Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 06-01-04

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed over economic developments

[02] FM Spokesman on alleged Pakistani kidnappings

[03] Deputy FM to visit Tarpon Springs, Florida

[04] Preliminary probe ordered into new phone listings service

[05] Turkish warplanes violate national air space, infringe Athens FIR

[06] High court prosecutor orders probe into fugitive's death, escape

[07] Sioufas meets with Austrian ambassador over natgas crisis

[08] Thessaloniki to organize Eurochamber's annual summit:

[09] Monthly average household spending at 1,792 euros in Greece

[10] Greenpeace calls for Greece's harmonization to EU energy legislation

[11] Sharp rise in December public revenue

[12] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise

[13] Art director of Patra 2006 cultural capital organization resigns

[14] Court appoints new defense team for N17 defendant Giotopoulos

[15] Water level of Evros River continues to rise

[16] 19 illegal migrants rescued, one death reported

[17] Turkish human trafficker arrested on Samos

[18] Three arson attacks on cars, ruling ND office, during the night, claimed by unknown group

[19] President Papadopoulos warns against ill-prepared talks

[20] Papadopoulos denounces Ozkok's statements on Cyprus

[21] Cypriot MEP to report his illegal arrest by occupation regime

[01] PM briefed over economic developments

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

Speaking to reporters, after the meeting, Alogoskoufis said 2006 was the year of implementing economic reforms and stressed that the government was working towards reducing its fiscal deficit below 3.0 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

The Greek minister, replying to reporters' questions over whether the European Com-mission would offer an one-year extension to reduce its deficit, said "one more year never harmed anybody" and noted that the government would maintain its mild adjustment policy. "We have not asked for an extension, but if the Commission makes any such offer it would be welcome," Alogoskoufis said.

Opposition raps finmin: The main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) on Friday sharply criticized Finance Minister George Alogokskoufis for statements he made after a meeting with the prime minister earlier in the day.

"Mr Alogoskoufis' statements are a glaring confession of the government's failure. Only ten days after the budget was voted, they are admitting, according to Mr Karamanlis, that this credible, frank budget cannot be implemented," Vasso Papandreou, PASOK's economy spokeswoman, told reporters.

"They have confessed that they knowingly fooled the Greek parliament and the Greek public. This is a change of tack, an extension of (EU) supervision and austerity," Papandreou said.

Separately, the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology stated that the government had admitted it wanted extension of supervision of the economy by the European Union.

The party's economic and social policy spokesman, Panayotis Lafazanis, forecast that the government would adopt additional tax measures this year and extend austerity for wages and pensions for many more years, hurting the less well off.

Ministry rejects criticism: The finance ministry later released a statement rejecting the criticism

"The government's aim with the 2006 budget is to lower the deficit to below 3.0% for the first time since the country's entry into the eurozone. We are tending the Greek economy, and it is growing," the statement said.

"This seems to displease officials of the opposition, who, when they were in government, for years misled the Greek public and the European Union," it added.

[02] FM Spokesman on alleged Pakistani kidnappings

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

According to Koumoutsakos, Molyviatis communicates frequently with his European Union counterparts, among them the British Foreign Secretary.

The issue of the Pakistani kidnappings was one of many the two officials discussed, Koumoutsakos said.

[03] Deputy FM to visit Tarpon Springs, Florida

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos will lead the service.

During his visit, Skandalakis will be meeting with representatives of the Greek expatriate community.

[04] Preliminary probe ordered into new phone listings service

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

The preliminary probe, more-or-less standard procedure, follows a same-day press article.

OTE's number for residential and commercial listings is 11888.

[05] Turkish warplanes violate national air space, infringe Athens FIR

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

In all cases, the 28 Turkish aircraft were recognized and intercepted by corresponding Greek fighter jets, while in five cases the procedure of interception developed into a mock dog-fight.

It was reported that seven formations of Turkish aircraft were armed.

