PASOK and Coalition of the Left will hold their election rallies today in Athens and Thessaloniki respectively. New Democracy will hold its main pre-election rally in Athens tomorrow. The Communist Party held its pre-election rally in Athens yesterday.

The election results will be out after 11pm on Sunday evening according to an EU decision, while in Britain and Holland the Euro-elections are held today.

Greece is bound by all legal and real obligations stemming from its EU membership for the whole Europe to be free and secure during the Olympic Games, stated Mr. Rousopoulos.

Afterwards, they will visit the Monastery of Annunciation in Ormilia, Chalkidiki and its Cancer Diagnostic Center and later they will attend a ceremony for the signing of an agreement concerning the funding of the center. A 10YEAROLD HAS 29 MEDALS IN GYMNASTICS

A ten-year-old from Thessaloniki has a total of 29 medals in gymnastics, 14 gold, 13 silver and 2 bronze.

Michalis Hussein is a fourth grade elementary school student and according to the Thessaloniki newspaper "Angelioforos", for the past 4,5 years he is a gymnastics athlete and participates in competitions held in Greece.

His parents, his Greek mother and Iraqi father, are always on his side encouraging and supporting him. His dream is some day to be able to compete in an Olympiad.

Mr. Tsiartsionis stated that the EXPO 2008 issue was mentioned to the King of Norway and Norway's support was requested in December's vote that will decide which will be the EXPO 2008 host city.

Norway's royal couple left for Chalkidiki, northern Greece, where they will visit the Monastery of Annunciation in Ormilia. Later, they will visit the monastery's Cancer Diagnostic Center where an agreement will be signed with the Greek Ministry of Finan ce concerning the funding of cancer research.

The message Mr. Voulgarakis sent from Kozani was that security during the Olympic Games is an issue that concerns everybody. He said that united efforts and systematic work, vigilance and readiness, are necessary for successful Olympic Games.

The protection of the Greek-Albanian borders in view of the Olympic Games was discussed in the meeting Mr. Voulgarakis had with his Albanian counterpart Igli Toska at the border crossing of Kakavia yesterday evening.

Mr. Voulgarakis stated that Albania's contribution to the protection of the borders and the exploitation of information is very important for Greece especially, at this crucial period of the Olympic Games' preparations.

Mr. Karamanlis and Mr. Scheffer also discussed the preparation of the NATO Summit meeting to take place at the end of the month in Istanbul, the situation in the Balkans on which they agreed that things have improved in terms of stability mostly because of the Euro-Atlantic course of the countries in the region, while they also referred to the problems in Kosovo.

Among the issues to be examined in the NATO Summit meeting in Istanbul will be developments in Afghanistan, the NATO-EU relation, the NATO-Russia relations and the Mediterranean dialogue, namely NATO's relations with Arab countries.

Responding to a question on the statement made by the minister of Defense, who allegedly left open the likelihood of sending Greek troops to Iraq after the Olympics, Mr. Rousopoulos stated that the statements made by Mr. Spiliotopoulos were "misinterpret ed". He said that nobody has requested from Greece to send military forces to Iraq. There is no such thought, stated Mr. Rousopoulos.

Mr. Rousopoulos cited a statement made by US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who has stated that no new troops is necessary to be sent to Iraq and that the policy of the United States is to train and use Iraqi forces in the effort to consolid ate peace in the region.

Mr. Skandalakis will also visit New York where he will meet with leading members of the Greek-American community.

Of the stocks trading today, 109 had gains and 173 had losses, while the value of 104 stocks remained unchanged.

Vasilis Stergiou, Commercial Adviser to Norway's embassy in Athens, stated within the framework of a conference in Thessaloniki on "Environmental Challenges", organized on the occasion of the visit of Norway's royal couple to Greece, that cooperation beg an in 1998 from the National Sea Research Center with the program "Posidon".

Mr. Stergiou stated that Greece acquired valuable experience from the Norwegian know-how on issues concerning sea environment protection and meteorology, while there was excellent cooperation between the two countries in the effort to balance sensitive e cosystems. A program is already promoted to monitor the quality of the waters of Thessaloniki's Thermaikos Bay.

