The debate will take place with the participation of the four political parties represented in the Greek Parliament who will respond to questions by five television station journalists. Journalist Yiannis Pretenteris will coordinate the debate.

The televised debate for the March 7 parliamentary elections had lasted over 2 hours and it was watched by a total of 3,7 million viewers. This evening's debate will last about 90 minutes.

Today it began at 8:20am (Greek time) and will last 6 hours until 2:24pm (Greek time).

Specialists warn that watching the phenomenon by naked eyes without protection can be dangerous as it can cause blindness and call on the people to use special filters.

The phenomenon will be visible from Europe, the Middle East and part of Africa and Asia. Planet Venus will be seen as a tiny black dot moving across the disc of the sun.

The black dot, with a diameter 30 times smaller than the sun's diameter, as it is seen from the Earth, will appear early in the morning over Western Europe, around noon over the Middle East and Russia and later in the afternoon over Asia.

The previous transit of Venus occurred on December 6, 1882 one of merely five events of its kind ever watched by mankind. The next visible transit will take place on December 11, 2117 while another transit of Venus will occur on June 6, 2012, which will not be visible from Europe.

Head of the Olympic Games Security Department major general Vasilis Konstantinidis, speaking in a conference held in Thessaloniki on the safety of the Olympic Games in the presence of Minister of Public Order Giorgos Voulgarakis and 1,500 police officers , stated that 20,000 of the 41,000 people participating in the security plan will be police officers.

Presenting the Olympic Games' figures, Mr. Konstantinidis stated that in the Olympic Games participate 202 countries, 10,502 athletes, 6,700 referees and judges, 5,800 formal guests, 35,000 representatives of sponsors, 2 million spectators and 21,600 jou rnalists.

Speaking in the conference, Greek Police Chief lieutenant general Fotis Nasiakos assured that for the moment there is no secret service information on an imminent terrorist attack on Athens during the Olympic Games.

Addressing the delegates earlier, Minister of Public Order Giorgos Voulgarakis underlined that the whole of Greece is being treated as an Olympic Games' facility.

Mr. Voulgarakis reminded to the conference participants that the Olympic security plan, in effect from July 1 until October 4 with the completion of the Paralympics, will not be limited to Athens alone but will cover the whole of Greece.

He pointed out that the Olympic Games period will be decisive for Greece because the eyes of the world will be on the country and reminded that the games is expected to be watched by an estimated 5 billion television viewers. He said that this is an oppo rtunity for Greece to prove to the international community that it can host safe Olympic Games and take advantage of the benefits to arise in the following years.

Responding to foreign press reports critical of the safety of the games, Mr. Voulgarakis stated that no other Olympic Games' host country has spent so much on security and called on those who launch attacks on Greece to suggest which security measures th e country should have taken.

On a monthly basis, the prices showed an increase of 0.4%.

The Greek President referred to the long shipping tradition of Greece and Norway, adding that Norway is a friendly and a peace loving country.

Norway's royal couple laid a wreath at the Monument for the Unknown Soldier and met with Parliament President Anna Psarouda-Benaki.

Mr. Edwards is widely known for his significant contribution to the Medical Science and especially, to the area of human reproduction, as the "father" of in vitro fertilization. An important point in his career, which marked the history of mankind as wel l, was the first successful effort for in vitro fertilization of humans resulting to the birth of a healthy baby girl on July 25, 1978.

A significant contribution within this framework was the zestful and systematic effort by Minister of Education Mrs. Giannakou aimed at observing legality and the holy rules.

Responding to relevant questions, Mr. Rousopoulos stated that the Church's Charter is in effect and reiterated that the government is not involved in the internal affairs of the Church and that the recent development brought to an end an eleven-month lon g period of tense relations.

Of the stocks trading today, 105 had gains and 183 had losses, while the value of 98 stocks remained unchanged.

On Thursday, Mr. Valinakis will be in Cairo, Egypt for contacts with the Egyptian government to discuss the further development of the Greek-Egyptian relations and cooperation, as well as issues of international interest such as, the Cyprus issue, the si tuation in the Middle East and the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.

During his visit to Cairo, Mr. Valinakis will attend the ceremonies organized in the Egyptian capital on the occasion of the arrival of the Olympic Flame.

Mr. Valinakis will be received by Patriarch Peter of Alexandria and All of Africa and will meet with leading members of the Greek communities in Cairo and Alexandria.

Mrs. Bakoyiannis addressed the Western Civilization Center on Monday paying homage to the deceased former US President Ronald Reagan, while she also extended the condolences of the people of Athens to his family and the American people.

Mrs. Bakoyiannis also met at the White House with Mr. F. Townsend President Bush's adviser on issues of domestic security, followed by a meeting at the US State Department with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Mrs. Bakoyiannis stated after the meetings that they discussed the issue of the Olympic Games' security and the preparation of Athens for the Olympics, stressing that there was agreement that the Olympic Games are being prepared very well to be safe and successful.

The Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications stressed that the airport is ready to receive the large number of visitors expected to arrive in the month of August.

He said that the security measures are the best in the world, stressing that the airport is equipped with luggage and passenger control automated systems and its personnel is adequate and specialized. Mr. Liapis expressed the certainty that the airport w ill meet the challenge for successful and safe Olympic Games.

He pointed out that in the past five years a total of 250,000 Serbs were led to exile, 40,000 homes and 115 churches and monasteries were destroyed before last March's incidents in Kosovo that also ended up to the results mentioned above.

In a press conference he gave in Athens today, the Metropolite of Kosovo also said that in the three-day period of March 17-19, 2004 a total of 4,000 Serbs were forced to leave their homes, 12 were killed, and 800 Serb homes and 35 churches and monasteri es were destroyed. He said that the continuing killings led the Serbs to become refugees again stating characteristically, "they kill one, a thousand leave".

The Metropolite of Kosovo spoke of a failure on behalf of the international community to face the situation and accused the international forces, the KFOR included, that during their five-year long presence in Kosovo were unable to bring peace and freedo m for the people in the region. He stressed that they brought freedom and rights only for the Albanians while tragedy continues for the rest.

Ambassador of Serbia-Montenegro to Athens Dusan Batakovic stated that there is an ethnic cleansing plan targeting the Serbs in Kosovo calling the region of Kosovo "a terrible hotbed of crisis", while he presented his government's position in favor of the

autonomy of the Serbs in the region.

He condemned the efforts made to falsify history, remove the Serb "seal" from the region and rename the Serb cultural heritage into "Kosovar".

Metropolite Artemios backed a "multiethnic Kosovo" and condemned the efforts made by "pseudo-historians" aimed at reducing the significance of the Serb presence in Kosovo.

Yesterday, a letter by US Senator Hilary Clinton addressed to US President George Bush became public calling on the US President to exert pressures on Turkey for the reopening of the Theology School of Halki.

The US President's intention to do exactly that was confirmed, while the Turkish television channel NTV has broadcast that the coordination of the relevant efforts necessary to be made among the responsible Turkish government ministries for a permit to b e issued has already been completed.

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