[06] High court prosecutor orders probe into fugitive's death, escape

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

High-ranking prosecutor Dimitris Linos also ordered a probe, conveyed to another prosecutor in the NW city of Ioannina, into the circumstances surrounding the ill-fated transport of the three prisoners by the slain officers.

The body of 23-year-old Russian national Maxim Zhilin, who escaped on Friday after killing the two police guards, was found on Monday along the banks of a river with a bullet wound in the head.

According to reports, Maxim Zhilin was clutching the revolver he took from one of the two slain policemen. Authorities found the body near a remote riverside trout farm after local residents reported hearing a single gun shot in the early morning hours of Monday.

A Larissa coroner later confirmed initial reports that Zhilin had committed suicide by aiming and firing the revolver into his right temple. The time of death was determined as taking place 20 to 24 hours before the body was found.

His body was found on the banks of the Malakasiotis River, a tributary of the Pinios River.

According to top police officials during a subsequent news conference on Monday afternoon, the escaped man was without shoes and wearing only the shirt and pants he wore during the escape, even though temperatures were routinely below zero throughout the time he was on the run. Additionally, authorities said the site where the body was found had been previously and repeatedly searched both by ground forces and from the air by helicopter crews.

A manhunt was ordered late Friday morning for the fugitive after he killed the two policemen escorting him and two 17-year-old Albanians charged with minor drug offences from a detention centre in Ioannina to jails in Larissa and Volos. One of the Albanians was injured by gunfire in the police transport van, while the second teen, who escaped with Zhilin after the slayings, was apprehended on Sunday some 12 kilometers from the scene of the crime.

The two police officers -- a driver and a guard -- were killed near the village of Malakasi in the Kalambaka district of Trikala prefecture (central Greece) on Friday when they made an unscheduled stop because the prisoners persistently asked to relieve themselves.

PASOK spokesman on fugitive's death, alleged Pakistani kidnappings: The case of the Russian fugitive Maxim Zhilin who killed two policemen last week and whose body was found on Monday remains open, main opposition PASOK Spokesman Nikos Athanassakis said.

The Russian fugitive's suicide "obviously does not shut this case," Athanassakis said on Tuesday, adding that the chief and deputy chief of the Ioannina Prisoners Transfer Department, who have been suspended from duty, cannot be the only ones responsible for the events that led to the killing of two policemen while transferring three convicts from Ioannina to Larissa.

Athanassakis said that the problem was a broader one which concerns the Public Order Ministry.

"We have a Public Order Minister who has disappeared and a Government Spokesman who has also disappeared," he said.

PASOK's spokesman also referred to the case of the Pakistani immigrants who have claimed that they were kidnapped and questioned by Greek and foreign service agents in connection to the July bombings in London.

Athanassakis said that the case should remain in the spotlight, as it has, and that it must be fully investigated and solved and that those responsible must be held accountable.

He also said that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had recently spoken with PASOK President George Papandreou, reassuring him that British agents had not been involved in the questioning.

Athanassakis stressed that while international cooperation is necessary in order to fight crime and terrorism, it must always be conducted within a legal context.

Antonaros responds to Athanassakis: Alternate Government Spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, responding on Tuesday evening to remarks made earlier in the day by main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) Spokesman Nikos Athanassakis, said that Athanassakis "in his first appearance in 2006 contributed nothing new, nothing positive, nothing constructive to political dialogue."

Russian embassy requests fugitive's remains sent home: The Russian Embassy in Greece requested the remains of Russian fugitive Maxim Zhilin from the coroner's office in Larissa on Tuesday in order to have them sent to his family.

The coroner's office, however, refused the request until necessary procedures are completed.

Zhilin, convicted for the murder of a 42-year old woman, killed two policemen last week while being transferred from Ioannina to Larissa. He was found dead on Monday roughly 1.5 kilometers from the scene of the crime.

