Antenna: News in English (AM), 97-08-27

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From: Antenna Radio <http://www.antenna.gr> - email: antenna@compulink.gr

News in English, 27/08/97

TITLES

• Turkish-Cypriots threaten war if Cyprus joins the European Union.
• An earthquake predicting system developed in Greece continues to generate controversy.
• And, IOC members give Athens a strong chance of hosting the 2004 summer Olympics.

KARAMANLIS

Meeting with leaders of Cyprus's opposition parties and the archbishop of Cyprus, New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis said Tuesday that the obligation of every Greek is to defend Cyprus.

Greece's main opposition leader added, "We would consider any attack on Cyprus as an attack on us". Cyprus should be defended just as Macedonia, Ipirus, or the Greek islands would be.

The practical expression of Greece's support of Cyprus is the two nations' Joint Defence Doctrine. Karamanlis didn't make direct reference to that, leaving some observers to conclude he has some reservations about how it's being implemented.

The New Democracy leader say Greece's commitment to the defence of Cyprus needs to be real, not limited to words. There must be a convincing deterrent to Turkish aggression.

And, he added, it's time everyone recognises that Turkey is the cause of the problems, as evidenced by its behaviour through the years.

In Cyprus, Karamanlis honoured Eleni Foka, a Greek-Cypriot woman from the occupied town of Agia Triada in Karpasia. She has been banned from the classroom from Denktash, for insisting on teaching Greek-Cypriot kids, Greek and about Greece.

DENKTASH

Turkey and the occupation authorities in northern Cyprus have been threatening to fully incorporate the north into Turkey if Cyprus joins the EU.

Now, Turkish-Cypriot leader Raouf Denktash has gone further threatening war if Cyprus enters the EU.

Denktash says the medicine for an attempt to get Cyprus into the EU would be war. And he warns that the only way to prevent THAT is by preventing the Greek-Cypriots from pursuing EU membership.

Denktash also says he sees no point to further rounds of UN talks to reunite the island, divided by the Turkish invasion of 1974.

Responding to the latest threats, Cypriot president Glavcos Clirides asks, "Does Denktash mean he'll wage war against Cyprus or the EU?"

PANGALOS

Theodoros Pangalos says it doesn't help the climate in Greek-Turkish relations.

Pangalos adds that the European Union cannot tolerate the threats and offensive talk.

He adds that as long as Turkey continues its bellicose ways, it will have slim hopes of developing closer ties to the EU.

EDUCATION

As the government took a plan to change the way teachers are hired to parliament for discussion, trade unionists were warning the education minister NOT to change the hiring system. And strike action could result.

Currently, teachers are hired according to their position on a national waiting list. Pasok wants to start hiring according to merit. It also wants to institute review committees for teachers.

After meeting with his members Wednesday, teachers' union reps castigated the government for its planned change, and for the fact that it's moving ahead without consulting the unions.

Union president Nikos Tsoulias says "We won't be ignored".

At Wednesday's meeting, the two teachers' unions decied to hold a demonstration next Monday. That's to coincide with the parliamentary vote on the government's education bill, also expected next week.

Another demand the teachers are making is for people on temporary teaching contracts to be made permanent. The temporary teachers are planning to occupy school administrative buildings in protest.

GOLDFIN SEARCH

Only one of the eight people on board the pleasure craft Gold Fin has been found alive. Vagia Zisi was rescured from an eyelid Saturday.

Rescue teams have found the bodies of five of the other passengers, including two small boys and Zisi's husband.

Two men are still missing: Dimitris Theodorides and Evangelos Mavrides, both aged 35. And, five days after the holiday-makers abandoned their burning boat for a life dinghy, it is extremely unlikely they are alive.

A C-130 cargo plane arrived in Thessaloniki late Tuesday night with the bodies of the dead.

For relatives waiting at the airport, there was no consolation. Clinging to each other for support, they tried to come to grips with what had happened.

Eleni Chatzopoulou, sister of one of the victims, said it still hasn't sunk in...the pain is overwhelming.

Vagia Zisi's husband Haralabos was buried Tuesday. Autopsies have determined the cause of death of all five passengers to be drowning, following days of exhaustion, dehydration, and hypothermia.

They all died between Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning.

APOSTOLOPOULOU

Since the news broke that initial tests on human cancer victims show her drug, H-FP can destroy tumours, the young researcher has been surrounded by the international media.

Vaso Apostolopoulou and her team have found that by attaching sugar to a synthetic form of the mucin found in cancerous cells, and injecting it into human subjects, they can reduce the size of tumours in human patients.

The second round of human tests with H-FP will end in five years. If the drug proves effective, it will be used as a vaccine as well as a cure.

During a television interview in Australia, Apostolpoulou was asked what she thinks the prospects are.

Her hopes are based on the results of her research so far. In the first human trials, 30 women with breast cancer tried H-FP. And the results were encouraging.

The second round of human tests with H-FP, due to start soon, will end in five years. If the drug proves effective, it will be used as a vaccine as well as a cure.

VAN

Proponents of the so-called VAN system say that interpretation of electric signals that precede a major quake can allow them to give early warning of a major shaker.

But Tuesday, Greek seismology professor Vassilis Papazachos, in charge of organising the conference, called the system useless.

While the head of the VAN team, Panayiotis Varotsos listened, Papazachos said that as long ago as 1977, he had published a long paper detailing why VAN doesn't work.

Papazachos said it confuses various types of electric signals.

The question many asked following that was, why has the Japanese government decided to fund VAN in Japan?

One seismologist from Japan said the government isn't officially adopting the system, but that Japanese and Greek seismologists will conduct experiments with it.

VAN does have international supporters. Otto Koolhannik, a professor at Upsala University in Sweden, says some areas need further work, but it's basically sound.

2004

Scheller, an Austrian, and American colleague George Killian became the 75th and 76th IOC members to visit Athens, to assess the candidate- city.

The IOC will choose one of five finalists to host the games next month.

Athens successfully hosted the world track and field championships LAST month, creating hope in Athens that it will beat out the other finalists, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Rome, and Stockholm.

Wrapping up his stay, Scheller said the Athens bid is strong. He added that the facilities and infrastructure offered by the city are much- improved on 1991, the year of his last visit.

Killian agreed that Athens has a good chance of getting the games.

© ANT1 Radio 1997

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