Yesterday, Mr. Papandreou met in Tel Aviv with the Israeli Foreign Minister and Simon Peres.

In statements he made he expressed his support to the new effort that can take place aimed at restarting the peace process, stressing that this is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Mr. Papandreou will convey the conclusions from the talks he will have in Israel and Palestine to the European Socialist Leaders Summit meeting to take place today and tomorrow in Madrid, Spain.

The issue of the Future Structure of the Armed Forces in the period of 2005-2020 was discussed in the scheduled meeting of the Defense Council.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Defense, the new structure of the armed forces will take under consideration the current threats for security and the new conditions dominating in the Greek society.

Four formations were armed and engaged in a dogfight in two instances with Greek fighter jets. In all cases the Turkish fighter jets were identified and intercepted.

Mr. Karamanlis will meet with the President and the Prime Minister of Egypt, the Patriarch of Alexandria and representatives of the Greek community.

During the visit the two government delegations will sign bilateral agreements.

Acting government spokesman Vangelis Antonaros stated that this is the first time in 12 years that a Greek Prime Minister visits the sensitive region of the Middle East with which Greece shares close ties.

Of the stocks trading today, 115 had gains and 144 had losses, while the value of 157 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Antonaros added that at this time Greece is in consultation with other NATO member states.

Responding to relevant questions, Mr. Antonaros reiterated that as far as the military supplies guarantees are concerned they are two, based on the Greek legislation namely, the state and the bank guarantee.

The Minister of Defense met with the youth movements of the parties represented in Parliament. The representatives of the main opposition Socialist Party of PASOK were not present in the meeting.

Mr. Spiliotopoulos characterized the meeting as serious and useful and the discussion concerned mainly military service issues, living conditions and other rights of the draftees.

This morning, for the first time since January 1999, when the single European currency was introduced in the international markets, the euro equaled 1.33 US dollars.

In Tokyo and the rest currency markets in Asia, the euro traded to 1.3295 US dollars but as soon as the London market opened the single European currency was skyrocketed to 1.3316 US dollars.

According to traders active in international markets, the cause for this development is the state budget and the balance of current transactions deficits in the United States, which are not satisfactory.

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