Briefly

GREECE

Former PM Costas Simitis dies at 88

Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country's joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at age 88, state TV ERT reported. Simitis was taken to a hospital in Corinth early on Sunday from his holiday home west of Athens, unconscious and without a pulse, the hospital's director was quoted as saying by Greek media. The government decreed a four-day period of official mourning. Simitis will receive a state funeral.

SYRIA

Intl flights to resume at Damascus airport

Syria's Damascus International Airport will begin receiving international flights starting on Tuesday, Ashhad al-Salibi, chairman of the Syrian General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, announced on Saturday. Al-Salibi told Syria's SANA state news agency that the authorities are in the process of fully rehabilitating the airports in Damascus and Aleppo to accommodate international flights. Operations at the airports were suspended following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's administration last month.

Agencies - Xinhua