 3.338 billion Euro.

Meanwhile, in spite of the interest rate cuts in the bank accounts, bank deposits continue to attract the Greeks, who regard them as a "safe haven". At the end of April, the bank deposits reached 102.470 billion Euro.

issued in 1975 and the other two are more recent.

Mr. Economou pointed out that the Violent Crimes Special Direction is searching for Dimitrios Koufontinas, born on March 19, 1958, in Terpni, Visaltia, Serres, former resident of Varnavas, Attica, present location unknown in order to arrest him, because during the preliminary investigations it became apparent that he is directly connected to the "November 17" hideout on Damareos 23 st.

Dimitris Koufontinas, who until recently lived with the ex-wife of Savvas Xeros, Aggeliki Sotiropoulou, also went by the names Dimitris Labropoulos, Dimitris Sotiropoulos, and possibly others.

Meanwhile, District Attorney of the Supreme Court Evaggelos Kroustalakis was visited by the DA currently occupied with the "November 17" case, Ioannis Diotis, who informed him of developments on terrorism investigations. High ranking officials of the Ath ens DA's office and the Appeal's DA's office were also present during the meeting.

According to the announcement of the Supreme Court DA, the topic of the meeting was the ongoing investigation on terrorism cases. "The briefing concerned the legal procedure progress of the investigations" he noted, and characteristically added that: "It

was ascertained that all examination procedures took place fully following the rules of Penal Legal Procedure Law, the Constitution, and the European Treaty on Human Rights".

"There is something strange. I do not know exactly what it is, but I believe that if we look back to 1974, when PAK transformed into PASOK, it is possible that a part of PAK transformed into "November 17". The question is what connections does this organ ization have with PASOK", he mentioned characteristically, and added that if the random discovery of an incompetent bomber, as he characterized Xeros, had not occurred, that discussion would not have been taking place. He expressed the belief that the sc enario concerning smart terrorists and stupid police officers that cannot catch them is not true.

Niles' statements caused intense reaction from Athens. Government Spokesperson Christos Protopapas made mention of a retired diplomat's foolishness. On his side the Press Spokesperson of New Democracy, Thodoris Roussopoulos, said that Mr. Niles has no of ficial position for ND to comment on him and asked that ND not be anything said about people who are not among its staff. President of the Coalition of the Left, Nikos Constantopoulos mentioned efforts to introduce a political crisis into Greece of 2002.

The children, along with 10 Palestinian escorts, will leave the city of Rafah of the Gaza Strip and will arrive at Macedonia airport on a special Olympic Airways flight. They will then go to Sani and Pefkochori, Chalkidiki, where they will stay at summer

camps.

In August, another 200 children from Palestine and Israel will come to Greece.

The initiative above belongs to the Central Association of Municipalities and Prefectures of Greece (KEDKE), under the auspices of the Church of Greece. It will be materialized in cooperation with the Municipality of Sykies, GSEE, ADEDY, OTOE and UNICEF.

A delegation of the organizing committee, headed by the Chairman of KEDKE, Paris Koukoulopoulos, has already gone to Palestine in order to escort the children to Thessaloniki. At the same time he met with the Association of Local Authorities of Israel in

Tel-Aviv, while he met with the Association of Palestinian Mayors and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was given a cheque as a small contribution to the efforts to repair the damages done to the Holy Lands.

The aim of the meetings, as Mr. Koukoulopoulos pointed out, was to "to give the message to the local authorities that peaceful coexistence of two people is attainable through their local governments". He also added that "that is why KEDKE, broadening and

insisting on this initiative even more, will call both Israeli and Palestinian local authorities to visit Greece, sit at the same table, where they can surely find the things that unite them".

Specifically, the Press Minister mentioned that nobody has to deal with what a retired former foreign diplomat says seriously, and he added that the official view of the United States is expressed by Ambassador Thomas Miller.

Answering related questions, Mr. Protopapas repeated that the Constitution and all laws are being followed to the letter in all procedures, while to the question on what information they have about Dimitris Koufontinas being connected to the Secret Servi ce, he said he would not join the recent literature. "These are scenarios that cause confusion and do not contribute to confronting terrorism", he mentioned characteristically, and ended by saying that "we are on a path that will lead to the full disrupti on of terrorism, but attention, hard work, responsibility and seriousness are necessary, since the ball of string has just started unraveling".

Greece, stressed the Minister, is not about to accept any plan foreseeing the shrinking or gradual abolition of the JAP, nor is it going to accept ideas aiming at its partial or complete denationalization.

Mr. Drys underlined that viable agricultural development will be achieved with measures that will orient production towards the viable qualitative development of rural areas.

At the same time, the proposed disconnection of aid and subsidies from the production of agricultural products must not lead to the destruction of the European model of agriculture.

Referring to the agricultural aspect of EU Enlargement, Mr. Drys underlined that it should be funded by additional funds and not with expense cutbacks from the existing community budget. The JAP must not be held hostage of the Enlargement, nor must the E nlargement be held hostage of the JAP.

As far as the effects of the EC proposals on Greek agricultural products is concerned, the Greek Minister of Agriculture noted that the Commission punishes hard wheat harshly and selectively and without convincing reason, and has unfavorable treatment in

store for rice. Greece, he pointed out, rejects all efforts to weaken and disorganize the Joint Markets Organizations, concerning products which are of vital interest to the Southern European Union.

Political parties and organizations were scheduled to hold rallies and events in every city of the free Cyprus today condemning the coup and the Turkish invasion.

Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou stated that on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the coup against President Makarios the Cypriot government condemns that treasonous act that offered the opportunity to Turkey to invade Cyprus.

Cypriot Parliament President Dimitris Christofias stated that the political crisis in Turkey is an additional negative fact with an uncertain outcome in relation to Turkey's stance in the Cyprus problem and Cyprus' imminent EU accession.

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article