Responding to a question on the activities of US ambassador to Athens Thomas Miller he expressed US President Bush's confidence in the US ambassador, stressing that he has a heavy schedule, which covers the issue of the Olympic Games security as well.

Turkish Minister of Defense Vecdi Gonul pledged that his country will cancel armaments' programs of 8 billion euros.

On his part, Greek Minister of Defense Spilios Spiliotopoulos pledged that Greece will proceed with armaments' cuts of 2 billion euros.

The Greek flag and the Athens 2004 Olympic Games flag arrived at the highest mountaintop in the world on Sunday after the success of the first Greek mission which reached Everest after a 9,5 hours of continuous climbing headed by Giorgos Voutiropoulos.

Church circles characterize this week as crucial because even though there is a solution framework between the Church of Greece and the Ecumenical Patriarchate there are still disagreements on the concessions the two sides will have to make.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, who was on a visit to his birthplace of the island of Imvros, returns to the Fener, while Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All of Greece visits the Theology School of Athens together with the Patriarch of Georgia where cer tain of the professors have already adopted a specific stance regarding the crisis.

Meanwhile, the visit of the Patriarch of Georgia to the monastic community of Mount Athos, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is expected with great interest at the end of the week.

Defense today.

After the meeting, Mr. Liapis stated that the railway network is very extensive and therefore, he requested the assistance of the armed forces to guard sensitive junctions, reservoirs, tunnels and railway facilities in order to have safe Olympic Games.

Mr. Liapis also said that he received the assurance that the armed forces will do everything they can to offer this protection, adding that he is certain that the Athens Olympics will be safe.

Mr. Spiliotopoulos commented that all humanly possible measures are being taken to materialize this great challenge in the safest and best way.

Mr. Efthimiou stated that it is a fleet of 3,500 oceangoing ships of all categories, which is being reorganized and modernized with a quick pace within the framework of the huge shipping program of US$6.9 billion and the parallel purchase of quality ship s of an overall value of US$5.2 billion.

Mr. Efthimiou also stated that Greece has the largest national ships' register in the EU and the third in the world.

Of the stocks trading today, 131 had gains and 155 had losses, while the value of 97 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Karamanlis and Mr. Annan will discuss developments in Cyprus after the rejection of the Annan Plan by the Greek Cypriots. They will also discuss the issue of the Olympic Games in Athens and the situation in the Balkans.

"The Greeks expect a lot from us", stated Mr. Karamanlis in an interview with the Greek-American newspaper "Ethnikos Kirikas" in New York and assured the Greek-Americans that the Council for Greeks Abroad, SAE, and the General Secretariat for Greeks Abro ad will be upgraded, while the Modern Greek Studies Departments in foreign universities will be supported and encouraged.

Mr. Karamanlis characterized the role of the Church as very important because the Archbishopric of America is the connecting link between Greece and the Greeks living in the United States.

On his part, the Archbishop stated a total of 2 million Greeks live and work in the United States and raised issues that concern the needs of the Greeks living abroad.

The Archbishop of America was asked to comment on the crisis in the relations of the Church of Greece with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Archbishop Dimitrios stated characteristically that it is beyond any doubt that any difficulty and any problem, regard less of its size, has to be resolved and will be resolved with the help of God.

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