Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis is today due to continue high-level talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York with outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan. They are to discuss Cyprus, Kosovo and the Middle East as well as the election of a successor to replace Annan. Later today Bakoyannis travels to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In her address to the assembly late on Friday, Bakoyannis stressed Greece’s determination to find a “just and viable solution” for Cyprus.

Letter from Thessaloniki...

Greece and Russia already have extremely close ties but there is scope for further development, particularly in the trade and defense sectors, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini. The planned construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline will open up ”major prospects” for bilateral cooperation, Ivanov said, drawing attention to Russia’s purchase of Greek products. Ivanov also conveyed Moscow’s readiness to supply Athens with “safe, modern” weapons.

‘The Iraq scenario does not apply to Iran’...

Greece and Turkey on Saturday successfully carried out their first joint military operation, defense sources said over the weekend. The operation was a test of communications between a Greek and Turkish frigate in the Aegean. “Technically it was a very minor operation but it was the first,” the sources said. Athens and Ankara announced this summer that they would start implementing “bilateral confidence measures” including a hotline between their two armies.

No harm came to any of the 63 passengers aboard a Cypriot aircraft that conducted an emergency landing at the airport in Iraklion, Crete, on Saturday. The Hellas Jet plane, which had been en route to Rhodes from Brussels, was forced to land on Crete after developing technical problems. The air force dispatched two Mirage fighter planes, and then two F-16 fighter jets, to escort the A320 Airbus to Crete safely. The passengers boarded another aircraft for their final destination.