[07] Sioufas meets with Austrian ambassador over natgas crisis

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

Specifically, Sioufas briefed the Austrian envoy over his separate meetings, a day earlier, with both the Russian and Ukrainian envoys, Andrey Vdovin and Valerii Tsybukh.

The minister also stressed that Athens was absolutely behind the Austrian presidency's initiatives on the matter.

PASOK's Diamantopoulou on supply of natural gas to the Greek market: Anna Diamantopoulou, head of the Development, Competitive-ness and Consumer Policy sector of the main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement's (PASOK) Political Council, said on Tuesday that "the crisis in Russia-Ukraine relations regarding natural gas showed that Greece is obliged to be ready at any moment to be well prepared, so as to effectively deal with the possible problem of its supply with energy."

At the same time, she noted that "the present government does not have sufficient planning and is dealing spasmodically the issues in the crucial sector of energy."

Diamantopoulou accused the government that "even though almost two years have passed since its election, it has not yet submitted its proposal for the country's long-term energy planning, despite the fact that it has received a relevant plan from the previous government."

[08] Thessaloniki to organize Eurochamber's annual summit:

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

Speaking to reporters, Bakatselos said the summit will attract more than 1,000 visitors to Thessaloniki, including Eurodeputies, Commissioners, ministers, union representatives and company executives from Europe, Asia and the United States.

"The year 2006 will bring our city in the focus. The organizing of the event is giving us a rare opportunity to promote Thessaloniki, Macedonia and our country around the world and will offer direct economic benefits, more credibility and know-how, thus strengthening a positive climate developing for our country," Bakatselos said.

[09] Monthly average household spending at 1,792 euros in Greece

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

The central bank, in its report, said that people living in these regions were spending around 165 euros less, each month, compared with the average Greek.

The average monthly spending by Greeks living in eastern Macedonia and Thrace did not exceed 1,628 euros (from an average 1,792 euros in the country, 1,829 euros in central Macedonia and 1,778 euros in western Macedonia).

Monthly spending on food was 280.85 euros in eastern Macedonia and Thrace, down from 306.44 (Greek average), 303 in central Macedonia and 306.6 euros in western Macedonia. Spending on food accounted for around 17 percent of household budget in Greece.

Transportation costs were high, ranking second in the list of household spending, the Bank of Greece said. People in western Macedonia paid 237.4 euros monthly in transportation spending, from an average 225.8 euros in Greece, 221.67 euros in eastern Macedonia and Thrace and 232.1 euros in central Macedonia.

The accumulated cost of housing-fuel-water-electricity totalled 191.6 euros in monthly spending for an average Greek. People in western Macedonia paid 217 euros while in eastern Macedonia and Thrace the cost was 187 euros.

In central Macedonia the cost of hotel and restaurants totalled 200.22 euros per month on average.

Monthly spending on hotel and restaurants for an average Greek totalled 172.24 euros, exceeding monthly cost on healthcare services (128.17 euros), clothing and footwear (150.15 euros), entertainment (90.11 euros), communications (80.98 euros) and education (51.34 euros).

[10] Greenpeace calls for Greece's harmonization to EU energy legislation

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

Greenpeace spoke of "provocative indifference which has as a consequence the uncontrolled increase of the emission of dioxide of anthrax and the energy and economic drain of households."

[11] Sharp rise in December public revenue

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

For the whole of 2005, revenue increased by 6.3% in comparison with a year earlier, against an annual target of 5.0%, the ministry said in a statement.

Contributing to December's surge was a 13.5% rise in revenue from Value Added Tax versus the same month a year earlier.

Total revenue from tax offices in December increased by 18.7%, and from customs by 10.2%, the statement said.

[12] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks rise

ATHENS, 4/1/2005 (ANA)

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for high capitalization shares ended 1.20% up; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium cap stocks closed 1.91 higher; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap shares finished 1.04% up.

Of stocks traded, advances led declines at 229 to 59 with 37 remaining unchanged.

Stock Futures: