Antenna: News in English (AM), 97-09-26

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

News in English 26/09/97

TITLES

• Vaso Apostolpoulou brings her promising cancer research to Greece
• The Greek foreign minsiter lays the blame for Greek- Turkish problems on the shoulders of Turkey
• And, Aek chalks up its second win in two starts in the Euroleague

APOSTOLOPOULOU

Vaso Apostolopoulou, whose tests on lab animals and human subjects in Australia have brought very encouraging results, arrived in Greece Wednesday, to oversee the tests to be counducted here.

She talked about her research at a press conference Thursday.

Vaso Apostolopoulou's second round of tests on human cancer victims are to begin in Greece in a month. 100 women suffering from breast cancer will take part in the trials with the experimental drug H-FP.

Owing to the exciting results in the last round of tests in Australia, where the drug caused tumours to shrink in 80 per cent of the people who took it, there is great interest in Apostolopoulou's work among Greek cancer victims.

The subjects for the next round of trials, which will also be conucted in Australia, will be selected next month. Only women with first or second stage breast cancer will be allowed to participate in Greece, though in Australia other forms of cancer are being included. Patients in whom the disease has metastasised will be excluded.

Half of the subjects will be given H-FP without knowing it; the other half will be given a placebo. If the tests bring positive results, then the drug could be administered as a vaccine, to people at high risk of cancer because of family history.

H-FP is essentially a vaccine: its basic component is a copy mucin, an agent that causes cancer in animals and humans. Combined with a form of sugar, it spurs the immune system into action against cancerous cells.

Apostolpoulou explains how she hit upon her discovery.

"I was trying to create the synthetic form of cancer that would spark a human immune response", she says. Getting no white cell reaction, she thought of adding inomenarus cargbohydrate - a sugar - to her drug.

"Wehn I injected guinea pigs with the improved vaccine, their immune systems reacted immediately, and they gained a defence against cancer. We had 100 per cent positive results. We repeated the tests on monkeys, and the results were the same.

For the past year-and-a-half, we've been working with human cancer patients. In four separate experiments, we've provoked an anti-cancer immune response in 80 per cent of the subjects, and found that the drug has no side effects. We hope our tests in Greece will have the same good results".

Apostolpoulou can bank on the full support of the Greek government in her battle against the cancer scourge.

After her press conference, she met with the health minister and president Kostis Stephanopoulos, who presented her with medical dictionary. The president said it would be a shame if Greece didn't honour distinguished Greeks abroad.

PANGALOS

In that meeting, Theodoros Pangalos asked Ismail Gem to take Turkey's claim to the Greek isle of Imia to the intenrational court for resolution, if it insists on making the claim.

In exchange, Pangalos said Greece would lift its veto on European Union funds to Turkey. But Gem refused the offer, and that was that.

After the failure of the Pangalos-Gem to get anywhere Tuesday, US state department spokesman James Rubin said late Wednesday, "There are limits to what the US can do".

After Tuesday's meeting between the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers, US secretary of state Madeleine Albright met with them separately.

She and other American officials tried to persuade both sides to issue a joint statement, in which Turkey would take its Imia claim to the international court; and Greece would lift its veto on EU funds for Turkey.

But Greece had problems with the wording of the American proposal, fearing it was too vaguely worded and could lead to Turkey trying to put more demands on the agenda.

In comments to Antenna Pangalos explained what had gone wrong in New York: "The US sincerely wants a solution to the problem, any solution. We tried to explain to American officials that we find that very positive, and thank them. But we also explained to them that ANY solution isn't feasible, and that they need to get a deeper grasp of the problem. Greece is not prepared to make concessions to Turkey over its sovereign rights - we have nothing to concede".

The problem, said Pangalos, was that in New York, Turkey refused to budge from its positions, making any progress impossible. Referring to the military and diplomatic regime in Turkey, which launched a bloody invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Pangalos said, "It's impossible to talk to a robber and a murderer".

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas says Greece wants better relations with Turkey, but that unfortunately, those relations are not good at present, because of Turkey's refusal to change its ways.

Turkey, he explains, wants an across-the-board dialogue, or to take all the matters Turkey considers outstanding issues to the court together. But it's not possible for Greece to discuss Turkey's numerous claims on Greek territorial and other sovereign rights in the Aegean. Those rights are granted by internationally-recognised treaties, and are not open to re- negotiation or litigation.

