for the past 5 years. Mr. Giannopoulos was born in 1918 in Arkadia, he was a member of the national resistance, he was a member of PASOK after the political changeover, he was President of the Athens Bar Association from 1976-1981, and had been elected t o Parliament every year since 1981, while he served as Minister of Labor and Justice, the Merchant Marine, Transit and the Aegean in the governments of Andreas Papandreou.

achieve our goal. Our first aim is to make the 8", stressed Mr. Ioannidis.

and the Cabinet expressed their condolences to his widow.

His condolences for the death of Evaggelos Giannopoulos were also expressed by the President of New Democracy Costas Karamanlis, who made the following statement: "Vaggelis Giannopoulos was a fighter throughout his life. His long political career and his

term in public offices pointed out his fighting spirit and his deep dedication to his ideas. Vaggelis Giannopoulos was a tough politician and an ideological adversary. Our respect, however, for his consistency is given. To his family and his political co mrades I express my sincere condolences".

A skeleton belonging to a man, approximately 50 years old at the time of his death, found in a crate like grave, had a signs of a delicate surgical procedure to the cranium by drilling.

The macroscopic tests showed that the man survived for a long time after the procedure. It should be noted that the grave, that was unornamented, is dated back to the same period with the neighboring ornamented graves, in the second half of the 2nd centu ry BC. The discovery of the drilling was made by anthropologist Asterios Aidonis.

Mr. Giotopoulos is testifying with the use of hand written notes, to be followed by Alexandros Papanastasiou, thus completing the testimonies of the defendants.

Mr. Simitis invited the Ministers to intensify their efforts so that the government's plan can be completed by 2004, he made it clear that early elections will not be held, and underlined the need to solidify the atmosphere of dependability among the cit izens.

The priorities of the government's work, as presented by Mr. Simitis, include delivering the funds of the social package that was announced, through the overcoming of bureaucratic problems, the intensification of preparations for the 2004 Olympics, the p romotion of employment programs, the materialization of major projects and mainly the Kastania detour and the promotion of privatizations.

Mr. Karamanlis stated after the meeting that he met with consumer protection associations, which are non governmental organizations, to hear their views on the wave of high prices that hits the people in Greece. The price "explosion" is one of the major problems faced by the Greek people on a daily basis, stressed Mr. Karamanlis.

He stated that inflation and high prices constitute a major failure for the government, while the average wage in Greece corresponds to 57% of the EU average. The government had set as a goal in the four-year term of 2000-2004 to bring inflation under 2%

but last year inflation was at 3.9% and this year is expected to be at 3.5%, namely 2 points higher than the EU average.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that the Greeks have the lowest per capita income in Europe, the unemployment rate is the highest, with one out of three people unemployed, while 2.5 million Greeks live below poverty line.

The general index dropped to -0.18% at 2.138,91 points, while the volume of transactions was again considerable today at 152.7 million euros.

Of the stocks trading today, 173 recorded gains and 141 had losses, while the value of 67 stocks remained unchanged.

Present in the formal opening will be Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All of Greece, who will also officiate in a ceremony on the occasion of the inauguration.

A formal reception will be given after the inauguration at the gardens of the 3rd Army Corps, while on Saturday, September 6 a formal dinner will be given at "Ioannis Vellidis" Convention Center in honor of the Prime Minister.

Mr. Simitis outlined the basic priorities of the government work. Among them are, the completion of the announced social measures, the preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games, the controls on the origin of income declared on the income-tax returns, measu res against unemployment, materialization of the job positions announced, privatization and the law on the co-financed projects.

Also, he referred to the Inter-Governmental Conference in Rome to take place in October and the Brussels Summit meeting.

The government spokesman announced that all the cabinet members will attend the funeral that will take place on Monday at public expense with honors reserved for government ministers.

In essence, the Euro-deputies call on the Greek government to proceed with the lifting of the entry ban to Mount Athos directed on women.

The Sylla report got negative votes from the Euro-deputies of the Greek governing Socialist Party of PASOK. After the vote, the head of PASOK's Euro-deputies Mr. Katiforis submitted a written statement to the Euro-Parliament Presiding Board justifying th eir position.

Among others, they mentioned that Mount Athos enjoys a special status, which was secured with a joint statement included in Greece's EEC Accession Treaty

It is also mentioned that in the Amsterdam Treaty Final Act annex there is a statement by Greece, which is a reminder of the Joint Statement on Mount Athos attached to the Final Act of Greece's Accession Treaty.

The tourist was arrested and was accused of causing serious bodily harm. According to the statement he made to the Greek authorities, he was too drunk at the time to know what he was doing.

The statement was made on the occasion of the report on the fundamental rights situation in the EU that was passed in the European Parliament. The report, among others, calls on the Greek government to lift the entry ban to Mount Athos directed on women.

Mr. Yiannitsis also stressed that the status of Mount Athos is special and the Greek government is firm in defending it.

The Albanian Health Minister stressed that the overall goal of the agreement is the promotion of bilateral cooperation in the sector of health, mainly through the exchange of experience and the specialization of Albanian medical doctors.

The Albanian Health Minister stressed that it is an agreement that will be in effect for two years and it will be renewed immediately after it expires.

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