Neonakis who recently resigned. A reshuffle in the government may be announced this afternoon, a matter on which there are many scenarios floating around, although the Prime Minister's intentions are unknown. Scenarios should be avoided because they have

nothing to do with reality, and we should wait for relative official announcements to be made by the Prime Minister himself, said Minister of the Press, Ch. Protopapas.

The Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek fighter aircrafts, while in three cases the interception procedure turned into a virtual dogfight.

The girl from Toronto, Canada, is on vacation in Greece with her parents. Initially it exhibited a cough and fever and was taken to the Lefkada hospital. Shortly later she was taken to the Patra regional hospital, where she is being treated in the negati ve pressure chamber.

The doctors appear reassuring as the initial indications are negative. The tests will be completed today, while samples will be sent to Athens.

As Mr. Beglitis pointed out that after the order of Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou, deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Loverdos convened a meeting to explore and resolve the issue of providing visas to Greece to political refugees that left Greece afte r the civil war.

During the meeting, stressed Mr. Beglitis, they decided to provide visas to Greece for 20 days during the period from August 10 to October 30, and directions were given to the relevant authorities.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Panos Beglitis stated that Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou has already moved to the proper actions, raising the issue with US Ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller, and by sending a letter to his US counterpart Colin Powell .

According to Mr. Beglitis, the use of the term "Macedonia" in a bilateral agreement "is in no case a trial for the final solution on the name issue, which will be arrived at through negotiations carried out within the UN framework".

"We were informed this afternoon that the US did in fact sign a bilateral agreement with the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia on the exemption of US citizens from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

First of all, we must point out that as the European Union, we have formed our own common position, since September 2002, regarding the International Criminal Court. Of course every country is free to sign bilateral agreements with the US, however, just like other candidate countries, FYROM, being closer to the EU, should include the EU's general policy in its overall calculations.

In any case, this development, with the signing of the agreement as "Macedonia", is a fact that should be pointed out, as we should point out that the signing of the agreement was not carried out with the constitutional name of "the Republic of Macedonia ", underlined Mr. Beglitis.

"We must say that on all levels, and on the Foreign Minister level with a letter Mr. Papandreou sent to Mr. Powell, we have raised our concern and trouble to the US, regarding its intention of signing a bilateral agreement with Skopje under that name. Fo r us, the issue of FYROM's name is the only difference in our bilateral relations. In any case, it is an issue on which negotiations are still underway in the UN framework", stressed the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson.

"Signing a bilateral agreement is not a trial for the solution of the bilateral difference between Greece and Skopje. We will continue our efforts with good intentions and, of course, the necessary realism, so that a commonly acceptable solution is found , which will respond to modern realities, in order for this final difference to be solved", he pointed out.

This morning a C-130 military aircraft departed from Elefsina, heading towards Kuwait, and will pick up the children this afternoon in order to transport them to Greece.

new Executive Office, as well as Mr. Laliotis' successor, after he submitted his resignation since he did not want to rejoin the government in the function that was proposed to him by Mr. Simitis, will be elected at tomorrow's meeting of the Central Comm ittee. This was the first of the changes announced by Mr. Simitis since May 1st. A proposal for an emergency programming and statutory PASOK conference was submitted by four members of the Central Committee.

Mr. Simitis in essence announced the government reshuffle and asked for the resignation of Kostas Laliotis from the post of the party's Central Committee Secretary and his return to the government.

Mr. Laliotis refused to participate in the reshuffled cabinet and stated that he will present the reasons that led him to this decision in tomorrow's Central Committee meeting that will be held to elect the members of the new Executive Bureau and PASOK's

new Secretary.

The Prime Minister stated that the decisions were reached for the members of the government to be dedicated to the promotion of the government work and the Executive Bureau members to prepare the ground for PASOK's victory in the next parliamentary elect ions to be held in spring 2004.

Of the stocks trading today, the overwhelming majority of 325 recorded gains and just 25 had losses, while the value of 26 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Kougioumtzis briefed them on the actions undertaken by the local administration which, in cooperation with the involved municipalities and two police departments, has secured the appropriate living conditions and medical care.

Mr. White toured the refugee centers and called for the local administration assistance to organize a training seminar to take place in the fall for the officials in the involved agencies to be able to distinguish economic immigrants from political refug ees.

Mrs. Vantse referred to a study she is doing on Iraqi refugees within the framework of which she had the opportunity to talk with them. She stated that they expressed satisfaction for the living standards at the Evros Prefecture refugee centers.

In an interview to the Athens radio station "Flash", Mr. Papantoniou commented on Mr. Kostas Laliotis' decision to resign from the post of PASOK's Central Committee Secretary. Mr. Papantoniou stated on the issue that he respects the personal policy of Mr . Laliotis, who weighed up his political course and came to a decision.

Mr. Papantoniou stated that, most of all, the governing party needs unity among its officials.

The Chain of Hope is established by the Greek Doctors of the World in cooperation with the Greek Foreign Ministry. The children will be taken to "Agia Sofia" Hospital for treatment.

The Doctors of the World want to contribute to the treatment and rehabilitation of children with serious injuries and handicaps from the war and also, those suffering from serious illnesses as a result of the difficulties in Iraq.

Messages were sent wishing success to the conference by Greek President Kostis Stephanopoulos, Parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis, Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Yiannis Magriotis, right-wing main opposition party of New Democracy leader Kostas

Karamanlis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spokesman of US President George Bush, Archbishop Dimitrios of America, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, Greece's ambassador to Washington Mr. Savvaidis, President of SAE-America Christos Tomaras and o thers.

Hellenism has voice and power, stressed Thessaloniki's Prefect Panagiotis Psomiadis addressing the conference.

In the conference will be presented, among others, interesting facts on the history of the Pan-Macedonian Association which constitutes one of the largest Greek-American organizations in the US putting under its umbrella more than 60.000 Greeks from Mace donia, northern Greece, living in the United States.

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