[01] GREECE'S OLYMPIC MEDALISTS WILL GET HEROES' WELCOME AT HOME

[02] TURKEY'S INTENTION TO CONVERT AGHIA SOPHIA INTO MOSQUE IS "PILLAGE"

[03] EARTHQUAKE HITS TOWN OF KONITSA AGAIN, THE STRONGEST ONE SO FAR

NEWS IN DETAIL

[01] GREECE'S OLYMPIC MEDALISTS WILL GET HEROES' WELCOME AT HOME

Overflowing with pride, Greece will welcome the arrival of its "golden children", as the Olympic Games medalists are lovingly referred to, with pomp and circumstance, although marching bands and fireworks will replace the ancient tradition of tearing down the city's walls.

The eight medalists, four gold and four silver, will arrive at the Athens airport's eastern terminal at six o' clock this evening. In turn, they will board military jeeps and will be driven through the seaside avenue of Poseidon to the gates of Andrianos.

Waiting for them upon a platform will be the Mayor of Athens and the members of the city council who will bestow upon them the gold medal of Athens.

Afterwards, the Olympic Games medalists will walk towards the city's Panathinaikon Stadium where the country's political leadership will await en masse their arrival. This is the same stadium where the modern Olympics of 1896 were held.

Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos stated that the city's municipal council has decided to re-name Athens' Kallirois Avenue as Avenue of "Greek Olympic Champions" and a plaque with the names of the Atlanta Games medalists will be erected in the Stadium beside a plaque that features the names of past winners.

Following the awarding of the medalists, there will be a firework display and the festivities in Athens will be capped with a concert by Greek composer Stamatis Spanoudakis.

Thessaloniki will also celebrate the arrival of its champions, gold medalist in gymnastics Yiannis Melissanides and silver medalist in weightlifting Valerios Leonides as well as all those Olympic athletes who have local roots.

The city will be showered in lights and the athletes will be greeted at the Macedonia airport upon their arrival by Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Philippos Petsalnikos, Mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Kosmopoulos and other local dignitaries.

A victory parade will follow, which will run through the city's major arteries and will lead to the White Tower where the Municipality will host an open-to-the-public festivity.

The Parliament of Greece will honor the Olympic champions tomorrow morning with an event attended by the President of Greece Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert and the leaders of other minor opposition parties.

In acknowledgment of their extraordinary performances, National Defense Minister Gerasimos Arsenis will bestow upon the Greek Olympic champions the title of reserve lieutenant, while the two-times gold medalist in weightlifting Pyrros Demas, who was appointed lieutenant after his victory in the Barcelona Games of 1992, will be promoted to captain.

[02] TURKEY'S INTENTION TO CONVERT AGHIA SOPHIA INTO MOSQUE IS "PILLAGE"

Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos has forwarded a stern warning to Ankara over the intentions of Turkey's islamist-led government to convert the Byzantine church of Aghia Sophia into a mosque.

Mr. Pangalos stated that such act will not be viewed as a mere bilateral issue but rather will constitute "a serious retrogression for the turkish peoples itself and the international community."

Also, the Turkish president of the Greco-turkish Associations Jekil Bektash stated that the conversion of Aghia Sophia into a mosque is "pillage" and noted that such plan is an political ploy of Turkish Premier Necmettin Erbacan who aims to please the islamists in his country.

Meanwhile, PASOK parliamentarian Stelios Papathemelis who is currently in Melbourne, Australia, stated today that the Church of Aghia Sophia must be positioned within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Mr. Papathemelis, who is attending the Melbourne-held 10th Congress of the local federation of Panmacedonian Unions, called upon Greeks throughout the world to embark on an international mission to face the "turkish expansionism" and Ankara's provocations.

[03] EARTHQUAKE HITS TOWN OF KONITSA AGAIN, THE STRONGEST ONE SO FAR

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale temblored this morning at 1:46 a.m. in the town of Konitsa, 215 kilometers west of Thessaloniki, in northwestrern Greece.

According to the Aristotle University Geophysics Laboratory's seismologist Vasilis Karakostas, today's earthquake, as well as the two aftershocks that followed at 2:58 a.m., measuring 3.9- Richter, and at 5:43 a.m, measuring 3.7-Richter, are part of the region's seismic activity that began on July 29 with an earthquake measuring 5.2-Richter.

According to Mr. Karakostas, the earthquake expert are guardedly assesssing that today's quake was the major temblor and the ones that may follow will be of smaller magnitude.

Today's quake destroyed part of the restaraunt and dorms of the town's Student Housing facilities, while damages were also noted in houses that had not been previously condemned. Scores of the town's panic-filled residents spent the night in the streets.

The Prefect of Ioannina Nikos Zarbalas has assigned repair units to the town of Konitsa for assessing the extensive damages.

The strength of earthquakes is most commonly measured using the Richter scale which gauges the total energy released by a quake. The scale is logarithmic, which means that a quake of 5- Richter is ten times the power of a 4-Richter quake.

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