Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi visits Athens for talks with Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis travels to Brussels to take part in the 14th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. To tomorrow.

Deputy Foreign Minister Evripidis Stylianidis heads a delegation of Greek businessmen visiting Kuwait and Bahrain. Stylianidis will meet with his Kuwait counterpart Khalid Al Jarallah during the trip. To tomorrow.

Athens Mayor Theodoros Behrakis and Nitsa Loule, the head of the City of Athens’s cultural organization, will present the municipality’s list of events and festivities to celebrate Christmas at City Hall at 1.30 p.m.

State hospitals will operate with emergency staff tomorrow and Wednesday due to a 48-hour strike by hospital employees. Workers are demanding wage rises, more permanent staff and increased funding for the National Health System. Striking employees are due to stage a protest in front of the Health Ministry in central Athens at 11 a.m.

International Volunteer Day.

The American Hellenic Institute (AHI), in cooperation with its Athens chapter, will hold a reception and presentation on “The Role and Impact of Television on Greece’s Image, Domestic and Abroad” at the Athens Plaza Hotel at 8 p.m. It will be presented by the general manager of Greek Radio and Television (ERT), Costas Spiropoulos, and AHI Executive Director Nick Larigakis.

Managers at the Social Security Foundation (IKA) are due to begin a 48-hour strike.

The 1st Panhellenic University Sports Conference opens at the Ionia culture center in the southern Athenian suburb of Voula. It is organized under the auspices of the Education Ministry. For further information, call 210.772.2137 or e-mail emmaskou@central.ntua.gr. To Friday.

The 2nd General Assembly and Annual Congress of the European Federation of the Associates of Professional Congress Organizers opens at Helexpo in Athens. For more information, log on to www.hapco.gr. To Saturday.

A Greek-Turkish conference on “Recent Advances of Chemoradiation in Oncology” takes place at the Ledra Marriott Hotel in Athens. For further information, call 210.363.4944.

The 6th Panhellenic Conference on Science in Education and Society takes place at the University of Athens. For further information, call 210.368.8031.

The 5th Pan-Cretan Meeting of Environmental Organizations takes place in Iraklion, Crete. For more information, log on to www.ecocrete.gr.