The next round of high-level Greek-Turkish talks will come in Crete in November, when the prime ministers of the two nations will meet.

But diplomatic sources say that following the results in New York, no major US mediating initiative is expected in the near future.

US STATE DEPARTMENT

And while the meeting between Theodoros Pangalos and Ismail Gem came to nothing in New York, Turkish officials are continuing their threats against Cyprus.

The Turkish ambassador to the UN has sent a letter to secretary general Kofi Anan, warning that his country will react quote "with all means", unquote, if Cyprus deploys defensive land- to-air missiles next year, as planned.

FYROM

They talked about relations between their country's and Fryom's participation in the upcoming Balkan Nations Security conference in Crete.

Asked if they had talked about the issue of Fyrom's permanent name, Pangalos gave little away. He said they had discussed it, adding only that they had also looked at the prospects for bilateral relations. Those prospects are good, said the Greek diplomat: there is a major boom in trade and investments between the two neighbours, meaning the outlook for further improvements in relations is good.

The issue of Fyrom's name placed great strain on relations in the early 90s, when Fyrom tried to gain international recognition as just "Macedonia". Greece objects, fearing that would pave the way for expansionist campaigns against the Greek province of Macedonia. Greece also notes that the name Macedonia is an integral part of Greek history.

BAKOYIANNI

Pavlos Bakoyiannis, a New Democracy MP, was murdered by terrorists on September 26th, 1989.

Entitled "Pavlos Bakoyiannis - visions without an Expiration Date", the book contains articles and political texts by the late politician.

At the launch, Alexia said in a trembling voice: "When you showed me the publishing premises of Ena, you told me with a smile to keep on writing and not to worry because you would edit my first book. You couldn't do that, but this book is all you...and now look at me. Maybe I won a battle I began lang ago, maybe I've beaten death".

A number of political leaders listened on as the 21-year-old Alexia spoke: government ministers, the president of parliament, and a number of New Democracy MPs, including party leader Kostas Karamanlis.

Karamanlis said, "The unjust loss of Bakoyiannis symbolizes our obligation to eliminate terrorism".

New Democracy's honorary leader, former prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis said, "We all miss him - his family, the party, the entire country".

He added that terrorists choose their victims well.

U2

One concert organiser said even if the trucks were finally allowed to move, crews would have a hard time getting the stage ready in time, even if they worked all through the night.

Thessaloniki officials were at the border pleading that the band equipment be let through. But the strikers' spokesman gave no indication that would happen. He said the only vehicles excepted from the strike are those on medical or military missions.

In Thessaloniki, work on the enormous stage continued Thursday. People have arrived in the city not only from all over Greece for the concert, but from other Balkan countries.

If U-2 gives its concert on Friday, 50 thousand people will be there.

But ticket demand far out-strips supply. Scalpers are peddling adimission to the concert at four times the ticket price.

Extra train services have been laid on around the country to help get the swarms of concert goers to their destination.

All the city's hotels are booked solid. Innkeepers warn that any visitors who show up in town without reservations, probably won't find a bed to sleep in.

BASKETBALL

Aek goes into the contest with many doubters saying it lacks experience in Europe's most important tourney.

But using relentless defence, Aek maintains control of the game throughout the first half. Olympia comes back to go ahead 67-66 with four minutes to play, but the Aek defence returns with a fury, holding the home team to just 4 points the rest of the way.

And then there are the heroics of play-maker Jose Lassa, who hits two big buckets and comes up with a key steal down the stretch to ice it for Aek. Lassa scores 15 points on the night. Victor Alexander leads all scorers with 16 points.

WHEEL-CHAIR

The two athletes with special needs wanted to prove that the limits of human abilities are greater than we often think, and they did.

They began their marathon in specially-equipped chairs from the Olympic stadium in Athens Sunday, and arrived at the White Tower on the Thessaloniki waterfront late Wednesday night.

En route, they were welcomed in the city of Katerini by the mayor, religious leaders, and hundreds of other well-wishers.

With their feat, the two athletes wanted to encourage other people to get out and be more active, and advertise Greek athleticism.

"When you have faith and willpower, you can do anything", they say. "Man has abilities he's not aware of".

© ANT1 Radio 1997

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