The proposal made by PASOK received 134 votes and was rejected. A "yes" vote was given to both proposals by independent Parliament deputies Stelios Papathemelis, Stefanos Manos and Andreas Andrianopoulos and the Parliament deputies of the Communist Party

and Coalition of the Left.

The committee will be made up of 13 New Democracy deputies, 9 PASOK deputies, one from the Communist Party and one from Coalition of the Left and its findings will be submitted within 2 months. .

The committee will investigate two cases concerning the contracts for the supply of 50 military vehicles and 6 radars promoted when Akis Tsochatzopoulos and Yiannos Papantoniou were Ministers of Defense. Both have stated that this is a plot by New Democr acy in its effort to penalize the country's political life.

The leader of the main opposition party criticized strongly the way the government handled the issues of the economy, education and foreign affairs accusing Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis of indifference.

Regarding the election of the new Hellenic Republic President, he said that it should be a consensus election after consultations with the political parties.

The participants presented important experiences from the development of the peoples' struggle and the mass movements of the Communist and Labor Parties. In the meeting participated 64 political parties and 15 sent messages and written interventions.

All speakers expressed the view that the dogma of preemptive strike and preemptive war, developed by the United States and adopted by the EU, Australia and Russian Federation for the sake of combating terrorism, is especially dangerous for all peoples an d world peace.

Mr. Rousopoulos called on Turkey to limit the moves that cause tensions for the benefit of good bilateral relations.

Of the stocks trading today, 121 had gains and 132 had losses, while the value of 151 stocks remained unchanged.

The Greek President will visit Metropolite Cyril of Varna and Preslava and afterwards, he will visit the city's Archaeological Museum and inaugurate an exhibition. He is also scheduled to visit the Monastery of Aladza.

At noon today, Mr. Stephanopoulos was scheduled to hold a meeting with Greek-Bulgarian Friendship Presidents in Varna and later in the afternoon he will return to Athens.

Candidates for a seat in the UN Security Council are also, Argentina, Denmark, Japan and Tanzania to replace Angola, Germany, Spain, Pakistan and Chile. The UN Security Council members are being elected by the UN General Assembly, which numbers 191 membe rs.

A diplomatic source in the UN headquarters, maintains that based on all indications until now, no UN member-state has expressed opposition to Greece's bid for a seat in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.

Greece's stabilizing role in the region and the successful Olympic Games held in Athens are important factors in the continuous improvement observed in Greece's image at international level.

The candidate states for a seat in the UN Security Council as non-permanent members are elected for a two-year term and usually have no opponent because they are chosen in advance based on the region they belong to. For the record, one third of the UN Se curity Council seats belong to the five permanent members (United States, Britain, France, Russia, China), which have a veto right. Algeria, Benin, Brazil, the Philippines and Romania, whose term began in January 2004, will remain in the Security Council until the end of 2005.

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