Government observes carefully the dispute which seems to have arisen between the new minister of Labour and Social Security mr Stephanos Djoumakas and the National Economy Minister mr Yannos Papantoniou over the new status of the social security in Greece.
Mr Papantoniou accuses his labour counterpart of not having informed him over the new suggestions he made on the changes in the social security system.
Mr Djoumakas had been in charge of the committee which made the preelectoral programme of the governing socialistic PASOK on social security.
The governmental work was also examined in the meeting the Prime Minister mr Andreas Papandreou had with the new Minister of Interior Affairs, Public Administration and Decentralization mr Akis Tsohadjopoulos who continues to hold the place of the Secretary of PASOK Central Committee till its next session, due in October.
According to the statute of the party, the Secretary can not be a member of the government and mr Tsohadjopoulos will probably be replaced by his predecessor in the Interior Ministry mr Constantinos Scandalidis.
The American Hellenic Education Progressive Association (AHEPA) expressed alarm and profound disappointment yesterday over an Albanina government decision to kill moves towards democracy with last week' removal of Albania's Supreme Court Chief Justice mr Sef Brozi, who had been a lone voice for the human rights in the country.
AHEPA Supreme President dr Spiro Makris said that "Greek Americans are particularly concerned because the Albanian high court has been a lone voice in countering Albanian President Shali Berisha's systematic harrasment and the denial of the civil, human and religious rights of the sizable Greek minority in Albania".
Greek Foreign Minister Carolos Papoulias met last night in New York with his counterparts from Romania and Bulgaria with whom he discussed bilateral issues, the peace process in Bosnia and the issue of the construction of the Danube Bridge which was the main topic of the discussions in the tripartite meeting held in August in the city of Ioannina in north- western Greece.
After the meeting mr. Papoulias said that the latest efforts for a cease-fire in Bosnia made by the United States with the backing of the European Union are very hopeful.
Mr.Papoulias stated that the balance is very fragile adding that a lot of problems remain open but until now there have been made important steps towards the solution of the problem.
The Greek Foreign Minister said that Greece, Romania and Bulgaria as Balkan states have a direct interest in the cessation of hostilities and in the success of the peace process and he added that the three countries back the peace efforts and play an important role.
Mr Papoulias reminded the journalists that in the past Greece and Bulgaria had undertaken initiatives for the restoration of the damages they suffered as a result of the economic sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia by the United Nations.
Referring to the greek-bulgarian relations, the greek Foreign Minister stated after his meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski that the cordial cooperation between the two countries continues which is to the benefit of the wider Balkan region and Europe.
Mr.Papoulias said that Greece and Bulgaria are two countries with social stability but face economic difficulties which they are trying to overcome adding that the two countries constitute the basis for cooperation and progress in the Balkans and Europe.
The greek Foreign Minister also met last night with his french counterpart while today he will meet with the Foreign Ministers of Iran and Armenia.
Greek Transport Minister mr Evangelos Venizelos met in Brussels with his counterparts of Bulgaria and Romania and discussed issues concerning the transportations sector.
Mr. Venizelos stated that this meeting was a followup of an earlier meeting that was held in the greek city of Ioannina last August and took place in the framework of the three countries' cooperation in the sector of transportation.
The issues discussed were the preparation of the positions to be examined in the meeting of the European Union Transport Ministers Council with the eastern and central European countries, the construction of the Danube bridge and the confirmation by Bulgaria and Romania of their positions supporting the expansion of the 9th road corridor which will link North to Sputh Europe, starting from Helsinki and finishing in the greek city of Alexandroupolis, in the Aegean Sea.
Strong earthquake measuring 5,2 on the Richter scale hit at 8:17'am this morning the region of the city of Patras in western Peloponnese and its epicenter was located 30 kilometers south-east of Patras in the region of Kalavrita.
According to seismology professor in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Vasilis Papazachos the tremor came from the wider seismic zone of the Bay of Patras and was followed by smaller aftershocks.
Local authorities stated that no victims or damages were reported.
A greek-albanian meeting of experts will be held soon in order to be established the exact number of greek minority students attending albanian schools as it was announced today after the meeting in New York between greek Foreign Minister Carolos Papoulias and his albanian counterpart Alfred Serequi.
Mr.Papoulias said after the meeting that there has been progress but he pointed out that the two sides had different numbers of students in mind. He said that political will exists in both sides adding that this is very important while he characterized as exclusive and very urgent priority the minority schools issue. Mr.Papoulias added that there is also the issue of the seasonal albanian workers in Greece.
The airspace of the Cypriot Republic was not violated by turkish fighter planes but there has been a violation of the Nicosia FIR when turkish warplanes came very close to an Olympic Airways airplane.
This clarification was made by cypriot government spokesman Yiannakis Kasoulidis who was called to make it clear if turkish warplanes violated the cypriot airspace and if they were intercepted by greek airplanes during the 5-day annual exercise of the cypriot National Guard under the code- name "Nikiforos '95". The cypriot government spokesman stated that an official protest will be made over the violation of the Nicosia FIR made two days ago by turkish warplanes.
Mr. Kasoulidis clarified that during the greek military exercise under the code-name "Toxotis" that coincided with the cypriot "Nikiforos '95", turkish fighter planes had approached greek fighter planes for reconnaissance purposes adding that this happens repeatedly. He categorically stated that there was no interception made by the greek fighter planes and there was no attempt by the turkish planes to intercept greek airplanes.
Cypriot President Glafkos Kliridis stated that he expects new US initiative for the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the statement made by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke according to which after a solution is found for Bosnia he will personally work for the solution of the problem in Cyprus. Nevertheless, mr.Kliridis stated that there was no formal US announcement made to the cypriot government on the issue.
Asked to comment on the statement made by mr.Holbrooke on the application of more pressure for the solution of the Cyprus problem, the cypriot President stressed that there were no pressures applied on the greek-cypriot side.
The nationalists emigrants from FYROM in Australia threaten that they will continue to hoist the flag bearing the ancient greek symbol of the Sun of Vergina. The organization covering people form Scopje living in the australian state of Victoria and leaning towards FYROM's nationalist political party VMRO-DPMNE, in a resolution they have approved of, attack FYROM's President Gligorov over the interim agreement signed by Skopje and Athens in New York.
In the protest resolution that was published in their local daily "Australian Macedonian Weekly" mr.Gligorov's validity and his authority to sign the agreement with Greece is questioned.
According to the resolution, President Gligorov and his government have not been legally elected by FYROM's citizens and for this reason he and his government are not worthy of the people's trust and they can not represent the people's national interests.
The nationalists also accuse Prime Minister Crvenkovski and President of "dishonesty" towards the "Macedonians" and they stress that for this disgraceful and painful action they will be judged by history because as it is stated in the resolution, they have cooperated with the greek government in a cultural and intellectual genocide against the "macedonian people".
The organization declared that they will continue to hoist the flag bearing the ancient greek symbol of the Sun of Vergina characteristically pointing out that any new flag that will be adopted will be regarded as a flag of surrender, shame, betrayal and deceit.