Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-12-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] International Children's Day

[02] ATHOC chief 'would be good' mayoral candidate, FinMin says

[03] Bomb blast outside ELTA on Syntagma Square

[01] International Children's Day

Celebrated each year on December 11, the International Day of the Child highlights the difficult living conditions of many children around the world.

As evidence, Giannakou cited data from human rights organisations, according to which 183 million children under the age of five are undernourished; 120 million do not have access to education; 3 million under the age of 15 suffer from AIDS; 1.2 million become victims of trafficking, kidnapping and prostitution annually; while in developed countries, 3,500 children under the age of 15 die annually from abuse.

While improving children's living conditions is a priority for human rights organisations, the issue concerns everyone and mainly governments, she said.

"Our fundamental obligation as adults, is for us to provide children with a loving environment that ensures sufficient material goods, sanitary conditions, well-being and the right to an edcuation and a stable family environment," Giannakou noted.

"Let this day be an opportunity for us to focus more on children's needs, be it our own children or children in need of our attention and care," she added.

[02] ATHOC chief 'would be good' mayoral candidate, FinMin says

"The party [ruling New Democracy] has many competent cadres who would be able to continue the tradition of successful mayors of the past 20 years: My colleague Mr. Kaklamanis who has expressed a desire to run, but also Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos [Daskalakis] could be one of them," Alogoskoufis said, referring to the former Athens 2004 President.

Regarding the government and its achievements to date, Alogoskoufis said that "in 2005, we succeeded in lowering the deficit and unemployment, while at the same time maintaining high growth rates, a significant achievement considering the stagnation prevalent throughout the Eurozone."

As for the new bill regarding state enterprises and utilities (DEKO), Alogoskoufis called it the greatest reform undertaken in the country in the past decade.

In the event that DEKO managers prove unable to fulfill their duties, "they will be terminated," he said.

The minister ruled out early elections and predicted that New Democracy would win a second term in office.

[03] Bomb blast outside ELTA on Syntagma Square

The strong explosion occurred at 6:08 a.m. on the corner of Mitropoleos and Nikis street, outside the ELTA branch, following a call at 5:40 a.m. by an anonymous caller to the Athens daily Eleftherotypia warning of an impending powerful explosion "at a ministry on Syntagma Square". The newspaper immediately alerted the Athens security police operations centre, which urgently alerted in turn the police guards outside the Finance ministry and cordoned off the wider surrounds.

The caller did not claim responsibility for the attack on behalf of any organisation.

As the wider area around the ELTA and next-door ministry were immediately cordoned off, no serious injuries resulted from the powerful explosion. Early reports said that two persons -- a man cleaning a store window and a woman passer-by -- were lightly injured by glass shards. Police said the explosion and ensuing soundwave shattered the windows of cars and shops and buildings -- as high as the 8th floor -- in the area.

Eyewitnesses told police that at 5:00 a.m. two young men left a fast-food delivery motorcycle outside the ELTA building. The home-made explosive device was hidden in the motorcycle's metal box in which food deliveries are transported.

According to the Fire Deparment's investigators, the mechanism did not appear to be connected to several propane cannisters which had been left out on the street near the spot of the explosion throughout the night. Exposed propane cannisters are usual in the area, as they belong to the shops and are left outdoors for pickup by companies that supply the shops with new cannisters.

Investigators have tentatively attributed the blast to a home-made time-bomb.

The area continued to be cordoned as of late Monday morning as police bomb disposal experts and Fire Department experts combed the area for clues and evidence.

Two subsequent callers phoned Eleftherotypia after the explosion, but no claim of responsibility has been made on behalf of any group.

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