Also, there are proposals that will be promoted to the Greek Ministry of Finance concerning the monitoring of the waters of rivers in northern Greece.

At the same time, a cooperation is expected to materialize soon between the Norwegian company Tomra and a supermarket chain in the recycling sector.

Referring to bilateral trade relations, he said that the trade balance is one to three against Greece.

Greece imports from Norway mainly fish and specifically, codfish and salmon (fresh and smoked) followed by imports of fertilizers and speedboats.

The presence of Norwegian companies in Greece is small and the most important is that of Jotun, a manufacturer and supplier of marine coatings.

DENVER, June 10, 2004 - First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), a global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Delta Singular Outsourcing Services S.A. (DSOS), the payment processing and outsourci ng division and fully owned subsidiary of Delta Singular S.A., a leading technology company in Greece.

Serving financial institutions and major corporations in Greece, the Middle East and the Balkans, DSOS provides payment processing and outsourcing services, including card processing, ATM and Point of Sale (POS) driving and call center support.

Through the acquisition of DSOS, First Data has secured a long-term agreement to provide payment processing and related services to Alpha Bank, currently DSOS's largest client. Alpha Bank is the second largest private commercial bank in Greece, the larg est issuer of Visa cards and the exclusive issuer of American Express cards in Greece.

"The addition of DSOS to First Data is clearly a strategic fit and establishes a solid presence for us in Greece and southeastern Europe," said Pam Patsley, president of First Data International. "It supports our focus on global growth, brings complemen tary core competencies in electronic payments processing and a long-term relationship with Alpha Bank."

The acquisition will create additional opportunities for clients in the Greek, European and Middle Eastern markets and enable expansion of a variety of payments services, including credit and debit POS processing, deployment of merchant ATMs, cheque auth orisation and money transfers in this region.

The transaction remains subject to Delta Singular shareholder approval, First Data board approval, regulatory approval and other closing conditions. Subject to those approvals First Data anticipates closing the transaction in the third quarter of 2004. J.P. Morgan is advising First Data and Credit Suisse First Boston and Alpha Finance are advising Delta Singular on this transaction.

About First Data

First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), with corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado (U.S.A.), helps power the global economy. As a worldwide leader in electronic commerce and payment services, First Data provides credit, debit, smart card and stored-value car d issuing and merchant transaction processing services; Internet commerce solutions; and cheque processing and verification services to financial institutions in more than 70 countries on six continents. Its Western Union and Orlandi Valuta money transfe r networks include approximately 188,000 agent locations in more than 195 countries and territories. With more than 30,000 employees worldwide, First Data has offices throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America and North America. For more inf ormation, please visit the company's Web site at www.firstdata.com.

About Delta Singular S.A.

DELTA SINGULAR is a leading Group of companies in the Greek Information Technology sector, formed in 2001 through the merger of two of the largest IT companies in Greece, SINGULAR S.A. and DELTA INFORMATICS S.A. Providing state-of-the-art software produc ts, as well as integrated systems and IT outsourcing services to the Greek private and public sectors, the DELTA SINGULAR Group aims at establishing long-term relationships with clients in order to become their strategic partner as far as Information Tech nology is concerned. SINGULAR's contribution to the combined entity is comprised of its leading market position and technical superiority in software development and distribution, as well as a strong systems integration division, Internet and e-commerce e xpertise, an extensive and reliable business partner network and international exposure. DELTA Informatics brings invaluable experience in the credit card services market and the Banking sector in general, as well as reliability and trustworthiness in ser vices outsourcing, such as card processing, ATM switching and sharing and EDP services provision. The activities of each company were completely complimentary to each other, prior to the merger.

The conference examined activities that could strengthen the Greek-US relations even more. During the conference many delegates maintained that the Olympic Games could be a source of pride for the second and third generation Greek-Americans.

The delegates honored Mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyianni who is on a visit to the United States within the framework of her tour for the promotion of the Olympic Games in Athens in August. Mrs. Bakoyianni was honored with a special prize in recognition of h er outstanding life-long efforts for the strengthening of the Greek-US relations.

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