PM fighting for life

Greek PM hangs on

Naked ambition

Mark Pappenheim on the Greek performance of John Tavener's obsessive, surreal and shimmering Apocalypse

ALL through this year's long, hot and choking summer, environment ministers and senior officials across the Continent were turning their eyes to this, western Europe's most polluted capital, in the hope of finding relief.

Classical scholars are all of a twitter over a reinterpretation of the events in the Parthenon frieze If our sons must die for Athens, why should our daughters not do so as well?

Athens - Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's handpicked candidate for mayor of Athens dealt the Socialist government a serious blow when he conceded defeat in yesterday's elections.

THE Government has been warned not to deter foreign shipowners, especially the Greeks, if it wants the City to keep its leading position in shipbroking.

Athens (Reuter) - A special investigating parliamentary committee decided yesterday to ask parliament to bring criminal charges against the former conservative prime minister, Constantine Mitsotakis, and former ministers Andreas Andrianopoulos and Ioannis Palaikrassas, over kickback allegations.

Tirana (Reuter) - The Albanian President, Sali Berisha, accused Greek nationalists of trying to topple his government and said the growing crisis between Tirana and Athens could further destabilise the Balkans.

CAMPUS Travel (071-730 3402) has cut the price of its summer charter flights from Gatwick to Athens and Salonika to pounds 99 return. Departures are at least twice weekly. The company also offers flights to Athens from Manchester ( pounds 149) and Glasgow ( pounds 159). All fares are subject to Greek government tax of pounds 16.

STRANDED motorists will soon be greeted by RAC patrol crews packing electronic books instead of bulky motoring manuals, to speed up fault diagnosis and improve the rate of breakdowns repaired at the roadside.

IT IS four years since Fr Michailis Dakos walked out of the manual labouring job he was forced to do by the Communist regime of Enver Hoxha. Now aged 77, the Greek Orthodox priest can freely observe his religion, but neither he nor his fellow Greek-Albanians feel liberated in the new Albania.

GREECE yesterday stepped up its diplomatic war of words against Albania, accusing it of cracking down on ethnic Greeks in the south and trying to scare the community into fleeing across the border.