Antenna: News in English (PM), 98-07-15

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

Last Updated: Wednesday, 15-Jul-98 22:12:52

CONTENTS

[01] US-Cyprus-S300

[02] Grigoris Bithikotsis

[03] Papantoniou

[04] New Democracy-Local elections

[05] Sports

[01] US-Cyprus-S300

Cyprus wants the weapons to defend itself against a possible attack by Turkey in the future. And Greece is calling the American proposal of talks as an alternative to the missile purchase inadequate.

Cyprus is expected to take delivery of the missiles later this year.

Greece and Cyprus have proposed demilitarisation of the island as a whole as the only way to get Cyprus to cancel the missile order.

They've also proposed a ban on military flights over Cyprus as a step forward.

Bacon says Washington does not support that idea. The US is willing to give its backing to no more than a voluntary flight moratorium.

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas calls the American counter- proposal a mere aspirin for a problem that needs much stronger medicine.

Reppas also denies Bacon's claim that a US Pentagon official is currently visiting Greece and Turkey in search of a way of getting the S-300 deal shelved.

[02] Grigoris Bithikotsis

The operation took six-and-a-half hours, and anxious family members spent the afternoon waiting for good news from the doctors.

They call him "Sir"; Grigoris Bithikotsis's golden voice has put the words of Greece's outstanding poets to music. He's sung the stanzas written by Elitis, Gatsos, Ritsos, Seferis, and Varnalis.

He's also worked with some of Greece's greatest composers: Manos Hatzidakis, Mikis Theodorakis, and Stavros Xarchakos.

He's loved by all those who love music.

And as her father went under the surgeon's scalpel Wednesday, his daughter Anna said he'd told her before being sedated that he wanted to come out alive.

"The people have loved me so much", he explained, "that I wouldn't want to give them cause for grief".

For Anna and the singer's wife and his two other children, it was a day of agony. Bithikostsis went into surgery Wednesday morning. Early in the afternoon, Anna said she was worried.

"It's a difficult operation", she told Antenna. "We haven't had any word from the doctors yet, which means they haven't gotten to the aneurism".

That, she concluded, meant there were serious problems.

But her fear turned to relief when the doctors announced later that the operation had been a success, and that they expect the singer to make a speedy recovery.

Three years ago Bithikotsis had a triple heart bypass; and seven years ago he was operated on for another aortic aneurism.

His daughter Anna says the family had thought their problems were over seven years ago. But in recent months he's been having severe pains.

They decided to take him to the hospital when he began having back and knee pain Tuesday.

[03] Papantoniou

Greece has used just over a third of the 2.5 million European Currency Units allotted to it under EU programmes.

Greek finance minister Iannos Papantoniou said after a government meeting that Pasok is going to pour a lot of money into education and employment.

Thirty thousand temporary state employees may be made permanent.

At a one-day Pasok conference on changing the state sector of the economy, development minister Vaso Papandreou said many of the moves to make the economy more efficient are causing social friction. But, she added, the changes are necessary, and the government will follow through on them because they're bringing results.

Some Pasok critics say the government's success is all in the economic indicators, not in reality. Pasok secretary Kostas Skandalides said at the conference that the government's success lies in the policies it's implemented.

Pasok, he added, has got to continue with its modernisation policies.

At the conference, the director of the Piraeus Bank gave an optimistic assessment of the future, saying the Athens stock exchange could make gains of 40 per cent by the year 2000.

[04] New Democracy-Local elections

New Democracy's candidate in Thessaloniki will be Vassilis Papageorgopoulos; in Piraeus the party is backing Christos Agrapides.

[05] Sports

The forward spent the 1993-94 season with Olympiakos rival Panathinaikos. He spent last year in Italy, where he played for Vareze.

It is estimated that Komazec will be getting 800 thousand dollars for next season. His one-year contract is renewable for one season.

The Croat star was competing for the Olympiakos spot with Dale Ellis, Bill Edwards, Marios Eli, and George McCloud.

Komazech won out because he's coming off a good season during which the behaviour problems that dogged him in the past were absent.

(c) ANT1 Radio 1998

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