7 of the illegal immigrants were arrested yesterday morning in the Thermi beach area and the authorities were informed of the case.

Land and air searches continue for the locating of the other illegal immigrants, while there are extremely high wind speeds in the region.

This morning ships did not cast off due to tempestual winds. None of the scheduled trips to the Aegean islands will be carried out, while the channel lines from Kavala to Thasos, Prinos and Keramoti, will remain closed.

On the other hand, the channel lines between Rio-Antirio, Kallini to Kefallonia, and Zachynthos and Igoumenitsa - Corfu.

There are problems throughout Greece due to the bad weather, and specifically, the snow.

Dozens of mountain villages of Central and Southern Greece have been cut off due to the snow, while vehicles can only move if they are equipped with anti-skid chains.

Meanwhile, searches are in progress to locate the 17-year-old Dimitris Tsouras, who has been missing since Saturday in Dervenochoria, Attica.

The proposal to create a Network of Major Balkan Cities had been made last year by Mayor Papgeorgopoulos during the 1st International Meeting of Friendship and Cooperation of Major Balkan Cities. In the Meeting to begin today, the Mayors will move to the

creation of structures to the Network which will include: The Mayor Council, which will be the highest body of the network. The presiding city, the Mayor of which will lead the Network. The Executive Secretariat and the General Direction, which will coor dinate and materialize the actions and programs of the Network. And the thematic Committees, which will develop special actions in various sectors, such as sports, culture, the environment, architecture, heritage, etc.

The presentation will take place on December 6th, at 12:30, in the Room of Speech and Art of the Book Lodge.

Air Force search and rescue helicopters have been sent to the area to collect the two pilots.

According to information so far, Archbishop of Athens Chrstodoulos will not attend due to prior engagements.

It should be noted that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will be present at the works for the first time, and he denies the rumors that said he was opposed to the institution, although in all previous congresses he sent his message.

Mr. Bartholomew's visit to Thessaloniki for the SAE Congress, has caused various comments from the Greek community in Australia, and is a subject of much of the Greek press abroad, as far as the relations of the Australia Archbishopric and the Ecumenical

Throne are concerned.

The Archbishopric above, which is part of the Ecumenical Patriarchy, is the only one against SAE and Archbishop Stylianos himself has expressed his opposition to the institution, even with written statements to the Greek Press, as well as applying "punis hment" to those believers that did not comply to his advice.

Specifically, AXON HOLDINGS SA's participation in AXON AIRLINES SA, after the 11/10/01 decision of the General Assembly of AXON AIRLINES SA's shareholders, comes to 3.7 billion drs.

Furthermore, there are obligations between AXON HOLDINGS SA and AXON AIRLINES SA, which end up in a clear obligation of the prior to the latter, coming to 400 million drs.

SONAK SA, a subsidiary of AXON HOLDINGS SA, had participated in creating the share-capital for AXON AIRLINES SA, by contributing 1.3 billion drs., and had agreed to contribute another 1.7 billion drs, in order to raise the share-capital to 3 billion drs.

AXON HOLDINGS SA will be also be required to pay the amount of 1.3 billion drs. regarding securities it has granted on for AXON AIRLINES SA.

"In conclusion to the above, the total direct and indirect economic consequences to AXON HOLDINGS SA's financial structure, will not exceed the amount of 8.4 billion drs. At the same time, the other shareholders of AXON AIRLINES, who are not connected to

AXON HOLDINGS SA, have already taken up their share of the damages, which comes to approximately 12 billion drs.", as is underlined in the announcement.

will be materialized by arch 2002.

In a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the report, Mr. Papadimos pointed out that the fundamental characteristics of the Greek economy are improving, creating the preconditions for the continuation of the true convergence process.

On inflation, Mr. Papadimos expressed the belief that it will be kept below 3% until December, while the annual average in 2001 will be slightly lower than 3.5%. In 2002, inflation is expected to be around 2.5%.

They concluded that they are held in good conditions and expressed the wish that their case will have a speedy and positive conclusion.

The issue was discussed in a telephone communication Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Papandreou had with his British counterpart.

The Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated today that Mr. Papandreou's interest in the British nationals is independent of the steps taken by the Greek justice and that the Foreign Ministry is dealing with the case as far as bilateral relations are concerned.

Mr. Powell also briefed Mr. Papandreou on the outcome of the consultations he had with Turkish officials in his recent visit to Ankara.

The agreements will be on fuel and energy, air transportation, the establishment of cultural centers as well as, the cooperation between the Justice Ministries of the two countries, police cooperation and shipping sector cooperation.

The two leaders will have consultations on a wide spectrum of issues. They will discuss the developments concerning the NATO-Russia and the EU-Russia cooperation as well as, the developments in the Balkan region and southeastern Mediterranean with an emp hasis on the Cyprus problem, the Greek-Turkish relations, the situation in the Middle East. They will also discuss the developments in the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus and the international developments in relation with terrorism and Afghanistan.

In the declaration it is mentioned that the role of the kidnapper is unbecoming for the noble French nation, while France's silence on the issue of the return of the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue is impressive.

It is also stressed that the return of the statue to its place of origin will be a victory of civilization.

Of the stocks trading today, only 54 recorded gains and 290 had losses, while the value of 22 stocks remained unchanged.

Mr. Protopapas added that everything is being assessed based on the evidence collected by police.

The issues under discussion concern the proposal for the adoption of a regulation to coordinate the EU social security systems, the employment and social policy, the legislation protecting the wage earners from insolvent employers, and measures against p overty and social exclusion.

The EU Labor ministers will also discuss the quality and viability of pensions, the council's draft plan on the European Year for the Handicap 2003, the incorporation of sex equality issues in the EU policies, the promotion of a European framework on the

social responsibility of businesses and the amendment of the council's directive on the protection of the workers from asbestos exposure.

Mr. Protopapas stated that the Greek government watches the developments closely and reminded that Prime Minister Simitis, in a contact he had with his Belgian counterpart, made it clear that the decisions on the issue should move within the framework of

the Nice Summit Meeting decisions.

Mr. Protopapas said that there can be no exclusion of territorial zones and especially, if there are territorial zones that are of special national importance. He said that the issue was raised to the Belgian Prime Minister who backed the Nice decisions in statements he made recently.

In his opening speech, Mr. Papageorgopoulos pointed out that the international, inter-municipal cooperation opens creative horizons and creates prospects that bring significant benefits to local communities, while it promotes the role of the cities as re gional centers that can undertake the materialization of development planning and promote decentralization.

Plovdiv's deputy mayor Nedialko Gentsev, who represents the Bulgarian city's mayor Ivan Tsomakov, sent the message that local authorities play a key role in international cooperation and stressed that the creation of a joint strategy of peaceful coexiste nce and development will improve relations among Balkan cities.

The metropolitan municipality of Ankara mayor representative, Melih Gioktsek, expressed his opposition to terrorist activities and wars and pointed out that the most dangerous development, even compared to a nuclear war, is the clash of civilizations and

the fact that different civilizations are not familiar with each other. He said that the biggest part of the responsibility for this lays with the local administration officials as they are the ones who offer their services to the people on a daily basis . He concluded by saying that they should give a priority to the promotion of programs and methods that will secure justice, peace, friendship and cultural understanding.

The Polish newspaper Trybuna mentioned that Mr. Hatzinikoloaou was honored mainly for his translations of Homer's Iliad into the Polish language, while his book The Girl from the Delphi was published recently.

A honorary distinction was also received by Mr. Hatzinikolaou's son, Aris.

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