The police are on alert all over the country in order to capture the 31-year-old escaped US citizen, serving a life sentence in the Korydallos penitentiary. Peter Sedom escaped on Monday afternoon with the assistance of 45-year old penitentiary employee Olga Atzamoglou, after disguising himself as a doctor.

Minister of Justice Philippos Petsalnikos has put the prison director, Giorgos Marinaros, the warden, Antonis Aravadinos, six guards and the prison psychologist on suspension, according to information he gave in an emergency press conference he held.

Sedom's escape forced the Piraeus District Attorney to file a lawsuit on escape, intentionally releasing a prisoner and negligence, against all responsible parties.

Meanwhile, a police patrol car located the vehicle used in the escape, Olga Atzamoglou's car, in the early morning hours, on Petros Rallis Str. outside an autorepair workshop. The car was put under surveillance in order to find who was going to pick it u p.

According to information, the car is now in forensic labs. There is information that fingerprints have been found, belonging to both the prison psychologist and the escaped prisoner. It is most probable that the car was used in the initial escape and the n abandoned at that spot, where they boarded a different car and fled.

"Despite difficult times for international economy, Greece seems it will not only reach its goal of a 3.8% increase in the GDP in 2002, but will surpass it, and will move closer to 4% in the next few years", noted Mr. Christodoulakis.

He added however that the budget for 2002 will come to 3% instead of 2.8%, which was the previous assessment of the financial staff.

As Mr. Christodoulakis pointed out, about a third of this year's increase of the GDP will be related to funds from the 3rd Community Support Framework, while a percentage of 15 to 1.5%, will originate from public expenditures.

At the same time, he foresaw that Greece's public debt will be reduced to 95% of the GDP in 2003, and will come closer to the average of our EMU partners.

"The dead ends of the Simitis government's economic policy are now visible to all. I would in fact say that real economy is in a state, as international organizations confirm in their reports, much more similar to the one New Democracy says it is in. Our

opinions are justified and confirmed", said Mr. Karamanlis, who added that the Barnier letter is especially revealing as far as the carrying out of 3rd Community Support Framework projects are concerned.

"The Prime Minister and the Cabinet are only trying to beautify an unpleasant situation", mentioned the Head of New Democracy, and underlined that his party's main priorities, as soon as it comes into power, are: Refounding the state, reinforcing competi tiveness, daring structural changes, liberalization of markets, real privatization and a tax reform.

In the discussion Prime Minister Simitis had with the President in front of the press, he appreciated: "NATO-Russia and US-Russia relations are in a new era".

On his side, the President of the Republic noted that: "It is not easy for one to think of Russia as a full member of NATO", a point of view with which Mr. Simitis agreed.

During his stay in the Belgian capital, Mr. Karamanlis will meet with the Chairman of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and the Chairman of the European Assembly, Valery Giscard d' Estaing, on Wednesday June 5.

On Thursday June 6, Mr. Karamanlis will depart from Brussels for New York, the first stop of his 7-day visit to the US and Canada.

The President of New Democracy will meet with the Archbishop of North and South America Dimitrios and he will speak at a Greek community event. On Saturday, June 8, he will travel to Chicago where he will meet with the President of SAE, A. Athens, and th e vice President and Coordinator of the North and South America SAE, Chr. Tomaras.

On Sunday, June 9, Mr. Karamanlis will travel to Toronto, where he will meet with Greek-Canadian organizations and the Metropolite of Toronto and all of Canada, and will later speak at a Greek community event.

The President of New Democracy, will participate in a Summit Meeting of the International Democratic Union in Washington on Monday June 10.

Mr. Simitis stated characteristically that the contacts and the meetings on the Euro-army continue, while himself had a series of meetings with EU Prime Ministers on the issue of the Euro-army and the likely developments concerning the EU enlargement.

The Prime Minister also briefed President Stephanopoulos on the contacts he had with the political party leaders on domestic and foreign policy issues. Responding to questions by reporters on the likelihood of a "hot incident" related to the EU enlargeme nt, Mr. Simitis replied negatively.

The issue of the Middle East also dominated in the meeting Mr. Magriotis had today with Palestinian Authority representative in Greece Mr. Abdulah. A special reference was made to issues concerning the promotion of the Greek humanitarian aid to the Pales tinian people and the initiatives that are being undertaken within the framework of the EU and the OECD.

In Greece, a total of 240.000 people make a living by exploiting the 20.000 foreign women, who are forced to prostitution, while child prostitution and the exploitation of minors is the dark side of the issue as there are no official figures available.

There is great concern regarding the disappearance of hundreds of the so-called "children of the traffic lights" as only a few of them have returned to their countries, while about 100 are staying at shelters in Greece. The fate of the rest is unknown, w hile there are rumors according to which, their organs have been sold or they are dead.

The figures were presented in the International Conference on Human Trade that was co-organized by the UNESCO Center on Women and Peace in the Balkan Countries and the Stability Pact office in Thessaloniki.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, the presidential decree in question is expected to be signed soon by the President.

Mr. Verelis stated that this presidential decree allows private capital to have access to the construction and management of airports which is a sector of great importance for the national economy.

Of the stocks trading today, 150 recorded gains and 154 had losses, while the value of 69 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Protopapas added that the government never said that it has secured eternal peace with Turkey and stressed that the strategy of non tension will be continued by the Greek side. He also underlined that Greece is ready to defend its rights any time.

When called to comment on the statements made by Minister of Defense Yiannos Papantoniou that the Helsinki decision brought no results, Mr. Protopapas responded that the Helsinki decision was very important and clarified that Mr. Papantoniou was right to

point out the Turkish intransigence. Mr. Protopapas said that Turkey continues to have extreme and intransigent positions and does not contribute to a solution in the case of the Cyprus problem. However, he said that Greece has an interest in promoting T urkey's European course.

On the statements made by former Turkish President Suleiman Demirel concerning islets and gray zones in the Aegean, Mr. Protopapas stated that for Greece there are no disputed islets.

The successful work of the participating regions and states in the preparation of the Interreg III programs is being praised in the Final Declaration text, as well as the work of the CRPM joint working teams on issues concerning the environment, the rese arch and development, transportation and equal opportunities.

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