Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-05-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] Culture mix in education aids global understanding, PM says

[02] Greece wins Eurovision song contest

[01] Culture mix in education aids global understanding, PM says

"The multinational environment fostered at Tufts, an environment where differences are understood and respected, broadened my perspective and gave me a wider view of the world, as I know it did for all of you," Karamanlis told students and staff in the university's keynote graduation address.

"The friendships and discussions I enjoyed here with young people of different races, religions, countries and economic backgrounds gave me a firsthand global perception of the political economic and social problems that still plague the world," said Karamanlis during a visit to the USA that included a meeting with President Bush.

The premier, himself a graduate of Tufts in the mid-1980s, said his government intended to help turn southeastern Europe into a region of stability, cooperation, prosperity and peace, employing its privileged status as a member of both the European Union and NATO.

"To accomplish that task we will need the strong support of both the EU and the United States. We look forward to working closely with both to help bring a lasting peace to an area long known as historyâs cauldron, a maelstrom of ethnic and religious strife for over a century," Karamanlis said.

"Last year, Athens was the host city of the Olympic Games, which were founded in Greece in 776 BC and revived in Athens in 1896. Everyone predicted that we would not be ready and the Games were going to be a disaster, but we proved all the armchair Cassandras wrong by producing the most inspiring, the most creative and the safest Games in history," he noted.

The premier said that a late president of the republic, Konstantinos Karamanlis, after whom the chair in Hellenic and Southeastern European Studies at Tufts is named, was a visionary who led the reconstruction of Greece after World War II and guided the country to full membership of the EU.

"It is the task of our generation to bring our country to the forefront of European development, to fully integrate our broader neighborhood into the European institutions and give all young people the opportunity to excel themselves. And, furthermore, turn our country into a center of education and culture to the benefit not only of Greece, but of all the peoples of the region," he underlined.

[02] Greece wins Eurovision song contest

Taking an easy lead over Malta, which finished a distant second, Paparizou scored 230 points in an upbeat, folk-influenced rock number composed by singer Christos Dandis and lyricist Natalia Germanou.

Paparizou, 23, came third in the 2001 Eurovision competition as a band member; the country's best ranking so far that was matched by Sakis Rouvas in 2004. As a result of her victory, Greece will host the contest in 2006.

"I am so happy that this finally came to Greece...We have shown the modern side of Greece," said Paparizou, an ethnic Greek from Sweden, on receiving the Eurovision award from Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko.

In a double celebration, Paparizou, an ethnic Greek raised in Sweden, also feasted her name day.

The president of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias, congratulated Greece's team at the contest, who worked onstage and offstage.

"I hope that this collective enthusiam will spur greater successes in the arts, which is Greece's most precious export commodity," Papoulias said in a telegram to Paparizou.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who is currently visiting the USA, also warmly welcomed Paparizou's victory; along with main opposition leader George Papandreou, Istanbul Patriarch Bartholomew, Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni, and the deputy culture minister, Fani Palli-Petralia.

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